tick tock

we are hanging out between week 37 (swiss chard) and 38 (leeks).  we had a routine doctor visit today in which we learned, not much is new.  baby is moving, belly is big, 1cm.  we are now 75% effaced.  so that is progress from last week at 50%.  other than that here we are, passing the time.  

i have started to set up at least one event a day... mostly things that revolve around food.  like lunch, coffee, cupcakes, dinner.  tick tock.  i feel this is one of those times i must cherish, because in the near future this will not be the case.  yet it's hard to watch the minutes pass and not focus on the looming labor.  

the baby will not be coming this weekend because Dr. K is in New Orleans, and she is a big piece of our labor puzzle.   

after hearing Obama last night, it makes me hopeful and happy to be having our baby in this new administration. 

so happy

i am so happy today.  i woke up to a very cute husband and big hairy babies all snuggling in our bed.  i'm cherishing the waking up on my own to silence as much as i can.

just as one eye opened, i remembered our purchase last night - the Quinny Buzz stroller.  i heart it so much i wish i could have slept with it in our bed but there is no room with afore mentioned bed-mates.  i have a history of bringing things to bed with me when i love them (mind out of gutter), a few quick examples:  elementary school: navy blue rain boots, slept with them on or in my bed for a few weeks.  my favorite white tights with little pale pink hearts on them, wore them every where including bed until they had a serious hole in the bum, which i just cut off the top part and taped them to my legs.  and continued to wear to bed or under pillow.  most recently, my marc jacobs bag.  and last night it could have been the quinny alas, i had to run downstairs and just stare this am.  i can't wait to roll it around the hood!

then i turned on the TV to see that matt lauer AND brian williams were on the Today show.  seriously?  did anyone know about this?  yummy.

and then because we were out of coffee, i had to meet my pregalinas for breakie and Karin and her beyond cute sister who was just in from MI.  puts everything at ease.

off to get my hair done for the last time pre-babe... then just in time to rush home to meet my mom who is coming in this weekend.

oh, yea.  and i'm 1cm dilated - whatever that means.

happy week 37!

lucky 13

As I've mentioned in past posts, Friday the 13th is a lucky day for us.  we met on a friday the 13 in june.  and our baby is due on friday the 13th.  Officially, one month away from our due date, things are coming together.    Last week I didn't feel the same way but it's amazing what a few days will do... 

we are 36 weeks.  the baby weighs approximately six pounds, the size of a crenshaw melon.  we are clearly running low on fruit and veg options.  back to the six pounds - that's huge.  that is a lot of weight to be toting.  the back ache, no sleep or motivation are constituted.  we are at the point now when we see Dr. K every week.  Wednesday is our doctor day and i actually get really excited going and feel so much better after our visits.  this week everything is measuring as it should and the baby's head is down.  apparently there has been a rash of breech babies so Dr. K did an u/s to make sure that yes, in fact, the head is down.  and it is one really big noggin.  according to Dave, my family has rather large melons.  i had no idea.  truly, i never thought my head was big.  but now it makes sense why his hats are always to small for me.  thank you to everyone for never mentioning the size of my head.

this week has been good!  

a. i was able to lay on my belly for the first time in six months!  i had a prenatal massage with a woman that has a pregnancy table - meaning there is a hole for your belly.  even if she hadn't rubbed at all, i would have still been happy just laying on my belly.  

b. my diaper bag is ordered and arrived today!  i may start carrying it sooner rather than later.

c. i taught my last group yoga class for awhile.  i am very happy i made it to week 36, but very sad that i won't see my students every week. but really looking forward to getting back into my own practice!

d. the first couple in our birth class, Kelly and Nick, had their baby on Monday.  william finnegan, a very healthy cute boy!  one down, two to go.

e. we are having a date night to celebrate our anniversary (yes, after five years we still mention every month and sometimes celebrate), valentine's and one month until our baby is here

f. our yoga friends and students are giving Mandi and I a shower... it's going to be so fun!

Hope you all had a wonderful week, happy friday the 13th!

XO

contraction contradiction

The other title option was: my momma went to the hospital and all she brought home was this jug.

Tuesday started out like any other day... breakfast, walk the dogs, see what needed to be done, etc.  And once I fully woke I remembered my multiple stumbles to the b-room, I'm averaging about once every two hours at this point, that something didn't feel right.  Not sure if my water broke, or what.  And then around 10a it happened again.  This time I thought I should give the doc a call.  Usually in this case I just call Dave but for some reason, I thought it wasn't a big deal so I called Dr. K and talked to our nurse Terry (love her).  She thought we should come in.  Really?  Apparently at this point (almost 35 weeks) they don't mess around.  My first reaction was my chin started to quiver, while I dialed Dave.  No answer.  No answer at his clinic.  Called our Doula, no answer.  Mom, no answer.  Dad, no answer.  etc.  etc. etc.  Then I burst into tears.  I just needed to tell someone else, and remind myself it wasn't an emergency or they would have sent me straight to Labor and Delivery.  So I had Dave paged... no response.  I went from nice Sarah to not so nice.  Some of you have met her, she's not so nice but she gets the job done in these situations and doesn't take no for an answer.  

Made it through Dave's exchange and once he answered, fell into a heap of tears and all I could say was contractions, Dr. K.  We made it through and Dave cleared most of his day and headed home to pick me up.  I ran, well waddled really, upstairs remained calm and started to pack the bag.  I know that I said I was going to do this the other day, but now it's done.  I didn't know what to expect, and really didn't want to touch my feet on a hospital floor.  Or hospital socks.  

We drove to the doctor's office, which is really the hospital.  And apparently it was a day of emergency pregalina's.  The office was full of pregnant women, but I was the furthest along.  In we went.  What I thought to be water breaking, was not the case just normal for this point.  No dilation things were looking good.  Last, 'Sarah, is the baby moving?'.  Me: 'not as much as normal'.  Apparently that is a ticket straight to Labor and Delivery.  Off we went to be 'monitored'.  It was scary, and I knew by the pace with which Dave walked ahead of me he was nervous as well.  He may have made it upstairs to the 3rd floor without me wondering where I was if I hadn't slowed him down... 

We were put on the Toco machine to monitor contractions and the baby's heart rate.  The heart rate was great between 130-150 the entire time, a few bouts of hiccups and I wasn't having contractions.  About thirty minutes into it, Dave went to get a coffee.  The minute he left the room, they started.  The door busted open and our nurse Jo, said are you feeling what I am seeing?  Yes, I definitely was.  Contractions every 5 - 10 minutes.  They weren't fun, but tolerable and something I could easily handle it.  With every contraction the baby's heart rate increased, apparently a good thing.  Jo said I'm going to call Dr. Krasnoff and see about getting a shot of something... A shot?  What the hell?  Called Dave and he answered (thankfully) asking if I wanted a strawberry or raspberry smoothie?  Seriously?  Now is NOT the time for a smoothie, drop everything and shake it on up here.  He was back within minutes.  Jo came back with the shot of something to stop contractions.  

I don't want a medicated birth, but I really didn't want to have this baby so early.  It would have been ok, but not ideal.  The option was to spend the night in hospital or take the shot.  They could have thread through my eye as that point... So we decided to have the shot.  And the contractions went away.  

We were free to go.

I just have to take it easy, very easy.  And not stress about anything!  Now I know what it's like to be in the hospital enough to know I would like to be there as little as possible.  

Now I just have to drink way more water than I was drinking (already 100 oz.), so I'm hopeful I will have time to drink between bathroom breaks. 

XO