Well, folks, I just returned from my appointment. Here’s what happened:
The baby has dropped.
I’m already 3 centimetres.
!
She stripped my membranes.
:l
If that doesn’t get labour started, we are to be at the hospital at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Waters will be broken, and if that doesn’t work, drips will be started.
:0
She told me that there are a lot of deliveries going on, so we may get a call postponing us going in. She also said that the stripped membranes usually start labour within 24 hours, and it often happens in the middle of the night. So…we could be going in today or tonight, and then they’ll have to take us.
Depending on how it all goes down, I will either update when we get back, or my dear friend Amanda will come on here and fill you in. I gave her the login deets to my site, to make sure you all know what’s going on if it takes us awhile to get back.
If you are immediate family, etc., you will hear by phone call long before it’s posted here. We’ll make sure you don’t hear via the Internet.
For the rest of you, we’ll get you up to speed shortly thereafter. Pray for us, think of us, and here’s to meeting Baby D!
I have shown you all what my burgeoning belly is looking like. It’s sticking wayyyyy out there, that is fo sho.
I thought I would show you what my view is whenever I look down:
This picture cracks me up. The angle makes my toes look so far away that you would think I was seven feet tall. At least it gives you an idea of the sight I behold whenever I look down…except I generally can’t see my feet. The only reason you can see them is due to the angle I was holding the camera at. I didn’t want to include a bust shot along with the belly shot.
Yesterday was a great day. I took G into town to get some things while Matthew worked on the downstairs bathroom and Nathan napped. I had nothing but nice comments said to me by sweet people, both strangers and those I know. I had a few, “You’re all baby!” comments (once the baby’s out, they won’t be distracted by the enormous bump and they’ll see that I have a little extra in the butt and thighs department too…but it was nice to hear that). I had a few other people say, “Good for you!” when I told them I didn’t know if the baby was a boy or girl. I’m not sure why they were so in favour of not knowing, but their tone was positive, and I’ll take it.
Later we went in as a family to get some groceries and I had a sweet older lady comment on how HAPPY my boys are. She asked if I was hoping for a girl, and when I said I would be excited about either she replied, “Well, with cute happy boys like those two, another boy would be great!”
Makes my heart smile when others think my boys are as wonderful as I do.
I’ll leave you with another belly shot - thought I’d mix it up again and show you the front angle. The side view is pretty much the same as last week, except maybe a bit bigger.
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Tomorrow will be busy with turkey dinner and such with my mama. I’ll be sure to update everyone after my doctor’s appointment on Tuesday (time to strip), unless something happens earlier…for those of you who are checking hourly (ha!).
I haven’t had the opportunity to be on the computer much lately. My laptop is usually on the kitchen table, with wireless Internet, and I can check in on everyone throughout the day, depending on what the kids are doing. That freedom to surf has slowed to a crawl. Sciatica has kicked in and I can’t sit at the kitchen table for more than a few minutes at a time.
For the record, I’m not complaining. I’ve only had it for a few days and I’ll only have it for a few more (Yippee!). When I was pregnant with Nathan, I was working in an office while Matthew balanced working from home and running Daddy Day Care for Graham. When I was 5 months along, the sciatica kicked in and I was ordered by my sweet doctor to quit working. Sitting in a chair for eight hours a day is the worst thing for it. I was excited to be home with Graham, but was pretty uncomfortable in my lower right back for the remaining four months. Compared to that, a week is a walk in the park.
Due to my inability to sit at the table, my Internet time has been mostly limited to the evenings after the kids are in bed. Such as right now. I’m sitting on the couch with the laptop on my, well, lap top. I watched Grey’s earlier, and I am awaiting The Office. I recorded CSI on the PVR for Honey and I to watch on the weekend. He’s furiously trying to get the downstairs bathroom done before my Mommy gets here on Sunday.
Speaking of Honey, he’s again the reason for the title of this post. When he comes up from the office at lunch, he’ll usually check the weather and the news on my laptop. Today, he was checking out YouTube.com. I have been meaning to check out the phenomenon that is You Tube, but I try to use my sparse Internet time wisely…checking blogs.
Whilst watching videos, he came across this banner ad:
He turns to me and says, “I want to press it.”
I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea. It probably didn’t work, and then we’d get some virus or something. Or somehow those evil spammers would reach out through the laptop screen and acquire our home email address.
He asked me to do a post and ask if any one has pressed the button. He has reminded me a few times this afternoon that he really wants to know what you all think.
Did you press the button? If so, what happened? If you haven’t pressed it, would you?
In the mind of a man, these are burning (pardon the pun) questions.
I am going to have that song stuck in my head for the rest of the day. There’s nothing like an 80’s rock song (or was Europe considered Heavy Metal?) to show my age.
I just returned from my weekly check-up. The kids were with me for the first time because we went to Tumble Time first. Graham was pretty excited to hear the baby’s heartbeat (read: vibrating from head to toe). All is well with Baby D. I’m measuring well, and the heartbeat was a happy 144 beats per minute. To quote the doctor, I’m “all baby.” See for yourself:
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Just know that there’s a reason I don’t post pictures that show my butt and thighs. I’m also getting tired of smiling for the camera, so I pulled out my kissy face.
I go see the doctor again next Tuesday, where she’ll sweep my membranes. She thinks that may very well start labour, as this is my third baby. If not, I’ll go into the hospital first thing Wednesday morning. She had done the same with Nathan, but I wasn’t really labouring the next day. I was at 3 cm, but wasn’t feeling the contractions. With both boys, labour didn’t really get difficult until 8-9 cm.
Don’t hate me because I labour easily.
My friend Heidi (who’s working in L&D on the Wednesday) was at Tumble Time this morning, and she’s hoping that the sweeping doesn’t work and I have to go in Wednesday. It would be tres cool to have her in there, but I will be more than happy to just get this baby out at any time. We’ll have to see what transpires next week.
Until then, I am going to continue nesting as much as I am able. I am halfway through building (it’s actually called assembling, according to Honey) the second of two dressers we bought for the boys from IKEA. The good thing is, I do most of it while sitting on the floor. The baby’s room is pretty much ready…it just needs a few finishing touches.
And then the piece de resistance - Baby D.
An Open Letter To People Who Speak Without Thinking
Date: Tuesday September 26, 2006Posted in: Pregnancy
To all of the complete and utter STRANGERS who feel the need to make judgmental comments about my pregnancy/growing family/whatever else you can think of:
It has come to my attention that you are lacking in basic social skills, so I am attempting to help you understand how you are a complete idiot, in the hopes that you can become a better person. I’m nice like that.
First of all, I am a pregnant woman. Since you apparently weren’t paying attention in Biology 11 (or to life in general), pregnancy equals hormones. Many, many hormones. Pregnancy hormones are to PMS hormones what a hurricane is to a mild rain shower. And the hurricane days are the GOOD days. Don’t get me started on the bad days.
Secondly, pregnant women are generally exhausted. Sleep is elusive due to a big belly and loosening joints, and if you have other kids, it just gets compounded.
The sum of those two things equals an especially sensitive woman. Again, that’s on a good day. The bad days are beyond your comprehension.
When you decide to strike up a conversation with any pregnant woman, it would be wise to think about what is about to come spewing out of your mouth. Another lesson that you neglected to learn was, If You Can’t Say Anything Nice, Don’t Say Anything At All. You might want to write that one down and carry it around with you.
I’ll be kind enough to give you some examples of things not to say to a pregnant woman. The list is not an exhaustive one, but should help you on your path to recovery.
“You are going to have your hands full!” (Point to my two boys) “I mean, looks like you already do, but it will only get worse!”
Hmmm…I see that you have no children. So, of course, that would make you an expert in what life with three kids will be like.
“You really shouldn’t drink Diet Coke you know. It’s not good for you.”
Oh of course I know that. I should drop my occasional Diet Coke, because it’s so much worse than those CIGARS you are purchasing. Maybe I’ll start smoking cigars instead.
“So, you don’t know what you’re having? It would have been good to find out, because if you have a boy you’ll be pretty disappointed.”
You are so right. If I have a boy I will weep incessantly for months on end. Whatever will I do? I know. I’ll trade up for a girl.
I hope the examples above helped you. As you can probably tell from the tone of my letter, I’m a little hormonal. And today is a “good” day. Lucky for you it’s not a bad one.
Peace out.
