A Homemade, Handmade Heirloom

Here is the cradle that my Dad made for baby. Pretty soon we will put it to good use. The other night while lying in bed, after having false labor contractions for a good hour or so, I could hear Adam rocking the cradle. He was getting some practice in for the real thing. He keeps asking me, "When is the baby gonna come?" He's not very patient either. Today I am more patient than I've been all week. The baby will come soon, when it's good and ready. After all, no one wants an undercooked baby...

My Furry Little Kids

Molly and Louis (my dog and cat) are kinda like my kids. They really do amuse me. At this moment they are both looking very attentively out our sliding glass door at the squirrels in the back yard. One next to the other, Molly whining and Louis with his eyes wide open like he's on the hunt. They make me laugh because they are just so cute. Earlier this morning Molly was trying to get Louis to play and Louis stood on his hind legs with his paws on Molly's face and started to nibble her nose and ears. Then Molly kinda nibbles Louis back. Sometimes she washes his head with her big, pink tongue. Louis doesn't seem to mind it. He tolerates her very well considering that some cats and dogs do not get along at all. In the mornings, if Molly thinks that I'm staying in bed too long, she will sit right at the bed side and whine till I give her some attention. She likes to gently nibble on my fingers. Although lately she's into this thing of pawing you. And she has nails that scratch! I hope she's a little more considerate when the baby comes home! I really do think she will like having a baby around. And Louis will just have to get used to another family member.

Still Feeling Good at Home

I figured that I should let everyone know that I am still home and am healthy as a rat... Or as healthy as a bug in a rug... Well, healthy anyways. Feel good, look well fed, smell clean...

Tuesday evening I had false labor contractions that lasted all through the night. We thought maybe they would turn into real labor, but the contractions weren't strong enough and petered out in the morning. I keep saying to myself, "Maybe tomorrow." I know one of these days I'll be right, so if not today, maybe tomorrow. Mom said today would be a good day to have a baby because it's grandparents day and she doesn't have to babysit. Leta (my sister-in-law) said I should have the baby anytime this weekend because she has today, Saturday and Sunday off work. Adam says I'll probably have the baby this weekend because then he won't as many days off of work. I say today would be a good day because laundry and dishes are getting old. It's a good thing that I have family around to keep me occupied. Wednesday, I stopped at my in-laws house and then they came over for Chinese. Yesterday Mom and my three siblings came over in the morning and I helped Ben and Hannah with some school. Last night, while Adam took his class, I ate supper with my family. Today my brother-in-law has invited me to lunch. I take Molly for a walk around the block everyday and usually take a nap too. Tomorrow is Saturday and hopefully Adam won't have to work so we can do something together. Although he'll probably mow the lawn or stack firewood, which I am not supposed to do... Hmmm, any good ideas to keep a pregnant lady busy who is supposed to be taking it easy? Oh yeah, suppose I go look for that book to read. That would keep me busy. I like books...

STRETCH!

Over the course of the past two days, I received my first baby trophies. Little stretch marks near my belly button. I had gotten so far along that I thought I had evaded them. Lotioning my belly every morning and rubbing it in nicely... Guess I forgot to do my belly button too. Why didn't anyone remind me that belly buttons are prone to stretching? I suppose I have much to be grateful for, but I still hope that these are the only marks that will be coursing over my lower half. I was so dissapointed last night when I found them... Even though I knew they would probably show up eventually. It'll all be worth it in the end.

And on a side note, I doubt baby will come for my birthday. Dissapointing.

Wide Awake

So if I'm wide awake at 4:20 am, is that a good sign? I woke up starving and after a little pb sandwich, I'm ready to get something done. Nothing too noisy of course, cause I'd wake sleepy husband. Maybe laundry? I don't know what I'll do for the next few hours. Maybe after laundry I'll be able to go back to sleep... But I'm still hungry.

Take it Easy!

Yesterday I was a bad girl and decided that I must get some grocery shopping done, despite the nurse saying to leave that to hubby. Adam has been very busy working and did not have Saturday off, so I called my Mom to see if she was up for any grocery shopping. I figured if my Mom was with me, it could be considered "taking it easy"... Right?

After four hours out and about getting all the shopping done, I headed home. I had been thinking about stopping at the local pharmacy to check my blood pressure, just out of curiosity and because I was slightly more puffy than the other day. So I stopped at Eckerd's on the way home and used their little machine. I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary, but when it first read 164/93 I was a little shocked. I asked the pharmacist if the blood pressure machine was pretty accurate. He said it was somewhat accurate. So I checked it again. Now it read 168/98. Um, that's pretty high... Especially when it's usually about 120/70 ish. Now I get nervous and decide to call Adam, who is still working. We decide that I'll call my Dr. and see what they say... So after I get home and unload the perishable groceries from my car (I left the others for Adam to bring in), I call. She says not to worry because often pharmacy machines aren't very accurate and they don't compensate for pregnancy or swelling, but that I should still come in and have a nurse take my blood pressure because they don't want to overlook something that may be important. So I call Adam again and he comes home. I hate bothering him when he is working, especially if it's not really anything, but I did want him with me. We drive up to the hospital together and my first bp reading there was 157/?. Pretty high, I think. So they took some blood, had me lay on my side and went to run the lab work again. They wanted to make sure liver function was still good and that's why they took the blood. They also took some blood just in case I had the baby. They also hooked me up to the monitor so they could read baby's heartbeat and any contractions. The Dr. came to see me and mentioned the possibility of pre-eclampsia and what they would do if the tests came back positive (induction). She also checked to see if I was dilated and to my surprise I was four centimeters. (Yea!) From nothing on Thursday to four on Saturday with no real contractions... Sounds good to me. After her little check I had a few mild contractions (a couple good ones, nothing that hurt bad, but different from what I had been having at home). I didn't get too excited but I think Adam might've when I told him. All the while, my blood pressure kept going down... because I was resting. Adam thought maybe we could have the baby soon and he wondered whether or not I'd have to stay. Obviously we didn't because the tests came back negative for pre-eclampsia (again) and my contractions went away... Like usual. So we had a nice little trip to the hospital, a good test run for Adam. On the way out, the nurse said she thinks we'll have the baby before halloween. I hope so, cause I don't want a halloween baby. I mean, I want the baby, just not the halloween part. Maybe this week... Suppose I'm a little anxious? And suppose now I really will take it easy... No more grocery shopping. And Mom, you did NOT wear me out!

Nothing Left To Do

Since it is Friday, and not Thursday, I decided to posts fourteen things that I have cleaned in the past week, just because I am now supposed to take it easy.

1) Last Friday I cleaned out the shed and rearranged it so...
2) I could also clean off the deck and put away the summer chairs and the grill.
3) I started Saturday by cleaning the bathroom
4) and went on to clean my bedroom and rearrange the furniture so the cradle that my Dad made would fit better. Then I went out for afternoon tea with the girls. Sunday I took a break to celebrate birthdays at my brothers house. Yea for birthdays!
5) Monday I decided that Adam had once again made a mess of the basement and I needed to clean it. So sweep and straighten I did.
6) Also on Monday I cleaned the refrigerator. Finally the blueberry juice that had dripped everywhere this summer was gone!
7) I think laundry counts as well... Because I did all the laundry on Monday too.
8) And the stack of dishes that had collected since Friday were finally washed on Monday.
9) Tuesday I got down on my hands and knees and vacuumed under the couches in the living room.
10) The couches were also vacuumed on said day and the whole living room received a make over.
11) Also on Tuesday I swept every floor in my house, with the intention of mopping them on Wednesday.
12) Wednesday is the best day because I FINALLY cleaned the computer room, which had looked like a dump since we moved in back in April.
13) I organized all drawers and got rid of all kinds of papers and garbage.
14) Best of all (and probably the weirdest of all) is that I organized the file cabinet. It probably would sound better if you knew we got a new file cabinet and I had to move files from old boxes to new file cabinet. I'm not really going insane. ;)

As you know, yesterday I spent at the Dr's. office and at the hospital. Today was spent visiting my Aunt Priscilla. It was good that she came over because it relieved any temptation I might've had to do more cleaning, which would've been against the Dr's. orders. After she left I took a good nap. So now you know what I have been doing the week before baby comes... I say that because now the baby will come. It must come because I have nothing left to do.

A Long Post About A Hospital Visit

I had a pretty relaxing day today...

I had another Dr's. visit today. Routine 39 week exam, ya know... I told the Dr. about my swollen hands, feet, face, etc... My blood pressure was just a little more than last week (okay, so last week it was 120/72, like Aunt Rachel thought), but it was still okay. He thought I could go downstairs to the lab to have some blood work done up to check for pre-eclampsia, but he had second thoughts after checking my reflexes... which were pretty crazy. I was asked if I was always so jumpy, but my reflexes haven't been checked in so long, how am I to remember? He decided that I should go have my blood work done at the hospital so I could have the results faster. Rather than wait till tomorrow for the results, if I wasn't busy today, go up and get everything done today. So after having a Non-Stress Test, I went up to the hospital to have some blood tested. They hooked me up to a monitor so we could see (and hear) the baby's heartbeat and watch any contractions be recorded on paper. After taking some blood and urine samples, I lay in bed watching the squiggly lines come out of the machine onto the paper. The nice nurse came in and asked if I was hungry and since it was 1:00 or so, and I hadn't eaten since 8:30, I was naturally. So she brought me a boxed lunch from somewhere with a ham sandwich and potato salad. Actually, it was pretty good. Long story made short, I ended up waiting for the results to my tests for a few hours. A few relaxing hours, some of which I spent sleeping. Which is good, because I'm fighting some sort of cold/sinus thing and I could use all the sleep I can get. What was interesting though, was this drama queen who came into the triage unit halfway through my stay there. She had thought her water had broken, was not sure when her due date was because supposedly different Dr's. told her different dates, and she kept exclaiming things like she was in grave pain. The nurses told her that her water wasn't broken and that she wasn't due until Nov. 30. Still she was sure the baby was coming if only "she would open up". On and on... I was thinking "Good grief, woman! Give it a break!" Of course I've never been in labor, but the nurses were pretty sure she wasn't even close. She kept saying to someone, "They're talking about sending me home already, but I'm just going to have to come right back" and then "These people don't know what they're talking about." Quite humorous... Kept me entertained while laying there. Anyway, the results of the tests were negative for pre-eclampsia, but positive for taking it easy and drinking lots of water till baby comes. So Adam is supposed to treat me like a princess and do the grocery shopping and any heavy lifting. (Check in with him form time to time folks, and make sure he is doing his job.) And I'm supposed to watch for additional signs or increased swelling.

I guess it's a good thing that I've been cleaning my house like crazy early in the week. I cleaned my bed room, living room and computer room from top to bottom. I even did the bathroom, the basement and the shed outside. All I had left to do was mop the floors throughout the house and hang a few odd shelves and window blinds. (I made myself a list of things to get accomplished before baby came.) I suppose I can overlook the last few things on the list, even though I think that mopping the floors is not over-doing it like the nurse said it was. How hard is it to mop the floor? Not any harder than washing the clothes... Except maybe more arm movement? I know, I know... Be good and listen to the what the nurse said. She knows what she is talking about. I'm probably not supposed to do all those things because of blood pressure and keeping it down where it should be. So I'll be a good girl and hopefully, sometime in the near future, you will hear good news of great joy and messy diapers. I'm sure my Mom will let everyone know on her blog when this happens and then I will too, when I feel up to it.

Just 9 more days till my due date!

Pre-Swell

More baby pictures! This is from September, before had I swelled up so much... See, my shoes still fit and I'm still wearing my rings on my fingers. And this is pre-hair cut. (Thanks for the pictures Aunt Rachel!)

Baby Bump

Finally a picture of baby bump for everyone to see... Taken by someone else naturally, because my camera is dumb. But there it is, dropped nicely and waiting anxiously to meet Mommy and Daddy. Don't worry Baby, you will meet us soon!

Fat Sausage Fingers

This morning my fingers are numb and tingly. After researching briefly on-line, I found that a common complaint of late pregnancy is carpel tunnel syndrome, causing numb and tingly fingers. I was thinking it had to do with low blood pressure as the reading yesterday was 120/12. But now I think it may be carpel tunnel. What is especially aggravating is waking up in the middle of the night to having my thumb and first two fingers on sabbatical leave. Pins and needles are shooting through them and I must wiggle my fingers quite a bit to get them to wake up. Oh, fat sausage fingers! What am I to do with you?

Getting Closer

Greetings! I know everyone is anxious to hear news about baby as the time is drawing near. I am currently 16 days from my due date and I had my 38 week Dr's. appointment this morning. I was told that the baby's head is well down and my cervix is soft. They couldn't tell me much about dilation because... well, it hurt. So they didn't check. The Dr. said, in his nice Indian accent, "We'll see you next week if you are still pregnant. And if you are not, then go to the hospital." So, should I put the car seat in the car and pack my bags just in case? I guess I'm not expecting anything too exciting very soon because I haven't had any contractions other than Braxton Hicks and they don't hurt, so I think I've got at least a week... We shall see. In the mean time, I keep gaining weight quite steadily, bringing the grand total up to 37 lbs. so far. Ugh... I hope the pounds come off as easy as everyone keeps saying they will!

I wish my camera worked properly so I could share my baby belly with you all. It's pretty big!

This is Why

This week is my last week of work before taking off to have my baby. I always wanted to be a stay-at-home Mom, but have opted go back to the restaurant one day a week starting sometime in December. I think it'll be a good time to let my Mom and sister borrow the baby for a few hours. But the real reason I don't want to quit entirely is not because of the money or wanting to get out of the house, but because of people like these folks. There is a small group of people who come in every Tuesday for lunch. They usually consist of a little old lady, her son, and son-in-law and, on occasion, her daughter. Sometime over the weekend said son-in-law and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. H, left me and baby a card. It's a home made, computer printed card, and extra special because inside is a poem that is just for me. It goes as follows:

When you get to be an old folk,
And your hair is thin and gray,
You'll appreciate the young folk
Who really make your day.

It's often that the little things
They don't know that they do,
Are just the things that tip the scales
To brighten and renew.

We'll miss your smile and winsome ways
And special friendly service,
Remembering to way back when
You started and were nervous.

We'll wait for introductions
To your special new addition
And hope that you'll be back one day
To continue our lunch tradition.

Warm wishes to you and your new baby
and to all your family.

Your customers (and friends)

They also left me a little gift card, but it was the words inside that made my day and brought tears to my eyes. Being a waitress in the little town that I grew up in, has been such a great experience. The job may have it's challenging days (like any job), but is so rewarding because of all the friends I have made. They may not be the friends that you call up and ask to go to the movies or to the mall, but people who look for you and greet you with a smile and a friendly hello. Gray hair doesn't matter anymore and if you walk slower than usual, I don't mind. If you come with a smile, or even if you don't, as long as you have some extra time on your hands (unlike the busy lunch rush who come in for a quick lunch and are back out to work) and don't run right out the door, chances are we might get to be friends. My favorite time of the day is the last hour and a half or two, when the regular afternoon visitors come in for coffee or a late lunch. This is the time when it is slow enough for me to eat my lunch and visit with these cherished guests. The guests who come in looking for someone to chat with or someone with a smile just for them. They might ask for help with the daily cross word puzzle or tell you about the latest news. These are the reasons why I can't leave for good. I may not be there so often, but at least I don't have to say good-bye for good. I don't like to say good-bye.

Come on Baby!!!

Sentiments of the day:

fat hands
fat feet
swelling cheeks
ugh, help me off the couch

Come on baby... So I know I have three weeks before my due date and most likely I'll go over. I don't really mind being pregnant, but after three or so more weeks of this, I'll definitely be ready to meet this baby. Not that I'm not ready now... Reality is just still sinking in that we'll have a little baby soon. Getting up is getting increasingly more difficult and as you can see from my list above, I've been swelling a bit. I'm trying to watch my salt intake and I hear that you're supposed to keep your feet up. The latter is quite the joke... Who has time to put their feet up? There are things to do, places to go, people to meet, etc., etc., etc. And next week is my last week of work. I only have three days of work, but it's an "on your feet all day" kind of job. This last week will probably be the most trying, because of my growing tummy and the ever increasing waddle. I'm hoping to get to meet this baby a little early, but not too early. I have a few girl dates set up with some friends next week and I was told to hold that baby in till then. Secretly, I wouldn't really mind if baby came next Friday, but I do want to hang out with the girls too. Ugh, my back hurts if I sit too long. It's getting close... And it's getting exciting.