So Cute!

So... I've decided what little Nikos is going to wear home from the hospital, and it's so cute I couldn't resist sharing!!



The pants are baby corduroys, and I think the stripey socks are just about the cutest things ever. Now I just need to find him a little hat! I had originally planned on him wearing a different outfit, but I'm worried that it won't keep him warm enough... So maybe he will wear that one during our hospital stay. I know he'll probably hate wearing the outfit, and that he'll probably get it all messy right away, but he's going to be so cute for those first few minutes. Yay! :)

New Pictures!

So I had my third (and possibly final) baby shower today-- Hooray!! I have added a link to the pictures in the bar up above, if you're interested. I also got a package from my friend, Mary, who rocks (Hi Mary!!). She sent me her pictures from the first baby shower back in August, and there were some really good ones! I added them to the gallery. Here is one of my favorites, though, because it's one of the few pictures of us where I think we both look decent. Hooray for Mary and her magical photography skills! :)

Full Term, Baby!!

And just because I'm 37 weeks today and can't get this song out of my head...

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Yeah!!! Only a few more weeks! But if he was born today, he'd probably be perfectly fine! Definitely something worth celebrating!!! :)

Appointment

So I had my 37-week appointment this afternoon, and all continues to be fine and dandy! The only thing that was different this time was that I had to do a Group Beta Strep test, which was oh-so-fun ("vaginal swab," yippee...). Long story short, many women have this particular variety of strep bacteria in the birth canal and would never know it. However, if the baby is exposed to it during birth, it's not good. So if I test positive, then they will put me on IV antibiotics during labor to make sure I don't pass it on to the baby. And if not, life continues on as normal. Either way, not a big deal.

The other interesting thing that happened was that I asked the Nurse Practitioner how she thought the baby was currently positioned in my belly. I have had a suspicion for a few weeks now that he was "sunny-side up"... and I was right! WOOHOO! I like being right! However, sunny-side up isn't the greatest thing. It means that his belly and face are facing outward. And if he tries to come out that way, it's harder because he won't be able to tuck his head and make it a teensy bit smaller for me. And the hard back of his head will press against my back, causing what has only been described as horrible pain. So, we'll see! She said he still has plenty of time to spin around, and that even if he doesn't, he could still easily be born vaginally. Here's hoping he spins, though!!

Anyway... next week's appointment should be an interesting one, because they will do my first internal exam. They'll be able to tell me if I'm dilated at all, which I am dying to know!!! I can hardly wait!

Dropping???

Could it be so? Am I actually starting to drop? Or am I (once again) hallucinating? Compare a picture I took this morning (plaid pants) to one taken exactly two weeks ago...

I sure hope that this is progress, because I have been soooooo uncomfortable the last few days. It feels like I have been kicked in the crotch, and my hips make these lovely crunching noises whenever I stand up. It HAS to be from the baby dropping lower in my pelvis, right??????

The Ant and the Grasshopper

I was an ant today! Hooray!! If you're not familiar with Aesop's fable about the ant and the grasshopper, then click here. In addition to cleaning the entire house and going grocery shopping this morning, I also managed to start cooking food for after our little guy gets here! I made a lasagna, a chicken noodle casserole, a chicken taco casserole, a pot of chili, and filling to make several chicken pot pies. Yeah!!! I even took a picture of my work, because I was so proud:

Hooray!! I still have a few more things I want to make, but I'm off to a good start. In addition to cooking like a madwoman, I managed to have time to go out to lunch with my parents, who came down today to watch my brother play in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament (he and two of his teammates are actually staying with us tonight, and should be here soon). And then, to top it all off, I washed all the dishes and baked brownies, just 'cuz I needed them. Woohoo!!! I feel so on top of things today!! Time to have a baby already! :P

Random thought: I was reading that Wikipedia article I linked to in the first paragraph, and thought it was so interesting to learn that in the original Greek fable, the grasshopper was actually a cicada. When we were in Greece last summer, the cicadas were out in full force. The noise was deafening!! They were really annoying. I kind of like the story better with a cicada instead of a grasshopper.

Look Out, She's Gonna Blow!

This pic was taken the other day, and I still can't get over how gigantic my belly is... It doesn't surprise me, though, because I am starting to FEEL gigantic (and it's really uncomfortable). I really do feel like I am some sort of human ticking time bomb. Stand clear, I could go at any time! :P

36 Weeks!!

For the brave ones... My bare belly!! EEK!

Eight months down, one month to go! Boy do I feel massive! And yet, I am wearing horizontal stripes... Oh well. This is one of Kori's shirts, and it is SUPER comfortable. So take that, fashion police! :P

"How's he gonna get outta there??"

hehe!! I just remembered a time last school year, when Kori was just a few weeks away from giving birth... One of the Special Day Class students (a REALLY cute kid) came up to her while we were out on the playground and asked, "What's in there?" (pointing to her belly). When she said it was a baby, he responded with, "No, what KIND of baby?" It took a minute, but we realized that he wanted to know if the baby was a boy or a girl. So, Kori told him it was a boy. He seemed satisfied, and walked off. A few minutes later, he returned to ask, "How's he gonna get outta there? Your mouth or your butt?" I just about choked! Kori was at a loss for words, and I finally said something to the effect of, "Oh, he's a pretty big baby, she might need to have surgery to get him out." He walked off, mumbling, "Yeah, they'll need to do surgery..." under his breath. That still cracks me up! I loved that kid!

Anyway... tomorrow, I will have completed 36 weeks!!! I can't even describe how quickly the time has flown by. It seems to be speeding up, too, which is really frightening! Being back at work now, I have so many responsibilities and things that need to get done. On top of my regular duties (which are many), I have to get everything ready to have a substitute teach my class for nearly three months. I have already written up an entire book for her (36 typed pages with a table of contents, no joke!!), and I keep thinking of things to add. I probably wouldn't be nearly as anal about things if I didn't already know that I would be coming back on January 6th and teaching this group for the rest of the year. It would be so nice to be one of those teachers who gets to stay out for the rest of the year or (better yet!) become a full-time stay-at-home mom, but that's just not in the cards. It almost makes me want to pull up all our California roots and move someplace with a lower cost of living, but I don't see that happening. At least, not anytime soon!

But yes... There is going to be a baby here, and soon!!!!! Kori had her baby at 38 weeks. I don't really see our little guy arriving early, but even so... The absolute latest he could be here is 5 or 6 weeks from now, and he'll most likely arrive before then. My due date is exactly one month from yesterday! I'm starting to get scared, though, about how he's "gonna get outta there." That sounds, like, really painful! And an epidural isn't even an option until you dilate at least 4 centimeters. But it's inevitable that he has to come out sometime, and the great thing about it is that- hey!- we're going to have a baby when it's all said and done! :) I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HIM!!!!! What do you think he'll look like? Any predictions????? :)

The Perils of Gift Wrap

Warning: This has nothing to do with pregnancy, and everything to do with my cat's butt. If you are squeamish, run away while you can!

So today I get home from work, and Charlie isn't there to greet me at the door like he usually is. That sometimes happens, usually when he's been taking a nap. In those cases, he is usually sitting at the other end of the hallway, blinking and yawning at me (he is so cute!). But today, no. I discovered him hunkering down by the kitchen window, right in front of our sink. As soon as he turned his little head toward me and gave a very disturbing meow, I knew something was very wrong-- I just didn't know what! I called his name. He took about two steps toward me before suddenly bolting off across the countertops and over by our microwave, where he hunkered down again. As he ran, I noticed something was dangling from his rear end... I grabbed a wad of paper towels, held him down, and grabbed hold of the mystery dingleberry. And guess what? I pulled out a piece of poo attached to a seven-inch-long piece of ribbon. Green ribbon. The kind you curl with scissors to decorate presents. Like baby shower presents. Anyway, Charlie has always loved to play with ribbons, but we've never seen him eat any and weren't concerned about that. But apparently, he ate a big piece, and it didn't come out so well.

But wait, it gets better! I got it out, but he was still acting kind of weird about his rear end. I realized that it was still poopy, so I got a baby wipe and cleaned him up (good practice?? haha!). At that point, he was a happy camper, and he finally climbed down and went to eat and drink from his dishes. That's when I saw the carpet under the dining table... Crisscrossed with "skid marks" from where he obviously tried to scrape off his unwelcome attachment. EWWWW!!!!!!! I got down on my hands and knees to clean it up as best I could (and it LOOKS totally clean now), but Gus is going to buy detergent for our steam cleaner on his way home from work. So gross. And of course, the fact that his poopy butt was all over the countertops wasn't exactly comforting, either (don't worry, I cleaned them up REALLY well and disinfected everything). Honestly, though, my main reaction is: Poor kitty!!! He is no longer allowed to play with ribbon unsupervised. The end.

Appointment

Everything continues to be a-okay after my Ob/Gyn appointment this afternoon! My blood pressure is 120/70 (the same as it's been all along), my weight gain is good (normal range), I'm measuring 34.5 weeks, his heartbeart is 152 beats per minute, and he is still head-down in my belly. At this point, there is a 97% chance that he will stay in the head-down position, so that's excellent news! Everything is just so... normal! Hooray! I did mention to my doctor that the other doctor (in Internal Medicine) wouldn't give me a TB skin test last week, and he got really annoyed. He said there was absolutely no reason why they shouldn't have given it to me, and that pregnant women get them all the time. And he was ticked that they hadn't called him for his opinion. He said he was going to email the department about it and let them know that TB skin tests are just fine for us preggos. That was kind of reassuring, since it went along with everything I had read... I was annoyed that the doctor wouldn't give me my TB test. I wasted so much time for that pointless appointment!

Anyway... in EXCITING news... I have now officially scheduled all of my appointments up until October 17th-- the day after my due date!! I am hoping I won't need any more appointments beyond that, but it's a possibility. Still, they're all scheduled! My next one is two weeks from today (at 36 weeks, 6 days), and then I have three weekly appointments in October. I was so happy with the time slots I got-- all of them are after school hours, so I will not have to use of ANY of my sick days! And I'm going to need all my sick days for my maternity leave, so that is a very good thing thing! Speaking of my maternity leave... We hired my substitute last week! Now I can breathe a huge sigh or relief, knowing the kids will be in competent hands while I'm gone. And she is actually going to be my sub tomorrow afternoon, since I have to attend a meeting... I hope things go well! :)

Random Thought: I haven't seen our little guy on ultrasound since over 16 weeks ago... I wonder what he looks like?? I can't wait to see him in real life!!!!

Whoa.

Check out my belly this afternoon (34 weeks, 3 days)

Now compare it to just two weeks ago, and tell me that I have not grown a ton. This belly is out of control!! I actually wasn't planning on taking a belly picture today (the regular plan is once every 4 weeks so I don't torture myself), but I thought that maybe I had dropped a little. Unfortunately, the picture didn't really answer my question, but I just couldn't believe how much bigger I'd gotten. Luckily, it's pretty much just in my belly. Still... Do you think I've dropped at all?? The weekly emails I get told me that the baby should begin to "engage in the pelvis" this week. I'm not sure if it's in my head or not, but I have begun to feel increasing pressure/discomfort in the pelvic area... I have also been getting up a lot more often at night now to use the restroom (3 or 4 times instead of just 1). Anyway, I don't know whether I've dropped at all or not, but I DO know that this baby will be here soon. AAACK!!!!!!!!! (starting to freak out a little here...)

Hmm...

A few weeks ago, I got a notice at work saying that my TB test results were about to expire, and that I needed to have a new test done by the end of September or the district would put a hold on my paycheck. As a teacher, I have to do this every few years, but I hadn't realized that this was the year! No big deal, though, right? I called my regular doctor's office (not my Ob/Gyn) to schedule an appointment, and told them I was almost 34 weeks pregnant. My doctor said it was not a problem, and I arranged to go in and get the shot this afternoon. My appointment, however, was with a different doctor, since mine left to go on vacation.

After sitting in an examination room for nearly 45 minutes, with occasional visits from this one nurse (who sometimes works in Ob/Gyn), I was starting to get really annoyed. It should have been a really quick visit-- just jab me in the arm and be done with it! But the doctor finally came in, and he said that he didn't feel comfortable giving me the injection since the chemical was a Category C drug (no studies have been done on pregnant women to see if it has adverse results). He ended up writing me a note, saying that I'd have to wait until after the pregnancy, but I couldn't help but feel a little confused!

When Kori was pretty far along in her pregnancy, her doctor MADE her take a TB test as a prerequisite for being in the hospital. It was not even an option! So I am really confused. But whatever... I just hope that my school district will accept the note and NOT put a hold on my paycheck this month!! hmmm...