Saturday, June 20, 2009

Week 36 - Explosions, Bugs & Scary Books

Overall Mood: Life has been crazy lately.
  • Our kitchen exploded on Saturday... ok, well really the watermelon sprung a leak and covered the countertop with rotten juice, then the Foreman grease trap spilled all over the freshly cleaned countertop, stove and between the two. The smell was horrendous, so we lit candles and moved the stove and cleaned everything!! To make matters even more fun, one of those large glass jars with a built-in candle exploded- complete with shattered glass and leaking wax that covered, you guessed it -my freshly cleaned countertops. Fortunately, nothing was stained or ruined. It will always be remembered as "The Day Our Kitchen Exploded".

  • My sleep schedule is continuing to be sporadic. I truly think that the body gets pregnant women ready for motherhood by depriving them of sleep. I have always had very vivid and often lucid dreams, meaning that I can easily recall them, often re-enter them and sometimes control my actions within them. Pregnancy has been known to enhance a woman's ability to dream; I, however, have noticed only an increase in lucidity which could easily be attributed to a lower level of stress. If you actually know me, (which I assume you do), then you can imagine the chaos that exists within my mind- so my dreams are generally very entertaining but have become strong enough to wake me up and keep me awake with manifestations of nerve-tingling sensations. Last night, it was the imaginary tiny bugs that continued to wake me up, crawling over my body, one at a time. It seems a stretch to classify this as a "nightmare" because it wasn't scary- just uncomfortable and irritating.

  • Speaking of scary... I intentionally waited to begin reading about the act of childbirth. People have been asking me if I am getting scared; I have honestly responded that I was not because childbirth is a beautiful and natural process- women have been having babies in fields for thousands of years. I have been and continue to look forward to this as the most amazing thing I will ever do and the biggest adventure my body has ever faced. However, in addition to the Lamaze classes we took, I began to read birthing books to guide me through a natural, unmedicated childbirth. So I began with Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, per a friend's suggestion. The book began with labor stories, but they all seemed like birthing in a hospital was such a negative experience for these women! While I was open to entertaining the idea of delivering outside a hospital, we agreed that a hospital birth was the most cost-effective and safe solution for us. The stories made me nervous because I know my doctor is leaving town for a couple of weeks and I hadn't met his partners, so I wouldn't familiar with the doctor that would deliver our baby in case I go into labor while he's away and perhaps they would be less-wonderful than our doctor!! But our doctor did a great job of answering my questions and reassuring me today at our appointment; I'm feeling much better!
Body Changes: Tummy measured 34 cm, which is still small but Ace is normal size and growing at normal rate - so our doctor has no concern. I'm less hungry - perhaps the baby is taking up all the space in my tummy? I am more tired, my feet have begun to hurt and I'm getting occasional headaches - which is new to me, but I'm washing them away with tons of water.

Emotions: This is the best thing to ever happen to me. I love being pregnant and look forward to meeting this little man!!

Flavors: Ice cream! We have been enjoying our last days without a baby and dining out using gift certificates from Restaurant.com. They send me coupons for discounts on their already discounted gift certificates to local restaurants - so I stock up when they are 80% off!

How it works:
  • They sell a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant for $10. They don't have chain restaurants, but good places we actually go!
  • I use my coupon code and pay $2! There are always special rules to using the gift certificate, but they are generally simple like you have to spend at least $35 and they will include tip of 18%.
  • Math break-down: we order $35 worth of food, (alcohol doesn't usually count) - they add $7 for tip, plus tax= $44/approx. minus $25 gift certificate = TOTAL of $19, plus the initial $2 I paid for the gift card.
Appreciation: Kyle's sister-in-law, Audra, saved almost ALL of her children's baby clothes, which works perfectly because their youngest is a 2-year-old boy, born on July 7th. So not only was she able to give us TONS of beautiful clothes, they are all the right size for the right season! I have been having fun washing & folding the tiny outfits, deciding what goes where and what gets hung up, etc. Two big realizations:
  • one load of baby clothes takes a LONG time to fold because there are so many tiny little things to fold
  • almost all of the clothes match each other- they are mostly blue or something that coordinates nicely with blue
Baby Steps: I'm still enjoying the daily hiccups! His level of activity changes per day and he still moves a lot more when Kyle is around. We went to see my Daddy for Father's Day on Sunday and he was moving around for the entire drive! He also caught a case of the hiccups while at lunch so Daddy got to feel my tummy while it bounced!

Ace Update: (almost verbatim from BabyCenter.com) Ace is gaining about an ounce a day. He weights almost 6 pounds, (like a crenshaw melon), and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He's shedding most of the downy hair that covered his body, as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath. Next week, your baby will be considered full-term. Fortunately, our doctor says that Ace is in a head-down position, meaning he is taking the correct steps to arrive!!

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