Like a library book, I'm overdue

Yes, I'm still pregnant.  I am not really complaining about this so much as I am in disbelief that I am still pregnant.  Today I walked the mall for two hours, with no contractions.  Then I had a massive breakdown when I got home.  Like, uncontrollable crying.  I don't know if I'm overtired or just tired or just done.  I told Sparks he could have a couple of his friends over to watch some NBA thing (ps I hate basketball).  DUMB IDEA. Who thinks having people over is a good idea for a woman who is 40 weeks pregnant? Yeah, not me. 

Anyway, so now I'm upstairs, blogging.  I did grad school work, for which I have absolutely no motivation, and now I'm blogging to avoid going downstairs where there are real people to whom I actually have to be nice and pleasant.  The last few days I've really lacked the motivation to do or see anyone. I want to curl up on the couch with Sparks and just not think.  Thinking makes me anxious.  The longer I'm pregnant, the more I start to worry about everything, like breastfeeding, or sleeping times, or naps...WAHHHH it's enough to make me want to start crying again.  I'm ready to jump into mommyhood, not dwell on the ins and outs of it. 

I'll stop my little pity party now and talk a little about the lovely week we had.  My last day of work was Wednesday, though I've been pretty busy with work still.  With email, I can still do a lot of the things I was doing at work.  The only thing that's really different is that I'm not actually in my classroom teaching, must to the dismay of my students.  I teach a class of over-achieving juniors who are in the middle of a major research project, so they're a little needy right now :)

Sparky and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day.  We've never gone out (except the one year we were in Vegas) and our  tradition is to cook an "extravagant" dinner for ourselves and enjoy a nice bottle of wine and champagne.  This year, we had steaks and au gratin potatoes. As a throwback, we lit up the fire pit and sat outside by the pool talking.  (throwback being...our first Valentine's day together, we both lived at home.  Sparky came over to my parent's house and I had their firepit set up and a blanket laid out full of yummy appetizers...so this year we celebrated "old school" style).  Thoughtful actions mean more to me than gifts; Sparky gave me some "coupons" to use once Daniel gets here (ie: one girls night out) and cadbury eggs, which as he said, are better than any crappy Valentine's candy.  Though right now, I will devour anything chocolate. 

Honestly, I don't mind Valentine's day.  I just hope that I always show Sparks how much I love him. 

39.3....update

Anxiously awaiting today's doctor's visit.  Induction moved to 2/22 if Daniel still hasn't arrived.  HOPING he comes before that. 

4 days away from my due date...feeling like a beached whale.

What I've done to help:

• Fallen on my butt
• Vacuumed and mopped 1500 square feet of my house
• Baked cookies for three hours
• Walked, walked, and walked more
• Bounced on a yoga ball
• Squats, lunges

So, we are waiting.  I'm actually doing better than Sparky! As he said last night, "it's getting annoying." I said, try carrying him around!  The waiting is tough but the stress that comes with carrying extra weight seems to be the toughest thing for me.  I have truly loved being pregnant, but I'm ready to not have to heave myself off the couch or out of a chair!

I will update after my apt. today...

And I'm a "good one" dilated, still 50% effaced but my cervix is lower which is good. Got my membranes stripped a bit in hopes it will help :)

Post 2: pictures, pictures, and more pictures

Firstly, some background about Sparky turning 30.  Sparky has always been Peter Pan, never wanting to grow up.  So much so that we threw him a Peter Pan-themed birthday party (complete with little kid goodie bags--ok they had mini bottles in them...) when he turned 27.  and hooks.  We wore hooks.


2010

Needless to say, accepting 30 has been quite a task for him.  He said he kept thinking of it as just his birthday rather than turning 30.  It was very important to me that he feel incredibly special on his 30th birthday, so at his party, I asked everyone to bring one of his "favorite things," something that reminded them of him.  The turnout was amazing and Sparky was definitely surprised by the gifts.  I also made him a beer cake.

And his birthday cake was pineapple upside cake with buttercream frosting.  AWESOME recipe

On a completely different note, Sparky is a great photog and tried his hand at some maternity photos.  Honestly, these photos are as good as if not better than the ones I paid for.  Sad to say, Sparky was right and I probably shouldn't have paid for pictures.  These were at 35 weeks I believe, when the belly was still manageable. 

would like to  brighten up the right side of my face...still learning the software

 

Wish I would've moved the blanket on the crib. How can I photo shop that out?!



Cockroach-0; JB's butt-1

Yesterday was Sparky's 30th birthday.  We have a tradition where we make each other breakfast our birthday mornings, so I got up early to make Sparks pressed breakfast burritos (amazing! basically a breakfast burrito put into a panini press: think crunchy, gooey goodness).  I saw a little cockroach when I walked into the kitchen.  Now, here in My Really Big State in the South, cockroaches are usually not little, so this one was little, about 2-3 inches max.  I dutifully got the heavy duty bugspray and sprayed the crap out of the thing.  But he didn't die.  So I sprayed more. And apparently this made the horrid little thing go bat sh*t crazy.  I was afraid he'd run away and not die, so I thought, well, I will just step on him.

Bad idea.

I was wearing slippers but forgot that I had just doused the tile in bugspray.  Out my legs go from underneath me and I land smack dab on my butt, bugspray now covering my whole right leg and cockroach guts covering my whole slipper.  And you know what I kept thinking? Please just let my water break.  No such luck. Not even a darn contraction after all that. 

Sparky went on to have a fabulous breakfast and birthday.  I went on to have a slight backache, and other than the cockroach, we are all ok :)  Have a fabulous Friday!

Sigh...no change

Another two week wait is upon us.

We scheduled an induction for 2/21, when I will be 40 weeks/5 days. I'm trying to give him as much time as possible to come on his own and my OB won't let me go past 41 weeks which I'm perfectly fine with!

I'm trying to embrace this time with hubs and know that my baby is happy and healthy rather than being upset that baby's not here sooner.

So here we go, on to week 39!

38.3 weeks

I have my 38 week appointment today. I'm hoping and praying that we've made progress since last week, and I will update after our appointment.  Given the amount of contractions I had yesterday and the intense pressure I've had every night, I will be quite disappointed if I'm still only 1 cm.  I realize that the dilation/effacement doesn't mean much in predicting labor, but it's still nice to hear that my body is working as it should.

Daniel's movements have definitely become alien-like and a tad painful, nothing I can't handle but enough to make me say oww.  And the bladder/cervix pressure is pretty intense.  The weird thing is, I think I'm going to miss this.  I'm going to miss his closeness and the little game we play where I rub his feet and he kicks me back. 

Sparky is so ready to meet his son.  He's been reading Happiest Baby on the Block which I'm so thankful for because he truly ponders and retains information better than I do! He woke up this morning talking about swaddling.  I never thought I could fall more in love with someone because they talk about swaddling and colicky babies, but I definitely am smitten by that boy. 

We did have Sparky's 30th birthday party on Saturday night and it was a great success.  He's been friends with most of these boys since he was little, so watching them all turn 30 within months of each other is a pretty awesome thing.  They tested out our hot tub/pool and played beer pong till about 2 am.  I guess boys don't really grow up much!  I have some good pics of the "beer cake" (think diaper cake with beer cans) that I made for the occasion, and as soon as I download the pics from my camera I'll post them.  I was pretty happy with how the house was decorated, especially accomplishing all of this (and a from-scratch pineapple upside cake) at 38 weeks pregnant.  Needless to say, I paid for being on my feet all day with sporadic contractions all night, but Sparks is more than worth it. 

So with that, I know you will all be waiting anxiously for my afternoon update.  My cervical state is so exciting, I know.

Update @ 37.3 weeks

I'm uber crazy at work trying to prepare to be out when baby Daniel makes his appearance, so this update will be brief...and bulleted...

• I feel humongous. I'm definitely out of that "awww, I like being a cute prego!" phase and onto "awwww, I love my baby but really wish shirts would cover my belly" phase
• I had to buy new tops to make room for my hugely-growing belly (and ps if you're expecting: Target is having a huge clearance on their maternity clothes AND the Moss.imo regular tanks are AWESOME during pregnancy--just buy a L or XL and they'll fit the whole time!)
• Dr. N. thinks Daniel will be between 7 and 7.5 pounds
• Today I was FINALLY dilated (1cm) and effaced (50%)
• Bad news: Daniel is face up...which means we will have to turn him once I go into labor.  I knew God was preparing me for a long labor with all these workouts I've been doing during pregnancy ;-) Dr. N. says it's not necessarily a c-section, but I will have to push a lot. I'm ok with that, but I'll do whatever it takes to get baby here healthy and happy.
• We are installing the car seat tonight. Promise.
• Shooting pains down the chacha = baby's head dropping.  At least there's a reason I cry out in shocked pain at random points in the evening.
• Sparky turns 30 next week...I'm hosting a 30th birthday party for 20 people on Saturday. At 38 weeks pregnant. 

I think that's it for now.  Happy Tuesday!