This Pregnant Lady's Top 10

Though I'm no David Letterman, it did occur to me that other people going through this same wonderful (and occasionally miserable) experience might benefit from a few of the helpful things I found along the way. You'll notice that most of these help with the 'miserable' parts--I'll leave dealing with the wonderful parts up to you. So, here is my list of Top 10 things that have helped me out so far...some of them I didn't actually have, but really wished I did:

10. Ear Plugs. Invest in a good set and wear them often, especially around those who feel it is their duty to give you unsolicited advice. Like people who like to blog about their Top 10 list.

9. Body Pillows. I tried Snoogles, I tried normal pillows, I tried strategically placed cocker spaniels. Nothing worked better for helping me sleep at night than a couple of body pillows to support my back and hips.

8. An experienced toe painter. "Experienced" is the key word here. It's hard to feel at all pretty or pulled together when you are pregnant, and for me, having painted toes helped. However, after a certain point painting your own is no longer an option. Tim, bless his heart, tried to assist but ended up painting more toe than nail. Thankfully, my mom came to the rescue and now everyone I meet is left to ponder how the heck I can paint my toes when I can't even see them. Messing with people's minds like this is another way to put a smile on your face.

7. Keens. I love Keens. I can't say enough about them...I have like 10 pairs of Keens and they are the most comfortable shoes ev-ah. These have been my pregnancy favorite (mostly because there are no laces to bend down and tie), which means that I also have some awesome V-shaped tan lines on my feet.

6. A reacher grabber doohickey. I didn't actually have one of these, but I so wish I had. A third trimester essential.

5. Burt's Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter. Absolutely awesome stuff, I picked this up in the first trimester when the belly started to stretch. Of course, it can't totally prevent stretch marks, but it does help to lessen them and it really helps with all the itchies.

4. A Merry Maid. Right about the second trimester, cleaning my house became about the farthest thing from my mind--madly organizing closets is one thing (some call it nesting), but dusting, mopping, etc just didn't even rate up there on my list of things to do. Sue (Tim's Mom) came to our rescue here and has been a real godsend, coming every two weeks to do the deep cleaning. I really can't thank her enough, and I'm sure all the people who have visted our house and not been eaten by sock gnomes also appreciate it.

3. A masseuse. Find one. Find a good one that specializes in prenatal massage and massages you while you're lying on your side. Then make an appointment every two weeks! There is no way I would have been able to keep up with my work schedule and all the things the voices in my head were telling me to do without Katie, my massage lady, taking a jack hammer to my shoulders every few weeks. Even Tim appreciates her, due to the huge difference in my personality after each appointment.

2. A crunch-meister. Otherwise known as a Chiropractor. Some people love 'em, some hate 'em, but I know I wouldn't have made it all the way to 39 weeks *without* waddling without mine. Once again, find one that specializes in prenatal care (best way is to get a recommendation) and then make sure to keep your appointments.

1. A husband AND a wife. You really need both. Don't get me wrong, Tim has been amazing and the best supporting partner I could ask for. From fetching countless jars of pickles, to rubbing my feet, to listening to me whine in one breath and direct him to do something in the next, the man deserves to be sainted. But there's just something about having a woman to talk to who can sympathize with those daily gripes that makes all the difference--that's where my work wife, Nicole, came in. Especially handy that she was training for Ironman during this time, which meant that we actually had a lot of the same symptoms (hip pain, increased appetite, weird cravings, tired, homicidal, etc) and could relate to each other's woes in a way a man never could, even though he tries his darnedest. My heartfelt thanks to both of them, without whom I would have surely been committed and had this baby in captivity. Please hang in there, I promise I'll get better. ;o)

There you have it--all 10 cents worth. Still no baby, but at least if you have this list you can get through this and still be as sane as I am. You'll have to decide if that's enough for you. :P

Chicken Soup for the Control Freak's Soul

For those of you who are like me and "efficient organizers and planners" (a friend's very nice way of saying that I'm a control freak), you can probably relate to the the fact that one of the most unnerving parts of pregnancy is not knowing when the big day is. Though I'm sure this is stressful for every pregnant woman, trying to bend your work schedule around it tends to compound the challenge...and all those little projects you lined up to complete before you were out on leave tend to multiply the longer you're still around to take them on.

So, over the weekend I made a decision to start my leave next Monday, even if the baby hasn't come yet. We are due on Sunday, so we're really hoping that this will be a moot point, but it's amazing how being able to control just one little piece of the puzzle can give you such peace of mind! After 4 or 5 people told me I really needed to relax all within the space of one day, I decided that I may be wound a bit tight and it was time to put an official deadline on all those work tasks. Aaaah, feels so much better. Though I probably shouldn't get used to it, I'm currently basking in my planning efficiency high.

We also made an effort to do just fun things and relax over the weekend. This included going out to eat at a lot of our favorite "adults only" restaurants in the area that we probably won't be frequenting for a little bit. At the end of the weekend, my shoulders felt more like sedimentary rock than igneous rock, so I think we made progress. ;o)

My body agrees. We had our weekly checkup this morning and I am now about 75% effaced and "a good 1, almost 2" centimeters dilated--yay! He also went ahead and "gently" stripped my membranes, hoping to get things moving a bit. Go baby, go.

What's in a Name?

No really? What? I promised rants on this blog and I haven't delivered one for a while, so I figured this one is overdue. ;o) Let me preface this by saying that (in my experience) every pregnant woman has at least one 'hot button' question that after about 9 months, or even 6, really starts to drive her nuts. For some it's the 'How are you feeling?' for some it's "Wow, are you having twins? You're really starting to show!'. For Tim and me, it has been the ever present "So what's the name?" question. Referring to the baby as the 'little monster' hasn't happened by accident--we found out early on that the problem with sharing the names you are considering is that everyone feels the need to offer an opinion. ;o) Since we were drowning in unsolicited advice already, the name debate turned out to be the last straw and we clammed up and decided to make it a surprise for everyone.

However, in the interest of pacifying our dear readers, I decided to post some of the names we have considered:

1. Summer Morning
2. Trixie Jo
3. Diamond Esmerelda
4. Shimmerie Derue
5. Olive Indiana
6. Chlamydia Dawn

None of these names had just the right "zing" to them though, so they are off the list and therefore fair game. We'll leave it to you to interpret your own definition of "zing". If anybody has any names to add that are of a similar caliber and quality, please, leave a comment--we'd love to add to this list. ;o)

As you have probably guessed, this post is mostly a way to fill blog space, since we have also found that you tend to get a lot of phone calls when you don't post for a few days and are 38+ weeks pregnant...so no baby yet, just more rants.

Dumb Calendar Anyway

Sometime around the beginning of the second trimester, Tim bought a "Miracle of Me" calendar that tells us what "Me" (aka "the little monster") is up to each day...how big she is, major stages of development, etc. It has been a fun way to keep in touch with the baby, mostly. Some day's entries are better than others. Saturday's calendar read something like "Great job, Mom!! You're now considered "full term", which is two weeks before to two weeks after your due date." After reading that entry, the conversation in our house went something like this:

Mandy: (looks down at belly) Did you hear that? Now get out!
Tim: (recovering from shock) Well, I guess we know what will happen when she turns 18.

I love the little monster, but after 38 weeks I'd dearly love to strangle the author of that calendar for even considering "two weeks after" the due date.

We did have our weekly check-up this morning and it appears that I am 70% effaced, no dilation yet, but she has dropped and has her head right up against the cervix. Once it is 100% effaced (i.e. the cervix has completely softened and thinned), it will start to dilate, or open. Meanwhile, she's hanging out there, knocking on the door and asking "are we there yet? are we there yet?" and so is Mom.

Random Thoughts from this Week

Besides acquiring a new assistant, there were a few other random events of interest that happened this week:

Monday - we had our ABC's of Breastfeeding class. We are very lucky in that KMC is a certified "baby friendly" hospital. This means that they are very pro-breastfeeding and have an extensive staff of lactation consultants to help moms and to watch over nursery procedures in general. For example, babies do not go to a nursery after they are born (assuming there aren't any problems)--they get to stay in the room with Mom in a bassinet. They will never be bottle fed, even in intensive care--not that they starve the baby, but other methods are used to ensure they get nutrients without ruining their chances at being breastfed by making them accustomed to a bottle too early on. And, there is a lot of support in general for nursing moms. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed when we went class--all of our other classes (Childbirth, Bringing Baby Home) were packed full and the attendees were all couples...new Mommies and Daddies, in this together. When we walked into the breastfeeding class however, there were only 6 or 7 other women there, and Tim was the only spouse that bothered to come. (The women said they tried to tell their husbands that it was "all boobs for two hours!" but apparently even this wasn't enough lure). I have to say that I'm very proud of Tim for wanting to be there and support me, without having to be dragged kicking and screaming. The other moms were proud of him, too, and with comments like "he's a stronger man than mine" abounding, I was inclined to keep a close eye out. ;o)

Tuesday - we had our weekly checkup. Things were a little busy, so they didn't check to my dilation, but we are measuring normally and everything looked good in the ultrasound.
Doctor: Wow, 37 weeks! Any day now...how are you feeling?
Mandy: Pretty damn pregnant, thanks.
Before we left, his parting shot was something about "yeah, any day now...and during daylight hours!" He must be on call this week.

Thursday - we had our car seat inspection. It does make me a little nervous that the guy was so shocked that we had actually read the instructions on the car seat and installed it correctly. ;o) Needless to say, Tim did a good job of getting in there and snug and secure, and if it hadn't been for having to wait for the people in front of us that didn't crack the manual, we would have been out of there in 5 minutes flat. At least now we know we can bring the baby home without worrying about peeling her off the ceiling upholstery when we get there.

Somewhere in there, the little monster also learned how to flip from side to side. Up to this point, she's been hanging out primarily on the left side, but the other day I looked down and her little bum was sticking out on the right. Now that she's figured it out, she seems to enjoy trying to corkscrew her way down lower and I'm getting the stretch marks to prove it. Let's hope this means she's figuring out a way out and the time is near.

My Secretary

I started working exclusively from my home office this week (which has been a real help, especially when I have a nap attack or just need to put my feet up or use the bathroom for the 50th time) and I seem to have acquired an administrative assistant. Each time I come into the office now, Penny jumps up in "her" chair and "assists". Her assistance usually consists mostly of licking and snoring, but who else do I know that will work for kibble? She has even promised to clear my schedule when the baby arrives.

This must be nesting...

Another productive weekend--both Tim and I seem to be driven to complete tasks around the house before the baby comes. This is both nice and exhausting, especially since it seems like there is more to do than we can ever get done! We did get to take a break and go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday (an excellent excuse to eat pastry and drink coffee, the coffee being an amazing and recent find--the barista serves it out of the back of a bus, but he is a real artist) and we also used up some gift certificates Tim has been hoarding from various holidays and occasions to get him a new trolling pole and tackle for fishing Lake Pend Oreille with his dad.

Other than that, it was work work work. I got my act together and baked a lasagna, a casserole, a pot pie and a quiche. No, this was not some kind of strange pregnant-woman craving, but instead some make-ahead meals to freeze so that we won't starve when the baby comes (or live off of pizza and mac 'n cheese). Tim followed suit and cleaned out our chest freezer and our pantry, which turned out to be a mammoth task but now we actually have room to store some food and we don't have to bring a headlamp and an oxygen tank to find food in the pantry.

As for the baby, she seems to be working on figuring out how to get out and into the world. Her movements definitely seem to have more of a purpose lately...little feet braced against my ribs and puuuuushing down, or her attempts to maneuver into more of an occiput anterior position (she's been laying about half way there, on the left side). This makes for some very entertaining belly waves, even if it is a rather uncomfortable sensation for mom. Another week down, let's hope there really is only 3 (or less!) to go!

Tiggrrrrrific

A friend sent a wonderful gift for the baby that has turned out to be fun for the whole family--a bouncing Tigger toy. If you haven't seen one of these, everyone needs one for the sheer entertainment value. ;o) The dogs aren't so sure about it (maybe it's possessed!) but it sure has been fun for us...

As you have probably guessed, the new camera arrived, too. ;o)

Chubby Cheeks

Though we aren't having any complications, Tim and I decided to have another ultrasound done around the 36 week mark just to check on the little monster and make sure there isn't anything to prevent a normal birth...and to make sure that she's staying under "Mom's Rule" of less than 8 lbs. ;o)

We got a great 3D image of her face and hand (her hand is on the right):


Look at how chubby those cheeks are! The machine claims she's already weighing in at 6lbs 10oz! Assuming she gains a half a pound a week (which is average for around this time), she doesn't have much time left if she's going to come out before she breaks Mom's Rule. ;o)

P.S. - This picture is actually rotated 180 degrees. You'll probably be as happy as we were to know that she is head down and on her way out, just like she's supposed to be.

June Showers - Pics

As promised, here are a few pics from the baby shower that Mom threw for me, the raccoons, and the turkey in Waha. ;o) Mom had setup the tables in the "beach garden," which turned out to be a very good thing because it was in the shade. Keeping with the garden theme, everyonehad a potted petunia to take home as a favor.

I mentioned earlier that we had three pregnant ladies in attendance, as well as one very new mom, so we couldn't resist the opportunity to take a few pictures. Here we have (from left to right) Anne, Sydney (Jen and Amy's cousin), Jen and her new baby boy (Sam, who is
as cute as can be), me, and Amy.

We realized that between the four of us we actually
represent all "four" trimesters (our childbirth instructor claims that there are actually four trimesters, but someone didn't know how to count--she's including the postpartum period). So we lined up to demonstrate. ;o) Amy is actually early second trimester if we're counting, and she's carrying twins, which I think the rest of us are thankful to have avoided.

What's neat about this picture is that we've all known each other since kindergarten. We all went to school together, graduated together, and now (through pure coincidence) are all having babies in the same year! We have been trying to figure out exactly what was in that fluoride rinse they gave us in elementary school, since it apparently had some kind of countdown clock in it that we weren't aware of...knew we should have made our parents sign that waiver. :P

Nursery

With this weekend marking the 36-week milestone (depending on who you talk to means that we are now "full term"...since that's what our ob/gyn says, who am I to argue?) it was also our deadline for getting everything ready for the little monster. We were thrilled when we got the call last week that the crib had arrived early and did not take 8-12 weeks like they said! So, we were able to complete the nursery and pick up some fill-in essentials that we needed to get through those first few weeks. This included:

--More wipes. We have a case of them, but realized we didn't have any dispensers...details. :P A diaper bag and stuff to fill it was high on the list as well.

--More newborn diapers. Once again, we have a case of 1s, but only 80 NBs and after Jen's post on poop shooting out the legs of Sam's, I thought it prudent to buy more.

--The crib, mattress, waterproof mattress pads, and a parent or two to help us load it and assemble it.

--A portable crib mattress for the pack 'n play bassinet, which is now happily installed in our bedroom (vacating the crib's place of honor in the nursery).

--An infant relief kit (mylicon, tylenol, gripe water, butt paste, etc) and basic health supplies (digital thermometer, nasal aspirator, nail clippers, valium).

--A smackerel of miscellaneous Pooh stuff to decorate with...decals, a panel that Mom and I turned into a wall hanging, a crib set I got an awesome deal on ($30 for the whole thing!).

--Changing pad, changing pad cover, and gorilla glue to perform a minor repair on the diaper champ that friends were so awesome as to give us.

--Shorts and pants for Tim, to accommodate his sympathy belly, and a few more cooler summer shirts for me that will hopefully get me through the last few weeks and beyond.

I've included some pics of the nursery below...we kind of went crazy with the Pooh theme, but at least those decals come off if we decide that we really would rather stuff the silly 'ol bear. Right now we're feeling pretty good about everything we got done this weekend, and are just waiting for a couple more things in the mail to be truly "ready" (the breast pump, and a new camera for my birthday since the LCD on ours went out and using the view finder seems so primitive). If I could insert sarcasm into the quotations around "ready" in print I would, but in the meantime we'll settle for saying "as ready as we'll ever be." Ready or not, here she comes...and hopefully soon. ;o)

The 360 degree view...

Our crib and crib set. Tim's Mom, Sue, made the XOXO quilt hanging on the front:

The changing dresser and pad, wipes, and large container of butt paste:

Daddy's little girl:

Wall hanging, futon for Mom and Dad, and a beautiful handmade Pooh quilt:

Chifferobe (I just like to type it), Tim's booties made by his Grandma Dean, and doll made by my Grandma Wells:

Now all we need is a baby!

Instant Replay

Nothing like jinxing yourself. After my joyous post last Friday regarding my "fixed" air conditioning in the Jeep, I left work to go home, happily refrigerated. As I got close to our house, my Jeep suddenly became possessed: the radio started going on/off, all the console lights started blinking, brake light coming on/off, etc. Having owned a Nissan that liked to eat alternators, I immediately recognized that the battery was dying and just hoped I would make it home...which I did! The Jeep died in the garage, just as I pulled in, and refused to start again. :P

I should preface this story with a factoid--when I picked up the Jeep, I noticed it was making a strange grunting/whirring noise when it started with the A/C on. The mechanic (no doubt suffering from 5 o'clockitis) assured me that it would go away, probably just working lube through the system, blah blah blah...and it did...only to reappear every time the Jeep was started again. :P Though I can't prove this was the cause of the dead battery (since we have never replaced that battery that we can remember), I suspect it was at least a contributing factor. Needless to say, after they towed the Jeep and replaced the battery, I made them continue the exorcism and replace the "new" air compressor, again.

The dejavu didn't stop there though. After picking up the Jeep, I needed gas...my poor Jeep is perpetually starving, so I ran across the street to the same Zip Trip that I left my credit card at the LAST time I picked up the Jeep the LAST time it had it's A/C fixed. You will be happy to know that this time I did not repeat the fiasco of dropping my credit card and leaving it at the gas station...while I'm glad a good Samaritan found it the first time, I'm not pushing my luck. :p

Hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th and emerges with all hair follicles in tact! More to come after the weekend, we're hoping to get the nursery together. :o)

June Showers

This weekend, Tim and I and Nicole and Karl and Sue went down to Waha for some fun in the sun--my Mom, Edy, threw a baby shower for the little monster in their Beach garden there and everyone had fun getting some sand in their toes, despite it being the hottest weekend so far this year. Considering that we had three pregnant ladies in attendance, it's a good thing we were able to find some shade! More pics of that to come later, going to have to raid other people's cameras, but it was really great to get to see everyone and chat and eat salads and strawberry shortcake.

We had a few additional guests of honor as well, that have been hanging around my parents' place and mooching off of the bird seed and water that my dad puts out...the watering hole was especially popular with the 100 degree heat. Recently, Mom Raccoon left her quadruplets under the barn, who proved to be quite entertaining (and into everything):

We also had another mother-to-be, who we suspect is currently sitting on her brood and waiting (probably as impatiently as I am) for them to hatch:

So many mothers and so many babies...I'm sure they appreciated that we threw them a baby shower, too! ;o) As the old saying goes, misery loves company, and at least we're not pregnant with four (like Momma raccoon) or I would truly be insufferable.