Still no baby. Some increasingly-real contractions, a little scare yesterday when I thought I might be leaking fluid (ahem), but nothing to get too excited about.
I'm beginning to despair of the size of this baby. I'm carrying her almost entirely in the front (Terry says from the back I don't look pregnant, but maybe she's just being nice), and she's (Lindsey, not Terry) still pretty high. But OH. MY. GOD. Aside from the fact that the doctor says she's measuring big, and her movements are VERY pronounced and obvious - even now when everything I read says she "should" be moving less - her hiccups shake my body. Like, literally. I'm sitting here now, typing this entry, and Lindsey-dove has the hiccups. And the wiggles. Her whole body hiccups, so I'm getting rhythmic kicks down at my lower-left pelvis, and just under my right ribs. My WHOLE body jumps, every time she hiccups. Every 5 seconds, just like clockwork.
And she hates contractions. Like, really bad, "oh, no, you DITTENT" hates them. She squirms and wiggles and rolls and pokes and jerks in these big, flagrant ways. She reminds me of a hockey player, with all the shoving and the poking and the jabbing. I can just imagine her kicking and clawing her way out when "real" labor comes. I mean, natural labor is tough enough, without having *her* fighting me, too, yaknow?
I made this one and the one from yesterday as part of the Scrapbooking 101 course I've been writing.
Another OB check today, still no real news. No protein, no Strep B, no blood pressure problems (117/76), reasonable (3 pounds this week) weight gain, good fetal heart rate (130). The only thing of note is that the doc will be out of town this weekend - he's going skiing. I told him that was no problem, because there was no way she was coming this early. Increased contractions, but I'm still sticking to 2/21 as my guess at the birth date.
Mike is teaching Adam about frogs this week in his science class. Yesterday, they were reading a story about the life cycle of a frog, and Mike mentioned that frogs typically lay 40,000 eggs.
Mike: How would you like to have 40,000 brothers and sisters? That would be a very big family, wouldn't it? You'd probably
always have someone to play with.
Adam: Yes, but I think I would get pestered a lot.
Heh.
Incidentally, I'm 37 weeks pregnant today, and so officially "term." There's nothing at all to report (OB appointment tomorrow morning), and I don't think we'll have the baby any time soon. So. Yeah. No news is good news.
I don't know what's causing that weird blue stripe at the top of the layout, but it's something mechanical with the scanner, I think. In person, the background is a solid sheet of mint-green cardstock.
"It's gonna hurt bad before it gets better." - Keith Urban, from I Wanna Cry
Incidentally, I scanned this on my brand new 12" scanner (thanks Mom & Dad!) - no stitching!
I went to Spokane yesterday - alone, for a change - to visit Margi and her new beautiful baby boy. I don't want to say too much about the visit or the new baby's delivery, because Margi hasn't made an official announcement on her site, but suffice it to say that he is a teeny-tiny CUTIEPIE, and hopefully everyone will be home very soon.
There's something about walking around VeryPregnant in a hospital that makes people feel compelled to ask you questions. Maybe they were afraid I was lost? Like, perhaps I didn't REALLY mean to be in recovery, but was looking for delivery instead? Whatever the reason, it seems to make people say the most asinine, insensitive things. Do people not realize - or maybe not remember - how very emotional and tear-prone we mothers-to-be are? Last night, I was asking for directions to Margi's room, when the Informations girl asked me, "And when are YOU due?" in a voice that conveyed she was sure I was about to squat out a baby right there on her nice clean floor any minute.
"I have another month to go," I said cheerfully, and with a smile.
"A month??? Are you carrying twins???"
*blink*
*blink blink*
Alrighty, now I realize some people sort of lack that filter between things you THINK and things you SAY, so I decided to post a helpful list of things NOT to say to women who are this pregnant. I think I've done this before (can't find the link), but clearly it's still relevant.
Things Not to Say to a Big Ol' Pregnant Woman
And last, but DEFINITELY, DEFINITELY not least...
Another blissfully boring doctor's appointment took place today in this week's episode of Let's Make a Baby. There was no weight gain this week, and blood pressure was down to 130/72. Fundal measurement is up another centimeter, just like it has been for the last little bit. Lindsey is still consistently measuring a little bit big, and made nice at the doctor as he did a quick ultrasound to check heart rate and amniotic fluid (he pronounced it "not too much, not too little"). She is, as Dr. Parsons put it, "in launch position" with head still down and spine almost exactly aligned with my midline. Aside from the Strep-B test (a vaginal/rectal swab) there was nothing remarkable. We go back next week for more of the same.
Oh, and about the picture... please be kind. I'm a lil emotional. It was a self-portrait I took on a timer with my new camera (which I still love).
I've been snapping a lot of pictures with my new camera. Here are a few, in no particular order.
This is not a baby. That is a toddler.
This can't POSSIBLY work. I mean, I've done it before, more than once... but still I say - look at the straw-thin cervix. Now look at the grapefruit-sized baby head.
Straw.
Grapefruit.
...
Maybe I'm going to start calling Lindsey "fresh-squeezed."
I don't give a sh*t WHAT Babycenter says, this kid has got an entire PlayLand of room in there, and she intends to make full and complete use of it. At the moment, she's practicing walking (upside-down) on the balance beam. A moment ago, she was working the pummel horse, and before that, it was the rings.
It. F*cking. Hurts. She's a BIG baby, and when she moves, I feel it. Apparently it isn't enough that I have constant heartburn (who ever heard of ICE CREAM HEARTBURN???), or that my bladder is roughly the size of a shot glass, or that I forget what I'm talking about in the MIDDLE OF A WORD. Oh, no. Those joys are not enough. My darling little girl must make hourly rearrangements of my vital organs. I can just hear her in there. "Who left this kidney here? I don't like kidneys in the middle of my living room! Put it out! *shove*"
She's due a month from today, but my babies are notoriously slow to arrive. I predict February 21st. I love her dearly, and I can not WAIT to see her darling face in color - not least because it means she won't be beating the hell out of me anymore!
Thursday I took Mary up to her first class at Picture Pages. The original plan had been to have her class at another store, but they canceled on her at the last minute because she was the only enrollee. Grrrr. Anyway, along the way we stopped for dinner at The Golden Corral and for a tiny bit of shopping at Wal-Mart.
It's always a lot of fun to hang out with Mary. She's funny and smart, and we share absolutely NO similarity in our choice of eye candy, so we're always watching different people. Still, I can tell we're getting close to "go" time with this baby, because ten minutes of walking in Wal-Mart about wore my ass out. Were those aisles always so LONG??
Mary seemed to enjoy her class, even if some of the people involved (including the teacher) were a little too serious about scrapbooking for her taste. She finished with a really cute layout, though, so I'm glad she went and enjoyed herself. While she took the class, I worked in the back on an album for Lindsey, and got four pages done!
Lindsey's album was inspired by a similar album I made for Margi (pictures below), which we delivered after the class. We had a very nice little visit, and Margi seemed to like her baby album. But as usual, ten minutes became an hour and a half, and all too soon it was time to leave and head for home. We got in around midnight.
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Yesterday, Mike, Kayla, Thomas, Adam, and I all went into town for our doctor's appointment. Lindsey and I are both still doing fine - bp 130/82, weight gain 5 pounds in 2 weeks, no protein in urine, I didn't catch her fetal heart rate but doc says she's "consistently measuring a little on the large side" - and for the first time this pregnancy we had an OB visit with NO ultrasound! She's probably so big at this point that all that would fit on the screen at one time is, say, a toe. ;)
After that and a very brief 18-month checkup for Thomas, the poor kids all got poked. Thomas had two immunizations and his flu booster; the other two each got their flu boosters. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth and screaming, as the older two kids are savvy enough to know to dread it, and the nurses were less than speedy in getting the needles ready. Nevertheless, they administered the actual shots swiftly, and we left with tearful children. All was made better a little later with the liberal application of ice cream and Cheetos.
Adam: (after reviewing a picture drawn for him by Mary) So, let me get this straight... he's going to take over the world with his skeletorial powers, right?
Terry: Ouch! I hit myself in the head with my brain!
Ok, she really said "braid", not "brain", but both David and I heard "brain", and it was funny as hell.
Terry: How did you sleep last night?
Kayla: (puzzled look on her face) I just closed my eyes and laid down to do that!
Week 2 of the Scrapbooking 101 course is up. That and pregnancy (normal, normal, boring, normal) has ruled my life lately, so there isn't much else to report.
Speaking of which, care to guess on which day I launched ScrapMentor?
We did have a Girls' Night Out last night (with me, Kayla, Terry, and Mary) that was a lot of fun. We ran a few errands (quick shopping stops, for the most part) and saw the movie Cheaper By the Dozen 2. It was cute and campy, and something we could all watch and get some enjoyment out of. We finished off with dinner at Winger's (as usual, the wings were great, the rest was ho-hum at best), then came on home.
Thomas and "his" "May!"
I like my new camera. :)
I have been blessed with this pregnancy (major knocking on solid wood) - we've had no complications to speak of, Lindsey is still fine as wine with lots of room to wiggle around in, a nice healthy heartrate, and plenty of amniotic fluid. My weight gain has been surprisingly low (at my OB appointment on Thursday it was up 3 pounds for the last 2 weeks), blood pressure is well in hand (132/72, at last count), no edema or cramping or spotting. I'm still usually pretty comfortable in this body, even though it's kind of a duplex situation right now. Of course, the worst is before me in that regard. Still, I have been a very, very lucky pregnant woman this go-round. Thank the good Lord.
The fact that this is probably our last baby has made me a little more philosophical than usual. I continue to marvel at the fact that each of my babies is so very different, even while inside. Adam moved some, but was reasonably placid while in utero. He's still the one of our children most likely to be able to SIT STILL for a reasonable amount of time with a book or a game. Kayla twitched a lot before she was born. She had pretty regular movement patterns, with long periods of quiet in between. As a three-year-old, she's a relatively quiet little girl, with real artistic and emotional streaks to her. Thomas made these little jerky movements all of the time. He never seemed to sit still. That hasn't changed.
But Lindsey! My goodness! The huge, sweeping, rolling movements are a wonder to behold. It's really hard to believe we have less than two months to go when she still seems to have so much room for her acrobatics. She actually rarely rests still - only maybe 3-4 hours during my waking day - and her movements are very grandiose. Mike has felt them with his hands, and calls it "moving furniture." It's amazing the little darling hasn't poked holes right out through my abdomen, I tell ya!
But I wouldn't change a thing. She's healthy and strong and beautiful (I've had enough ultrasounds to KNOW) and wonderful, and I can not WAIT to find out what kind of person she will be. Do her movements portend some part of her personality, as well? Will she be more dramatic than her sister? More physical than her brother? (God help me!) More active than all three of her siblings put together? Will she crawl sooner? Talk earlier? Will she want to cuddle up to me? Will she want her arms free? My boys both liked to be swaddled as newborns; Kayla could not abide it. How will Lindsey react? She can't seem to stand being penned in NOW, I can't imagine she'll like the confinement.
But you never know.
I, for one, can hardly wait to find out.
We have a rule here that you aren't allowed to go into anyone else's bedroom without their permission. Adam is forever trying to get into Kayla's room to play with her stuff. This conversation just took place:
Adam: Kayla, can I go play in your room?
Kayla: Yes, you can.
Mike: No, Adam, you can't just go into your sister's room and play while she's doing her reading.
Kayla: But I said he can! You shouldn't change my mind for me, Daddy.
Oh. My. Gawd. I thought I was going to inhale my tongue, trying not to laugh out loud. She's growing up. Just what the world needs: another generation of independent-thinking Gunderloys.
