Due Date Games

So my last post was apparently NOT my last pre-baby post.  Instead, I am going crazy with anticipation and trying to find some creative ways to spend my time.

First, here is our due date guessing game poll:

Sept. 1st:  Amanda
Sept. 2nd:  Sally, Jentry, Julia
Sept. 3rd: Phil, Emily, Christina
Sept. 4th:  mom (grandma)
Sept. 5th:  Nick, Ben, Connie, Elizabeth, Catherine, Brenda, Ivy, Laura
Sept. 6th:  Wombat, Mark
Sept. 7th: Christine, Steph, Curtis
Sept. 8th:  Margaret
Sept. 9th:  Shane
Sept. 10th:  Dana, Tia
Sept. 11th:  Tim
Sept. 12th:  Buggy (Me!)
Sept. 15th:  Marcie
Sept. 16th:  Mahala
Sept. 23rd:  Robert

The only two dates not claimed yet are Sept. 13th and 14th, so I'm sure she'll wait until then ;)

Next, here are the "already taken" dates that she could come:

Sept. 5 (our anniversary),
Sept. 7 (wombat's hearing in Hocking Co.)
Sept. 8 (MIL's birthday),
Sept. 10 (cousin's wedding/anniversary), (cousin Evelyn's birthday)
Sept. 11 (step-mom's birthday),
Sept. 12 (cousin Craig's anniversary), (cousin Brent's birthday)
Sept. 14 (Robert's (wombat's best friend) birthday)
Sept. 15 (late grandma's birthday).

As of this morning (Wednesday), still  no true labor signs yet, except that my tummy is kind of off, and I had a couple really long (1 minute +) Braxton Hicks contractions.  Today is one of my really tired days, so I hope she doesn't decide to come today because I could really use a nap/good night's sleep before labor.  More to come later - our next doctors visit is tomorrow so I imagine there will be another update.  We are planning to get some spicy Thai food on the way home since the Mexican food hasn't worked yet.   We've also been told that having sexy time might help speed things up, but Wombat has been freaked out about that ever since the doctors told us they could all touch BugBat's head during the internal exams haha.  Good thing we celebrated our anniversary early!

Speaking of that, it was a great anniversary!  We went in early August to revisit the Franklin Park Conservatory, where we had our ceremony, and spent a couple hours walking through the exhibits and viewing the butterfly hatchery and release.  Afterwards we had a great lunch at Du Amici, a nice restaurant in the German Village area, and then went to see The Help.  I gave Wombat an early anniversary gift combined with an early daddy's gift of an SLR camera - although it was much pricier than we normally spend on each other, I thought it was perfect since he has always wanted one, and just in time to take pictures of BugBat!  At least it will give him something to play with at the hospital.  He likes it, even though he hates spending money...probably the only reason he allowed himself to keep it is because I sold my wedding dress and he's selling his arcade for a profit.  He has also saved us a ton of home improvement costs by doing some fixer-uppers himself lately - he removed the shower door and installed a curtain rod so we can actually use the bathtub for BugBat, and he dug an entire trench through our front yard last weekend in order to bury a gutter extension so we can remove the existing gutter from above our front door, which was emptying into our foundation.  He's a pretty handy guy and I'm lucky to have him!

This past weekend, Wombat's parents stopped by for an early visit on their drive to NY for Wombat's cousin's wedding on Sept. 10th (I wish we could go!).  It was good to see them before the chaos commences, and we spent the day with them on Monday just catching up, visiting my parents, and making a summer Ohio dinner of steak, swai, corn on the cob, fried potatoes, and ice cream.  Yum!  Since Wombat's sister won't be able to visit us and the baby for awhile because of her teaching exam, she sent a really cool gift of art she made for BugBat!   She knew Wombat's favorite children's author is Eric Carle, so she made a collage-type canvas of the Hungry Caterpillar for the nursery - I'll have to post a pic later.  It's cute!

I'd better get back to work and catch up on remaining loose ends....hopefully I'll have time to add some pictures later today.

EDIT:  Added pic:

•How far along?: 39 weeks!

•Current Weight: 156

•Total weight gain: +32 from pre-pregnancy weight.

•How big is baby?: Watermelon (anywhere from 6-9 lbs, about 20 inches long)

•Movement: She likes to have a dance party around 9-10 am, 1-2 pm, anytime I drink something cold, and anytime I lie down.  Right now her appendages prefer to stick out of my right side. 

•Stretch marks?: Not yet, unless you count my belly button, which probably started around my old piercing.

•Sleep?:  Amazingly getting enough, despite tossing and turning all night 

•Symptoms?: Braxton Hicks when I'm doing too much (painting, cleaning), a couple painful contractions every once in a while, increase in colostrum discharge

•Food aversions?: anything too spicy

•Food cravings?: meat, dairy, fruit

•Labor signs?: BugBat's head is very low, 70% effaced and 1 cm dilated as of Wednesday's appointment, lost MP 10 days ago.

•Belly button in or out?: Flat

•What I miss: having a wardrobe larger than 5 maternity outfits, shaving with visibility, running

•What I'm looking forward to: Holding our daughter in my arms and seeing her face for the first time

•Best Moment this week: Daddy (Wombat) playing poke games with our daughter

•Milestone: Made it past our original due date (yesterday - Aug. 27th!).....hoping she decides to come soon now that our house is thoroughly clean so I don't have to clean it again next week haha. 

Possibly my final pre-baby post and final bump pics

As of yesterday morning's doctor's appointment, I am 1 centimeter dilated and 50% effaced, yay!  That could mean I still have as much as 3 weeks left, BUT that's 50% less effacement and 1 less centimeter to go :)  After last week's internal exam, I also lost a bit of my "gummy bear" and have had Braxton-Hicks contractions on and off, with a couple painful ones, but nothing too bad.  Not enough to stop going to work anyway, though I'm becoming a bit more lenient on leaving at 4 instead of 5 these days, if I feel caught up for the day.

I'm alternating between moments of high energy must-absolutely-clean-and-paint-and-wash-and-launder-and-reorganize everything in the house, and opposite moments of must-lie-down-right-now-and-zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.   At least I seem to be getting enough rest to satisfy my nesting craze.  Since the nursery was ready awhile ago, I've been able to cross some long-term goals off my list, such as painting the hallway and trim, hanging new family pictures, changing my legal last name (finally), and reorganizing the kitchen cupboards, dresser, hall closet, and laundry room storage.

What else will I want to remember about this time....?  My weight is steady and I haven't gained much over the past 2 weeks, hanging at 153 today, opposed to 155 last week.   BP is 112/72.  BugBat's heart rate was only 137 last week, but up to 160 today after she tried to break her way out of my belly and headbutted my cervix (ow!) all morning.  She's measuring perfectly on time at the moment, at 37 centimeters.  My newest craving is fountain cherry coke from Circle K for 63 cents haha.....I mostly fill the cup with ice though, it helps the heartburn.  I try not to have too much caffeine, but it's honestly the only thing that calms my tummy in the morning.  Yes I said morning, but I would drink it all day if I let myself.

Things would be less stressful if we could pay down some loans faster (student, car, home, dad) but for now, the economy is still holding us back.  At least we're lucky enough to be employed, and especially with family, which allows me to be more flexible with work right now.  I don't take it for granted, but I definitely appreciate their liberal maternity leave and leniency with all our doctor appointments these days.  I hope things go well for Wombat when he is finally sworn in (this month?!) and can begin his own business again.  If we could make just 20% more a month, it would make a huge difference.  Our wish list of investments includes a 529 plan, paying off dad, and creating earmarked funds for travel (for family visits to WA, FL, and now CO), savings, home improvements, and emergencies.  We're currently paying more than we need to for student loans in an attempt to get rid of them (and their 6.8% interest rates!), but we might have to scale back in order to create a safer cushion for our family now.  $1100/month is more than 25% of our net income right now, ugh!

Anyway, to catch up on the past 2 weeks, my wonderful SIL, Margot, threw us a final baby shower for family members, and we were once again thrilled and very touched by the number of people who traveled so far to be with us for just a day of celebration.  Margot also went above and beyond what she should have, especially since the shower was thrown just one week before she moved to Colorado!  She and mom prepared SO much good food, made special picture frames with baby pictures of me haha, and brought other fun decorations and handmade book inserts for the gifts.  It was good to see her for her last weekend in Ohio as well - her parents even came down for the occasion!

Here are some pictures from the shower:

Grandma Martha Mae (Amelie's middle name) and Olivia 

Cousin Emily and Lila - more than a month old already! 

Baby pictures of me haha.

Here are some final pictures of the nursery, as ready as can be:

Atticus hiding under the dresser haha

Atticus' tail again - sneaky little mew!

Her books!

 

Bags and camera are packed and ready to go!

Finally, some final bump and nesting pics:

Painted the accent wall and hallway a pretty gold "Anjou Pear" from Sherwin Williams (zero VOCs).  You can see from the shower pictures above that it was previously an ugly brown color.  Who paints a hallway a dark color?

37+ weeks

Update Edit:  Just found out I tested negative for Strep B, meaning I won't have to have IV antibiotics during labor, yay!  Hopefully that means I'll be able to walk around and not be tied to a drip the entire time.

Freak out time yet?

One week from today BugBat will be considered a full-term baby!  Crazy.  Actually, I thought it was two weeks from today, but one of my online baby guides informed me this morning that it's technically the beginning of the 37th week, rather than the end of the week, which is great news because the sooner she's full-term, the more likely she'll be healthy when she makes her appearance.

SO......time to:

• pack the car seat in the car;
• pack the hospital bag - going-home outfits (layers for baby, diapers, paci, swaddle blanket), sweat pants and loose top for me, change of clothes for Wombat, girlie magazines to read, mini-hotel toiletries, cameras and batteries, and a post-postpartum care kit (*cough cough* tucks, prep H, nursing pads, maxi pads, lanolin, metamucil, a boppy, and more lovely recovery items that I hope I won't actually need);
• give mom/dad a key to our house to watch the pets on short-notice;
• begin keeping a detailed list of work projects so the office can pick up where I leave off;
• clean the nursery and linens one last time;
• make my final visit to the hair salon and treat myself to a pedicure (thanks cousin Sara!).

I'm dreading the post-birth recovery more than the actual labor, oddly enough.  At least the labor has an ending point.  All this talk about sitz baths is making me shiver.  

Wombat is comfortingly calm right now, although he says he'll probably wait to freak out until we get to the hospital.  BugBat is definitely not calm; this week she's been kicking harder than ever - she either wants out or she's getting crowded or both.  Occasionally I have to gently press an appendage back into my belly when it begins to stick out several inches and actually hurt.  She still loves doing her acrobatics the second I lie down to try to sleep, which isn't helping my plan to get the last few nights of good rest this month haha.  

I'm considering cutting back my hours at work the further I get along, but so far, I've been able to handle sitting at a desk pretty well all day.  The mornings are the worst since I still have faint nausea until around 10:30, but considering I can't sleep past 6:30 anymore, I may as well be there.  I've fallen into a new routine of switching beds during the night too (between the master and the guest room) which has helped my back and hips so I'm not so achy in the morning.  The animals love this since they're allowed on the guest bed with me.  

Atticus (cat) recently impressed us lately by catching and killing his first mouse INSIDE the house and leaving it for us to find in the morning.  Yay for free pest control!  He also climbed his first tree yesterday morning and came down on request when we were getting ready to leave and needed him to come inside.  He's definitely making it easy for us to trust him and let him outside often, which is nice because he loves it.

Jack (dog) is becoming increasingly more needy for some reason, and I wonder if he senses the impending arrival of his rival for attention.  He may have the hardest time adjusting when BugBat comes home, though it's hard to tell.  Hopefully he'll just enjoy the fact that we're home more often in the beginning, since he has a bit of separation anxiety. 

Now for the fun stuff - 

I was recently honored with not one, but TWO baby showers!  The first was a good law school friend, Catherine, who hosted a small but lovely party in Columbus, which happened to be a great mid-way point for law school friends from Dayton, Cleveland, and Athens.  Catherine is such a great hostess, and I warned her not to do too much, but she nevertheless went all out - enjoy these beautiful pictures (compliments of Ashleigh).  Catherine clearly pays attention to detail!

 A special thank you to Adrianne, Amanda, and Ashleigh, who each drove more than 4 hours round trip to be there!  I love you all very much!

My second shower was a surprise, and it was wonderful that it was a shared shower with Wombat - our coworkers sneakily planned a huge lunch party last Monday, complete with decorations all over the conference room, a dad-to-be straw hat for Wombat to wear (haha), yummy finger foods, delicious cupcake desserts, games, and gifts!   I feel bad that they spent anything on us, but it was a wonderful gesture and a fun time.  More pictures (excuse the blurriness since they were taken on my phone):

BugBat will LOVE all of her new books - we cannot think of a better gift.  Thanks again to everyone!

In other news, Wombat and I volunteered at my stepdad Ron's Tour de Cause in Lancaster two weekends ago, which had fantastic results - raising tens of thousands of dollars for drug awareness and rehabilitation in Lancaster.  Here is a picture of my cousin Jeff's kids after their leg of the ride (sound asleep) haha:

More news - recently found out that brother Jon and SIL Margot are relocating to Boulder, Colorado in a few weeks!  Margot was offered a fantastic promotion, so they decided to spend at least a few years there and enjoy an adventure before possibly moving back to Ohio to start their family.  I'm excited for them and excited to visit them there and teach BugBat how to ski/board at a young age.  It will also be an ideal stop for us on the way out to visit Wombat's family in WA.  Cheers to them!