One Year Ago Today...

...I was a very pregnant woman.  It was also my "official" due date for Mr. Belvedere, whatever due dates mean.


If I had known last year what I know now, I would have done several things differently.  I certainly don't have regrets about the last year; I'm just armed with experience and information.


First of all, I would have slept more after Weston was born.  Women said to me, "Sleep when the baby sleeps," and I didn't listen to that very well.  Mistake.  Sleep deprivation is an ugly thing, and it doesn't help with the postpartum emotional roller coaster.  One nap during the day doesn't cut it when dealing with a newborn.


I also think moving out of state and starting a new job four months after having a baby isn't advisable.  Having a baby is traumatic enough--no sense in adding more chaos.  However, we were going to move anyway, and it was inevitable.


I can't really speak about what happened to my body after having a baby, other than it's not the same, and I can't really expect anything other than that.  I've said it before--clothes fit differently and everywhere is "mushier."  I'd love to get a membership to the gym again and go on a consistent basis, but somehow 24 hours in a day doesn't seem to allot for that at the present moment.


It's hard to believe how my life has changed in the past year, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  Not even a flat belly.


By the way, here's my most recent favorite boy band:

Yikes

I had my 40 week 5 day prenatal appointment this morning, and it was pretty overwhelming.  Against what I had planned on doing, I did step on the scale and actually lost a pound from last time, so that was fun.  But, then I spoke with my midwife, and we discussed induction next Tuesday night using Cervidil and then possibly following up the next day with Pitocin if things haven't progressed.  I started crying immediately.  She reassured me that baby and I had over a week to deal with this, but it was still hard to swallow.  She also spoke with me about scheduling a fetal Non-Stress Test (NST) this coming Friday because I am overdue.  As is routine, I hopped up on the table so that she could measure my fundal height and listen to the baby's heart tones.  As we were listening, I heard the most horrible sound of the heart rate dropping pretty low and staying that way for a few seconds.  She kept listening, and it did it again two more times.  At that point, she said that she'd like to schedule the NST that afternoon just to rule anything out, and I agreed.

At this point, I was a wreck.  I drove home to eat lunch and get Nate and head back to the hospital.  Away we went, and got hooked up right away to the monitor.  After about 30 minutes of listening to the heartbeat, the tech told us that things looked fine, and we still needed to do an ultrasound.  I got pretty excited at this point because our last ultrasound was at 13 weeks (back in October)!  She made sure to be very careful to not show us anything revealing as far as its private parts were concerned.

Because of the fact that we chose to not find out the gender of Mr. Belvedere, coupled with not having gotten a 20-week ultrasound that included an anatomy scan, I have had this completely irrational fear that baby was intersexed--meaning that it couldn't be classified as either male or female.

After the tech did the scan, I asked, "Did you see what it was?"
She replied, "Yes, but I'm not going to tell you."
Nate piped up, "But it's one or the other, right?"

At first she didn't quite get what we were getting at, so I explained my fear.  She then reassured us that yes, we would be bringing home either a boy OR a girl.

Final result?  Everything's fine with baby.  We have another NST scheduled for Friday.

Enjoying Milwaukee

I really want to just type this:

No baby news yet.

I can't do that to you readers, who, according to the statistics page on the blog, have been checking the posts on here more than I visit the bathroom each day.  I think that's impressive, mostly because I can't believe how often I'm in there.  I'm honored that you're reading this.

I went with Nate to school today, so I've been at UW-M's campus all afternoon.  I really can't stand being in the apartment.  It was nice to get out again, and the campus is close to Lake Michigan, so I packed a lunch and waddled down to a nice bench with a spectacular view of the lake.  I would have kept going after I ate, but there were no bathrooms of any sort on the way and I felt like I was going to pee my pants, so I had to cut my walk short.  I still have some time before Nate's done teaching, so I could go for another little stroll.

I have an appointment with my midwife tomorrow morning, and at that time, she'll let me know if I'm dilated or effaced.  I've been using evening primrose oil (EPO) and drinking raspberry leaf tea, neither of which are supposed to start labor.  The oil is supposed to soften the cervix, and the tea tones and strengthens the uterus.  Since I wasn't hardly effaced two weeks ago, the midwife suggested 2 grams of EPO nightly.  I'll find out tomorrow if my efforts have been worth it.  Oh, and as of right now, I'm not getting on the scale.  The medical assistant can go ahead and write "refused" on my chart.

Another Day and No Baby Got You Down?

I'm not too bummed today, but last night I was beyond frustrated.  I am realizing that I don't "wait" very well.  I felt trapped last night, like I hadn't left our apartment in weeks.  So, Nate and I decided to head to Lapham Peak Unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest and hike around this afternoon for a couple of hours.  Walking is one of those kick start labor methods.  We did about three miles, enjoying the weather and fresh air, even though the wind was fairly chilly.  I was comfortable, but Nate was cold.  I don't think he fully grasps how much of a heater this fetus is.  Mr. Belvedere is my personal wood-burning stove.

Anyway, we took some pictures:

Week 40 

Those sunglasses are $2 at the Milwaukee County Zoo, if you're wondering...

Free birthing in the Kettles!

Looks like we'll be having a May baby...  A stubborn Taurus, as my cousin put it.

Still Here

It's 40 weeks and 2 days and no baby yet.  I'm honored that Mr. Belvedere is loving being in the womb.  However, my patience is wearing thin.  I am in the majority, though.  Apparently, 25% of babies come early, 5% on the due date, and 70% come late.

In an effort to move things along and keep some sanity, I went to the gym this afternoon, and some woman saw me and said, "Oh, congratulations!  Are you about 7 months?"  I smiled and replied, "Nope.  I was due two days ago."  She looked at me like I was crazy.  Throughout this pregnancy, people have constantly told me that I'm not that big, but let me assure you, all my measurements are fine and the scale doesn't lie.

The longest the midwife will let me go is May 10, which is 41 weeks and 5 days.  That seems like such a long way away...

Zero Days to Go

At least that's what the floating baby widget says...

As I thought, I didn't pop today.  I guess I can do only one thing--keep waiting.

Someone Else's Birthday

Today is Nate's 32nd birthday!

Excellent frosting detail, no?

Tomorrow is Mr. Belvedere's alleged birthday, but I'm pretty sure that we're going to have to wait awhile.  That's okay.  I had a minor meltdown yesterday after my prenatal appointment, mostly due to the fact that I'm tired of seeing the numbers on the scale climb to numbers that I was hoping to never reach.  Perhaps someday I'll wear my weight gain during this pregnancy as a badge of honor.  Just not at the present moment.

As for other birthdays, yesterday would have been my cousin Tom's 31st birthday.  We went down to Illinois today to celebrate my cousin's life at his funeral and luncheon.  It was wonderful to see so many people who loved him, and as with any funeral, I saw people I hadn't seen in years.  It's still hard to wrap my head around his passing, as it is for most everyone else.

Happy Easter

I don't really know how much bigger I can get.  Mr. Belvedere, aren't you cramped?  Aren't you just itching to get out of my belly?  Don't you want to stretch out a bit?

I've been up since 5:30 this morning, did some yoga, and cooked breakfast for myself.  Nate's still sleeping (the NBA playoffs are on, and who knows how late the game went last night), and I'm rather bored.

• I cleaned the apartment in its entirety last night.  Miraculously, I was even able to get down on my hands and knees and wash the floor.  It took me a little longer than usual, but I did it.
• I've read everything I possibly can about labor and delivery.
• Nate birthday present is wrapped (it's this Wednesday).
• I bought my mom's Mother's Day gift and card.
• The bag is packed for the hospital.
• I have email drafts saved for the big announcement.
• The laundry is done.

What else can I do???  I suppose I could go to the Pick 'n Save and do some grocery shopping.  I could cook some more meals to throw in the freezer.