Little Naked Me

Knowing that I may potentially offend someone out there, I am going to post this anyways... Here is a (fairly tasteful) picture of little naked me at 39 weeks and 5 days! Oh MY! I figured that it may be the last time that I remember to pick up the camera on myself before the baby comes, so, well, I did.

Thankful

I am thankful that Mindi managed to catch Harris in one of his air guitar rock-out sessions. This was one of a few, but I thought it was super cute because he was getting tired and ready for a nap, and if you listen closely at the end, he asks Mindi to "Hold me please" awwww what a gracious little guy!

I am also thankful that I did not go into labor today, because, honestly, I would have felt AWFUL pulling 3 midwives, a doula, and a good friend away from their Thanksgiving celebrations!!! Thanks for waiting little one!

4 Days Away

Or 1, or 7, or 14... God, I hope it is not 14...

Thanks again for all the lurkers popping up with their lovely comments on my deserted post! I appreciate it!!

Tomorrow I am taking my wife hostage and forcing her to come with Harris and I to our Little Gym class. Well, I am hardly forcing her... We are going to take advantage of the fact that we will be directly across the street from IKEA, and we will pop in there to (hopefully) pick up 2 little RAST dressers to use in the kids' closet renovation!

I actually feel as if "4 days away" has kind of snuck up on me, despite my bitching about being uncomfortable... Luckily, I have managed to keep my mind off the birth with thoughts and plans for our new house.

Most of my readers already know that we had a Fantastic Home Birth with our son, Harris. For those of you that have recently joined up, we are also planning a home birth with this little one. We are using the same main midwife and the same fantastic doula. Our house will be a bit fuller, however, this time, with the addition of 1 student midwife, 1 "seasoned" new midwife (returning to the calling) and 1 close friend to help with Harris control. I am very excited to have so many fantastic people surrounding us! Neither my mother, nor Mindi's mother were too thrilled to hear about the repeat "dangerous birth choice". I basically told them both, very nicely "I hear your opinion, thanks for sharing, don't share again". Much to my pleasant surprise, neither of them has shared again! I am grateful for that, I tell you. Nothing sucked as much as fighting with my MIL tooth and nail over my stance during my pregnancy with Harris. From 17 weeks until the veeeeeeery end, she tried to convince me that I was being irresponsible. That rawked. This time, I have not had to argue a single point about it.

Well, this was a fairly disjointed post, and I am not sure how it should end, so I will leave it at this:

we are 4 days away from our due date. I am still pregnant. Everyone is on high alert. I have every intention to blog as soon as something happens!!

Dirty Hands Make for a Happy Girl

I really wanted to take a picture of my hands for you, but in my haste to get into the shower in anticipation of possibly another membrane sweep tomorrow at the midwife's office, I forgot! Mindi and I worked together tonight to re-grout our kitchen counter tops. The counter tops are nice- granite tile- but the grout job was in pretty poor shape. Originally, Mindi was going to do it all herself, but once I caught the grouting bug (after giving her some pointers), there was no stopping me! It turned out for the best, I think. Since it was my morning to sleep in (and you know I had to take full advantage of it with a new baby coming and all) Mindi scraped out the old grout this morning. After Harris' nap, I got to work taping off the walls and sink. Mindi expertly mixed up the grout (yay, the previous owners left it for us!!! Only $9 for the grout float!), and did the tops of the counter, while I went around and did the bitty edges. I was so thrilled to be working on a home improvement project, but even more thrilled doing a home improvement project with my WIFE! AND Harris was a gem the whole time!! He was so well behaved, and somehow managed to entertain himself the whole time. It was as if the stars aligned for us today!

Mindi and I also managed to hammer out our "Home Improvement Checklist". First things up for December and January are:

new entry door
installation of garage door openers
Main bath remodel (done mostly by us/me/us)
Harris' room remodel

The first 2 things on the list are hire-outs. I do not trust my own skills enough to install an exterior entry door, and I have never installed a garage door opener, and I don't care to learn!

Thanks, everyone for commenting on my 'Deserted' post- there is nothing like a little guilt trip to get people talking lol. *wink*

Deserted

Hmmm it feels as though I have been deserted! I remember at this time, 2 years ago, when I was waiting for my little man to show up, I had folks all around me- both in real life and on this blog... now I am feeling so alone! Hmmmm.

Well, I am officially 39weeks today. 1 more week until the estimated due date. I think the baby will come on Wednesday or so. Don't quote me on that.

Right now I am wading through paint swatches for the Main bathroom and laundry room. I just ordered some tile samples, and I am planning the interior of Harris' closet. We removed some U-G-L-Y fiberglass bi fold doors, and I replaced them with some awesome curtains. I will post some pics when the room is painted!

Later Plug

Ok, I probably shouldn't even bother blogging about this, but I can't help myself. I lost my mucus plug! I know, it sounds all gross and dramatic, but it really isn't- for 2 reasons- 1, It was a fairly anti-climatic experience, including a wad of toilet paper and a glob of goo (I am just going to leave it at that) and 2- it really doesn't mean jack when it comes to when labor will start. Women can lose their mucus plug weeks before labor begins. So, we are back where we started, but at least it made me smile :).

On another topic, I have been trying to satisfy my need to plan and decorate, despite my pregnant size. Currently, Harris sleeps on a full sized mattress on the floor. He has never slept in a crib, and we left the mattress on the floor for the obvious reason of keeping him safe from a tumble off of a high bed. Now that he is almost 2, and has mastered (thus far) staying on his mattress while sleeping, we wanted to get him a platform bed frame. My problem, however, lies in the combination of price, quality, and style. It seems as though I really like the style of the platforms beds at IKEA, but I am not keen at all on the material they use to construct their furniture. When looking around at other furniture stores, I run across the same problem of lousy construction and finishes, or exorbitant prices for VERY SIMPLE pieces. In the end, I realized that if I wanted it done right, I would have to do it myself...


I am very excited about the plans that I have drawn up. I will use these same plans for a bed for baby #2 (when the time comes) and I will also probably modify the measurements and make a bed frame for our Queen size Mama bed. I know that I will most likely not be able to start the construction of this bed for a little bit, but it feels good to know that I have made headway on the plans. I am at the point where I can take my yellow pad to the lumber store and leave with everything I need. I could have it all in my garage by tomorrow if I wanted.... Man is it tempting...

Leaky Lady

Just to keep things interesting, we had a bit of drama this morning! Actually, I guess I should start with last night...

So Mindi and I pick up the Evening Primrose Oil. We are told to take 4 capsules per day- 2 orally and 2 vaginally- fun! So, being the good, obedient girls that we are, 2 went down the hatch, and right before bed, Mindi helped me get 2 up the snatch. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the rhyme). Now, these pills are gel caps, so they melt pretty quickly. A note to anyone who plans on sticking oil-filled capsules up their punani- put your butt on a towel wrapped pillow. We initially neglected to think about either of those, resulting in me doing a crazy yoga pose while yelling to Mindi to "get a towel! Get A Towel! For GODS SAKE GET A TOWEL!!!" ...yeh...

After that excitement (and giggling) was over, we went to bed. All night long, I tossed and turned. Well, actually, a more accurate description of my movements would be "turned like a rotisserie chicken". I honestly turned counter clockwise all night long. Every time I would wake up and move, I would have a contraction- or, I would wake up because I had a contraction, and then had to roll. I don't know which. So, this morning, when I woke up at 7:30am, I was very very "wet". I figured that it was residual oil, but after closer inspection, I realized it was not. I knew that I hadn't peed on myself, so the only other logical thing (to me) was that I was leaking amniotic fluid. I wasn't having any contractions after waking, but I figured I would call the midwife to get her opinion of whether or not I should come in and have the fluid tested using a nitrazine paper.

She said that she was happy to test it if I was really worried, but honestly, I didn't feel like driving there, and she didn't seem too concerned. We both decided that I would wait to see if I started having any contractions, and we hung up. I went about my day, stopping at a good friend's house for a Harris play date, then continuing on to The Little Gym (which I LOVE, BTW) for his little class. I went to the bathroom a few times, feeling extra juicey, and decided to call and stop by the midwife's office on the way home for a quick date with the nitrazine.

Drum roll please!

QUACK

Nothing. Just juice. Damn it.

The midwife said to me "Well, it seems that you are just ripe and juicey". The funny part about the terminology, is that the juicey comment is just how it sounds, and the ripe comment is actually real midwife speak for a soft cervix. Of course, the 2 put together makes me sound like an organic pear. I guess it could be worse...

Sweeping

Ok, I am not really nesting yet, but we did do a membrane sweep at the midwife appointment tonight! I also picked up a bottle of evening primrose oil to help move things along...