D-Day...B-Day?

Today was my due date (D-day)--40 weeks of pregnancy. I am convinced that no woman should have to be pregnant this long. Here's Tater Tot on what was supposed to be his birthday. Too bad he missed the party. Guess he'll be arriving late.

For the last 6 weeks I've been working from home. Funny that 6 weeks ago I was on bed rest trying to get the little guy to stop from coming too early. Now I'm trying to get him to not come too late. Funny how things change.

So 6 weeks ago I started working from home in bed. This is much what I looked like, albeit with a slightly, and I do say SLIGHTLY smaller belly. This position in bed is much more comfortable at this point than sitting at the desk where I constantly bump my belly on the keyboard tray, which hurts, or have my feet swell after sitting too long, or have the baby sitting right on my bladder...you get the picture... So today I resumed the semi-reclining position in bed with the laptop. Over the last 6 weeks the laptop has been getting farther and farther from me. Due to the pregnancy-induced carpel tunnel, I have to refrain from using the laptop keyboard and mouse as much as possible, which presents a conundrum...where to put the mouse?

Today I found the perfect mouse pad...

And as you can see, even when I don't need the mouse, it sits just perfectly as it would on any other mouse pad. Nathan found this hilarious.

Still baking...

Just a quick post to let you all know that Tater Tot is still in the oven. There are signs that he may be making his debut "soon," but I am beginning to really feel that I will be pregnant forever. Maybe I will be the first woman ever to raise her child entirely in utero. The doctor said on Friday that she thought I would deliver this weekend. I told her I didn't believe her because that's what she said LAST week.

So here I am, skipping another day of church due to contractions that started yesterday morning, went most of the day, stopped for a bit, and then picked up last night as we were out. I had over an hour of 7-minute apart contractions that were...HUGE...to say the least. Nothing like I'd had before. I thought for sure it was finally going to be the real thing. Hah. Nope.

Went to bed at 1 am exhausted from the contractions. Woke up at 3:17, 4:47, 4:54...you get the picture. I finally gave up and just got up since I couldn't sleep through them any more. Drifted off to sleep on the couch about 6:30, woke up again and again, finally gave in and went back to bed at 9 am. Woke up about 5 times from contractions while trying to sleep. Finally gave up at 11:30 and, well, here I am.

It has been POURING rain all night and morning and it's finally stopped enough that maybe I can get out and go for a walk. Better take advantage of the break in the storm while I can.

We have 2 days until D-day. Anyone want to bet that I'll go over? ;o)

Two days of waiting...and some surprises

Yesterday marked 39 weeks. Here's the belly shot...

I had a rough day of contractions--much like what's in my last blog. Monday was the same. I was getting pretty upset at all the pain with no baby. My mom surprised me with a call and cheered me up, and then Nathan came home from the grocery store with these...
...just to cheer me up. The call from my mom and the flowers from my thoughtful husband did just the trick--I was much happier--even if my child is already refusing to listen to me.

Today was more waiting, but no contractions. What a relief! At least a relief if nothing is going to come of it. I was able to concentrate on work and not sit looking at the clock timing anything. SO NICE.

Today's surprise was not as beautiful nor did it smell as sweet as yesterday's surprise flowers. Today's surprise involved Nathan going down to the basement to retrieve some things and finding a sewer pipe leak, which had, of course, leaked all over the one small stack of things we have stored down there. It couldn't have leaked anywhere else in the basement as big as the house--just that one spot! Talk about gross. It must have been leaking since we moved in (we very seldom go down there). YUCK--double YUCK! So we spent an hour, well mostly Nathan spent an hour, cleaning it up. Thank goodness the yuck had only dripped on one stack in the pile, most of which were rubbermaid containers which could be washed with hot water and bleach. The ONE box was on top and had my Christmas nativity in it. Nathan was less than thrilled that I insisted that he fish everything out of the box. Each piece was in its own little box, which had styrofoam surrounding the pieces, so at least the nativity pieces were "pretty clean." Thank goodness it is made of some fake ceramic looking stuff that I could easily dip in bleach and clean off. PHEW! I would have cried if I had lost it to a sewer leak. My mom gave it to me for Christmas years ago. Nathan was a trooper fishing this precious treasure out of the yuck for me. He gets extra brownie points for that on top of surprise flowers.

I wonder what surprise tomorrow will bring....maybe a baby? (wishful thinking, I know)

Come out!

When I was little we had a children's book about a deer that wanted a baby brother. Finally his mom was pregnant, and he dreamed about all the things he would teach his baby brother. One line from the book stands out in my mind when he goes up to his momma's belly and says, "Come out!" I have been saying that to my belly for over a week now.

It was my goal to make it to 38 weeks, and nearly one week later Tater Tot is still baking. I guess after being told 3 weeks ago that he had to wait, he's being spiteful and stubborn. I am SO ready to have him here, not only to stop having all this prodomal labor and all the "fun" things of being nearly 39 weeks pregnant, but because Nathan and I are ready to welcome this little guy into our lives. Hopefully it won't be long now, because we only have 9 days left until his due date.
This is a horrible picture, but seeing as I don't really get more "ready" for the day than this any more since I'm working from home, this is as good as it gets. We took this picture 2 days ago, so I was 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant--just about to pop.

Friday night I fell asleep in the recliner about 10 pm. Nathan woke me up at about 12:30 am to go upstairs to bed. As soon as I got up out of the chair, a massive contraction hit me. I was like, "great--this is going to be a long night." Boy was I right. Didn't fall back asleep until 1:45 am. Then woke up again at 3:17 am to some pretty good contractions happening every 15 minutes or so. I laid there timing them until 4:43 when I gave up and came downstairs. No point in trying to sleep through these. I was bored, tired, and didn't want to watch tv, so what did I do? I wrote 24 thank you notes that needed to be done for baby showers I've had in the last month. Once that was done, I was hungry, so I cooked myself a big waffle breakfast at 5:50 in the morning. Lola kept giving me the stink eye for keeping her up, that is until I shared a waffle with her.

Then at about 6:30 I was still bored and my back and hips were hurting. Contractions were about 12 minutes apart by this point. I decided to do some stretching on all fours, and while on the floor, decided that my carpet was so disgusting from the dogs so as long as I was on all fours, I may as well spot clean the carpet, and proceeded to do so for about an hour. Of course by then I had worked up a sweat, and decided that with contractions now at 10 minutes apart I'd better get a shower because who knew what the day would bring--maybe a baby? After a nice shower, I was exhausted, so I laid down in bed again and tried to sleep, having to toss and turn to get comfortable and never really finding comfort, but eventually drifting in and out of sleep by about 9 am. Sometime after that Nathan got up and I heard him getting ready for the day, but went back to sleep. I was so tired.

At 11 am Nathan broke the cardinal rule in the Smith household--NEVER wake a sleeping pregnant woman. He woke me to tell me he was heading 1 hour south to the trainer's place to visit Brody. It was one time I was glad he had woke me and not just left a note. He had no idea what my morning had been like. As soon as I told him, he decided against going, and that he'd better hang out at home just in case. Well, of course, I couldn't ever fall back asleep, and so I decided that getting up and moving around just might keep this labor going.

So I got ready for the day and we headed out to run errands at Wal-Mart and Target, and got some lunch where Nathan insisted that I eat good protien to keep up my strength (the ever-concerned husband). All this while contractions kept going and getting stronger and were about 7 minutes apart by late-afternoon. Nate wanted to head home at that point, but I was NOT going to go home and sit, so we continued to run errands. Our last stop was Costco at about 6:30 pm. We were in the store when a HUGE contraction hit me. I had to stop walking/talking, and I thought to myself, "Oh boy--this is it! This is REALLY going to happen!" We eventually got out of Costco in between contractions and in the car we started timing them again--5 minutes apart. Oh goody! So we get home and I'm contracting too much to want to eat dinner. The contractions keep up, so I decide I need to rest. I'm exhausted after such a long day. So I sit down for awhile, and they continue, but the intensity drops off. "Great--just great." By 8 pm I can barely keep my eyes open. My lower back is killing me and I'm tired of 5 minute contractions, so I take a warm bath to find some comfort. Of course, I find comfort, but the contractions nearly stop. What the?! I get up and go to bed about 9:30 at which point the contractions were barely noticeable. I eventually fell asleep about 11 pm, realizing that no baby was coming. At least not today. Humph!

Today? Nata. Just a few braxton hicks. This could quite possibly be because I slept until 10 am, got up and ate breakfast, and then went back to bed until 2:30 pm (of course having bathroom breaks every 90 minutes). I was so tired after yesterday's shenanigans. This kid is such a tease. And those two little words keep running through my mind--"Come out!"

A Day for Me

Yesterday I woke up early to more false labor and a much-needed potty break--the 6th that night. I finally gave in and came downstairs with Lola, who had been whining at our door for 15 minutes anyway. Since we had less than enough milk for 2 bowls of cereal, I opted to leave it for Nathan and make myself waffles (he doesn't like waffles). So I made myself a nice waffle breakfast and sat down to eat it while I watched a previously recorded episode of Clean House. This has been my early Saturday morning ritual for...a very long time. Although, it used to be preceded by a morning workout and an episode of Clean Sweep instead of Clean House. I know, I'm a clean freak. But it always motivates me to get up and get cleaning my own house afterward.

So I was sitting there enjoying my dog, my breakfast and my favorite Saturday morning show, and realized...this could very well be the last Saturday for a very long time that I am able to indulge in this routine. That thought spurred my plans for the rest of the day...some quality "me" time to do whatever I wanted, whatever was non-baby related, that is. I vowed to do nothing that involved baby prep, and only do things that I wanted to do.

What did I do? Cleaned my kitchen. I mean REALLY cleaned it. Lest you think this has anything to do with pre-labor nesting syndrome, let me warn you that this is not out of my normal realm of clean. I just haven't been able to do it in a long time. Now that I am out of the danger zone of giving birth too early, I decided I could wear myself out and it wouldn't matter if I went into labor or not. So I spent a good 2 hours cleaning the kitchen. Granted, I didn't get a few high and low things done, but most of what I wanted to do, I did.

I need to add here that meanwhile Nathan woke up, played with my dog who was bored out of her mind and had been gated out of the kitchen, cleaned up the living room, and then went upstairs where I later discovered he cleaned the master bathroom nearly to my standard. All of this was on his own without any nagging/asking on my part. What a husband!!!

After the kitchen cleaning, I decided to re-pot a plant that I purchased when we moved into this house and had been sitting in it's sad little plastic pot in the window sill. Getting that off my mental list of things I wanted to do, and discovering the bathroom had already been cleaned, I tackled a bunch of laundry. I guess I broke the non-baby rule by doing one load of baby clothes laundry, but that was it.

Then I decided to take my time getting ready. By the time I got showered (it was about 12:30 by this point), I was exhausted. What better way to spend a "me" Saturday than by taking a nap? So I laid down and took a nice long 3-hour nap uninterrupted by potty breaks, acid reflux, or contractions. That was bliss.

When I woke up I decided it was time to get out of the house, so Nathan and I got ready and went out. Well, with one pit stop beforehand. Lest I forget that I was pregnant, Tater Tot decided to give me a nice reminder just before we walked out the door--a nice sudden onset of morning sickness. I am so pro at it now, that I didn't even get any of it on my clothes, kept my makeup nearly intact, and was ready to go out the door within 5 minutes afterward. I was NOT going to let a little puke ruin my night.

I dragged Nathan to Home Goods in search of some items needed for our guest room and just looking for some home decor--NO baby shopping. Our house is so bland. I wish I had the money and energy to make it look more like a home than a rented house with a few sad-looking decorations. But to no avail--I didn't find anything I liked enough to pay the price being asked for it, but at least I got to go shopping for a little while for something I wanted, not some needed baby item.

By that time it was dinner time, and I had decided earlier that we were going out on a date to a steakhouse called Stony River to celebrate our last hoorah as a couple with no screaming child in tow, or no babysitter at home. I thoroughly enjoyed my celebratory dinner with my amazing husband. We stopped at the store on the way home to grab some milk, and the much-craved BlueBell cookies and cream ice cream, and 10 peaches. Peaches and ice cream--my two pregnancy must-haves--at least for the last 2 months.

All in all, it was a pretty good day of doing what I wanted, and probably the last of its kind for a long time.