26 Weeks--Flip Baby, Flip!

Last week I welcomed my third trimester with open arms.  I am getting to the point of feeling ready for this pregnancy to be over, and to have our little Baby Cheese already.  Today marks 26 weeks--only 13 weeks left until C-section date--woohoo!

Every week I think about having Nate take a picture of my belly, and I either forget or don't feel picture worthy.  Yesterday I finally remembered, only to have Nate gone for the night.  So, I recruited Cooper as my photographer.  After about 30 takes, this was the best shot, even though it's a little blurry.  After that he was done trying to please me, even though my standards were relatively low (head and belly must be seen, and not blurry).  Pretty funny trying to get a 3-yr old to take a picture--ha!  He did pretty good, I'd say.

 I thought I'd take one myself in the mirror, so it's not so blurry.  Coop wanted to be included.

Last week we had a rainy day, and so I dug out the baby clothes and stuff and went through some of it to see what we have.  And what do we have?  A LOT of baby stuff!!!  I mean, sheesh!  For the newborn to 3 months size, we have 26 onesies...26!  Granted 6 of those Coop was never able to wear because they are newborn size--a size which he skipped over completely.  With this baby being delivered at 39 weeks, I'm hopeful that we may have a not so ginormous newborn, and may get to use those brand new onesies.

For those of you wondering, we have just about everything we need for this little guy up to 6-9 months, which is when it'll be Nov-Jan.  Those clothes from Coop are his summer clothes, and so we'll be buying Cheese his own winter clothes for those few months.  But I think everything else we have up to a year will work--yay!  We really don't need much of anything, which is such a blessing.  There are a few large item wants that I have, but they are by no means a need, so we are really set for this kid already.

As you can see, Baby Cheese is growing.  The kid has developed some muscles, and can pack a punch (or kick)!!  The little stinker is still breech, and some of those kicks are getting mighty personal and PAINFUL.  The other night I was sitting on the couch with Nate, and Cheese kicked me so hard in the basement that it made me jump up off the couch, yell "OUCH!" and nearly cry.  He did the same thing three more times within as many minutes, and so I said, "That's it, kid!"  I immediately researched what to do to get a breech baby to flip.  There are some pretty crazy suggestions out there, but a few that I could try here at home immediately.

Picture this:  closed ironing board leaning against couch with me laying upside down on said ironing board.  Talk about a weird feeling having all that baby weight shift so suddenly.  As soon as I was upside down, Cheese started kicking and squirming like mad.  He was clearly not happy about my revenge plan to get his kicks in my ribs and not my basement.  In addition to just laying on the ironing board, several websites suggested either playing soothing music or having your spouse talk to the baby at their feet to coax them to flip around, since supposedly the baby would want to move toward the sound.

So add to the already comical picture of me lying on a reclining ironing board upside down, Nathan talking to the baby at the place where the baby's feet are, if you catch my drift.  Nate thought I had totally gone crazy, but I told him we have to try anything to get this kid to flip, so he was a good sport.

The problem was, Nate being Nate, he was saying things that were not helping me relax.  i.e. "Hey Cheese, your mom has asked me to talk to you man to man.  You need to move on down here.  I know it's a little weird to move to this end, but you gotta do it sometime...I don't know what else to say as I sit here talking to your mom's -----...How's the weather in there?  Whatcha been doin'?"  And so went the 5 minute monologue.

By that time, I was laughing so hard that nearly all the blood had rushed to my head.  Then I started a coughing fit, and I scrambled down to right side up before my head exploded from the pressure.  It was pretty funny, but apparently not to Cheese, who just kicked me harder the rest of the night as if to spite me, and refused to flip.  Little does he know that we'll be making this a nightly routine--ha!

Coop continues to ask me just about every day if Baby Cheese can come out yet.  The other day he asked, and when I said it's going to be a few more months, Coop said, "But I want him to come out and play RIGHT NOW!"  Me too kiddo, me too.

Coop also asked the other day if my belly would get flat again after I had the baby.  I said yes, and then he said, "But will there be a big hole in your belly where the baby was?  How will the hole go away?"  I assured him there would be no hole, and that I would have plenty of lap and be able to bend over again a little while after the baby is born.  He was very happy to hear that.