tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59308689923907356122024-03-05T01:19:45.591-08:00The Forty (million) Week Wait"Do not go gentle into that Goodnight Moon"Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-38183800533707435072014-02-05T21:03:00.000-08:002014-02-05T21:03:07.737-08:00WEEK ONE
Seven days ago, at 10:19 am, our sweet baby Elodie came into the world.
She is more perfect and precious to us than we could have imagined, and this first sleepy week has gone by in a blur of kissing and cuddling and gazing. Do you know how many hours can go by as you stare into the face of your sleeping newborn? I didn't. It's a lot.
Our house is full of love right now. I look at my husbandAnniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-89922614034176690482014-01-23T17:26:00.001-08:002014-01-24T05:28:45.360-08:0037 wks 5 daysDid I say 18 days? Let's amend that. Let's say more like 8.
My doctor told me today that on account of my polyhydramnios she doesn't want this pregnancy to go past 39 weeks. I'm heading in on Monday, and, depending on what my body tells her, she will schedule an induction for some day that week.
That's right, it's either my body kicking things off on its own or it's the doctor doing it for me, Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-72633901522587436642014-01-21T22:56:00.000-08:002014-01-21T22:56:12.014-08:0037 wks 3 daysEvery strange sensation could be my waters breaking. Every twinge of pain could be labor starting. I am in a state of constant vigilance. I have no idea what it's going to be like.
I have no idea when it's going to start. We've got a few bets placed, a few favored days marked on the iCal, but we are and will remain in the dark until it happens. It could be any day. It could be tonight right Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-12838451024148997152014-01-16T16:15:00.001-08:002014-01-16T16:15:36.818-08:0036 wks 5 daysToday was a gorgeous sunny day.
It was also my birthday.
It was also the first day in ten weeks or so that I got to go out and sit in a cafe with my husband and eat a roasted veggie salad and drink a rosemary lemonade and have a salted caramel cupcake and I swear I had forgotten how genuinely marvelous these little things can be.
It was a revelation. The outside world, baby!
Bedrest is so over.Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-16146115290834342752014-01-14T12:46:00.003-08:002014-01-14T12:47:21.534-08:0036 wks 3 days
Teddy bear and bassinet bumper are complete.
I guess that means our baby can be born now?Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-33613368207220467712014-01-10T22:24:00.001-08:002014-01-10T22:25:43.950-08:0035 wks 6 daysIs this the final countdown?
No way to know for sure but: the dog has been groomed back to fluffy whiteness, the house has been cleaned, the rug and couch have been shampooed, the diaper genie has been assembled, the world's strongest and most infuriating sticker has been gruelingly scraped from the side of the crib.
Oh and my cervix is 100% effaced. So there's that.
I told my doctor today Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-988520916983344532014-01-02T20:27:00.001-08:002014-01-02T22:48:04.314-08:0034 wks 5 daysToday I saw a substitute doctor (because my OB is in Paris) for a quick check up. I gave him the twitter-sized summary of my pregnancy to date, he did his little exam, and, as he snapped off his gloves, said, "I'd say you've got about two more weeks."
Which, seeing how things have gone thus far, I'd say puts me at having a baby either this weekend, or a month and a half from now.
But just in Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-30353848782732218822013-12-31T13:39:00.000-08:002013-12-31T13:39:06.683-08:0034 wks 3 daysI've had far more aversions than cravings this pregnancy. For about 6 months, food was mostly horrible, save the occasional Ruffles potato chip or little container of chocolate pudding. But last week a friend brought over some fancy Italian lemon sorbet, and the pure white color and the exquisite texture and the bright snowy coldness made it basically the greatest thing I had experienced in a Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-92135695089703113772013-12-25T21:29:00.002-08:002013-12-25T21:31:36.916-08:0033 wks 4 daysThe nesting impulse, when you are confined to your bed, can be crazy-making. Especially when the particular nursery/nest you'd like to feather is literally the space at the end of that bed.
We had made excellent progress last month when Jared's mom, aunt and cousin all flew in from Florida and did the heavy work of going to Ikea and buying a good portion of our baby furniture (!) and then Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-28197375248728330852013-12-20T22:49:00.000-08:002013-12-21T00:28:54.064-08:0032 wks 6 days
After "risking out" of midwifery care, I met with my new OB. She tracked my (impressive!) contractions, ordered an ultrasound and another fetal fibronectin test, told me to take it easy and sent me home. Neither she nor I were feeling too worried about anything.
Next day I got a call from her office. The test was positive, my cervix had shortened, it was possible that the baby might be on Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-52473756567968927542013-12-09T13:21:00.002-08:002013-12-20T22:49:49.967-08:0031 wks 2 daysI'm still seeing the midwives at the birth center until I can get in with a high risk OB. Today after my prenatal, as Jared was setting up my next appointment and I was trying to remain horizontal on the couch, I noticed the head midwife staring at me.
"Your pregnancy," she said, shaking her head a little and squinting her eyes, "is a complete mystery."
You're telling me, lady.
Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-55182711852782549422013-12-06T21:36:00.001-08:002013-12-20T22:50:23.235-08:0030 wks 6 daysAnother day, another weird twist in my pregnancy. I was sent for an ultrasound yesterday where I learned that not only is my baby apparently HUGE (no real surprise there, I come from big baby stock) but she's also hanging out in an excessive amount of amniotic fluid. This condition is called polyhydramnios and it affects around 1% of pregnancies. Yes I'm just that special. It can be caused by Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-72859024539125851912013-11-29T21:08:00.000-08:002013-12-20T22:50:49.076-08:0029 wks 6 daysYou'd think maybe that lying in bed all day would having me writing, at least to pass the long slow hours, but in fact for me inactivity just sort of feeds on itself. And as my muscles shrink and my circulation slows and my bones start to move out of alignment, my brain seems to be withering as well. Or at least my motivation to use that brain.
Plus it's really hard to type lying down, despite Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-77649460308175004592013-11-10T16:49:00.000-08:002013-11-10T17:12:37.852-08:0027 wks 1 dayThe contractions kept doing their thing, but I kept cheating on my modified "bed rest." A slow walk around the block with the dog here, a quick trip to CVS there. I was feeling cocky. Since I had been checked by the midwife and seemed to be holding steady, I saw no real harm in a little fresh air or a teensy amount of exercise. Jared needed to fly out for a conference in Pittsburgh on Wednesday Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-71371465129998404012013-11-04T16:27:00.000-08:002013-11-05T09:57:48.962-08:0026 wks 2 daysThe contractions started at 22 weeks or so, only I didn't understand that's what they were. They were painless. I'd feel my belly get suddenly rock hard and I'd think, wow, my little acrobat must be doing some crazy new trick in there.
It was only a few weeks later, when it started happening basically all the time, that I thought to Google "pregnant, sudden tightening of the belly" and Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-37971463160401347282013-10-23T22:03:00.002-07:002013-10-23T22:03:45.734-07:0024 wks 4 daysIn other news, thanks to my little pugilist practicing her right jab and left uppercut basically nonstop for the past few days, my belly button is now, officially, more out than in.
And that is so weird.Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-80556626167982226952013-10-23T19:53:00.001-07:002013-10-23T22:06:08.487-07:0024 wks 4 daysI hadn't really knit a thing in years. Hadn't even thought about knitting. But when I went up to Big Bear with my family for those few days recently, and it was cold outside, and inside there was a fireplace and cabin-style furniture and my mom was sitting on the couch making the baby homemade burp cloths, suddenly knitting seemed like the coziest, most maternal thing I could possibly do with Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-47584414156289952782013-10-16T19:29:00.000-07:002013-10-16T19:29:50.920-07:0023 wks 5 daysYou know when sometimes you eat a really big meal, Thanksgiving, say, and then for dessert you swallow a fully inflated balloon and drink a gallon or so of cider and then lace up a corset for some reason and try to go about your day?
That's what this week of pregnancy feels like.
And I have this funny feeling that the next 16 of them, one by one, will only get bigger and bigger and bigger.
Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-80535158908020678252013-10-11T21:01:00.001-07:002013-10-11T21:27:25.747-07:0022 wks 6 daysPregnancy math is tricky. First there are the 40 weeks that supposedly equal 9 months. Then there's the tablespoon of water you drink that will produce about a gallon or so of pee. There's the 35 lbs you gain somehow by subsisting on dry crackers and Tums for a couple of trimesters. And don't even get me started on the 60 tablets of Zofran that your doctor prescribes to you that your insurance Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-32958126860173012652013-10-06T19:49:00.000-07:002013-10-06T20:08:36.281-07:0022 wksSometimes you get invited on a completely spontaneous getaway for one-and-a-half days, and you pack one-and-a-half days worth of clothes, bagels, and nausea medicine, and drive-two-and-a-half hours up a mountain road, and arrive at a cabin surrounded by fresh air and cold streams and a lake and your family, and you and your dog feel pretty good about things. So good, in fact, that when Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-32613859671699497992013-10-01T12:26:00.004-07:002013-10-01T12:27:38.244-07:0021 wks 3 daysAccording to Babycenter, this little squirmer is now the size of a butternut squash, so I think it's obviously time we pay tribute my dog, who, when he was just a wee puppy found a thrilling playmate in that very same vegetable.
You'll always be my first baby, Loki.
Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-15124595960837742622013-09-29T14:46:00.000-07:002013-09-29T22:50:58.047-07:0021 wks 1 dayAnd now we wait.
All the things have happened. We've heard baby's heartbeat, seen her on several ultrasounds, confirmed she's a girl (and that she has two kidneys, four heart chambers, and one button nose.) So now there's not much to do but sit around rubbing our bellies, counting down the days 'til Feb 8th.
That's like 135 days from now, people!
What am I supposed to do until then? Enjoy my Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-6573004167821504082013-09-26T13:06:00.001-07:002013-09-26T15:05:04.149-07:0020 Wks 5 daysI knew from the very first moment she existed that this baby was a girl. When she was just a little poppyseed I knew. Jared knew it too I think. Try as we did to be diplomatic and use the male pronoun once in a while and make half-hearted baby boy name lists, there was just no shaking the feeling that we were having a daughter.
A daughter! Confirmed by science!
She's really almost really real Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-53067685232551736782013-09-22T12:18:00.002-07:002013-09-23T15:05:55.858-07:0019 wks 6 daysJared read a sweet anecdote recently about an orchestra conductor who, as a young man, kept finding he knew the cello lines in pieces of music he had never seen or heard before. He mentioned this to his mother, who was a professional cellist, and sure enough, the pieces he seemed to know intuitively were the pieces his mother had practiced and played while pregnant with him.
I thought of this Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930868992390735612.post-41906243026455909212013-09-08T19:49:00.001-07:002013-09-08T21:36:24.316-07:0017 wks 6 daysThe nausea is still kicking my butt.
The fatigue is still kicking my butt.
The getting up six times a night to pee is still kicking my butt.
But that all seems ok all of a sudden, because the littlest bell pepper has started kicking my belly this week.
And who knew kicks could be so sweet?Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12875604517026300056noreply@blogger.com0