Oh Baby

38 weeks.



Hello there. I'm still here. I haven't turned on a computer since I got my new smart phone. I can do everything from it... except blog.


Wednesday at my weekly checkup I was dilated 1 1/2 cm and 70% effaced. Thursday while driving to school I had a lot of early back labor and likely dilated another cm. We'll see. There's something about Thursdays and this baby. It's a recurring theme.


I knew it wasn't "time" though because this is what my body does. I feel pain and make progress and dilate early. Then a week or so later the hardcore contractions hit, I'm in instant active labor {no question about it}, and the baby comes fast.


My official due date isn't for two weeks, but I can tell that our sweet No. 3 is anxious to bust out. I feel it all. day. long. Way more than I did with the other two. I'd very much like to keep him/her on the inside though until the 16th when the first of two grandmas arrive. If not, we do have a backup plan. And if the baby should happen to hold out until the 20th the doctors will let me schedule an exact time for induction. Hurray! I'm thinking Thursday the 21st or Saturday morning the 23rd would be just dandy. I like odd numbers.


Our daily life has been business as usual. Late at night I prep for baby and clean house. The nesting is just little organizational projects here and there... nothing big. My fear this time around is going into labor without a fully stocked fridge, clean laundry and freshly vacuumed floors {Jazzy is shedding her summer coat--it's awful!}.


But honestly we're in pretty great shape. The nursery is done. Gender-neutral onesies are washed and hung. Newbie supplies are purchased. Emergency contacts are on standby. The freezer and pantry are full {fridge will be again tomorrow}. The hospital bag is in the car. My binder for home is complete {you should see the binder!}. Bills are paid. Appointments are made. Baby names are chosen. Etc. Etc.


Of course there are a few projects I never got around to tackling {my dressing room, the attic, old photos}, but the important stuff is done. My day-to-day routine with Buby and Bleu is as streamlined as ever. Everyone is healthy and playing nice and sleeping well. It's a good time to have a baby.


My goal after coming home is to keep things as normal as possible and to just enjoy every moment with all three wee ones. Wow, 3. I like the sound of that. And with my mom, who hasn't stayed with us since last March. I haven't slept this entire pregnancy, so I hardly doubt I'll be phased by the middle of night feedings. I'll let you know. And I suspect Buby and Bleu will be spellbound by our new addition, don't you?


I'm psyched to see how the next month unfolds. This weekend though will be all about pumpkin picking, costume ordering, a best friend's birthday, and thinking ahead to International Day at Buby's school. Will keep you updated. Promise.

Checking In

9.28.10




The past few weeks have been incredibly busy around here--just daily life--and I haven't had any time or desire to turn on the computer once the wee ones are down for the night. But now that we're close to our due date I'll try to post a little something each day so that friends are family aren't left to wonder. The calls have already started coming in.


It's an exciting time! Not knowing when or how we will welcome this new bambino {or bambina} into the family is sort of maddening. With two small children to care for and no family around, a husband who works at least two hours away, and my track record of speedy labor... it's hard not to sweat the logistics.


Officially we have three weeks to go, but realistically I could give birth at any time. I'd like to hold out two more weeks. I need two weeks. I'm still trying to rid myself of this debilitating cough {it's been a month with no improvement}, and our calendar is pretty marked up. It's October--my favorite month--and there are autumn adventures to be had.


My first contractions came last night and lasted five hours. It was all in the back, as with my previous two labors. Instead of going to bed I threw in several loads of wash, packed a hospital bag, folded towels, and vacuumed out the baby's nursery closet. By midnight I was consumed with just-in-case details. Finally around 1:30 a.m. I went to bed with a hot water bottle pressed to my back and didn't wake until after 6 a.m.


I feel fine today, but I bet I dilated a centimeter or two! We'll find out Wednesday. Right now My Sweets is in the city for a two-day board meeting, so I'm just praying nothing happens until Monday. Or better yet, three more Mondays.


The kids are great. They never cease to amaze and entertain me. There were a lot of tender sibling moments this week, and with each one I was reminded how fast Bleu is growing up {she talks NONstop} and how incredibly nurturing our Buby is for a five year old boy. I cannot wait to see him with the new baby. He's so sweet!


Wednesday was go-go-go for Bleu and I. We squeezed in gymnastics and two doctors appointments within a very tight time frame. Luckily she was a happy companion. Thursday I killed a tarantula downstairs and drove to school twice in a torrential downpour. I think that was scarier than the big hairy spider in my kitchen. Later Buby missed tennis lessons because I drove right by and forgot to stop. Seriously. I'm usually on the ball. Not Thursday.


To my credit he did get five awesome lunches this week, two after-school play dates with friends, homemade veggie pizza, and an abundance of mama dancing, puzzle projects, sight-word flash cards, and Magic Tree House reading.


By the way we are 18/18 good days in kindergarten, and I'm still 5-10 minutes early every day. Yes, early. This week he came back to me with an impressive knowledge of continents and planets and VERY large numbers. I am in awe of what he's learning and how he's learning it. I love that he's suddenly holding his pencil correctly, singing mealtime prayers for the family, spelling new words, and standing up for himself against a future bully with bad manners.


Tomorrow morning I bring the kids to swim lessons and on Sunday to an apple festival. In between we'll relax from a really exhausting week. For me at least. Heading up to bed now. Happy October 1st, everyone!

Looking Back: Growing a Family

September 13, 2005: It's a Boy!

Lately I've been thinking about labor and delivery. A lot. Tom and I have seen several friends bring home new babies this year. Beautiful additions to their families. We have had three seasons ourselves to get used to the idea of a newbie in the house. Yet still, the reality of birthing another 8 pounder... it blows my mind.

In the weeks leading up to "D Day" I usually get busy, restless, nostalgic. Naturally. My nesting instincts go into overdrive, and I worry that we/the children/our home will never be truly ready. This time--not knowing the baby's sex in advance--it's all just amplified.

Our first two pregnancies were planned to the day. We had impeccable timing, and I LOVED that. Tom and I were married 4 1/2 years {together for 8} when it first occurred to us that we were "ready" for baby. The thought occurred almost simultaneously, which is awesome. But for us a baby meant big change: Moving out of the city, buying a house, slowing down. I was in my late 20s, career obsessed, in love with My Sweets and living it up. But suddenly I was noticing babies everywhere. They were cuter than I remembered. My clock was ticking. Baby was a must-have on the agenda. We kept this realization to ourselves, tightly under wraps, not knowing how long it would take.


I liked the idea of a September birth, so the goal was to ditch the pill {which I was so good at taking} in September '04 and get pregnant in mid December. It was very by the book of us to start prenatals and wait three months before officially trying. I circled the third week of December in our calendars as "baby week" and by Christmas we were knocked up. Hurray! I was with the man of my dreams doing what I loved in a city where I always wanted to be. Life couldn't get any sweeter.


During the first two trimesters I secretly hoped I was carrying a boy. It didn't matter, of course, but if we were only going to have one child, I kind of really wanted a son. And on September 13, 2005, he arrived. Healthy. Beautiful. It just was too easy.


Fast forward: We have a home in a lovely village in the country. My Sweets is commuting. I'm going back and forth between freelance and full time. On most days I'm pulling off my own version of Wonder Mom. Play dates, music classes, swimming, art projects, wilderness adventures. Buby and I were still spending most of our time together, and I was keeping my editing career afloat from home. I was exhausted but loving every single part of our day. I never compromised on what mattered to Tom and I.


In June 2007, three months before Buby's second birthday, we talked about getting pregnant again. I was about to resign from my Managing Editor post at an international design magazine and wanted to focus on growing our family. We liked the idea of shooting for an April baby. Springtime rocks! My Sweets was on board. I went off the pill, and we circled a week in July. We ended up getting pregnant on August 3rd, giving us an April 25th due date. Hurray again! And on April 27, 2008, she arrived. Life was goooood.


This time around there was no plan. No pill to go off. No calendars. No month to shoot for. Just a big old-fashioned surprise. Though it seemed we were constantly talking about babes in one form or another last winter {should we?/shouldn't we?}, three sounded like A LOT. After all, I was still trying to wean Bleu from her nursing obsession and figure out how to put myself to bed before midnight. Our family may not have been finished growing, but it felt full to the brim.


And then one Wednesday in March we found out there was already a third in the mix... 7 weeks along. I'll admit I cried at first. Not because I wasn't ecstatic, but because I was in shock. 7 weeks is a long time to be pregnant and not know it. I knew on like day 4 with the others. This time I took prescriptions for my back, drank champagne on a few occasions, and had a series of lower abdominal x-rays. No idea I was with child. But eventually we heard the heart beating and saw the wee one kicking, and I let go of some of that guilt.


And here we are. 31 weeks in. I feel nothing like the Wonder Mom I did three years ago, but I do feel like we are already a family of 5. We aren't complete without this new baby to love. And I can't help but wonder how it'll all go down. I'm a mixed bag of scared out of my mind and can't wait to meet 'em and hold 'em in arms.


My labors + deliveries with Buby and Bleu were so different, except that both times I dropped and dilated very early and delivered past my due date. Buby's first-contraction-to-last-push was precisely 13 hours, and there was an epidural in the final act. My Sweets was an amazing coach, and I loved giving birth. Buby was a Tuesday night baby. The recovery was long. Some would say I am still recovering... but with a handsome little man cub to show for it.


Bleu's start-to-finish was less 2 hours, and there was no relief in any form. We were in the hospital less than 40 minutes when she pushed herself into the world. {Not surprising at all now that we know her.} I really thought I would die in that labor room, but I didn't. Bleu was a Sunday morning baby. The recovery was short.


With each arrival my heart swelled instantaneously. My love grew to the moon. With each one I felt blessed beyond measure. For my baby boy. For my baby girl. For my lover and best friend. For my health and my good fortune.


I'm nervous this one will appear early and without much notice... as that seems to be his/her pattern. My favorite OB offered to induce after 37 weeks so as to eliminate the likelihood that I will deliver in the driver's seat... on route to Buby's school 40 minutes away or the hospital 50 minutes in the other direction. My Sweets is 2 hours away M-F and our closest family member is 5. The good dr. said, "Remind me that I promised you that."


Oh. I will. If there is one teeny part of this arrival I can plan, count me in.

April 27, 2008: It's a Girl!

30 Weeks

And counting.

Pregnancy Update

I'm not sure what week I'm in. Maybe 27? That's the curious thing about being with child for a third time. You are so busy with the other two that you hardly notice your body growing enormous overnight.


You aren't posting What-Not-To-Eat lists on the fridge and thumbing through What to Expect books in bed. {By now you know.} You aren't keeping lists of questions and concerns for your next checkup and calling your mom with every fetal milestone. My regular OB visits average 4 minutes... and only because the nurse checks urine, weight and BP.


When my dr. found out I was pregnant again he shook Tom's hand and mine and assured us "Go and enjoy. I'll catch your baby when the time comes." That was it. No reminders or warnings or this is what you can expects. Truth be told, it's difficult to tell my pregnancies apart on most days. That's a good thing.


Of course there was the placenta previa and premature dilation with Buby, but all of that miraculously worked itself out so that I could deliver a perfectly healthy boy four days after he was originally due. This time around I had early concerns about exposure to radiation, but so far no health issues. Thank God. Even the third trimester symptoms that are starting to surface now {ie. leg cramps, fatigue, sciatica pain, swollen fingers, heartburn} are all very familiar to me.


The best part about having been here/done this before is that you pay attention just to the things you want to. To the things that matter. I don't worry when I go hours without a nudge or a kick from the inside, because I know that I've lulled the babes to sleep.


My point is: Nothing much to report. We still don't know the sex. I am probably done with ultrasounds. Anticipation is mounting here as Buby and Bleu talk baby throughout the day. I have been blessed with mostly UNeventful pregnancies {medically speaking}, and I pray that continues. The births? Well, that's another story for another day.

Pregnancy Update

Here's the baby belly all dripping sweat after planting window boxes with the kiddos. We are officially in month six now. {Hurray!} This is by far the happiest stage of pregnancy.


A few notes:


* My most serious food cravings are bruschetta, Caesar salad and fruity yogurt. I can't help myself. During the other two pregnancies I wanted pasta and milk every single night.


* I went through a wild nesting phase that only lasted a few weeks. I hope it returns, because I have some house-wide deep cleaning and file reorg to do. Plus, we need to design a boy/girl room for Buby and Bleu next month. Any ideas or inspiration... please send my way.


* It's important to me that the children have an amazing summer... and not see me as tired or sick or less fun because I am growing a baby. We're such an active family. {Already Bleu is mad that I can't pick her up constantly.} So we continue our daily adventures, and I involve them in everything. I'd love if they took occasional naps though so I could rest.


* I'm exhausted by dark. I can usually doze off between 9 pm-10 pm, but then I'm up until 3 am. Insomnia stinks. The upside is that I'm uploading a TON of photos after midnight. {So the grandmas are happy.}


* My OB informed me Monday that I gained 22 lbs in 22 wks. I'm the same with each pregnancy. A pound a week for 40 wks. We laugh about it every time they weigh me.


* I really have no other symptoms. I may be singing a different tune after August, so I'm savoring in the meantime.


* My uterus has grown to the size of a basketball. The baby is over 12 inches long but only weighs about 2 lbs right now, so he/she has loads of room for kickboxing.

Capturing: The Baby Belly

In a rusty old mirror at Congress Hall.

6.24.10

Almost 10

5.15.10


Tomorrow is our 10-year wedding anniversary. Pretty awesome. We celebrated a bit last Saturday since Granny Nanny was here and we could sneak off in the Jeep to a pretty lake house for dinner and decaf cappuccinos. I love spending time with this man, no matter the occasion. Which is a good thing, since I've been crushing on him for more than half my life.


Grandma DJ snapped this picture of us as we ran out the door. My dress was lovely--once upon a time--but it's NON MATERNITY size 4. I insisted on squeezing in one last wear before the belly got any larger, but by main course our baby was pleading with me for a little room. I'm sorry, Bebe. That was dumb of me. I'll stick with elastic from now on.


Promise.

Pregnancy Notes

I hope to keep better notes on this pregnancy, since it may very well be our last. And my mom likes regular belly shots, so we'll start with this one. The past two days have been largely nausea free {before 9 p.m.}, which would indicate I've turned a corner. Hurray for the second trimester. It's a wonderful thing. Some thoughts so far.



On Eating:

I have more cravings than aversions when I'm preggers. They start early and tend to stick. Thus far I crave the same foods I did during the other two pregnancies. Onion bagels toasted with butter, ice cold milk, hard-boiled eggs, pasta with piping hot red sauce drizzled over the top {never mixed in}, and homemade smoothies. Not together, of course.


And Thai food is a biggie, but that's nothing new. I dream in Drunken Noodles. You know what I miss daily about working in the city? Not the awesome career. Not the hilarious girlfriends. Not the crazy nightlight. I miss Pongsri on W. 48th.


The only thing I cannot stomach at the moment is salad, which is unfortunate. I typically eat a boat load of organic greens {arugula, baby spinach, spring mix, romaine} every week. But right now we have to keep our distance or I'll vomit.



On Growing:

I'm not going to lie and say I love the entire process of being pregnant. My Sweets thinks I complain a lot toward the end. But one of the things I do enjoy is watching my body swing into full Mama Mode. The changes are miraculous. I definitely embrace them. It's probably because I've been about the same weight since junior high. Which is fantastic in a practical sense, but boring too. I can eat all day long--everything and anything--and never work out thanks to the "skinny genes" on my dad's side.


But as soon as I get pregnant, my maternal reserves rise to the occasion and prep my body to grow, nourish and birth another 8+ pound babes. The first few pounds go right to my butt and thighs. I get curvy and start to show a definite baby bump by 10 weeks. Love that. I gain roughly 40 pounds with each pregnancy, and my body typically bounces back to normal around 8 weeks postpartum. The breastfeeding helps. My point is... I really appreciate the middle months of pregnancy and the all-around fullness while it lasts. Plus, I think baby bellies are super sexy, and My Sweets agrees.



On Everything Else:

I am even more forgetful than usual when expecting {yikes!}, but I have a superhero's sense of smell. That can be a good and bad thing. The only swelling issue I experience is with my fingers. Both rings are stuck on by midday, but I can't stand the thought of not wearing them. Even for a second. My hair never gets silky and thick like the books claim, but my nails do flourish from the prenatal vitamins.


Right now I'm still in some regular pants, probably for another two weeks, but I've already switched over to maternity tees. Liz Lange makes a nice stretchy/long/fitted one for Target, and--surprisingly--Burlington has a small but cool selection of printed tees for the lady in waiting. Plus, my friend Alana keeps dropping cute tops at the house... which I love. Thank you :)


Already the children take great pride in trying to name their baby sibling. Especially Buby. In case I forget to mention later, he likes "Rocky." Bleu lifts my shirt every day and places her hand on my growing baby bump. She tells me where the head is and then crouches down to listen for a heartbeat. I love how into it she is. So far.