Woooosh

There went my due date.  What happened to those contractions I had last week?  I've gone days without anything that resembles labor :(.  I know that the due date is the average and going 41 or 42 weeks is completely within the norm, but I'm ready, kid!

Yes, I've eaten spicy foods and taken long walks and done housework and all those other things that everyone says will work.  No I won't take anything that resembles an herbal remedy or caster oil, so don't even offer.  

I had my first stranger touch my belly.  I want to say I smacked her hands away.  I wanted to.  I didn't.  I'll blame it on the fact that my hands were full with a tasty drink from the Nordstrom's cafe and that she was so much more excited about it being my due date than I was.  She was a nice Asian lady pushing some show tickets on us (the show looks really cool, too).  She was touchy feel-y in general and also touched my shoulder a few times. I may have lost my only chance to smack a complete stranger for a valid reason, but I'll live I guess.

No real news to update since my last grumpy post.  I thought you all might like some pictures though.

Enjoy:

 Lazy Bump on my due date.  BAM!  Quit telling me I'm tiny or can't be "almost due", random-people-who-don't-know-me-and-should-think-before-they-open-their-traps.  I'm measuring on target. Also, that belly does NOT feel tiny no matter how much smaller it may be than other pregnant women's bumps.

Also, I typed a bunch of mean things here and erased them.  I find myself having a harder time filtering out the mean things the longer this baby stays in.   I'm not usually directing them at individuals (usually at "people" in general), so if I say mean things,  feel free to call me out and don't take it personally  (unless you are a 4-star general that decides I'm walking too slow (on the far right of a hallway that can fit 4 people across comfortably) and you almost run me over....then I will judge you allllll the way down the hallway as you rush off in your high-water dress uniform pants that are at least two inches out of regulation and make you look like a fool.  you should have had someone check you over before you left the office.  Maybe one of the four people in your entourage that did not even get close to running me over.  Maybe not the nice lady who gave me the apologetic look, though, she may be too nice to tell you you could walk through a swamp without getting your pant legs wet.  Then you can take it personally).
I hope you enjoyed the sweet bathroom picture.  At least it wasn't at my dry erase marked "to do list" mirror that you normally get to see. 

39 weeks and ready for work.  Somehow, I have never given you a picture in the same clothes twice.  This wasn't planned.  I actually took a picture in a shirt I have a picture of when I was at the early 30 week stage, but it didn't turn out.  It wasn't meant to be.  
 Also, to any early preggo ladies, consignment and thrift shops are your friends for maternity clothes.  Also, I spent the entire fall/winter in sleeveless shirts paired with cardigans.  And I was usually sweaty (I don't know how you summer moms did it), so  splurge on matching layering clothes no matter the season.  Your money will go further and you will be more comfortable.  

39 weeks 5 days; Induction scheduled

I'm due in two days.  How crazy is that?  The rest is a lot of moaning with only a little bit of actual good information mixed in.  What can I say?  I'm a moody, tired pregnant woman.

Appt info and induction schedule: 
Went to the doc today.  Everything is fine.  I'm measuring 38 weeks, but I think she measured me differently than the last two ladies.  She also seemed like she was in a hurry.  They are having me do pre-eclampsia lab work.  My blood pressure was no higher today than it has been any other day.  And it isn't in the pre-e range, just in the watch range.  I think the difference today was that I had a doctor and not a midwife.  Today, my appointment started with "would you like an internal check?"  instead of "how are you feeling/doing?"  I definitely like my favorite midwife's approach better.  Something I will definitely keep in mind for choosing a doctor next time when I will actually choose someone to see consistently.

The appointment ended with the doctor planning to schedule an induction on the 5th of January in case I don't go into labor before then.  I say planning to schedule because she couldn't find my medical file (probably still in labor and delivery due to our recent trip when Mr. E decided we needed a trial run to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning).  Since she couldn't find my medical file, she couldn't confirm that my due date was 29 Dec.  AYFKM?  That probably isn't a real internet-ism, but I'll leave it at that.  Why couldn't she look at it in the computer system or, I don't know, take my word for it and if my due date was different at my 3 January appointment, then reschedule? The example she gave was "well if you are due on 27 Dec and not 29 Dec than that would change the induction date".  Really, two days is that important to you?   I'm pretty sure that two days extra cooking would be fine since many people go TWO WEEKS late, not just one.  Anyway.

Pregnancy tip: 
Also, for any of you pregnant women out there:  If you have heartburn, get on Zantac.  DO EEEET!!!! DO IT NOW!   oh my, I can't tell you how much relief I got just after the first day.  I'm so sorry that I waited to ask for it.

Mr E: 
Mr. E is kicking around and making me pee a lot.  The doc confirmed with an ultrasound that he was head down (and didn't even give me a chance to see him at all :p ).

Me: 
I'm tired and achy.  I'm ready.  My nerves are gone.  I want to meet this little dude and start getting my body back to myself.  Sounds kind of selfish, but I'm sick of waking up five times at night to pee.  I don't care if I'm up five times to feed a kid (I'm sure I will care more when I'm exhausted from doing it).  Kid's gotta eat.  But getting up to pee 3 drops is annoying and should not be necessary.  Peeing all the time is something people warn you about.  I'm also sick of having to sit up to roll over, meaning I have to wake up to roll over.    People don't warn you about that.  People also don't warn you that no one will talk to you about ANYTHING else. I had a 15 minute conversation at work with people I don't see often that included ZERO talk about pregnancy or baby.  It was awesome.  Today, I talked to an out of town friend about phones.  It was thrilling!  I'm not saying I don't want to talk about baby.  Mr. E. is the most exciting thing going on in my life, but sometimes it feels like I can't talk about anything else.  It also slows me down at work, where I just want to get my job done and everyone has to start meetings/conversations with a 5-10 minute conversation about my due date, bump size, etc.

Ok, enough complaining!

Mika:
Mika had doggy daycare today and tired herself out.  She is a good pup.  She has spent the evening lounging around.  She got to enjoy the snow this week.  I'm a little sad because she is "growing up" a bit.  She didn't freak out when she went out to play in the snow.   In the past, she ran around like a crazy dog.  She enjoyed it this time, but not like in the past.

Daddy: 
Brian is getting ready to start school again.  He'll start class the second week of January.  No rest for the new daddy!   He has already talked to a professor about possibly needing to miss the first class.  She was very responsive and willing to help him find a balance between class and family.  I already like her.

Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick

So you all have a question for me, I'm sure:  Have you had the baby yet?  Go ahead.  Click on it.  And click on it every time you want to ask until you see the birth announcement.

I'm 39 weeks 2 days.  And I feel like a ticking bomb, but there is no little screen telling me how much time I have left before I pop.  Even all the symptoms they tell you about are no real indicator because all symptoms, even contractions, have the caveat "this could happen a week or two before labor/delivery".

Mr. E decided to take a day of rest from kicking me and shifting my entire stomach around which scared the daylights out of me and sent us to labor and delivery to get checked out.  Of course as soon as we got there and the monitor was hooked up, he started moving around.  So all is well.  He is just running out of space and starting to sleep for longer periods of time.  Of course, the next day he moved around like he was throwing a party.  Oh well, we got a good trial run to the hospital I guess.  They checked the fluid around him too, and that was good.  So just like the rest of this pregnancy, everything is normal.  I guess everything has been easy and normal so I'm sort of waiting for something to go wrong.

It snowed today, now it is raining.  So I'm sure the roads might be a little slick.  I'm sure this is when I will go into labor and need to get to the hospital!  hahaha.

There isn't much more going on. Tick Tick Tick Tick.  Merry Christmas!

Bump progression

Oh how I've changed!  Also, I never noticed that you never got to seem me in the same shirt twice.

38 weeks

Well, I'm 38 weeks yesterday.  As unreal as that feels to say, I also feel like I could go into labor any minute.  I keep having to remind myself that in 3 weeks (OMG 3 WEEKS) I will definitely have a baby.  You know, those cute things that I smile at in restaurants.  Those screaming hellions in department stores.  Except the responsibility will be all on us!

If you don't want to read my ramblings, pictures are at the bottom.

I'm achy and tired all the time.  Eli is still moving around like crazy.  He mixes it up between nice soft taps and OMG-ARE-YOU-TRYING-TO-CRAWL-OUT-OF-MY-NAVEL body movements.  He doesn't hit my ribs much anymore unless I'm hunched down a bit.  Just another good reason to have good posture.
My legs feel weak sometimes.  So I just take a break.  I had been having heartburn worse than before, but it let up the last few days.  I tried all kinds of things: tums, apple cider vinegar teas, honey, and lemon water.  The lemon water (almost lemonade) has been the only thing that works.

I'm getting sick of having the same conversation over and over again with people I barely or don't even know.  I'm not always the most social person.  The funniest thing that has happened so far though, is a random lady at work was talking to me as we walked down the hall together.  We get to a stair case that she is about to go into and she congratulates me on walking and staying healthy.  Then she exclaims loudly that she just has to give me a hug and lunges at/hugs me.  I was in too much shock to fend her off.  This person doesn't work in my office or for my company, and I have never seen her before in my life.  Anyways, the conversation on repeat is:

Person: Oh how far along are you?
Me: 3# weeks
Person: OMG!  Really?  You look so tiny!
Me: Well, thank you, I feel huge!  I keep bumping into things.
Person: Are you ready for baby?
Me: I'm nervous but I'm getting more ready and less nervous as I start to tire out
Person: Ya, well you better sleep now, you'll never get any sleep after baby comes.  When I/my sister/my cousin/the Sasquatch living in our back woods had a baby .............
Me: cool, I'll try to rest when baby rests
Person: Are you breastfeeding? / Do you know how you are delivering? / Other very personal question here discussing such pleasant topics as bleeding, emergencies, things going wrong, not making it to the hospital, etc.
Me: I'm going to try. / I'd rather go natural, but it will depend on baby and my body / other vague answer here.
Person: Well, good luck!

Eli is mostly fully developed.  His lungs and brain are still refining themselves, but there should be few problems if he decided to arrive today.  
He is about 6.8 lbs and about 19 1/2 inches long.
He already has a firm little grasp that he will promptly win daddy's heart with, I'm sure.  Then I'll have to be the mean parent. :(

I'm starting to get swelling in my feet (I had cankles the other day) more than before.  Nothing crazy though.
I took a breastfeeding class down at my hospital.  They had previously cancelled all the classes and with this new schedule, this was the only one I could get into before delivery.  It was great.  The instructor gave a lot of general baby care tips, too.  I wish I could have taken the other ones. I don't think most service members realize the quality services they have available.  I tried to take advantage of them, but I miss them now that I am out.  People pay a crap ton of money for services that  service members get for free.

The nursery is ready.  Our hospital bag is mostly packed.  The car seat bases are installed.  I feel like maybe I am over-prepared.  How am I going to distract myself during early labor now?  Oh well.

Brian finished his finals this past week and got accepted into the Astronautical Engineering program at Capitol College.  He is transferring there in January.  This means less time off with baby, but he won't have classes on Wednesday or Friday, so we have those days at least.  He is also considering becoming a police officer again as a back up in case he can't stand engineering.  This coming semester will be the first semester real courses related to his major.

Mika got into some disposable diapers today.  I'm thinking "great!".  So we will have to keep a very close eye on that.
She still doesn't know what's coming.  Bwahahaha.

I think that's it.  Oh, for any of my pregnant ladies out there.  My favorite book on labor and delivery has been Penny Simkins "The Birth Partner".  It is an easy read.  Straight to the point.  Very little fluffy "labor is the most beautiful thing and full of sunshine and rainbows and you use your lizard brain".  It explains what the body is doing, what the mom might be feeling/doing, what the partner might be feeling/doing to help, and includes information on a typical doula's role at each stage.  We don't have a doula, but it is still good info.  I think the book was written more for the partner/doula, but I loved it.

OH YA, the thief that broke into our house finally got bailed out this week.  He spent a bit over a month and a week in jail before he made bail.  His case has been forwarded to circuit court and he is being charged with 3 felonies.    We still haven't gotten all our property back.  The police have it, but they are holding it for the case I think.

Pictures:

Here are some pictures of me and Mr. E.

I feel huge, so this picture is closer to how I feel!

bump bump bump

Check out that sweet elastic waist line!  As sexy as that looks, I swear I could happily never go back to zippers and buttons!  

Here are pictures of some awesome hand made blankets we have received:

We received a lot of hand made blankets.  Thank you all so much!  I know how much time and effort goes into making hand made gifts.  We really appreciate them!

Nursery rhymes and story time

Sunday School Song

Brian's baby blanket that decorates Eli's wall

More blankets!

36 6/7 weeks and instructions for visiting Mr. E in the hospital

Jump to the end if you just want the address and don't want to read my ramblings.  

So I know I haven't gotten to the pictures yet, I will.  If I go by how people treat me out in public and at work, I'm not sure if I should strain myself with moving digital files from one storage device to another.  It might be too much for my poor body.  I do appreciate how nice people are being, but seriously, if I can't open a door or roll a chair across the floor or walk down the hallway, how am I suppose to be strong enough to pick up my kid?  Also, people stare and ask in a very concerned tone "should you be taking the elevator, instead" when I take the stairs at work.  This started when people found out I was pregnant, even though I wasn't necessarily showing yet and continues to this day.  People are weird.

On to business, even though it is making me late for work.  I really wish I had the PTO to take the day off, but I'm trying to conserve it for the start of my short term disability/maternity leave.  I like my paycheck.

So as previously stated I should be delivering at Bethesda, now called Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Bethesda (WRNMMCB, and no, I'm not joking.  The Navy and the Army probably actually pulled out their equipment and started measuring to win the battle of naming the hospital when the Army's Walter Reed hospital transferred and combined with the Navy's Bethesda Hospital.  Clearly the Army started out winning, since the name starts with Walter Reed.  However, the Navy must have had a second string come in towards the end of the battle, with "Bethesda" tacked on the end).    You can google Walter Reed Bethesda, but like any other military website, it sucks.  The address is annoying to find in tiny font size at the bottom of each page.  It is not available on their "Directions" page, but if you are familiar with the area, the directions pages will use street names you know.

When you get to the gate (walking or driving, remember this is a military base), you MUST have a photo ID.  Driver's license, State ID, passport, etc.  You MUST give them MY name, let them know you are visiting me and go ahead and tell them I'm in labor/delivery/maternity/whatever.  I'll be on the inpatient list and they should be able to help direct you to a parking garage right by the hospital.  Base speed limits are slow, and you should not be in a hurry on this base.  There are usually tons of people walking around and it can be a bit confusing to know where to go.  Pedestrians have the right of way.  Give it to them generously. I may be there for a happy occasion but most people aren't.  Parking can be a pain during the day.  Be patient.  DO NOT park in a reserved spot for officers or staff.  You can park in a "patient spot".  DO NOT park in an "expectant mother's spot" even if you are expecting.  Even I can't park there.  They reserve those for pregnant women having complications and give them a permit.  When you enter the hospital, there are usually people standing around in jackets/blazers that can help direct you to where I will be.  They don't need to know my name, just that I'm in the maternity ward.  In the military, they like to make up crazy names so they can have an acronym.  The WRNMMCB name for the maternity section is "Mother and Infant Care Center" (MICC) but "Maternity Ward" will probably work fine.

I think that's it.  Although I'm sure that Eli would appreciate some chocolate.  I would say caramel, but I'm trying to protect a temporary filling until after delivery and caramel could pull it out :(.  I mean.... Eli might not like sticky yummy caramel... ... ... ...  :)

Address: 
8901 Wisconsin Avenue | Bethesda, MD 20889-5600
If your GPS tells you to take Connecticut Ave from 495, I actually suggest taking the Wisconsin exit (When coming down from the Baltimore area: stay to the right on the ramp when it splits and then get in the left lane after that split).  I've regretted taking Connecticut every single time.

via metro: 
WRNMMC is on the Red Line at the Medical Center Station. Exiting from the station, at top of escalator, turn right and cross Wisconsin Ave. This will be the main gate, South Wood Rd. entrance. Show ID at guard station where you may also receive guidance to your destination. At first intersection, right on Palmer Rd. South. Building 10, the main hospital is on left.

From Reagan National Airport, take the METRO Blue Line to METRO Center. Change platforms to the Red Line, destination Shady Grove. Get off at Medical Center Station. (Approx. 45 minutes)

36 1/2 weeks

Baby Eli is almost full term (Saturday).  How freaky is that?  Someone posted to facebook that he could be born any day.  Which is true, and slightly terrifying, and overwhelmingly exciting.  I had an appointment this morning (a midwife I hadn't met yet, I liked her a lot and will see her again next appointmen  The midwife said that Eli's head is dropped way down and won't be able to get out of the head down position, so that is good to hear.  Unfortunately it means that I need to pee about every 30 seconds.  It is probably really about every 30 min- an hour, but it feels like it is a constant urge.  My pelvic bone is also feeling it more.   Rolling over is annoying.  I have to sit up to roll over, which is frustrating, but kind of funny too.  The body is weird.   

On to the fruit comparisons.  These are actually for 37 weeks which is Saturday.

Eli 

• is full term
• probably has fully mature lungs, but some babies need a few more weeks.  
• weighs about 6 1/3 lbs
• is about 19 inches long (think a stalk of Swiss chard, what the hell is swiss chard?)
• is shedding the vernix caseosa (waxy stuff protecting the skin from the amniotic fluid) which helps make the lovely meconium we get to deal with after he is born. 

I'm good.  Like I said before, I'm peeing a lot, and have hip/pelvic pain.  Other than that, I'm feeling good.  I get randomly tired and still have lots of heartburn.  

Brian's almost done with this semester.  That will be a nice break.  We are hoping that Mr. E can hang out in his spa until after Brian's finals.  Brian has started running and taking Mika with him.  She seems to love those run/walks.  I think it will be great for her after baby is born to have that routine so I hope B can keep going through some fatigue.  

Mika is good.  She hurt one of her toenails, but she feels no pain.  I know that isn't true, but we couldn't keep her off of her feet.  She is too active. 

That is really it.  I have some photos from my phone, but I have to get back to work so I don't have time to upload them right now.  I'll update them when I get home.