Wednesday, September 26, 2012

28 weeks

Oops, kind of forgot to write yesterday... thank you once again for the 3 of your ho freak out every time I forget to pot my blog posts on Tuesdays. You know who you are - and you should know how loved I feel that you FREAK when you don't get to read a Tuesday update from me!

So... the belly is getting bigger, & the weather is getting cooler. which is probably why I was out buying maternity pants & long sleeve shirts yesterday. I have a love/hate relationship with buying maternity clothes, especially this time around - I LOVE having clothes that are cute & show off the belly, and mostly that are comfortable.... and I HATE spending too much money on clothes I am going to wear for 4 months & give away. Besides, they are all overpriced - most of what I have been wearing has come from second hand stores, which has been nice, but I could not find a single pair of jeans with the belly bands that I like (the ones that come up over your whole belly), and while there have been plenty of long sleeved T's & sweaters, they have all bee really, really ugly. So I broke down & spent a little bit of $ yesterday. Which means I need someone else to really step up & buy the car seat on my registry ;)

I realized I hadn't taken a photo of the giant beach ball... I mean baby belly... in awhile, so I posed in front of the mirror this morning. I haven't seen my toes while standing up in months, now you can see why.... you can also see the new top I got yesterday ;)

What else? It feels like a 'plugging along' kind of week. September has FLOWN by, soccer, Sego Lily, baby projects, and life have kept me so busy I barely notice the passing of time. Next week it will be time for another midwife appointment already; we've finished 5 or 6 weeks of birth classes already; it's getting clod outside already... December is going to be here before I know it, and that is both exciting & scary! I'm excited for so many things happening before then, that I know it's going to come too soon. But, like I've written before, I may need you all to remind me of these words when those last few weeks start dragging!

Much love to you all :))))

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

THIRD TRIMESTER!

Welcome to week 27, the official beginning of the 3rd trimester. Actually, there are so many different variations as to when the trimesters begin & end - it's a good indication that really, we just have very little idea how this is all supposed to work... But, since '40 weeks' is the expected pregnancy length, and at 27 weeks that leaves about 13 weeks which is about 1/3 of the total 40, I'll stick with this one. Did you follow that? Don't worry, neither did I and I am the one who wrote it...

I've been saying for a couple of weeks that my lovely, glorious 2nd trimester energy has been waning. Yet another indication that, as I am fond of saying, my body never read the textbooks that outline how this is supposed to be done. I'm much more tired, I feel like if my belly swells another millimeter it will explode, and I'm getting up 3-5 times a night instead of once. On the positive side, baby's movements are still constant but are rarely painful now - s/he loves to have hiccup parties, and dance to some celestial music that only s/he can hear. I imagine it sounds something like angel wings fluttering, or bells ringing, but being 41+ years this side of that particular veil, it's just a guess. Whatever it is, it has a pretty cool rhythm, if the dancing is any indication.

I have so many things I still want to do before baby gets here - mostly getting every inch of the house clean, getting all of the holiday shopping complete, securing the Sego Lily School grant (still crossing fingers on that one), and making a few more things for baby. I have been having fun making these adorable little newborn gowns (complete with the little hand flaps!) out of old t-shirts:

In fact, Gabe made the one on the left - he was bored on Saturday, and so I taught him how to use the sewing machine & walked him through the steps. It's a simple project, but not necessarily one I would turn over to a beginner. He did very well, and I only had to make two minor corrections when he was finished. I'm working on a few more of them - seriously, these are super easy to make if you know how to do a few basic things, I think with cutting time I'm at about 20-25 minutes each. Cost-wise, I bought a few pieces of knit ribbing for the neck edges, plus thread & a tiny piece of elastic. Combine that with the cost of a free old t-shirt, they are probably somewhere around the $1.25 range, max. I can't wait to see baby in some of them (but will happily wait another 12-14 weeks!) :)

Speaking of things I want to see baby in! A few weeks back I posted that I was having all 12 of the kids create a square for a quilt, using plain white fabric & sharpie markers. I finally took some time to piece it all together and it is pretty darn cute:

Unfortunately I CANNOT get this photo to rotate, but if you turn your head right you can see all of the cute drawings... anyway I'm pretty happy with it, it needs a good washing to get rid of the fabric sizing, but other than that it is complete. Lots of love for the baby when s/he gets here!

Other than the emotional roller-coaster I seem to be on for the last week, that is the extent of what is happening here in the pregnancy realm. We are having a HUGE Harvest party here this weekend (locals, get on over here, 2-10!), so I'm trying to get a bit of the house in order today, which is my only real free day before Saturday. I alternate between wanting to do 'my part' and thinking, screw it, no one else is pregnant, they can get the house ready... at least after today I will feel like I have contributed a bit. Now, off for a bit more sewing, and the much needed daily nap!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Week 26

Another week down already! This one few by fast. Probably something to do with the start of school, a super busy weekend, and a couple days of handling all the kids on my own. Or maybe it's just regular life.

Had an appointment with my wonderful midwife, Cathy, on Thursday. Everything still looks great - belly the right size, blood pressure good, etc. I haven't felt like there was anything weird going on,  so I wasn't surprised. We had a great chat about kids & families & the mental breakdown I had over the spilled pickles. I seriously could not believe it had been 4 weeks since I had seen her last. She'll be back in October, then we start every 2 week visits until 36 weeks.

As today is September 11th, it had me thinking of this day 11 years ago. I was 8 months pregnant with Gabe the day I checked my online support group email & read all of the posts asking if Asha - one of our mamas - was OK. I had no idea what was happening yet, only that something was going on in new York City. I turned on the TV to sights of a burning Trade Center building.

Like many, I was shocked. Like some, I had friends & family to worry about (a cousin in the city, another cousin working in the Pentagon, and several friends in the city). But also, like millions, I had to wonder what else was going to happen. Was this the beginning of a war? An isolated incident? I hugged my belly & cried.

A few years before, pregnant with Corbin, my step-son lost a friend in a gang shooting. Watching those teens deal with loss, & their own mortality, was heart-wrenching. I questioned what kind of screwed up world I was bringing a child into. Who was I to have the right to bring an innocent being into a world where young adults pull up to a stop light & shoot a girl in the next car for no reason? It took weeks of soul-searching to come to the conclusion that I was just the right person to bring a new human into the world - someone committed to making a difference, and making this world a better place. I also knew that I would raise my child to be compassionate, loving, and to bring something into the world that would make a difference - somewhere, somehow.

A few days after 9/11/01, I reminded myself of those days & weeks of being pregnant with Corbin. I had learned by then that my family & friends were safe, though emotionally scarred. The country had learned by then that WWIII had not started on American soil, and that while there were wounds to heal, and deaths to mourn, we too were safe. And I had remembered that this baby, too, would be raised to be loving, compassionate, and to make a difference.

I am grateful that this time around, 9/11 and that gang shooting are memories from which I learned. Our night of the fire evacuation was difficult enough to endure, with no death or possible wars to confront. Life is busy & stressful enough - especially during pregnancy - without these intense life lessons rearing their heads. So this week, I will focus on remembering lessons I have already learned, and spending all the time I can hugging my belly. Without the tears.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Week 25 - and it's September!

Fall is definitely in the air! At least it was in June Lake, CA, where I spent the last 5 days with my family to celebrate my brother's wedding. It feels like there may be some fall here in SLC, too, although I haven't felt a 40 degree evening yet ;) It was fun to share my belly with the family, although I was sick as well as pregnant, so it was a bit of a tough weekend. Still getting some of my voice back as it keeps coming & going. Mostly, of course, it was wonderful to see my parents & siblings, and spend time with my boys.

I love the fall - the smells, the chill in the air, warm sweaters, pumpkin pie, chai, fall colors.... the list goes on & on. I don't know that I have a favorite season, but if I did it would probably be fall. And of course this year, fall means closer to baby time. It was also the first day of school today, so the belly & I spent the day today at Sego Lily School. It was pretty exhausting after just coming back from our trip last night, but honestly I think it would have been exhausting regardless. I've spent the evening at home with my feet up - baby is going a bit crazy doing flips & tricks, which I think is the result of having spent the whole day being rocked to sleep since I didn't stop moving for 7 hours. The rest is nice; feeling baby move is always something that makes me smile.

I don't really have a rant this week, which is kind of nice. I do have a midwife appointment this week, and it does NOT feel like it's been 4 weeks already! After this I will be seeing her every 2 weeks, which should make time fly even more. I am getting inspired to start doing some work on the yurt to create a birth space. I'm also hoping to get some details handled about holidays for this year- I do NOT want them to sneak up on me! Just the fact that it is September has me in a bit of a panic... it's probably time to make some lists, talk to the family, and put in some structures to keep the panic at bay. I also think it's time to go get some chai!