Getting Closer

I can't believe that we are in the final stretch of this pregnancy. It has gone so quickly. Less than a month left till my due date (actual birth day is anyone's guess) We had an ultrasound on Friday that confirmed that I am, in fact, growing a little boy! Well, "little" is debatable! :) Ah well, big or tiny, he will be here soon enough.

We have spent this weekend preparing for this little one. We've cleaned out the car, although we ran into a little snag in getting it detailed. The wait is atrocious today. REALLY bad. Like 2 hours wait for just a regular car wash, forget about the extensive job we want done. So I may need to deal with it this week sometime.

We also bought (and assembled) the stroller, some clothes and receiving blankets, a Nursing Nest, a Medela Nursing Stool, and a few other minor sundries.

In sad news, we loaned out our CoSleeper to some friends and picked it up last night so we could assemble it here at home and it somehow got broken. One of the metal poles was quite severely bent where the latch should release. Sometimes it can be difficult to take down and I think they may have gotten overzealous in trying to get it down when they were done with it. I feel really bad for them, because they are in no position to pay for it, but then again, neither are we with the midwife expense and all. But that is $160 that needs to be spent. We got a lot of use out of that CoSleeper and expect(ed) to this time as well. I'm bummed because I already bought the extender legs to match ours and now I have the wrong color because it seems to be really difficult to get the CoSleeper in the original blue with white legs. So now I will have non-coordinating legs, which really is very minor though.

Preparations

We had our 35 week midwife appointment yesterday and all seems to be on course for our homebirth sometime after about a week and a half from now (!!!) Next week is our big appointment - the 36 week conference - where we go through all of the expectations for the birth, we go through the birth kit, the list of things that need to be on hand, etc for the birth, etc.

In preparation for that, I pulled out the scrapbook from my pregnancy with DS and went through the list we got from them. I'm sure there will be differences, but much of it will be the same. The part that made me laugh nervously to my DH is that all of it was supposed to have been completed by the 36 week mark. So this weekend on the agenda is getting the car cleaned thoroughly by a car cleaning place - the full detailing. If we are sticking another carseat in there, then it needs to be thoroughly cleaned, because I know what the seat under DS's looks like when we take it out. Can you imagine 2 carseats? Yikes! And when that is done, in goes the baby's carseat. Or at least the base from the carseat. And then it will only be our immediate family that can ride in our car. @ adults in the front, 2 carseats in the back and we are full up. Turns out I really *do* need a minivan. One of these days...

And we need other basic baby stuff too. For some reason I cannot find all of the receiving blankets from DS. And I had a TON. I gave a few to a friend, but I thought I had kept some. I guess not. So I need to shop for baby hats and receiving blankets.

And last, but not least, I am having a blessingway, or a Mama blessing. I was sure that since it hadn't come up by now, that it wouldn't, but sure enough, I got a call yesterday from my best friend and she is planning something. I'm pretty excited. So now the baby is on notice to wait until after the 12th of February. At least from BF! :)

Off to make breakfast!!

Some time alone

Don't worry, I'm not getting used to it. It may be my last time alone for YEARS. Actually it is very nice. DH, poor guy, has been working himself crazy finishing up some contract work so that we can pay off this homebirth and buy the baby things, etc. He's been putting in long days at the office and then longer nights at home, sometimes not getting to bed till after 3 in the morning. And I'm closing in on the end of this pregnancy, which is getting harder on me physically. I'm exhausted and the relaxin is wreaking havoc on my ankle, which had some ligament problems last year that resolved, but were reawakened by the hormone surge preparing my body for childbirth. IcyHot patches are my very best friend nowadays.

Anyway, those physical changes and stressors are par for the course and I mostly just live with them, but it is really slowing me down with my poor 4yo DS. I can't do as much, we don't go as many places, I can't walk very far and there is no way I can pick him up anymore. And he needs a touch more physical play than I am able to give him right now. And with DH being effectively out of the picture for a few weeks, including weekends, DS has been going nuts. But today Daddy is back and they are off in a mad celebration of that today with a huge day at the park bike riding and boat riding and swinging and climbing and all manner of things Mommy can't do much of anymore. And tomorrow is a Disneyland day. And if I even go, basically I will sit on my butt a lot because of this ankle. DS is very much in his element.

A good example of how quickly I peter out nowadays is yesterday. DH invited some friends over for Shabbat dinner. Not ever a big deal in the past. So DS and I went out to the Farmer's Market in the morning for asparagus and strawberries (one of the big positives of living in Southern CA, BTW), stopped at Trader Joe's for a few things and then on to Costco for 2 folding chairs we have needed to buy for awhile now. After that, I needed to rest for about an hour because I was EXHAUSTED. And then back to the kitchen for challah baking, food prep and cooking, cleaning up the dishes, etc. I worked for about 3 hours total. And when I was done (and DH was home) I was so exhausted and drained that I had to lay on the sofa for awhile and not do anything. We even did all the non-table specific Friday night stuff in the living room to give me more rest time. And many hours later (10pm) I brought DS up to bed and then lay on the bed upstairs to try to recover from my day of body abuse. It hurt to even make my way to the bathroom. Pathetic really. But after a good night's sleep, I woke up only midly aching from my workout yesterday and after an afternoon of doing nothing, I feel loads better.

Oh wait, I didn't do nothing! I get to mark one more thing off my to-do list - I finally ordered those darn cosleeper extender legs! :)

So how much have I gotten done?

I bought Biokleen and washed the baby clothes I have on hand.
I bought 2 dozen infant sized prefolds (I have a dozen here already.)

Other than that? Nothing. I looked at dressers and DH was horrified that they cost $200 (and these were Simmons changing table dressers on clearance!) Apparently he has been out of the furniture shopping loop for WAY too long. Of course he has strange notions of what things cost. I'll never forget years ago when I sent him to pick up the drycleaning and he was horrified that is cost about $20 for a suit, several dresses and a couple shirts. He was figuring on about $5.

And in baby news, apparently my midwife, who prides herself on rarely having been off in 18 years of midwifery, estimates our baby to be at about 8lbs right now based on butt size. In case you aren't keeping track, I am 34 1/2 weeks pregnant. In the last month, a baby generally gains 1/2-1lb per week. Is it possible for me to subsist on nothing but water and Rolaids Soft Chews (a girl's got to do something about heartburn!) for the next however many weeks and keep the weight gain in the new one down? Yikes. DS was 9lbs8oz and presented with both hands next to his (large) head, so I'm not afraid of a big baby, but I sure don't relish the idea of delivering a 12lb one. I'll have to skip all the newborn stuff!

In positive news on that front, DSIL has agreed to come when the baby is born for a few days to help out with DS. She will leave upon news that we are in labor and probably arrive after the actual birth, given that she lives in Atlanta and we live in Southern CA. But it will be nice having her around. Of all of his family, I know that she will be the best one to have around for this sort of thing. Hopefully mid-February. Maybe 38 weeks? Ack! Am I really that close? I only have 2 1/2 weeks until we are cleared for our homebirth. :gulp:

So I had this huge long post...

And Blogger ate it. They ended up going down during the time I had typed it, but I didn't know and submitted it to publish and lost the whole darn thing. Bummer. And it was a non-whining post too! So I'll try to recreate it as best I can. Well, sort of since I can only remmeber parts of it. 1st part:

Getting ready for the baby

I have a boatload of stuff to do and I am torn about how much I should do since I am a touch on the superstitious side thanks to being Jewish I guess. I don't want to bring too much into the house, but on the other hand, there are things we need ahead of time, especially since we are having this baby at home. Earlier this week I finally bought the carseat which is now in our dining room awaiting installation somewhere around 36 weeks. But there is much still to do, including:

• Buying both cloth diapers and wool to knit covers. Oh, and of course, knit those covers. Yikes.
• Buying the Sit N Stand stroller. We are actually going to do this a touch earlier then we really need to for the baby because we need a stroller to bring to Disney with DS and we may as well buy one that will be useful for awhile.
• Order domperidone from New Zealand (long story but suffice it to say, it would be nice to have on hand if I need it)
• Buy a sling.
• Buy a diaper bag. This is more important than you realize because I do not own a purse and haven't in years. First I used the diaper bag backpack from Lands End with DS and then when he was old enough to not need it anymore, I just tossed my keys and wallet in my pocket. I would do that now, but maternity clothes are notoriously devoid of pockets.
• Get in an array of herbal stuff for both baby and mommy, including wipes solution, sitz bath herbs, etc etc.
• Pick up cosleeper from friend who borrowed it and buy the extender legs for it since our bed is taller than the one we had with DS.
• Buy Bi-O-Kleen and do some baby laundry.
• Buy dresser/changing table so we have somewhere to put aforementioned diapers and newly laundered clothes. If we manage to buy this, it will be the only dresser we have in the house. Sad, huh? :) We used to have this awesome built-in in our dressing closet in LA and when we moved we no longer had a place to put it, but in our last apartment, we had a closet full of shelving that really made a dresser unnecessary. This place? We really do need a dresser although the closet is okay with shelving. But not if we have to add another person's clothes to it.

More later I suppose. Some company just dropped by and I should be sociable.