Heartburn

So ladies we are about to test out that old theory that lots of heartburn during your pregnancy causes your newborn to be born with a full head of hair. I have experienced the least amount of heartburn with my pregnancy, other pregnancies have been plagued with heartburn, my first being the worst, resulting in my first born having the fullest head of hair of all my newborns. With each of my pregnancies my heartburn has decreased and so has the amount of hair my newborns are born with. So will this child be bald? My lack of heartburn may be an indication of that. I guess we will need to wait and see.

Geez!

So I successfully passed my guess date. This morning I'm thinking
" who am I to even consider myself likely to go into early labor?" seriously, why do I think I will go early? M was in-between the two due dates the doctors had given me and N was induced so in my mind that fact that we gave birth early doesn't count. L was the only one I went early with. What am I doing thinking I'll go early!!!!
also, " you wouldn't know labor if it hit you right across the side of your head" scary and maybe true. I've only gone into labor once. That was over 6 years ago with L. I clearly remember knowing it was the real thing. This is the first child I've had so many "practice" contractions with and periods of 5 or 6 of them in a short period of time. But I'm not one to call wolf so I have not thought much when they are happening, just maybe a glance at the time or count how many I have just in case they become more painful. It makes a difference that the midwives are going to take an hour to arrive on the scene. One thing that has not changed with my labors in the time it takes. Longest was the induction at 11-12 hours long but obviously that wasn't all "real" labor. With the girls, M was 9 hours and that was from the time they broke my water fully(there was no pattern of contractions before then) and birth. L was the shortest, going into labor on my own until birth was 7 hours. All of these were in the bed labors. I've heard that moving around speeds things up and that's what's happening this time. I'm not sure that's really what I want. I'm incredibly wanting to have this baby but to be honest I am a little scared. This whole experience is new to me. Maybe it does need to happen fast so I don't have time to think about it.

July 28

This is my guest date.
I love it because it's easy to remember 7/11. 28 being my birthdate. The 28th is also my best friend's son's birthday, my uncle's birthday, cousin's birthday and great-aunt's birthday. So IF this baby was born today, they sure would fit right in. Don't know if it's going to happen but we do still have time for the frightening three hour labor that might happen. I do feel miserable. Lots of pelvic pressure when I'm up and moving and sitting just doesn't feel right either. I could guess that it's going to happen soon but what exactly is soon? Until then I plan on sitting with a fan blowing on me and trying to relax. The good thing is the guests leave tomorrow, making me able to put the little things that are out of order back in order. If a doctor offered me an induction- I might take it. Good thing I've been there. Done that. And this time I'm walking along a different road.

One Day Closer

With each passing day,
even though I'm tired of the state I'm in and
I'm wishing and longing
for the day I can see your face
and hold you next to my beating heart.
I'm reminded how important it is for us to make it one more day,
in the state we are currently in.
You are safely growing,
And there is no need for you to rush to come join us.
So just stay put my little one
until it's YOUR time.
I'll wait for you to come.

Almost There

This weekend marks the beginning of my 37 week. I'm getting tired of this whole being pregnant thing for sure. The weather this week has not helped nor the fact that we are without air conditioning. But I did actually get a lot accomplished this week. Our room is ready, the kids rooms are cleaned and organized and I remind them at least twice a day to clean up after themselves. Our play/family room upstairs just got cleaned today... almost all of the toys organized(I have one more bin to go through), a box of stuff for a future rummage sale or goodwill, furniture moved around and it looks really nice. My craft room is next but really if I don't get around to it it is not a big deal. I found all of the baby stuff... Receiving blankets that were missing, slings and wraps that were missing, everything was found and put where I know where they are when I need them.
We bought our new car seat, did you know car seats expire? It is really cute. I kind of thought we needed a new one, our old one we bought over 6 years ago before M was born and has gone through 3 children. I thought that since we are going to try and have at least one more after this one that we should buy one now so it goes through two kids. I didn't check the old car seat's until after we bought the new one but sure enough it had expired December 2010, go me!
We might have both the downstairs shower and our master bedroom bathtub fixed by the end of this weekend. This will be super sweet because then guests can shower downstairs and I can get that downstairs bathroom a tad bit cleaner before the baby comes. Also I won't have to walk in the hallway between the upstairs bathroom and our room when I'm in labor because I can just use our master bathroom tub and shower. I'm so excited.
Other than all that I have been super moody, I feel sorry for my sweet kids because their mother(me) has not been calm, cool and collected this week, at all. Maybe once all this stuff is done I can just lay here in bed and do nothing until labor starts?
Oh and we have decided not to take the trip to Ludington, which means I might have family staying here with us next week, which means I might have to inform my mom of the home birth. I am not excited about that, at all. But we are thinking it's better to tell her before I'm in labor so she knows what is going on and knows all of our wishes. Does that make since?
The girls are crazy excited. M is convinced that the midwives would make it and that she will need to be the doctor. She has a basket with a blanket for the baby and an oven mit. The oven mit is for L because L has been volunteered to catch the baby and the baby is going to be covered in "yucky stuff" actually I have been informed that we need one more oven mit so they have one for each hand. M wants to cut the cord, too. She is quite demandin

Humidity & Nesting

I've decided that this weather hates me. I have an enormous amount of energy but today it hit 90 degrees with a heat index of over 100 and the humidity is going to reach 95% tonight. We have zero air conditioning and a upstairs where all the bedrooms are and all the work that I want to do needs to be done. I got the girls room cleaned and moved around last night. Today I tried to spend most of the day downstairs washing/drying/folding clothes. I washed all of the sheets and blankets from our beds and all of the newborn and 0-3 month baby clothes. Tomorrow I need to prep the diapers some more. I moved the furniture around in our room, found a plastic 3--drawer thing to but the baby's clothes in. I have the arms reach bassinet next to our bed and moved our hope chest(J actually did the moving) upstairs to our room so I could put all our blankets in it. Little N's closet is better organized, some of the baby's clothes will be stored in there. I still need to set up the pack n play downstairs.
The girls are in baby watch mode. Both have told me to let them know if I start to hurt because then the baby's coming. They helped me put the plastic sheet on our bed last night so I roughly explained to them about my "water" breaking and what that meant. M wants to help cut the cord. L wants to hold the baby only if it is a girl, not a boy. One brother is enough for her, I guess. M has a bunch of supplies set aside in her closet just in case the midwives can't make it, including a basket and a blanket. They have asked me if the baby comes out with clothes on or not.
They have both seen me wash baby clothes and probably know by know what we think we are having.. I try and play it off as nothing. Please don't call my house asking them what baby clothes I am washing.
Here are the stats. With N I would have already had him. L I had at 37 weeks 5 days. Which is in a week and a day. M had a couple days after her due date. Which would be in 3 weeks and 4 days.
But back to the weather. I told J he needs to find me a window air conditioning unit. I hope he does. This weather is suppose to stay in the 90's all this week. Yucky. I just hope the humidity goes down.

Um.. Yeah

Whew!
Four more weeks to go....watch out. It will be funny(is that the right word?) if I hit or surpass my due date. But if I do, I'll have a lot more time to prepare... time is something I don't mind having.
This week was a little exhausting, emotionally more than physically. My wonderful husband was at camp and there was a lot of miscommunication leading into confusion over the logistics of everything. Like when he was going to stay home with us and when he was going to be gone. I had a couple of pregnant lady tantrums or meltdowns directed towards him. Sorry hunny.
The kids were great. M pampered me at times, randomly bringing me glasses of water to drink and L would randomly tell me she loved me. Am I that transparent with my emotions? Yes. I am.
But we made it through. J is due home in a couple hours and we are heading off to the fair after that.
Week after week this all is becoming more real. The girls are ultra excited. I'm a little worried about N adjusting to it all, but at least he'll be able to sit on my lap again.
36 weeks done. The countdown begins.

Supplies

Ordered my birth kit in the mail late last week and it arrived today. I have yet to ventured into opening it. It might be better to keep it all contained in the box(otherwise the kids might litter it all over the house). I was also reminded by the midwives of another list of things I should have set aside for the birth, like towels, clothes I want to wear afterwards, clothes for the baby, extra sheets for the bed.. you know, those sort of things. So, once my hubby is back in town, I plan on taking a shopping trip, buying anything I need to buy, then setting all of this aside so it will be good and ready for birth time. Also, our vacation to Ludington keeps on getting pushed back. We will now be heading up there when I am 37 weeks and a few days along.
This scares me a little. N was induced at 36 wks. I don't count that as normal. But L was normal labor at 37 wks 5 days. I talked to the midwives and informed them that I would be away. The great thing is that Ludington is only 1 hour away from our house and the midwives are 1 hour away from our house. So my plan is.. if I happen to go into labor on vacation, I'll call them and we can all meet an hour away at our house. They seem a ok with this set up, even telling me stories of births in Walmart parking lots, hotels, motels, cabins in the woods, whereever and whenever the babe is ready to come out, they are willing to be there for the blessed event. I feel confident that it will all work out. My labors have been short in the past but not 1-2 hour short. I should at least make it in my door or in my driveway before I need to push-at least that's what I'm praying for. Hopefully we can just have a real nice relaxing vacation then come home and go into labor the next day or something.
Talk about planning. But this next week I have to get it all in order.
Birth first.
House second.
Pack for vacation.
Vacation over.
Baby.
That's what I'm talking about.

Love Me Some Photos

A really good friend of ours volunteered to take some photos of us while I was still pregnant. Here are some of the results. I made the big mistake of letting N skip out of his nap, which equaled a really grumpy two year old boy who absolutely refused to sit still to have his picture taken with us. He could not even be bribed. The only thing he wanted to do was see the pictures in the camera after they had been shot. "I see it! I see it!" Anyway, I was not thinking at all and should have fought with him a little more to get him to nap. So the family shots didn't turn out so well.. but we got a bunch of other shots that I think are real good. Thanks Sara!!

I like this last one because it shows the hugeness of my belly.

We have four more weeks for it to grow even larger.

Exhausted at 35 Weeks

Ok.. so officially I'm not 35 weeks.

But tomorrow I will be!

We just arrived home from five days in Grand Rapids. It was a week without the girls(they stayed at my parent's house). It was a week of getting up at 6 or 7 and going to bed at 11 or 12. Our days were packed full of activities and we walked... a lot. Now I know that if this conference had been scheduled when I was going on 37 or 38 weeks then I absolutely would be in labor right now. We when arrived home last night I could hardly function. Overwhelmed by the house not being in order, loads upon loads of laundry, dishes that needed to be washed, unpacking to be done, new school curriculum begging to be looked at, new photos dying to be displayed on the wall and not feeling or noticing the baby moving the normal amount of movements that a pregnant mother should feel in a day, hour, minute.... I broke down.

Then composed myself enough to sit in a chair until I felt the little one move.

Then made dinner.

Then directed the children to pajamas, toothpaste, toothbrushes, bed, songs with their daddy and I climbed in bed....begging everyone to please come talk to me if they needed something...

I was not getting up, I was stuck.... there.

I could not,

would not,

function,

anymore.

Today I feel better.

Baby is moving normally.

Half of the laundry is washed yet not put away.

Some bags are unpacked.

I've moved baby stuff around. I don't know if you know but the U.S. has come out with stricker guidelines for cribs. They will no longer sell cribs with drop-side rails because they have been deemed unsafe. We have a drop-side crib, that has made it through three kiddos. I already have it set up in my arts/craft/school room. But I have now decided to take it down and temporary store it in the garage. I figure the baby can move into either the girls room or the boys room when the baby no longer is sleeping in our room, which may be awhile. Until then I need to get the other room more organized and since we will probably buy a new crib, eventually, it does not need to be taking up the space it is taking up. So new crib goes on the list for baby stuff. We also need a new carseat and then 2 more diaper covers and maybe some more prefolds. I think I have enough clothes. So there it is! Crazy busy, trying to get stuff done while I have J here.

Pray for me.. he will be gone all day, almost everyday, next week.