Monday, October 30, 2006

34 Weeks and Counting

I had another shower this weekend. This one was thrown by my friends from church. My friend Britt flew in from LA and Penny drove in from Nashville. It was so nice. I had a great time at the shower and got so many nice things. It was great seeing Penny and Britt. There is something special about old friends. It was also nice to be able to introduce my old friends to my fabulous new friends. I realized that I am sort of a unique hybrid of the two. I still have some of my old LA ways but I have adopted many of the valuable Midwestern qualities of my new friends. (Most of my new friends aren't actually from the Midwest, but I associate all that is good about them with being a Midwestern thing.)

Speaking of special, my husband is tremendous. On Friday - game five of the World Series where we were probably going to clinch it all - he gave up his ticket so one of his co-worker's sons could go and so he could spend time with me. He brought me flowers and made me dinner and we watched the game together. I could not believe he would give up his ticket for me. He truly is selfless. What a great hubby!

We did in fact win the World Series and this town has not stopped buzzing yet. It is pretty neat to see how crazy everyone is about their Cardinals.

Not much else to report. I am just feeling ready. I have a weird feeling that I will not end up lasting 40 weeks. I just sort of feel like it is going to be early. I can't tell you why just an odd feeling. We will see, I also thought I was having a boy so my "feelings" are not the most reliable. I would like to make it at least 2-3 more weeks so that everything is full term but after 37 weeks I am open for business.

We'll wait and see...

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Large and in Charge

I feel VERY pregnant right about now. I am not sure how there is still room for my intestines because it feels like I am all baby and all belly. Emmy has taken to kicking/hitting less and swimming more. I can feel her doing flip turns and the backstroke it seems like. Apparently your fluid level increases fairly dramatically in the last tri mester which is part of the phenomenon. It is such a weird feeling. For my non-pregnant friends, try to imagine someone moved your pancreas a little to the left and then to the right and then back again. For 32 years my insides have been relatively stationary and now I have Michael Phelps in there swimming for his eighth medal.

I made the last of my doctors appointments today. It really hit me that I only have about 6.5 more weeks. CRAZY!!! I have been talking to my friend who's baby is going on two weeks old and she basically said it is so much harder than you can ever imagine. I am trying to practice imagining it to be the WORST thing in the world so maybe, just maybe, I won't be so caught off guard. Every night I pray that God will let Emmy be healthy and happy and that He will make me a good mommy.

In other news, the Cardinals are now in the World Series so the LONGEST SPORTS SEASON EVER, continues to roll in my house. I am trying so hard to be supportive of Jeff's Cardinals love affair, but I am really quite over it. I want the Cardinals to win because I would love to see this town rewarded for its faithful devotion, I just would like to see them win soon.

Friday, October 20, 2006

What Do You Call a Baby Cardinal?

The Lou is all abuzz today as the Cardinals pulled out an unbelievable nail-biter of a win against the NY Mets to win the NLCS and advance to the World Series. At one point we were going to be lucky to even make the playoffs and now we are headed to Detroit to play for the big money. Needless to say this is big news in my house.

Last night I was taking a bath when Jeff came in wearing a red STL stocking cap and red STL gloves. "I have to go to the gloves, it is 1-1 in the 8th, the gloves are lucky." Whatever you say big guy. I love my husband for being such a nut.

Baseball has pretty much taken over every aspect of our lives at this point but Jeff obviously still has an eye on the fact that we are going to have a baby, as evidenced by the following post on his blog.

"A couple nights ago I actually prayed that Emelia would like baseball. I am sure it is because the Cards are in the post-season and I think about baseball a lot right now. When I went to Game 4 here in St. Louis, where the Cards clinched the series and advanced to the NLCS, I spotted several families and it made me think about how cool it would be to be at a game with my daughter and, hopefully, to have her root for her favorite player and be excited if we win and sad if we lose. Of course, she might hate baseball, and that is OK, but I can dream, can't I?OK, honesty alert--I just re-read that last graph. It really will not be acceptable if Emmy doesn't like baseball! : ) "

That's pretty cute huh?

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

The Beginning of the Baby Chain

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but there are four of us at church that are pregnant. Our due dates are as follows, Oct. 8, Nov. 20, Dec. 10, Jan. 11. It is a certifiable baby boom.

My first friend was due Oct. 8 and her baby boy showed no sign of being ready to enter the world. After another week and still no movement the doctor recommended a c-section. So yesterday morning she went in and two hours later she had a baby. He is 8lbs. 10 oz. and apparently has a record setting large head. (Thank goodness she didn't try to fit that through the birth canal if you know what I mean.) Jeff and I went to visit the couple last night. Everyone is doing well. I asked her if it was weird to suddenly have a baby and she said it was a little strange but that from the minute they put him in her arms she felt like she had been holding him forever. Now she maintains that she still feels clueless so it isn't like suddenly she has the answers to every baby mystery out there but she feels like she can do it. That was like music to my ears.

I hope it is the same way for me. I am starting to reach the point where I am ready to be done being pregnant and to start caring for Emmy. I am still scared of toxic diapers and uncooperative breast feeding but I am ready to try it. Everywhere I turn there is differing advice on how to do just about everything relating to baby. I have decided to be informed but to spend more time praying than reading because I figure if anyone really knows how to do it it's God. So why not go to the source. So today I feel ready but tomorrow who knows, I might be back to being petrified. I was an emotional nut before getting pregnant, addiing all of the extra hormones surely didn't help matters.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Real World

So I realized today that reality has set in. I am not just pregnant, I am actually going to give birth. Now I know this doesn't surprise any of you, but it is big news for me. I think once I found out I was pregnant I spent a lot of time thinking/reading about being pregnant. What to expect at this week and why my belly feels like that and why even Cheerios give me heartburn, etc. Now I have sort of gotten used to the alien in my body and am realizing that soon I will have a baby. That baby will then turn in to a toddler and then a child and then a teenager, etc. I feel a bit overwhelmed at the change in my life. I can sort of imagine childbirth and even the baby's first year, but after that I can't even daydream because I don't know what it looks like.

Jeff recently wrote on his blog that he feels more prepared than ever and is ready to be a dad, although the child better like baseball. (It is playoff time in the Lou so baseball fever has clearly consumed his brain.) I however feel less prepared than I felt a week ago. I feel prepared for the beginning but how can I ever prepare for all that is to come after that. I guess that is what life is all about, never knowing how things will play out just trusting that God has a plan for you. I read a snazzy little tidbit recently that said "What the Lord takes you to, He will get you through." I believe that with all my heart as I have seen it in my own life several times, but that doesn't mean I am not scared.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Whirlwind Weekends

I now spend most of each weekend devoted to "finishing" the nursery. Things are almost done and I am loving the way everything looks. I found my Eiffel Tower lamp and bought the lampshade that matches our bedding. I have hung the bedding blanket on the wall as well as the matching wall decorations, the only thing missing is the shelf and her name on the wall. If I spent this much time finding a pediatrician I would not be awake at night worrying about what I haven't done.

I have started to get a bit restless. I am feeling like there are only a few things left to do and then other days I feel like it is probably just the calm before the storm. Who knows, all I know is life as I know if is about to change dramatically.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Let the Nesting Begin

This weekend we had our second of three showers. It was terrific. I got to see my family and I also got to see all of my mom's friends. They are such a crucial link to mom. All the way home from Bloomington I thanked God that my mom was such a good friend and cultivated relationships with such excellent people. Each one of them reminds me of my mom in some way or another.

The good news is we got some lovely stuff for the baby. The bad news is the nursery was not prepared for the influx of stuff. What that meant is that on Sunday I channeled my mom and "got busy." I worked around the house from 12:00 when we got home from church/Target until 8:45 when Jeff banned me from starting any new projects. We finally finished the "easy-to-assemble" dresser and got that moved in to place. Then I started sorting through the clothes and separating them by size. The bigger ones went in to a tub to be used later and the smaller ones went in to the washing machine. I washed all of the bedding and all of the towels/clothes we received. Jeff was funny as I was pouring the clothes in to the washer he smiled and said look at all of that little stuff. I decided that baby socks, while being ridiculously cute, are even worse to launder than regular socks, which I loathe. Socks suck! At about 8:00 I began assembling the bouncy chair which was when Jeff yelled at me for starting a new project at this time of night. But once I was done I just sat in the rocker and took in the glory of the clean nursery, sloppy paint job and imperfectly assembled dresser and all. It all looks pretty darn good and I am proud to put my bean in there once she comes.

I still feel slightly overwhelmed with all of the stuff I need to know so I have started thinking about the "rules" at night before I go to bed. No immersion bathing until the umbilical stump falls off, alcohol swab the stump every time you change the diaper, no pacifiers for two weeks or until breastfeeding is well established, no bottle until four weeks, bath every three days, the 5 S's of a happy baby, feed every two hours, don't let them sleep more than three hours at a time during the day, wake them up to feed at night if they have slept four hours, count stools and wet diapers to know if your baby is getting enough to eat, etc. I am sure once the baby comes and I am sleeping for about four hours a night I will forget the rules completely and some sort of survival instinct will kick in but for now I am busy chanting. The chanting makes me feel better though and that makes me feel like I might be able to do this after all.