ummmm... zero? i hope?

So we spent a few hours at the hospital last night.

Contractions anywhere from 20-4 minutes apart..... No dilation.
Sent home to "try to get some sleep" "re-asses in the morning."

So I'm re-assessing and I cannot take this much longer. The contractions may not be regular and they may not be "real labor" but painful enough to make me unable to walk when they hit and writhing on the bed all night long, pitifully bicycling my legs to make the pain in my hips a little bit better. The contractions go down from my belly into my hips, down the legs....

This morning I called the OB again and he said to go in if I feel like I can't do this anymore and we will do the C-section today.

So it looks like we are having a baby today. Sometime. Probably.

Updates to come.

4

I hope that everyone had a great New Years Eve and you are all taking it easy today and relaxing.

Chris had planned on making us a great dinner and I must say he had the best intentions but when it came down to it, between the grill almost exploding, the potatoes taking over 2 hours to bake, the steaks being possibly spoiled but definitely inedible (and the grocery store already closed to buy new ones) and the avocados being black on the inside, it was one heck of a last meal of the year. We eventually had a vegetarian meal of baked potatoes (with all the fixin's) asparagus and tomatoes. It turned out better than it sounds. Really, it did.

Then we toasted in the New Year with some fresh-out-of-the-oven brownies and watched the fireworks over downtown Miami.

So I managed to stay up past midnight but once I tried to go to sleep I was kept up most of the night with some decently bad contractions. They are still coming this morning, about every 15 minutes and really crampy but I think they are still just false labor. I'm going to take it as easy as possible today but I really want to go to lunch and maybe a movie because honestly, when are we going to be able to just go do that again, since we have (OMG!) 4 days left before the baby comes, and the way I have been feeling the last 12 hours or so, possibly less.

It's not too late for a New Years Day Baby.

Please to enjoy, some pictures of the festivities:

9

We went to the mall today. I can't wait til the 'Mar is old enough to wear J Crew.

Chris had a fun time on the "Customer Service" line. Luckily there was a chair close by for me.

I am still pregnant and if it's possible, bigger than I was yesterday. Contractions have been coming every evening, 4 days running now. I packed my hospital bag today, just in case. Those big contractions have a tendency to hurt and therefore scare the heck out of me.

The end.

lightening and tightening

I know all I seem to do now is complain about my huge belly, thighs and F. F. S. (Fat Face Syndrome) but it's not like I am really knocking myself out to do anything about it. Sure, I make sure I get my fiber and healthy foods in every day but the main culprit in my weight gain is things like this:


(These are white-chocolate covered brownie snowmen that my sister Beth sent to us - extremely Yummiliscious!!)
(Christmas cookies, using my Grandmother's Sugar Cookie recipe. YUM!)

At this point, I am going to eat what I want, as long as I eat the good stuff too, and enjoy it while I can because once this baby is here,(12 days and counting!!) I am back to eating like a human again.

Really I am.
Stop laughing.

And Merry Christmas!!!

rollercoaster, thy name is pregnancy

What a weekend.

It's amazing how your moods can change from one day to the next when you are as pregnant as I am. The hormones can really mess with your head some days and Saturday was one of those days. I woke up feeling like I was never going to be ready enough for this baby or be a good mom and, even worse, that this baby was never going to come and I was going to feel like this forever. I was not the nicesst person in the world and Chris is honestly the last person who deserves my bad attitude, but I took it all out on him anyway and then felt even worse for doing it.

Eventually, I got it together and we went to a baby CPR and First Aid class and then back to Babies R Us to return the mattress and pick up (almost) the last of the baby necessities.

Then on Sunday, I woke up feeling great, with an incredible burst of energy and started doing laundry, washed all the crib and bassinet sheets, blankets, burp cloths, whatever I could get my hands on and mopped the floors. This was the most energy I have had in weeks (months?) and it felt really good. I actually feel decent today too and that is a nice relief after the way I've been feeling lately, and it makes me feel like maybe I will feel normal again one day after all. It is also what I think has kept me from completely freaking out about the other thing that is bothering me, which is my absolute HATE HATE WHITE-HOT HATRED for clothes.

I mainly have a problem with pants. They are my absolute nemesis, my Kryptonite, my achilles heel. I know I have mentioned this before, but the situation has gotten even more critical lately with each centimeter that my thighs have grown ( I am not even going to venture a guess as to how many centimeters that is, I just know that it's a lot of them and I hate them all). I have 2 pairs of maternity jeans and they are just no longer wearable. I tried to put a pair on today and almost cried. I know there are much worse things that could be happening and I should be happy that I am healthy and the baby's healthy but there just comes a time where I am so sick of being uncomfortable. I know I said that I was going to just give up and wear sweatpants every day but I am also so tired of looking like a total slob all the time and the worst part was this morning when I put on this dress:




(as worn this summer when it was still just a normal looking tent-dress.)

and it was so tight, it looked absolutely ridiculous. This is a dress that I bought with the thought that it was so huge and tent-like that I could wear it til the day I give birth and there was no thought that I would ever be able to fill it out the way that I did this morning. Of course this is not the first time that I underestimated the enormousness that I was really going to achieve, for example these pants:

that I bought in June with the same idea; that they were so gigantic that I would never not fit them. My thighs mock those pants now. They barely fit over my knees.

The good news is that 2 weeks from today, I will be holding my little boy and my bad moods and pants and my offending thighs will be the last thing on my mind and that is exactly all I need to think about to get me through all of this.

So take that, PANTS!!!

semi-coherent thoughts (with a bullet)

• Whoever first said that necessity breeds invention must have been pregnant. I have gotten really good at doing things with my toes instead of bending over. I have drawn the line at taking the silverware out of the dishwasher (but I thought about it) but it makes turning the fan on and off easier. Also picking up things for Chewy.

• I am so big now that when I sit and slouch just a little bit, my boobs touch my belly and my belly touches my thighs. Also, my thighs rub together when I walk now. I feel like I will never be normal-looking (or feeling) again.

• In the same vein, I am getting alarmingly close to gaining 50 pounds this pregnancy. The first couple of months when I was gaining a lot of weight, I thought that as long as I stayed around 40-45 pounds, I would feel OK with it. Now I'm hoping that I stay below 50, but considering I have 17 days left and I have gained at least 2 pounds a week (it has slowed down a bit the last couple of months but not that much) it doesn't look good.

• The other day, I came home to find a big box from diapers.com on my doorstep and I actually squueeeeeeed like a little girl. Some of you may know that I am planning on cloth-diapering Kumar, but the first couple of weeks, with the bellybutton and meconium and recovering from a c-section, I have decided to use disposables. I found these at diapers.com and they make me feel a little better about using disposables and wowwee, are those newborn size diapers adorable!! I also got the wipes and a spray from California Baby that is supposed to work great for diaper rash and can be used with cloth diapers because you cannot use diaper cream. And that spray smells amazing!

• It is December 19th and I have not done thing one regarding Christmas. I can't even make myself think about it, it's like it just doesn't even exist this year. I have to go out and pick up some gift cards to send to all my nieces and nephews and I'm hoping I can do that easily enough this weekend. Chris and I aren't really exchanging gifts this year because we are going to get a Wii and Wii fit for us both to use when we are chained to the house by an infant. (God knows I'm gonna need it in a biiiiiiiiig way, see above) We plan to exchange gifts with Chris's mom when she comes down for the baby and I hope to do the same with my parents when they come down. Really all I can think about is all the stuff I have left to get before the baby gets here and everyone else is just going to have to understand.

• Also, Christmas cards? Not gonna happen. I apologize to anyone who is offended by this but they also need to get over it.

• Chewy has a new girlfriend. Her name is Rosie and she is a 9-month old puggle. She is about 1/10th his size and chases him around the park and sometimes they lay on the ground together and she bites his mouth and face until he gives her the ball. I really have to try to get pictures and/or video of it; it is so cute I can't stand it.

if you don't like to hear complaining, you may want to exit your browser now

Today we are at the 37 week mark, which means that we are full term! Which means that if I were to have the baby right this minute, the odds are that Kumar would be just fine! And I would not complain about having him Right. This. Minute.

I don't want to turn this into my complaint blog but blah blah no sleep blah blah back hurts blah blah fat face blah blah thighs rubbing together when I walk blah blah feel like my belly weighs 100 pounds blah blah double chin blah blah Braxton Hicks blah blah blah...

All went well at the OB yesterday. No news is good news and all that. I only gained two pounds since last week and I swear it is all in my face.

I'm tired and want to eat cookies but will eat an apple instead. At least for now.

Pictures!

Has anyone seen my cheek bones?

Has anyone seen Chewy's ball?

Can anyone see where I am hiding the basketball? (compare this pic to last week)

turn, turn, turn

Yesterday morning I woke up to find Chris already gone and a note on the kitchen counter that said:

I have been walked and fed.

Don't let me con you.

Love, Chewy
*********************************
Seems my sweet husband had gotten up early and walked and fed Chewy for me so I did not have to. He is the best husband ever.

The last few months, walking Chewy has been my only form of exercise. Even my prenatal yoga has taken a hit lately when I would rather take a quick nap than press play on that stupid DVD player. Because it's all that seperates me from incredible hugeness the last weeks of this pregnancy, you would think I would take these walks much more seriously but half-hour walks turned into 20 minute and now 15 minute walks and most mornings I have to convince myself to go just one more block because my tired legs and heavy belly are fighting with my guilt of not giving him enough exercise. I just don't have the energy anymore.

So taday, after walking Chewy and running some errands, I was so tired, I laid down to take a nap and that's when Kumar decided to make his move. I was fighting to stay asleep but little boy decided he was going to finally put himself into position for his exit. He has been laying sideways for months and months now but after a few minutes of purposeful squirming, I could definitely feel him in a whole new position. I may be wrong, and hopefully the OB will confirm this for me tomorrow but he seems to be in the head down, feet up position, all the better to kick my so hard in the ribs that I finally had to get up and move around to get him to stop.

As Chris said, he's coming in for his landing and ready for cross-check. All systems go.
I've been saying for months now that I want him to hold on until after the holidays because I know it's horrible to have your birthday mixed in with Christmas and New Year's but at this point.... I'll take him whenever I can get him.
I want a baby for Christmas.

weekend wrap-up

Chris and I got up Saturday morning and rented the smelliest van in history to pick up the baby furniture!

(Chris is wearing sunglasses so you can't see his eyes tearing from the stink.)

My sister Cathy and her husband Jack were in town so they met us for breakfast and to pick up the furniture (luckily they had their own car so they did not have to ride in the stink-mobile.) (Really it smelled like 300 sweaty men had just gotten out of it 4 seconds before we rented it. I almost rode with Cathy and Jack and made Chris drive in it by himself but I am a team player and couldn't do that to him.) (But I wanted to.)

Anyway, we got the boxes out of the van before they melted from the smell and Cathy and Jack made quick work of the crib before Chris even got back from returning the van. Then we all worked on the dresser and it eventually came together.

And they are so gorgeous!On Sunday I washed all of the baby clothes and put them away in his dresser (!!!) It feels so nice to have everything washed and put away neatly. I keep going in there and opening the drawers and looking at all the cute little clothes and thinking that in just a few weeks, he is going to be wearing those clothes and sleeping in the crib.

Sleeping in the crib, that is, once we get a mattress that actually fits in the crib unlike the one we already bought and have to return.

Chewy remains un-excited and generally melancholy about all the goings-on.

Thanks to Cathy and Jack for all their help in putting together the furniture because I have to admit I was pretty worthless in the helping department. I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions since Thursday and once they get going it becomes really hard to do anything besides sit and complain about it. UGH!

It was so nice to see them though and we were really lucky they were here to help because Chris and I would still be trying to put the crib together today if they weren't here. I guess once you have kids, you get lots of practice putting things together so hopefully there is still hope for us.

21 days to go!

things i love right now

* Winter Chex Mix - Cocoa. Sweet and salty and YUM!

*Pink Grapefruit Juice - this has replaced my lemonade addiction. So refreshing and it makes Kumar DANCE!

* Dresses in December. Because even the new (and gigantic) maternity pants I bought are getting snug.

* The Ped Egg. It really works and it's an adventure to look inside after you are done and see how much skin you sloughed off. Gross but Fun!

*The Chuckit - because Chewy likes nothing more than chasing the ball in the park. And mama is having some problems with the bending over thing right now.

*Slurpees. Because YUM!

*The new Ikea commercials. Is the old lady supposed to be some sort of a ghost? An imaginary friend? Either way, I love her voice and the commercials are so well done, they actually keep me from fast-forwarding through things I Tivo. That says a lot.

*Snickerdoodles. Take the Slurpee comment and quadrupl-y triple it.

*The Daily Show with John Stewart - Because there's nothing like some cynical laughter right before bed.

I know there are many many more I could think of but I am a bit distracted. It seems that Kumar has "dropped" and we have 25 days left til my C-section and I'm hoping he got the memo because I am now obsessed with the thought that I will go into labor early. I see a definite downward slope this week. What do you think?

Last week
This week

36 weeks (also! 26 days to go)

So I went to the OB today and everything is looking good. I mentioned that I was swelling a bit more the last few days and he said that kind of goes with the territory at this point and I should just try to stay off my feet as much as possible and drink a lot of water. Sounds like a plan.

This morning, while attempting to get dressed for this visit, I was feeling extraordinarily large-and-in-charge and all I could think of was, "I am officially Fat Elvis now." I am very close to growing out of the 2nd set of maternity clothes and at this point, there is no buying new ones, I am just wearing the same 3-4 outfits I have left, along with (the thing I said I would never wear in public, outside of walking the dog, because it would mean I have "given up") sweatpants.

I have given up.

It doesn't help that I ate Chipotle for dinner last night and followed that up with (oh yes I did)a short stop at Dunkin Donuts. Therefore, I am not disclosing my weight at this visit because I am hoping most of the gain was water weight and will know when I return a week from today. Yes, we are close indeed. I begin seeing the OB every week now.
So Close!


Please note- this is a maternity tank top and yes, it is screaming at the seams.

a very miami weekend

On Saturday, we did some of this:

(Thank god for flattering angles)

And on Sunday, we did some of this:

There's nothing like December in Miami.

Also, if you will notice at the bottom of this page, Kumar's Countdown is on the LAST BABY! We have 28 days left until the big day and I'm afraid my luck with certain things is about to run out. I have been much more puffy all weekend and there is nothing I can do to help it except to lay on my left side with my feet up and drink a ton of water. That is really not making it easy to get anything done (or have any fun at all) so I guess I'm just going to be puffy for a while. We're in the homestretch and the end is in sight!

feeeeet!

(The video loads best if you press play then pause for a few seconds then play again)

I don't know about the rest of you, but I cannot get enough of this stuff!
feeeeet! from christina porter on Vimeo.

designer? omar the tent maker, of course.

Some days I feel like I still have all the energy in the world and then other days, I am exhausted before I even finish my morning oatmeal.

Today is one of those tired days, so instead of a real post, I am going to give you a little window into my life these days.

I present to you, me and my moo-moo.

33 days!

Soooo.... What are you doing on 01.05.09?

I guess I will be....Oh I don't know.... HAVING A BABY!

For many reasons, the doctor and I have decided together that it is best that I have a c-section and when I saw him last week, he said we really need to pick a date. After recovering from the shock (What? Now? A concrete date? You mean this baby is really not just going to live inside my belly forever?) I said.....OK. Then I freaked out and called my parents.

We are still working on the exact logistics of when assorted Grandparents are coming and when Chris starts taking time off work and for how long and who will be able to stay with me for those first few weeks of recovery etc. but we are so excited and I can say that I personally am READY READY READY for this kid to be OUT! Besides the aches and pains and general discomfort I am feeling almost constantly now, as well as the non- stop peeeeeeeing and the Braxton Hicks (OK, I will just stop now) (But I could go on....) (But I won't) (Really, I'm done) every day now I go into the baby's closet and look at the little tiny clothes and diapers and blankets and think about how he is going to look and how much I do not want to wait 30-something days to see him.

Luckily, we were able to order the furniture this weekend and it should all arrive in 2 weeks at the latest (hopefully) and we picked up some newborn-sized jammies and t-shirts and other basics so I feel a little more prepared and I have revised my list of things left to buy so I think we can handle a month plus left to prepare. But then he presses his little foot up against my belly and I can actually feel that it is a foot and I just want to sprinkle it with salt and roll it in breadcrumbs and *nom nom nom* eat it up!
But I still have to wait 33 days.

gobble gobble

So this Thanksgiving, I did some of this:

I worked for a German catalogue and let's just say that it seems the Germans have not gotten the memo that pregnant women kind of like to wear cute clothes even though they are big as houses. (as you can see from my awesome get-up above)
The job was probably one of the worst jobs I have had in years, for many reasons that I will not get into here, but it was only because of Carmen (the girl in the picture with me) that I was able to tolerate the two days and was actually able to laugh about things instead of losing my mind. She is due January 5th so we are planning on seeing each other again at the hospital that week.

After I was finished working on Friday, Chris and his mom and Chewy all came to pick me up at the beach and we were able to spend some time together before Chris's mom left on Saturday afternoon.




I never got a picture of all of us together and no pictures of Thanksgiving dinner. It was a weird holiday and I just couldn't help but think that next Thanksgiving we were going to have our son there at the table with us and it would be a very different day.

Also, Chris looked at me on Saturday morning and said, "It's official. You are huge." And compared to how I looked 6 months ago, I have to agree with him.

May 27th - December 2

stuff n' stuff

Today I went to Babies R Us to look at their nursery furniture. Hopefully we will be able to go back on Sunday and order the furniture but the problem is, after the fiasco of earlier this week, I cannot decide which furniture I want now.There are different things available online that are not in the store and things in the store that I did not see online so we are going to have to prepare a bit for this before we go and just decide already because time is running out.

I did find a rocker/glider that I did not see online and I am hoping that we can get that this weekend as well. I took pictures for Chris to see it so here it is:

I like that it has a slipcover so it can be washed, because from what I hear, babies tend to be a tiny bit messy at times.

This was my view from that chair:

Looks comfy doesn't it?

I am going to be working the next two days so I am preparing all the food for Thanksgiving dinner today and getting the house in order for the weekend. Chris's mom is coming to spend the holiday and weekend with us so I am hoping my job is short and we can spend some time together as well as some awesome Thanksgiving food tomorrow and lots of leftovers the rest of the weekend. There is nothing I love more than Thanksgiving dinner. Now, I am off to make stuffing, with apples and walnuts. Pumpkin pie is in the oven. Now I just have to try to not eat it all tonight.

I probably won't post much this weekend so Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

nursery tales

After months of research (and a tiny bit of procrastination) we were all ready to order the nursery furniture this weekend and....it did not go well. I will just say that the furniture we tried to order on Sunday was not ordered due to circumstances outside of our control and our Plan B furniture has been discontinued (I find out today) so I am now in a mad scramble to find something that we like that we can also get in the next week or two.

We really liked the modern look of both the Plan A and Plan B furniture and the fact that they were relatively inexpensive was an added attraction because most of the time the modern cribs are the most expensive for some reason. I am doing extensive research today to find something that Chris and I both like.I have no real plan except just hoping that something will jump out at me that we can either pick up ourselves or is ready to ship because (big surprise!) furniture can take weeks and months to be delivered and also comes with very high delivery charges - sometimes almost as much as the furniture price itself. Bleh!

In other news, Chewy has been acting extremely aloof these days, even for him, the world's most aloof dog. In some ways I think it is good because he will not be able to get as much attention once the baby comes so it's better he get used to it early, but it also makes me sad because he is always sleeping in another room and literally walks away from me when I try to lay down and cuddle with him and this behavior is really beginning to border on just plain rude.
I guess he knows something is going on, with all the furniture being moved around and new things being brought into the house but I wonder if this is really going to help him adjust or if he is still going to be in a big shock some 4-6 weeks from now.
4-6 weeks? I remember when I felt like this time would never come and here we are now, at the final countdown. I guess this is going to be a shock to all of us, no matter how prepared we think we are.

reflections

Kumar has been getting so much more active lately, or possibly I am just feeling it more because he is beginning to run out of space. Sometimes I can see my whole belly shake from side to side and it is so incredibly amazing I can't wait for him to do it again and again.

Also, every afternoon now for the last 3 days, he has gotten the hiccups. My mom told me that I used to get the hiccups a lot before I was born so I guess he got it from me and it is so funny to feel the rhythmic movements. Luckily, he hasn't been very violent in any of his kicks or punches or even his hiccups and besides a couple of swift kick to the ribs, I still have nothing horrible to complain about and I actually wait for him to do it again whenever I feel it and am disappointed when he stops. Also, the pushing is getting more and more common, where one side of my belly (usually the right side, where his butt and legs are) gets pushed out so far I look deformed.

I can really spend hours just sitting and watching my belly morph into different shapes and sizes, and between the pushes and the occcasional Braxton-Hicks contractions I have been getting, the belly is really gettting a workout most hours of the day.

I am beginning to understand what women mean when they say that they miss being pregnant and feeling him move and roll around because this is the only time in your life that he is always right there with you and safe and giving you almost constant reassurance of his A-OK-ness. At the same time, I cannot wait for him to come out so I can kiss him and cuddle him and learn what he is all about because he seems like such a sweet and gentle little boy and I just can't wait to be his mommy.

33 weeks: 7 weeks to go? really?

So I am feeling much better than yesterday and am allowing myself to be happy and excited once again. Last night I was sitting on the couch and Kumar was moving around and it was nice to know what exactly was going on in there, based on where he was in the ultrasound.

He is actually in the exact oppoiste position than I thought he was, with his head and arms in the lower left quadrant and his butt to the right side of my belly button.

What I thought was his head pushing out was actually his butt (hopefully this is the last time I confuse those two things and let's just not mention that to him in the future OK? Thanks.) and what I thought were kicks to the bladder are actually punches. So now I know and it's fun to see the movements and have a better picture of what's really going on in there.

If only we could install a little window into our uterus(es?) (uteri?) so we can always see what is going on.

Till then, I have this: