The [pre] birth story

If you're expecting your first baby, you might as well just set the date on your calendar now - your baby probably won't arrive until you're at the 41 week mark. (Not to say that some little ones don't come earlier, but you should prepare yourself for a late arrival, too.) Joe and I learned in our childbirth classes that the average first baby is delivered at 41 weeks and 1 day. For me, that would have been June 21st. Brenan was born June 22nd at 11:19am.

On June 1st, I remember saying to Joe, "Okay, we made it to June, I'm full-term, and Baby is healthy, so going into labor is fine with me any time now." Little did I know that weeks later I would still be pregnant.

We tried everything in the book to get labor to begin... so much so that I felt our efforts were worthy of a blog post on their own.

I did my best to put these in order of when we did (or started doing) them...
Walking
Sex
Relaxation
Breast pumping
Acupressure & massage
Visualization
Raspberry-leaf tea
Pineapple
Stripping the membranes
Castor oil
Jumping jacks

Not to be discouraging to any nearing-or-past-your-due-date-expecting-mothers out there, but none of these worked. I'm sure they all helped my body prepare little by little, but baby Brenan was pretty determined to stick it out until he was good n' ready to experience the world outside the womb.

Throughout my 3rd trimester I had frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions. In the last weeks before labor they were more intense, and fooled me into wishful "this is it" thoughts on more than one occasion. Contractions would be coming every 8-10 minutes for hours and then suddenly stop. Joe stayed home from work to support me though the stress of not knowing whether it was "real" or not, and the mild pain that accompanied my contractions.

After we got home from the OB on June 20 - 41 weeks

On Monday, June 20th, we had our final doctor's appointment with the OB. She did a ultrasound to check my fluid levels, which were at the lowest end of the "ok" spectrum, and to check the placenta, which was showing signs of aging and calcification. She also did a non-stress test to check how the baby was handling things. It turned out that he was doing just fine. She was surprised at how consistent his heart rate was, and was pleased to see it accelerating with movement and contractions (still just Braxton-Hicks). She stripped my membranes at that appointment, but agreed to wait for an induction until Thursday, June 23rd (a full 10 days after my due date) in respect for my wishes of avoiding a scheduled induction altogether.

My OB recommended trying castor oil mixed with orange juice when I got home to help labor begin. I was 3cm dilated and 40% effaced at my appointment, so my body was obviously close to going into labor on its own. We were hoping the castor oil would help push me over the edge. When I saw what it looked like mixed into (or rather, floating on top of) the orange juice, I wondered what the point was. Then I tried taking it by itself. Note: if you ever decide to take castor oil, mix it with orange juice. It may not help the texture, but you do NOT want to taste the castor oil by itself.

Contractions began within an hour or two, and were fairly intense. They came every 10 minutes, then every 9, then every 8... this lasted from noon to about 10pm. Then they stopped. Yet again, another exhausting and discouraging tease of labor.

Soon-to-be baby Brenan

The next morning I took another dose of castor oil in hopes that it would work even better this time... it did, but not on my uterus. This time I had no contractions, horrible gas pain, and diarrhea worse than I had when I was in India. I vowed never to take it again.

Tuesday evening (June 21st) I went to the bathroom and there was bright red blood on the paper when I wiped. I called the OB department at the hospital right away and they had me come in for observation. I was having contractions every 6-8 minutes, no more bleeding (they never really figured out what caused it, but they thought it was maybe related to having my membranes stripped the morning before), and the baby's heart rate was looking great. I was sent home 2 hours later, thankful that everything was okay.

I'll stop here, because the next part of the story is the part that many of you have been waiting for... my labor, and Brenan's arrival! (and it gets a post all to itself)

Making progress (!)

I am 41 weeks pregnant today.

I never thought I would make it this far. If you had asked me a month ago if I thought it was possible that I would still be pregnant on June 20th I would probably have laughed.

Alas, here I sit, pregnant as can be.

The doctor's appointment was much more encouraging this week, though. My body is showing all the signs of impending labor, and the baby is doing well. They said I'll probably have this baby in the next day or two by the look of things!


Note: I don't have any pictures for you because our computer is on sick leave. The fan has stopped working completely! I'm using my very old college laptop to write this post - it only took about a half-hour to get the "new post" page pulled up on blogger...

Waiting on Baby

I have come to decide that being full term (or at least being aware of it) is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it's a huge relief to know that I don't have to worry about preterm labor anymore. On the other hand, it means I think about how close I am to having Baby in my arms (and not my belly) and whether I may or may not go into labor at a certain moment ALL THE TIME. In fact, it's hard to think about much else.

I can definitely tell a difference in my body, too. Up until a week or two ago I've felt what I would call "comfortably pregnant." Recently though, and especially since the baby has started to drop, I feel more like a cow-sized duck. (Cow because of size, duck because of the waddle.) I don't want to complain to you, though. I don't know anyone who enjoys listening to complaining.

Image source

I can't wait to finally meet my son or daughter face to face, but there are some things I will miss about being pregnant with Baby... the persistence of his/her hiccups, the squirming during car rides, the nudges in the middle of the night... I'll miss looking in the mirror and being reminded of the awesome work of creation going on inside of me. It is humbling to know that I've been entrusted with a life... a life that began so fragile and dependent there was no way it could continue without me.

As the time nears for Baby to begin life outside the womb, I'm realizing that I'm going to have to get to know him/her all over again. I have grown accustomed to each and every intricate movement, but I haven't yet felt the softness of Baby's skin or smelled that fresh baby scent. In the coming weeks I will have to learn Baby's hunger cues, soothe him/her to sleep, and ease him/her into the harshness of the world outside of my womb.


The day is drawing ever-closer when I will hear that wonderful first cry and see my baby's face for the first time... oh what a glorious day that will be.

Evidence

Just in case looking at me isn't enough, here are some other clues that a baby's on the way...

Exercise/birth ball ready to go for comfort during labor

Portable crib set up with changing table attachment

Hospital bags ready to go

Boppy pillow on the couch

Books on the shelf

Stroller by the door

Oh, and belly comment of the day... I walked into the greenhouse with my mother-in-law and the woman at the check-out desk exclaimed (rather loudly), "Whoa! We don't deliver babies in here!"

Final countdown: 3 weeks to Baby

Thirty-seven weeks.

Sometimes I think I'm still sort of in denial about being pregnant. It still hits me every once and a while that Whoa... this is really happening! Of course, the symptoms are obviously kind of hard to ignore at this point... not being able to roll over in bed without great effort, significant fatigue, swelling... not to mention a belly the size of a beach ball that moves on its own.

Joe and I went to the doctor on Friday. Everything is right on track for this point of pregnancy! He said the magic words, too - "If you go into labor now, we're not stopping you." That's right - I'm finally full term.

I look back on all the transitions that we've made during the course of this pregnancy and think How in the world did we do that? We moved from our host family's home in Bulgaria to our own house in a mountainside village, then we moved from there to stay with our friends for a couple days before traveling back to the States where we stayed with my parents in Virginia for three weeks. Then we moved to Ohio and unpacked the boxes that have been in storage for almost a year now to set up our apartment.

Baby is actually quite well-traveled... During this pregnancy I visited Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Greece. I have flown through London, Vienna, Sofia, and Washington, D.C. and driven what seems like everywhere else in between.

With all of the changes we've made in the past few months it's been hard to really focus on the fact that we're having a baby. It's just been since we've gotten to Ohio that we've really been able to make the preparations that we've been wanting to make... And only in this past week that we've finally come to the point where we feel like we have a place for our new arrival (more on that later!).

Now we just have to wait for when Baby decides he/she is ready, too!

Joe's Pic[k]: Grandmas

October 2010

This is Baba Geena (Баба Гина). Baba, in Bulgarian, means grandma. She was our 92 year old neighbor during our home stay in Bulgaria. No matter what was going on, she was always happy to see us and had a smile on her face.

Baby is going to be my parents' third grandchild. My brother and sister-in-law's two girls call them "Meemaw" and "Pawpaw." So my mom (while she has made it clear that she will gladly be whatever Baby ends up calling her) is sticking with Meemaw for her grandma name this time around, too.

Joe's parents will be first-time grandparents when Baby arrives, so when we told them about our growing little one they had to decide what they want to be called. Joe's dad is sticking with the classic "Grandpa," while Joe's mom is going with the German name for grandma, "Oma."

P.S. I didn't post a "Joe's Pic[k]" post for last week until today. Click here to see it!

Packin' the bags

Amidst all the transition and travel, we have not yet taken the time (or had the bag available) to pack our things for the hospital trip when Baby arrives. We're taking two bags: our diaper bag, filled with Baby's things, and a large tote bag, filled with goodies for Momma and Daddy.

It's amazing how much has to wait to go in the hospital bag until last minute! Here I thought I was going to have everything ready except one or two things... but it seems more like the other way around. The diaper bag, however, was much more fun. I know all you mothers and fathers out there are going to roll your eyes when I say this... but I can't wait to get to use it!

Current diaper bag contents: diapers, wipes, receiving blankets, burp cloths, Desitin, hand sanitizer, tissues, travel-size baby lotion, a spare outfit, bibs, and a thicker blanket in case it's cold when we bring Baby home.

My first day as a S.A.H.M.

Stay

At

Home 

Mom

...that's me! Today is Joe's first day at his new job, which also means it's the first day of my new job - being a stay at home mom.

On today's list:
-Update blog
-Compare prices for items we still need to purchase for baby
-Order baby items online (except for the ones that are cheaper in-store)
-Do laundry
-Wash dishes from yesterday evening and breakfast
-Start writing thank-you notes for the gifts we received for Baby at yesterday's shower
-Complete baby exercises
-Organize Baby's things
-Read some in baby bargains book
-Deconstruct diaper cake (Thanks Aunt Sue!)
-Brush Diesal

Dear Mel

I'm sorry that I never had the chance to meet you; attending your funeral was the closest I ever got. I have heard such fun stories about you - your laughter and loving spirit. I know that you were an amazing uncle to Joe and you would have been an amazing great uncle for our son or daughter.

Thank you so much for the person that you were. Thank you for your smile, your humor, and your creativity. We are so blessed to be able to use the crib you made for baby Joe and be reminded of you every time we put our baby down to sleep.

Love,
Jen

Installation

Baby's grandparents went together on a gift and got us a wonderful travel system. It includes a large stroller, car seat, and car seat base. We've got the stroller set up in our apartment as soon as we got here - it's just such a nice reminder of what (or really, who) is soon to come!

The weather has been beautiful for the past couple of days, so we decided to install the car seat base today. (Our hunch was that if we waited until closer to the due date it would be raining the day we wanted to do it.) Plus, the car seat base was taking up valuable apartment space!

I like getting these baby prep things done. It's comforting to feel like we're finally getting a place ready for our little one. We also (well, I shouldn't say we... it was Joe and Tyler, not me) got our couches moved into our apartment today. It's feeling more and more like home!

Ever closer to d-day

Joe's expression sums up our Monday

Today, overall, wasn't the best of days for us. ...Let's just say we had to give a ton of money to the state of Ohio via registering the car and paying a local school tax. Unexpected expenses are never fun.

 Before the day started going downhill, though, we got to have a tour of the OB unit at the hospital where I plan to deliver. We really liked the nurse that gave the tour, and we're very pleased with not only the facility but also their standard of care for obstetric patients.

We're planning on a natural birth... and yes, that does mean I will not be using any pain medications. We're also opting for the baby to "room in," which is a good thing because that is the standard at the hospital we've chosen.

Joe and I are getting really excited for the big day! First things first, though.... we still have an apartment to get moved in to! Tomorrow, Joe and our soon-to-be brother-in-law, Tyler, are going to get to work rearranging furniture. I can't wait!

Joe's Pic[k]: Chapstick

Christmas 2009

Santa loves to fill our family's stockings with fun little knick-knacks every Christmas. He usually includes chapstick - we wouldn't want to have chapped lips over the holidays!

I was in Babies-R-Us the other day with Joe and this woman came up to me and was asking about my pregnancy and where we plan to deliver. She gave us our first bit of unsolicited advice - be sure Joe packs chapstick for me to use while I'm in labor at the hospital.

It's funny how pregnancy is outside of the realm of "not your business." Anyone and everyone seems to feel the need to say something about my protruding belly, labor & delivery, feeding, diapering, and how to raise my child.

One of my most recent favorites? A shop clerk: "So you're about to pop, huh?"

Diaper detergent

Joe and I have been set on cloth diapering from the start. We spent hours reading about prefolds, all-in-ones, fasteners, wraps, doublers, and pocket diapers. Not to mention hemp vs. microfleece vs. suede vs. cotton flannel vs. ...well, you get the idea.

We finally settled on using prefolds with Kushies diaper wraps. We'll also have some all-in-ones (AIOs) for when we're out and about. We've invested in cloth wipes and diaper pail liners as well (if you're washing one thing you might as well wash it all, right?).

After the shower in Virginia I started washing some of our baby items, and I did a quick check to make sure I could use my regular baby detergent on the diapers. It's a good thing I did! Kushies suggests "using a quality laundry detergent that is not soap or soap based, and that is also free of both bleach and fabric softeners, as they can adversely affect the performance and lifespan of the diapers."

The Kushies customer service representative gave me a website with a chart comparing different detergents. The ones rated with 5 stars are the best for washing cloth diapers.

After an hour or two of comparing brands and prices, I decided on Thirsties Super Wash. Other brands I checked into included Allen's Naturally, Country Save, Mountain Green Free & Clear, and Tiny Bubbles. We're also going to use Thirsties Pre-Wash to help keep the diapers extra clean and odor-free.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Pigtails and red strollers

Grandma's favorite doll stole a ride in Baby's stroller today...

We decided she's a little big.

A baby means...

Thank you to the women from my parents' church who put together a beautiful baby shower for Joe and I this week. It was so meaningful!

With Meemaw-to-be-(of grandbaby #3!)

One of my favorite cards from the shower:

A baby means...
room arranging,
diaper changing,
late-night feeding,
story reading.

A baby means...
mess ignoring,
cereal pouring,
singing, rocking,
cabinet locking,
long walk taking,
early waking,
grins and coos,
pinks and blues.

And this is just a start -
most of all, a baby means a love that fills your heart!