Diapers, Ina May and the final countdown.

Springtime rapidly approaches, and sometime, anytime, in the next 4-5 weeks we will have a baby. 

Patrick took this past weekend off for us to have a last solid couple of days of time spent together. It was our version of a babymoon; we slept in, cooked, watched movies, took the dog for an adventure… it was pretty great!

On Friday our obstetrician told us the ultrasound had been great, and there are no problems. He is just a small baby; in the 30^th percentile.  She said the blood flow from the placenta was perfect, and matched how it was last ultrasound. 

I sorted out the cloth diaper conundrum on Friday as well. Mom and I visited a shop near the city and spoke with the owner who had lots of information and suggestions. I originally planned to use a newborn size pocket cloth diaper rental kit from her for the first 8 weeks, then switch to the regular one-size Babyland pocket diapers I was going to buy more of (I already have a few). She ended up convincing me to buy, instead of renting anything, a different type of pocket diaper (Charlie Banana) which is a higher quality that works better and can be resold later, and also is made so it can actually fit newborns.  I went with 6 of those and 12 organic cotton prefolds with 2 Bummis (aren't all the names just great?) newborn covers, which should last us fine for the first couple of months.

In other news, we decided to have a doula at our birth, and have met with her once already. We first met her when she sat in on of our prenatal classes along with another doula. She is not fully certified or trained yet, but is passionate and seemingly experienced, and most importantly, easy to talk to. We both felt from the start that if we used a doula, it would need to be someone we felt a positive connection with immediately. I am really pleased about it. We’ll probably meet with her a few more times before the birth. She gave us some great books, including Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin, which is transforming Patrick’s and my whole understanding of childbirth. I spent the entire morning reading this in bed today. It’s a must-read for anyone.

Back to the baby laundry! I’m washing all our 0-3 and newborn size clothes and receiving blankets today. We finally have a washer. 

And keep moving, tiny one. Keep kicking me in the ribs all you want, I know I'll miss it some day. You don’t have as much room as you used to, but savour these last weeks in your little cocoon…

35 Weeks

This journey feels like it's been long, but in relevance to the complexity of the human that has developed during it, it seems so incredibly short, or timeless.

We saw our little guy a few days ago, when we had our third ultrasound of the pregnancy,  to check size and blood flow due to my lower fundal height measurement. The tech was able to confirm for us without any doubt that he's a boy. He was adorable! He's upside-down, and constantly moving. She couldn't get a clear shot of his face, as his busy hands were covering it, but did get a view of his buttony nose (nostrils) and mouth from the front.. He also had one of his (very small and cute) feet very close to his face. I have a much better understanding of what he's doing now when I feel his bum against my ribs (almost constantly). We saw his spine, his ribs, his legs, his bladder, his strong heartbeat. We will find out how the ultrasound went when we see our obstetrician on Friday, but if there was a problem we should have already found out. Till then I am trying my best to eat as much as possible and gain those last five or six pounds for baby.

Yesterday was the baby shower my mom held for me with my sister's help, and it was super fun. There were lots of white and blue balloons, yellow ribbons, and a cute "baby shower" banner with baby Winnie the Pooh characters on it. Some lovely friends and family came over and we ate wonderful food (vegan "egg salad" and chickpea salad on baguette with sprouts, hummus, Tofutti cream cheese dip, tons of veggies and fruit, pasta salad, toasted seasoned cashews and peanuts, cookies, vegan chocolate dream squares, date squares, fruit crisp...) and drew names for beautiful gifts that my mom had put in a basket. I received so many amazing and thoughtful baby gifts, and even a hand blender and a cd from my husband who showed up later. Even though I feel so aware of the baby and the due date, after being surrounded by so much support it felt like this is really happening. Not that it takes much to get me emotional, but this definitely did. As I haven't felt a single contraction to date, it feels pretty strange to know (rather, hope) that in a matter of weeks my body will know to give birth to the baby. And then we will have a little boy, a boy who we won't ever not have again.

It is so great to be off work; I constantly feel the urge to just get all the last minute tasks done, all the nesting, buying the baby equipment, all the food prep, and the relaxation. Just getting over a cold today, which slowed me down a little, although I could of course still knit so everything was fine. One square to go for the blanket!

Baby boy, keep up all your kicking; you are doing so good. You have a very lucky family and a beautiful world ready to greet you. The night you are born, I will recite Goodnight Moon to you, okay? xoxo Mama oxoxo

Last day of work!!!

So begins the last month of preparation for our little guy! And little is apparently what he is. Our obstetrician saw that my fundal height had been a little behind for the past month or so but in the last couple of weeks started to to fall a bit more behind (31 cm at 34 weeks). She assured me I shouldn't worry and the size of the baby has nothing to do with how I've eaten or anything. But she is sending us to get another ultrasound before she sees us again, just to measure baby again and double check that everything's fine. Ultimately, he'll likely arrive as a six-pounder. No complaints there.

Today I work for four hours and am then free to knit and nest as much as possible in the next month, or however long until babe gets here! The lifting is getting really hard, especially with the nerve pain I'm getting in my sitting bones. Not to mention just awkward with my winter jacket and big belly in the way.

I have gained just over 24 pounds as of today.
Now if they would just call about that ultrasound, I'm excited to see our baby one more time before he's born!

<3

Ultra-sound

What a feeling! I can’t believe we’re halfway through already.  On Monday the 14^th we had our big ultra-sound day. The papers we were sent said to show up 20 minutes early, so even though our appointment wasn’t till 8:30am we left for the hospital at 7:50. By 8:10 we were sitting in the waiting room in Diagnostic Imaging, and good thing we were early because five minutes later we were called in by the technician.  As she brought up the image (I had a terrible view, the screen was close to my head but perpendicular to the bed I was on) and began getting shots, she said “Have you felt movement yet? Because your baby moves like crazy.” I suppose having a small athlete can only be a good thing, meaning it’s healthy and energetic! And I sure have felt the movements.  Ever since last Monday when I first felt that bubbly feeling, the little kicks and punches have continued to get stronger and more frequent.  The baby seems to move more after I eat, which I find cute.

And speaking of cute, it is just the word to describe the little baby we saw on the computer screen. I was totally relieved to see it looked like a normal baby human silhouette snuggled in there, with a little face (on which I could actually notice some features that look a little similar to my own), a sweet little belly, and lively arms, legs, hands and feet.  What a crazy feeling to finally see your baby’s picture after feeling it and hearing its heartbeat but still insatiably wanting more confirmation all these weeks!

Everything seemed to be fine, although the technician wasn’t really disclosing any information, per protocol. From the measurements she took, they came up with the same due date as we had figured out with my mom, off by only one day! They said the baby measured 19 weeks and three days, which was completely bang on.  

As for the sex… ‘Tis a boy! For awhile she couldn’t get any shots to help determine the gender, as she needed it to flip over. She sent me to the bathroom in hopes that it might be inspired to do so. As much as it was moving around, though, it stubbornly stayed in its spot.  After turning me on my side, she told us she was pretty sure it was a boy. I asked again later for confirmation on this, which she couldn’t give, but she said she’d be very surprised if it was a girl. I guess the strong male genes in Patrick’s family win out. I, as I said in the last post, honestly couldn’t care at all what the gender is. I am starting to get very excited to meet this tiny babe whom I feel so attached to emotionally and –obviously- physically.  I have to watch my thoughts, though, or I get too emotional and start to feel run down.  My thoughts start to wander way into the future and I have to just stop thinking or I stress myself out. I can’t invent any of this before it happens; being in the future or the past is my most potent source of unhappiness.  All I have to do right now to feel peaceful is rapturously enjoy the fact that my baby son is still in my belly right now, in a state of pure innocence and unable to be cared for by anyone but me. Oh, geez, I am crying just writing about this so I have to change subjects.

I am starting to feel tired at work most of the time now. I worked an extra-long 8 hour day today, 9 on the clock counting my lunch break. It actually wasn’t too bad, considering it’s a full two hours longer than all my other shifts, which I feel pretty wiped by the end of.  

I am also succeeding in gaining weight now, as I am ten pounds heavier than the first trimester when I didn’t gain anything. That seems to be pretty much right on target with how it should be. Not too fast, not too slow. Go vegan diet!

Think I’ll leave it there, as the news of the tiny one’s gender seems important enough to have a post to itself.  We are more excited than ever, and my belly keeps getting bigger. Absolutely no denying there’s a new life in there anymore.