Rebellin

Little Miss quote of the day: “Momma, you have the biggest belly I’ve ever seen!”

I hear you, little one. Although I feel like there is no way I can stretch any further, I think of the poor mothers that have carried multiples, and just cannot imagine their plight.

Yesterday at work was spent in presentation skills training, where I gave four presentations that were video taped for me to watch and critique my own skills. I can’t tell you how rough it is to watch that much video of yourself at 9.5 months pregnant. I couldn’t stop staring at the belly. I’m sure my audience was having the same issue! It is fun to watch peoples’ reactions when they aske me when I’m due, and I say, “Tuesday.”

I had my week 38 appointment today, which was my “pre-op”, and final prenatal visit. Yowser. I’m now measuring 36 cm, and I highly doubt this baby has shrank in the past week, when I measured 37 cm. The doctor says he has dropped, but I’m telling you he hasn’t. I’ve been fighting with him for real estate right around my ribs every day. I can feel his little feet as I try to push them back down into my abdomen and out of my rib cage. Crazy to think I’ll be seeing those feet in the flesh very soon!

Just looked at my clock, and one week from today at this time, I will no longer be pregnant. Hopefully, I’ll be sitting in the recovery room with my brand new son.

My goodness, it is dauntingly close.

Walking around the office today, I can’t help but think I’m ready to be done with being constantly HOT (office A/C problems aren’t helping), done with constantly pulling up my underwear after it rolls down under my gut, and done with the waddling that inevitably stikes after I’ve been sitting or standing for a long time.

Then again, I start to think of the c-section, and the c-section recovery, both of which won’t be fun either. I guess I’ll be trading in the pregnancy waddle for the c-section recovery shuffle (which is much slower and labored), but it will be all uphill from then, right?!

We went to a concert last night up at Sand Harbor on Lake Tahoe. They were playing Afro-Cuban (read Carribean) style music, and we all three danced the night away as a family. It was such a lovely night, and I’m glad I’ve been able to pack so much into this summer, since my activities are about to slow way down as I shift gears to care for a newborn and recover from major surgery.

It is so hard to be at work this week. My thoughts are on next week, for sure, and I’m not sure how many more times I have to field the questions of, “when are you due?”, “how are you feeling?”, and “are you excited?” Many times a day. Perhaps I should post a sign on my office door that says, “Due July 28, feeling GREAT (which is the response they all expect to hear), and excited, yet scared as heck, thankyouverymuch”.

It’s not a good sign when you walk into the office on a day forecasted to be 100 degrees, and you see a technician working on the air conditioning.

I think I may get heat stroke. I’m wiping sweat from my brow, and sucking it up because this is my last week in the office.

Had a lovely weekend at Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake. Wishing I was up there now, as a dip in cool water is just what I need.

Remember how last Friday, I was talking about how there was no way I was going to stop working out, even if it meant I had to deal with labor before my surgery?

Ah, how fate intervenes and laughs at us sometimes. Week 37 came in and kicked my cocky derriere with sheer exhaustion. Suddenly, my normal day-to-day activity of walking around at work and daily chores at home seem like workout enough. Everything gets me out of breath, including grocery shopping. Every day, I’ve had plans to make it to the pool, and when the time comes to actually go, I have absolutely no motivation, and just want to take a nap.

There is part of me that feels guilty, but another part of me that says, “screw it”. I’m thinking missing a few workouts really won’t make a difference when I’m fighting my way back from 6 weeks of exercise restriction after I’m cleared.

So take that.

P.S. 37 week appointment today, and I’m measuring 37 centimeters, which is right on track (still 4 cm smaller than with Little Miss at this point). Could I truly be growing an average sized spawn with our families’ above average gene pool?!

Two weeks from now, I’ll be ready to head to the hospital, and probably nervous enough to mess my pants.

I’ve been trying to communicate with Little Miss that her little brother’s arrival is getting close, but the kid has no real concept of time, and a very sketchy concept of numbers.

I got an idea to make a paper chain, with one chain link representing a day until Hunter’s arrival. So, last night, I started the chain with 15 links, and we counted them. This morning, I had her take one link off, and then we counted the remaining links. I thought — “aha, this was a brilliant idea!”

When her Dad came into the room for breakfast, I told Little Miss to tell Daddy how many days until Hunter gets here.

“Sixteen,” she says.

Perhaps this will be more effective when the numbers are single digits.

Sunday morning, I woke up early, put on my Speedo, lathered in sunscreen, and hooked up with a friend to do an open water swim at Sand Harbor beach on Lake Tahoe. My friend called me before she left her house and said, “is it windy at your house? I heard it was supposed to be windy at the Lake all day.”

I blew it off. I told her that there wasn’t any wind at my house, and though I knew it would be cold (forecasted 55 degrees at 9am), I told her the wind probably wouldn’t kick up until later, and the water would be the same temperature regardless of the weather.

Oh, did those words come bite me in the rear. We got up to the lake, and it was crazy windy, cold as all get out, and there were white caps all over the lake. As unappetizing as getting in the water seemed at that point, I told myself after all this effort, and this being one of my few chances to swim open water this summer, I must do it.

Getting in was almost painful it was so cold. Thankfully, I had double checked with my doc that swimming in really cold water wouldn’t jump start me into labor. My friend was in a full wet suit. But me, figuring I had my own internal heat source (and besides, what wetsuit would fit me right now?), I went in au natural. It took me about 5 minutes of wading before I got courage to get my head wet, and I actually had to stop a couple of times to float on my back so that I could get control of my breathing (the water was that shockingly cold). Then, for the swim. I was being tossed around like crazy. I felt like I was hardly moving because the water was so rough. In fact, my friend and I couldn’t see each other because of the crazy waves.

It was about this point when the thought crossed my mind, I’m just not your typical full term pregnant woman. In fact, I am probably certifiably nuts. After I warmed up from swimming, I managed to get about 40 minutes in before I threw in the towel. I still say that a rough, cold day swimming in Tahoe is better than sitting on the beach wishing I was swimming in Tahoe (which is what I’ll be doing very soon), so it was worth it. I’ll be headed back out there next weekend, and hopefully it won’t be as punishing.

The rest of the day was a blur. I came home, took a lightening fast shower, took Little Miss to an open house at the River School, then got us lunch at Subway (the best fast food lunches for moms and kids in my opinion), and then took her to a Siblings class at the hospital. Little Miss was so adorable as she learned to feed, burp, change and bathe a baby. (Granted, she did drop the baby once while trying to juggle the bottle and the baby.) We then went up to the nursery, where we saw babies that had been born that day, and Little Miss REALLY wanted to buy one so that Hunter would have a friend when he comes out. Ha!

After the Siblings class, we took a quick nap, and then I woke her up early for us to go up to a concert on the beach of Tahoe City. Of course, Murphy’s Law was that the lake was totally calm in the evening. Humph. We had a lovely time listening to the music, having Little Miss playing on the playground on the beach, and as I sipped my O’Douls Amber while lounging in my beach chair. We got home last night at 9:30, and is it any wonder I practically collapsed into bed?! The house is a wreck, the laundry didn’t get done, but I’m having FUN, darnit!

And now, because I truly am certifiably nuts, here is a picture of me in a swimsuit at 37 weeks after this swim. The water doesn’t look nearly as rough as it truly was — I swear!

Just back from my 36 week appointment. Surprisingly, I’m measuring right on track at 36 centimeters. Since Little Miss was a large baby, I totally assumed this one would be just as large, if not larger. For comparison’s sake, at this point with Little Miss, I was measuring 41 centimeters, and you’re supposed to be one centimeter per week of pregnancy.

Anyway, I handed the doctor my birth plan today, and his reaction was classic: “Birth plan?! Why do you need a birth plan? I’m just ripping this kid out of you anyway.”

Ah, the man has a sense of humor.

But mainly, my birth plan has requests such as , “if I say I’m feeling too much before you start the surgery, I expect this to be addressed.” Last time, I told the doctor I was feeling too much, and I was told not to worry. Well, I felt way too much, and this time, I’m on a mission to not feel anything. Luckily, the doc has no concerns, as he says a spinal block is much more effective than the epidural like I received last time. I was also concerned about getting the right pain meds for my checkout from the hospital, and thankfully, he wrote me a prescription on the spot for Percocet, meaning I can have it filled and not have to worry about filling a prescription on my way home from the hospital like we did last time. Nice! Last time, I was sent home with Vicodin, which hello, is for like a severe toothache, not major abdominal surgery!

So my biggest concern at this point is going into labor before my scheduled c-section. I’m really liking how everything is neatly planned right now, and I have just enough time to finish transitioning my job at work and finish off the minor baby preparations I have left. I asked the doc if exercise would bring on labor, and he said, “if you’re concerned about going early, you should just stop exercising.”

Man, he doesn’t know who he is talking to. I’m a full fledged exercise addict. Swimming is feeling really good, and I don’t want to give up 2.5 more weeks of swimming than I’ll already be required to give up for the recovery. So, I think I’ll risk it, if it means a few more dips in the pool and Tahoe. I guess I’ll just slow down the intensity. Perhaps no more butterfly sets….

Tonight, I start off the weekend with a prenatal massage, and I absolutely cannot wait. The hubby’s response when I told him about my plans was, “you just got a massage!” Normally, I get perhaps one massage per year, but in this last trimester, this will be my third. And I say I deserve it, as I’m not getting massages at home, and I think I’m due a bit of TLC right now before my body gets cut open, my breasts engorged, and I’m not allowed to sleep anymore!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Ever since my last pregnancy, we’ve had our boy name picked out. It wasn’t until we found out that kiddo #2 is definitely a boy that we started debating about the middle name. Without trying to taint your opinion, I’m reaching out to ask you to vote on the three options we’re considering. (OK, JB has his mind made up, and I’m petitioning for something different).

I have a poll up at BabyCenter.com. Please vote!

My cubic zirconia trophy wife ring is making me break out in a rash. Perhaps I just wasn’t cut out to be a trophy wife.

So should I be a trophy wife with a rash or look like an unwed mother?

Decisions, decisions…

Three weeks from today at this time (9:30am), I will be en route to the hospital. Yowsers. It doesn’t seem like it can be that close. I have 14 days left at work, and I have to admit I am looking forward to not having mountains of emails each day, and living conference call free for several months.

I also admit that I have a full fledged waddle right now. I’m walking pretty slow, and feel the eyes of my co-workers on me, as they wonder just when I will pop. My newest fear is that I will go into labor before the scheduled c-section. At this point, everything is nicely planned out, and that would really throw a wrench into things. Plus, there is no way I want to go through labor pains if I’m going to get sliced open anyways.

We had a lovely weekend of sunshine and water. We made multiple trips to the pool (some for me to workout, others to swim with Little Miss), spent 4th of July on the beach of Lake Tahoe (along with hundreds or maybe thousands of other people), I got my first Tahoe swim in (water is divine), and we had bar-b-que chicken, watermelon, iced tea, ice cream — all the top summer foods.

We watched fireworks by the new Reno Aces stadium. Problem was the show didn’t start until after the game, which didn’t end until 10:45. We waited 2 hours for the fireworks, and 2 minutes after they started, Little Miss said, “I want to go home”. Figures.

Anyway, this week we have something fun going almost every day after work. I’m on a mission to live it up before the newborn comes into our lives for a major upheaval!

Holy smokes, it just hit me that I’ll be giving birth this month. Nesting wise, I’m pretty prepared. I’m to the point that if I do a little bit each weekend, everything will be done and in order. More highly on my mind is trying to cram in all of the fun activities I can in July, as my summer activities will come to a screeching halt on July 28. On the docket: trips to Lake Tahoe, open water swimming in Lake Tahoe, summer concerts, taking Little Miss to the pool, and going on a few dates with the mister.

Summer is my favorite time of year, and I’m a little bummed that August will be a wash for me this year. I totally planned a summer baby, but my plan was for a May baby, which would have given me May to recover, and the entire summer to spend with the baby (whilst enjoying my usual activities). Alas, Mother Nature apparently didn’t get the memo. However, I’m so glad to be having a July baby, as it won’t require the quarantine that we went through whe Little Miss was born in February. When she was born, it was cold as heck, snowed almost every day, and I’ve never known such a bad case of cabin fever.

At least this time, I’ll be able to take the baby for walks (granted in the early morning and late evening), and I have visions of doing feedings on the back patio, with the ambiance of our greenery and fountain.

That’s all for today. Let’s just say creating my transition plan for my work stuff is daunting, and is today’s priority.