happy holidays!

Friday (23 December) was my last day of work and LMG and SdG from Portland showed up for the weekend. Saturday SdG cooked a Thai meal for xmas eve, Sunday a.m. I cooked pancakes, an apple brown betty, and various proteins (sausages, bacon) for LMG, SdG, MB, SJ, J, and myself. Sunday afternoon TS^2 brought a spaetzle dish to add to the smorgasborg that SdG was concocting. LMG and I baked cookies.

Monday I was pretty tired from the festivities. J had the day off so we loused around. Tuesday we shopped for a few remaining xmas presents and items for Gilhooly.

Today I imagine that my burst of cleaning and organizing energy could be labeled "nesting." I cleaned our bedroom and set up the portable bassinet next to our bed; set up the changing pad on the dresser and organized the drawers for changing and dressing; finished wrapping xmas presents to ship; wrote and printed a birth plan; gathered clothes, diapers, etc. to take to the hospital; reread the chapter about labor and delivery; reread about Capricorns; washed and reassembled the car seat; found baby photos of me, J, and ZHC to take with me to the hospital to help me visualize "the purpose," etc. etc.

I told Gilhooly that he is welcome to arrive any day now. We're ready for him and excited to meet him.

song of the day

Mom writes:

Woke up this morning with this song running around in my mind...

Zeb-be-de-do-da, Zeb-be-de-day
My oh my what a wonderful boy!
Plenty of sunshine coming your way,
Zeb-be-de-do-da, Zeb-be-de-day.

[big grin!!!] I like it.

Now...let's just hope that he's actually a "he." I've read about girls who appear to be boys via ultrasound because their hands were in between their legs. So, I checked in with J about a girl's name just in case: Colette Catherine Boudreau - nickname "Etta."

week 36

This week I was especially looking forward to seeing the doctor. I have been weighing myself each morning and Wednesday I woke up 3 pounds heavier than Tuesday. I have been eating well and went to the gym Tuesday, so I was concerned about the quick gain. Midday I noticed that my ankles were more swollen than normal (I no longer had ankle bones!) and by dinner it looked like I had two sprained ankles. Thursday morning I hadn't gained any weight, but the swelling had not gone down (it's usually more mild in the a.m. and at its worst before bed).

I looked on-line and read about edema and preeclamsia. Even though I had several of the symptoms, I didn't really think I had preeclamsia, but I didn't want to take any chances and wanted to do everything I could to get my blood flowing and to get the swelling down so I did 1 hour of yoga and 30 minutes of swimming (i love hydrostatic pressure!). The next thing I wanted to do was drink a lot of water and lay down (primarily on my left side) for at least 12 hours to see if the swelling decreased. I debated about canceling with a friend and skipping the breastfeeding class, but figured that I actually felt pretty good and my ankles were more ugly than physically painful. I'm glad I went - I found a beautiful hairpiece at Briar's shop (Prrr Design) and learned a lot in the breastfeeding class. As soon as I got home, I set myself up in bed for a 12 hour stint of laying on my side. J got home soon after and set me up in the living room so we could hang out and watch the sonics (4th loss in a row! argh). I woke up this morning two pounds lighter and with 4 distinct ankle bones. ya!

I mentioned this to the doctor and she said I do not have any blood pressure issues, swelling is normal, everything still looks good, and all the steps we took were right on. I forgot to ask how many centimeters we measured this week. She did a strep B test (routine) and if I'm positive I'll need antibiotics (routine) so that Gilhooly doesn't start life with a bacterial infection. I haven't started to dilate, although my cervix is thinning (the first step!) and his head is pushing right up against it.

As far as preventing swelling in the next few weeks, I'm going to try to skip my one cup of coffee each day and curb the sugar cravings (they've been really strong the last few weeks!). I'll also try to spend more time each day taking a break and laying down. D&S gave us a step stool for xmas and I'm using that during work to keep my feet elevated which should help prevent some of the blood pooling in my ankles.

We bought a Christmas tree today at Swansons with my holiday dollars. I had been saving those for the plants for Phase II of the garden project, but I finally accepted that Phase II will not be completed by 31 December and it will have to wait until spring. sigh. But, I'm happy with our tree and ornaments and can't wait to decorate this Sunday.

I get to pick up the crib tomorrow! Plus, the mattress and a few other odds and ends from Babies 'r' us. I'm wrapping up several odds and ends at work...only 5 days left. On one hand I can't wait to meet Gilhooly and hope he is early, on the other I'm looking forward to a couple weeks of time off before he arrives.

week 36 - photo

Originally uploaded by nickf.

here we are at the blue flavor holiday party...

sitting with my legs crossed

John is off to L.A. today for 28 hours and Gilhooly has been told to "stay put" until John returns. :)

We went to the Blue Flavor holiday party last night and enjoyed hearing Joe Doria. When we first moved to Seattle he played every Monday at the Sunset (the 1990s era Web site does not do them justice).

I heard "You look like you're about to pop" both at the gym and the party. It was funny to hear that exact expression uttered multiple times in under 2 hours. I wonder...is it a common expression because pregnant women look like balloons? zits? bubbles? pumpkins? I don't really feel like I'm about to explode... :)

nesting?

Yesterday, I sorted his clothes according to size and sorted everything else according to function. We have one bin for everything related to "in and out" functions (feeding, diapers, bathing), one bin of blankets and sheets, and one bin of carriers (sling, backpack, diaper bags). Stuffed creatures occupy two shelves, books two shelves, and toys one box. Top drawer is 0-3 month onesies and shirts, middle drawer has shoes, socks, and hats. Bottom drawer has onesies and shirts to fit beyond 3 months. Now all we need is a crib and someone to use all this stuff. :)

I also found material that might work well for curtains - it has the same green as the dresser and the same brown as the closet, trim, bookcase, and circles. It also has suns with spirals (like my tattoo) and lots of animals.

More photos of his room available in the "gilhooly" set from my flickr account.

good thought for the day

Childhood is of short duration. Enjoy it, revel in it, observe it, take part in it. Be thankful for those messes, which are a trademark of youth.

from The grandparents' secret strategy to rule the world

p.s. - due date

I forgot to add in my earlier post that his due date is 8 January. I think I had 10 January stuck in my head from the initial estimate, but the maternity leave form says "8 January." J and I are somewhat serious when we joke about him arriving early so that we get our tax break for this year's taxes instead of next. :)

However, the due date is actually a "due month" since they can show up two weeks either side of the date. Therefore, our window is 25 December through 22 January.

shaggy dogs

Some of my favorite memories of our family road and camping trips are the jokes that my dad used to tell. While he was here last week I asked him to retell a couple and he said that the style of joke is called a "shaggy dog." With quick google search I found "Jokebook: Shaggy Dog Stories" and "The Shaggy Pun Test." The first has one of the tales dad used to tell (obscene clone fall) but the Mel Famey and Immortal Porpoise jokes aren't there. Since it's a wiki, anyone can contribute a story...I wonder if I can convince him to add them....I'm also tempted to make up my own - just to see if I can.

Visits

Lots of good things last week:
Dad arrived on Wednesday for 4 days of quality time. We ate at our favorite Seattle restaurants, toured Pike Place Market, walked the dogs at Golden Gardens, watched the sunset from Kerry Park (see photo), drove south towards Rainier (trying to get to Paradise for lunch, but didn't estimate our travel time accurately and had to turn around about 20 miles early), philosophied with the "kabal" and talked. It was great to see dad in Seattle and have some time alone before Gilhooly arrives.

On Thursday, I saw one of the other doctors from the group of OB/GYNs that our doctor belongs to. He said that as of Saturday we are "to term" meaning that if labor starts, they won't stop it. Gilhooly could come any day! The doc also said that we're measuring a little larger than average - my belly should be about 35 cm but we're closer to 37 1/2 cm - another indication that Gil may either be early or big or both (or neither!). As we've heard before: gilhooly's heart rate is good, my blood pressure is good, he's still moving a lot (which is good), my weight is good, he's still head down with his back to my left...all good...knock on wood.

That night I went to an infant cpr and first aid class. The amount of material covered was overwhelming and very useful. It seems that the shorter the period that knowledge will be applied, the longer the class: our birth class was 2 hours a week for 6 weeks to prepare us for a 10-24 hour period; our newborn care class was 5 hours to prepare us for a 1 year period; cpr/first aid was a 2 hour class for a 10 year period. Kind of funny.

Saturday night we went to a holiday party and discovered that 5 friends have had children in the last year. It was good to hear their stories about the first days and months and to see them happy and relaxed. I was also amazed to see some of the children sleeping in the midst of the party. As one mother said, "it's just white noise to them." I guess after months of listening to my heartbeat, conversations, and all of the swishing of my belly, a party could seem like white noise. Perhaps the lesson is to not be too concerned about noise during nap time.

Sunday, I started packing the bag for the hospital. I put together what I thought was a pretty cute first outfit (blue onesie, fluffy white outer suit with ears, black hat), but J is convinced the outer suit is too big. So, now I want to hang all of the clothes in a closet and see everything we have lined up by size. I still think the white suit will work perfectly, but will need to show some other options to J.

Gilhooly and I have been playing a "game" recently (at least I think it's a game...I don't know if any of his movement is purposeful, but indulge me :). When he's in an active mode, he'll kick a foot out as far as he can to get my attention. If I'm lying down and able to play, I'll start massaging where he kicked. He'll either press against my hand for a while or he'll push something else out. As I've done this more, the amount of area that he'll move has gotten bigger. The other day, we were only playing with the area to the upper right of my belly button. As of last night, we had covered the whole right part of my belly.

Last night, I was really uncomfortable as we walked around a store looking for garage shelves and drawer liners. I'm not sure if he's fixin' to get ready to drop or if I was full from dinner or if I was feeling practice contractions. I also had a fairly emotional day yesterday, but I think that is because I hadn't worked out for a week. The trip to the gym yesterday was much needed. I look forward to going back today.

We're really excited for J&J in Minnesota who welcomed their baby girl last Monday! Can't wait to meet our "future daughter-in-law." :)

Only 10 days of work and somewhere between 2-6 weeks before we meet our newest family member.

a good visit

This morning my doctor's appointment was with one of the other doctors in the "group" - it was good to experience a different doctor in case ours is not available when we go into labor. As usual, they checked my weight, blood pressure, listened to his heartbeat, and measured my belly.

She asked what position he was in and I guessed that his head was down, his back to my left, and his legs and arms to my right. The doctor felt my belly and said, "yep. here's a foot...and I think that's a bum...let's see for sure." Then she wheeled out the ultrasound! We saw his head, his back, a hand, his face, and she was looking for his penis but I'm not sure if she saw it or not (I didn't). We were right - he's head down with his back to my left. She said that at this point there is only about a 5% chance of him flipping - keep your fingers crossed that he's comfortable in this position for the next 6 weeks.

She also said there was a lot of fluid in there - which is a good thing - they worry if there isn't enough. She guesses that he's already 6 pounds! I wasn't scheduled to come in again until the 16th, but she felt that I was far enough along that I needed to come in again next week and I have appointments scheduled every week until he arrives.

Mom sent more information about my birth and my brother's. I hope mine is a good estimate of what we're in for - about 10 hours. Also, I was born at 2 a.m. the day after my due date and my brother was two weeks early. With Gilhooly already at 6 pounds, I wonder if he'll be close to his due date...if so, I won't get to have him on Friday the 13th like I was hoping for. :)