As of today, I am no longer employed. Today was my last day before my maternity leave. I am not planning to return to working outside the home for the very long forseeable future (as long as I am raising my children).
It feels so…
weird…
and emotionally draining. It’s a lot of pressure. Probably pressure that I’m putting on myself… or rather fear perhaps. Fear of the unknown… nervousness… trepidation…
I’ve only been wanting this job (as a stay-at-home-mom) for like my entire life, so what’s the problem? (Other than the fact that I have absolutely no training, no idea what to expect, terrifying stories from everyone including the guy who sold me a new pillow at Sleep Country Canada, and am assuming the full responsibility for another human being and how he or she turns out).
Gulp.
I’ve been so busy with work I haven’t had time to think about this. But yeah, now I have time. 10 days ’til D-day. 9 tomorrow. 8 the next day. This countdown has to end somewhere, and I’m just not sure I’m ready!
I’m sure these feelings are all normal (the great internet says so). I know that in my head. But my heart is about ready to jump out of my chest and abandon ship for fear of what’s to come.
Let’s just get this whole labour thing over with, please? I think the only way to cure my fears is to give birth and dive into the role of “mom” headfirst. This “may” sound crazy, but there’s a little voice in my head telling me that I’ll be fine, and that God is ultimately in control and loves this baby more than even me.
So… baby? God? You both hear me? Let’s get this show on the road, eh?
Bring on the raspberry leaf tea…
Filed under: Contentment, I'm gonna be a Mom?!, milestones, pregnancy symptoms, Waiting, YAY BABIES!, yikes!
Wowsers! I am 37 weeks pregnant today. Honestly that felt like FOREVER away when I first found out I was pregnant. And finding out I was pregnant feels like FOREVER ago. I can’t believe it’s so close!!!
Here’s what the good ol’ interweb has to say about my little monkey as of today (or an average of all little monkeys everywhere): Your baby weighs close to 6.5 pounds / 2.8 kilograms and may be about 20 inches / 50 centimetres long from head to toe. No wonder it’s a huge procedure just rolling over at night! This baby belly is h-e-a-v-y!!!
And here is what the average 37 week fetus (aka unborn baby) looks like:
The babe
Isn’t she/he adorable? lol.
By the way, I am so stinkin’ confused about my due date. You’d think I’d have figured this out a while ago. But I am confused nonetheless. Is it the 8th, the 9th, or the 10th? I don’t know. I think I’m gonna go with the 8th, because I want to have the babe earlier rather than later! I’m hoping I can have the baby early enough that I can see all the PM’s, especially Geoff and Kim & new baby Madelyn, before they all go home on the 13th or so. But really, I know, it’s all up to baby! (or God, actually!)
I am feeling pretty good… I mean I have the usual complaints related to being 37 weeks pregnant, like it hurts to walk, and I’m humongous, and I pee every hour, and don’t sleep well… not to mention the swollen ankles and water retention…
BUT all that means pretty much nothing when I think about the amazing miracle that I’m going to meet soon!
(And yes, as of now, I still want 5 kids! But I guess I’ll wait until I’ve gone through labour to say it again!)
Oh, and my wonderful mother-in-law is coming over to clean the house (which is amazingly sweet and incredibly helpful)… and my mom is coming over to help me with some other projects and more “getting ready for baby” stuff on Saturday. I’m so glad to be close to family right now!
One last thing… my mom thinks I’m gonna deliver early (she thinks around Sept.1, so we’ll see!!). Yikes!!
(Just as I’m pressing “publish”… baby is having hiccups again…)
Holy moley! Only 5 weeks until my due date… and that means only 3 weeks until I am “full-term”. (Since babies are born on average between 38 and 42 weeks, they use 40 weeks as your due date, but the average baby is fully ready anytime after 38 weeks).
I am working until I am 38 weeks and 3 days, so hopefully this baby will need to cook just a little longer. 40 weeks would be just perfect, as far as my schedule goes (I say with tongue-in-cheek… or whatever that saying is that means what I am trying to say… I’m bad with using the right saying… so confusing…).
Anyway…
5 more weeks!!!!!
I partially packed the hospital bag (can’t very well put in stuff like my toothbrush, etc. or my going home outfit, since I only own like 3 outfits that still fit me). Hubby is as wonderful as ever, giving me foot rubs and back rubs, and being super understanding like 24/7. He’s awesome, and I’m so excited to see him grow into being a daddy!
Enough of my rambling. That’s pretty much all you’re gonna get here from now on. Baby brain is now at it’s height, and my world is about to change in major ways!!!
Filed under: boy or girl?, doctor stuff, I'm gonna be a Mom?!, milestones, pregnancy symptoms, Waiting, YAY BABIES!, yikes! | Tags: Add new tag
I am 33 weeks pregnant… and I am seriously amazed at how quickly time is flying. Honestly I thought it was still like the beginning of July, and today I go to work and discover that the date is July 21, 2008. YIKES!
I went to the doctor today (I’ve been going every two weeks since late June). After my next appointment on August 8, I start going every week… and then only a few weeks later… blast-off! (Chris has taken to calling it blast-off… not sure how I feel about that, haha!). Anyway, the baby is great – she/he has rolled over and the back is now on my left side, so that explains why I get kicked all the time in my right rib 🙂
It’s been getting more and more interesting to walk… it’s kind of uncomfortable – there’s more pressure in my groin area, and my hips feel like they are getting disjointed (which is apparently normal, in preparation for labour & delivery!). I’ve also been so tired (although not like the first trimester which was brutal), and I’ve been HOTTER than I’ve ever been. Um, yeah, I was referring to body temperature, although Chris tells me I’m hot in that other way too. He’s a wonderful husband (must be the married-to-a-crazy-hormonal-preggo-lady instinct that God blessed him with).
Ummm, let’s see what else… the baby room is getting readier and readier (is that a word?!)… which one would think would cause the parents-to-be to also feel readier and readier. However… I am torn between feeling SOOOOO excited to meet my baby!!!! and totally terrified about being a mom!!!! Is everything going to go ok with delivery? Can I really survive labour? What’s it feel like? Will my baby be healthy & ok? Will the baby love me as much as I hope to love him/her? Is it a boy or girl?? So many questions running around in my mind! I could go on for awhile…
I had a photo shoot done with honey bunch, me and the belly (first family photos!). My sister took the photos, and I love the way they turned out. Here are a couple of my favorites:
can't wait to meet you baby!
Yep, I did! We went to Balsam Lake Provincial Park with our best friends, Mat & Naomi, and Jason & Katrina. We were there for 4 nights, and we tented! I slept on an air mattress, and it was ok, especially since hubby willingly brought along the 4 pillows I now require for sleeping at night. We sat around the campfire, cooked yummy food on the fire and the campstove, got freaked out by raccoons at night, and basically relaxed (I started to re-read the Harry Potter series – now on book 2).
Chris and I also went canoeing for an hour, and I found a life jacket that fit around my belly. Yay! It was really nice to paddle around on a beautiful day under the great big sky in a gigantic lake, talking about what life is gonna be like in 10 weeks, and what we are planning for the future. We have lots of big dreams, and are excitedly waiting on God to work it all out. The thought of becoming parents together is terrifying, exhilarating, and awe-inspiring, all at the same time.
Then on the way home, we stopped to go strawberry picking (Chris did most of the bending while I sat on a bucket to pick a few, took pics, and more or less looked cute).
We also got rained on the first night and morning. Alot. The boys put the tarps up in the rain so we could cook breakfast, and I attacked a loaf of bread and a banana in the meantime to keep from starving poor baby.
I am very proud of myself for going camping at 29-30 weeks pregnant, and surviving. I was a bit of a wimp here and there, like sitting on my butt while everyone tore down the tents and stuff, but overall I think I did awesome, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again!
Yay me!
:):):)
Once in each arm, and once in the heiny, to be specific.
At my last doctor’s appointment (Friday, June 20), in addition to the usual torturous weigh-in, the belly measuring (I’m “normal size”), blood pressure, listening to the heartbeat, and assuring me my swollen ankles are normal, the doctor had me go for my glucose tolerance test AND my RH shot.
Basically I had to go to the 4th floor of the hospital (my dr’s office is on the 2nd), where a really nice nurse stole blood from my left arm (she called me dear and her needle didn’t hurt). Then I had to drink a not-so-terrible orange fizzy drink (as quickly as possible). Then I went downstairs to have my regular doctor’s appointment, with the tortuous weigh-in and all. THEN we (Chris is with me at every appointment) had time to kill because I had to wait an hour after drinking that stuff. So we walked around the hospital, trying not to go places where we weren’t supposed to be. THEN we went back upstairs at the stroke of 9:40am, where a different nurse stole MORE blood from my right arm, and she wasn’t very friendly, and she didn’t call me dear, and her needle really hurt, and left a bruise. Then we went downstairs to the “assessment room” where we saw women in various stages of labor (the room where you go directly when you arrive at the hospital when you’re in labor), and it was kind of scary. BUT they have reclining armchairs, which Chris and I both think is fairly brilliant, cuz if a woman in labor doesn’t need them, then ain’t nobody needs ’em. THEN we waited a while… THEN a nurse took me behind a curtain, instructed me to expose my heiny, and she SHOT me. That one really hurt. But I don’t wanna be a wimp, because pretty soon I have to go through labor, and I’m suspecting it will be a fair bit worse.
But still, that’s my story. If you read this far, congratulations, you have too much time on your hands.
Before I got pregnant, I mostly just dreamed about what it would be like to have a baby to love and raise – to be a mom.
The fact that it takes nine months to grow one went in one ear and out the other. In our society of instant gratification, we expect that we can get things instantly. Hence, when hubby and I decided we wanted a baby, I had no idea just how long nine months could feel.
For the record – it feels like forever. In some senses I can hardly remember what it’s like to have a waist, a non-sore back, or visible ankle bones (I know they’re in there somewhere).
But in another sense, it feels like time has hurtled past like summer vacation when you’re 10. Know what I mean? Maybe not. That’s ok. Chris will probably just chalk this post up to “incoherent baby brain ramblings” anyway.
I mean, seriously, I’m having a baby in 11 weeks? WHAAAAAAATTT?????
The baby is a real person. I mean, a brand new human being with it’s own DNA, personality, and ideas. Baby is already like 2.5lbs (give or take, depending on which website you check), and around 15 inches long! I feel kicks and punches all day long, here and there, and am constantly reminded of the little baby that currently is using my abdominal cavity as a personal gym.
It’s quite amazing how I can love someone so much that I haven’t even met yet.
Do you know what it’s like to be kicked/elbowed/kneed in the ribs?
As in, from the inside of your body?
Well I didn’t. Until oh, last week or so. Only it’s not so much a kicking as it is just having a cute little foot/elbow/knee/whatever take up permanent residence in the lower half of my ribcage, wedged in real good. It’s like when you’re in a matatu (African minivan taxi that regularly packs in up to 30 people), and you can’t move because you’re pinned in by a large African mama with her crying baby on one side and a bunch of loud chickens on the other.
Slight soreness results. I think perhaps things are getting a wee bit tight in there, and baby is doing like Mama and stretching out nice and long when waking up… right into my ribcage.
It’s pretty cute though, I admit. And I’m a sucker for cuteness.
I was wondering if you’d show up. It’s not like you received an invitation or anything, but I had a sneaking suspicion that you’d be crashing the party at some point anyway. I didn’t even know you were here for a while, until I looked in the mirror after using the bathroom at work. There you were, just hanging out like you own the place. Well, if you wouldn’t mind, I would really appreciate you keeping quiet and not stealing the show. I want more belly pics before you turn gigantic and dark.
Thanks.
This is one for the history books kids. The Granny Pants Rebellion is officially over. A decisive victory has been won by the Granny Pants, and the Preggo Mama is defeated.
That’s right…
I caved…
I’m wearing my comfy maternity stretchy top panel thingie all the way over my belly instead of folded down around my belly button. These babies are seriously touching my ribs. Kind of an homage to Steve Erkel and Granny Panties everywhere. Not all my pants have this type of stretchy panel thingie at the top – some are just an uncomfortable stretchy inch or two. But these babies, along with a couple other things I now own, have enough material at the top to cover Nunavut (or my belly in a few short months…).
It’s a funny feeling, being in the thick of things… history being made before my very eyes.
Wow.
We're Havin' a BABY! 