Hospital update.

Nope, still no baby. We checked into L&D at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. It's now about 2:30 a.m. on Thursday and this munchkin is still hanging tight in my belly. I've had a pretty rough 32 hours here at the hospital. Lots of strong contractions through 2 doses of Cervadil, but still only 1 cm dilated as of about 11:00 p.m. tonight. Pitocin was started at midnight and is already given me some pretty serious contractions. I'm not sure how long they'll run the Pitocin, but I'm hoping we'll be parents by lunchtime! Please send your thoughts and prayers to Room 12!

Merry Christmas, baby.

Baby Reeder,

Well, we celebrated Christmas today and you were certainly present, just not in the way we thought you'd be. You're still safely tucked away in Mommy's belly, about as comfy as ever. You've been kneeing Mommy a lot lately, an indication that you're just about out of room in there. But that hasn't motivated you to get movin'; you've stayed put in a little curled up ball. If we didn't have your birthday scheduled for next week, we'd worry you might stay in there forever!

You were at the forefront of our minds all day today (not like you aren't every day, but it was especially overwhelming today.) We both rubbed Mommy's belly a lot today and pushed back on your little knee as it poked out of my right side. You got so many Christmas gifts from your grandparents, aunts & uncles, and cousins. They are all so excited to meet you and get to know you. Mommy & Daddy have a few gifts for you as well, and we'll leave them all under the tree until you come home with us.

Mommy and Daddy can't wait for you to become our tiny roommate. We are thrilled to know we'll be ringing in the new year with you next week. We love you more than you'll ever know, a love that we promise will grow more and more each and every day. Merry Christmas, sweetheart. See you soon!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy :)

Baby Reeder on Christmas Day at 40w2d

D-Day.

Well, we've hit our due date. The little baby on the countdown over on the right side of the blog is going to fall off the page soon. I'm not quite as sad as I expected today; it's bittersweet. While I'd love to have my precious baby to snuggle with, I'm finally at peace with the idea of giving her one more week in there. It's just me and her right now; after she comes out, I have to share her with the world. So I'm going to try really hard to savor these last few days :)

How far along?: 40 weeks, 0 days.
Total weight gain/loss: +2 this week, +25.5 overall.
How big is baby?: Big. No real way to know for sure, but since she's coming a week late, I'd imagine she'll be over 8 lbs (hopefully not over 9...gulp.)
Maternity clothes?: Ditto last week.
Sleep: Inconsistent.
Movement: Maybe a little slower and less frequent.
Labor signs: Still nada. But here's what the husband and I were discussing the other day: we're all rookies - me, the baby, and the uterus. None of us know what the heck we're supposed to do. How is my little one supposed to know it's time to come out now? How's my ute supposed to know it's supposed to start spazzing out on me? I mean, we're not exactly experienced here.
Food Cravings: I can't wait for Christmas day. Egg souffle for breakfast & Honeybaked ham for dinner. Brilliance.
Gender: Almost time to find out :)
Belly button in or out?: Flat-ish.
What I miss: Nothing really.
What I am looking forward to: Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Best moment this week: Being given a light at the end of this long tunnel.
Weekly Wisdom: Pregnancy is great for your bowling game. We celebrated the big day today with a couple games of bowling. Why not try to bowl this kid out, you know? Anyway, bowled the best 2 games of my life. This bowling ball under my shirt provided the perfect amount of balance, apparently.
Milestones: Due date day! It's so hard to believe that this day is here. Even harder to believe the baby isn't. They really should give women a 2-week window instead of one specific day. If they had said I was due "between Dec 16-30", it'd be a heck of a lot easier to wait one more week!

Eviction Notice.

Tenant Name: Baby Reeder
Address: Mommy's Belly
Date of Eviction: December 29th

7 day notice for EVICTION. Tenant will have 7 days in which he can either gather his belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, he will be physically removed from the property.

Reasons for eviction: Breech of contract and destruction of property. Minimal expansions, within reasonable limits, were discussed. These limits have been exceeded, especially to the front of the home. Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances. After 7 days from this day that he doesn’t comply with the notice, immediate and forceful removal will result.

That's right, there is an end in sight now! We went to the doctor this morning, expecting to hear the same old story we've heard the last 4 weeks. Sure enough, Baby Reeder has still not entertained the idea of exiting. No reason to believe he will be coming anytime soon. While I was fully prepared to cry and beg for her to induce me next week, I didn't have to. The doctor told us they don't want me going more than 1 week overdue because the risks of the baby staying inside become greater than the risks involved with induction. So, we are being admitted to L&D at 6 p.m. next Tuesday (one week from today!) to get things started. Assuming he doesn't come before then and all goes well with the induction, Baby Reeder will have a December 30th birthday :)

9 plus.

I'm officially over nine months pregnant. This is crap. Pregnancy is technically 9 mos. + 1 week, so I'm well into that lovely little +1 week. And on Wednesday, I'll enter the 2nd one. Meaning, if this kiddo decides to stay put until the end of the month (when I check myself into Labor & Delivery with or without the consent of my OB and use xmas cookies to bribe the nice nurses to hook me up to Pitocin), I'll be 9.5 months pregnant. Nine AND A HALF. I didn't sign on for that.

I'm also officially over being pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I'm going to forget all about this in about 9 months or so and decide it's time to start again (once I see how ridiculously fantastic our child is). But right now? Yeah, I'm done. Let me tell ya what fun I'm having being uber-pregnant.

- About 3 things fit me that aren't sweats or tshirts.
- Pregnancy insomnia is the devil. And the severe lack of sleep has caught up to me today (hence the crankiness.)
- I've been congested for 2 weeks, which no amount of Claritin D seems to be able to fix.
- I get the most awful pitying looks from people now, especially when my answer to their nosy "when are you due?" is "Wednesday."
- This just in: 1st trimester morning sickness has returned. Serious nausea the last 2 days.
- I'm taking tissues to the doctor with me tomorrow because I already know I will burst into tears the minute she tells me I'm still not progressing.
- Unless you are the OB and you've just done a medical exam on me that indicates it might actually be true, hearing "It could be any day now!" only pisses me off. I'm starting to resent the optimism more than the pity.

Ah, pregnancy. As a whole, you've been a peach. This week, you're the pits. (That was such a horrible pun, I apologize. Actually, I don't, because I'm just too cranky to care.)

Baby Acrobatics

I finally caught this munchkin doing his gymnastics routine on video (this is my view of things, in case you couldn't figure that out). This freaks out his Daddy, which Mommy loves :)



p.s. Sound not required.
p.p.s. Notice the time? Yeah, pregnancy insomnia is the best.

So close, yet so far away.

How far along?: 39 weeks, 0 days.
Total weight gain/loss: +2 this week, +23.5 overall.
How big is baby?: Over 7 lbs and 20 inches long, apparently the size of a small watermelon. Awesome.
Maternity clothes?: Too small.
Sleep: I've determined the couch is just as "comfortable" (again, I use this term loosely) for me as my bed. Good news for the husband, as I wake him up constantly.
Movement: It's a circus in there, I swear.
Labor signs: Not a damn one. The doctor today: "I'm pretty sure this will be an after-Christmas baby." Um, thanks. Apparently this child hasn't even entertained the idea of coming out. And the first person that says to me "Oh, you've just made such a nice warm home for her in there, that's why she doesn't want to come out yet" is going to get slapped.
Food Cravings: I have no appetite.
Gender: We'll find out soon...maybe...
Belly button in or out?: Not totally out, but it pokes out of my shirts a little bit.
What I miss: Orange juice. Haven't had it in months.
What I am looking forward to: Contractions.
Best moment this week: Retiring.
Weekly Wisdom: I love my baby's daddy. That is all.
Milestones: There have been a couple days I haven't cried this week. Trust me, that's huge.

And I'm up....

It's pushing 4 a.m. and here I am. I think I've slept maybe 20 minutes of the last 4 hours. Everyone else is asleep, Baby Reeder included, but not mama. I've moved to the couch because my poor husband doesn't deserve to be woken up every 5 minutes by my shifting or attempts to breathe. I've had an exhausting last 4 days; so much so that you'd expect me to crash & burn right about now. Apparently my inability to turn off my brain is enough to overcome said exhaustion.

Ok, scratch that. Baby Reeder's now awake. Sorry, kiddo, but Mommy needed to eat those 2 chocolate cookies just now. Hope the sugar wasn't the culprit. And I'm still starving, so there may be more to come.

I think I'm in for a long rest of the night (morning? not sure what to call it at this point...) sigh.

I'm retired.

That's really all I have to say.

Oh yeah, and this:

:)

Almost there...

How far along?: 38 weeks, 0 days.
Total weight gain/loss: +0.5 this week, +21.5 overall. I think I might stay under that 25-35 lb range "they" recommend. I might just have to reward myself with something sweet :)
How big is baby?: 6 2/3 lbs and over 19.5 inches long.
Maternity clothes?: Real pants are replaced by sweatpants as much as possible now.
Sleep: So happy to say not bad. It's hit & miss, of course, but I've had quite a few good nights lately. Still only 1 bathroom break a night, probably because she's still too high to be squishing my bladder much.
Movement: She's a crazy child. Must take after her mother. Still dancing around like a madwoman.
Labor signs: I *think* she's dropped a tiny bit. Just a little. Lots of pressure down south and a little less trouble breathing. Still nothing to brag about, as I think she's warm and cozy and wants to stay in here until February. We'll find out tomorrow if I'm right at the doctor.
Food Cravings: Nothing in particular this week. But I've been plowing through gallons of milk, so this kiddo should have some strong bones.
Gender: It's a girl. I promise. Call it mother's intuition if you will. Time to start preparing yourself for this, husband. (p.s. this is one time when I will be more than happy to be wrong...)
Belly button in or out?: The top half is starting to pop out a tiny bit - so strange...
What I miss: As I near the end of all this and realize that I'll soon get to enjoy all the things I've "missed" this pregnancy, I've decided to reflect on what I'll miss about being pregnant: feeling her wiggle around, guilt-free eating, being told I look great (even if it's followed by "for being so pregnant"), elastic-waisted jeans, genuine surprise when I receive a swift little kick, resting my hand on my belly...
What I am looking forward to: Baby! Baby! Baby!
Best moment this week: Preparing my notes for my Exit Interview at work, as Friday is MY LAST DAY! It's about time I get to speak my mind about this place. I'll be going out with guns blazin' (though in a very professional way, I promise.)
Weekly Wisdom: Pregnant bellies are the best insulators. Man, am I hot. It's going to be 20ish degrees outside by the end of the day, and what did I wear to work? A tank top.
Milestones: Last week of work! In fact, as I write this (at work, haha), I have 11 hours left for the week. I'll be a retiree as of lunch time on Friday!

Jingle belly.

Baby Reeder at 37w4d

Oh, the belly. It's big, folks. And it aches. It's grown a little bit in the last few weeks, don't you think? These comparison photos just FASCINATE me. Each week, the husband takes them and I just stare at the little screen on my camera with my jaw hanging down. That's really me? Yowza. So anyway, here you go: Week 28 on the left, Week 37 on the right.

Seriously?!

Remember that discussion we had on tact? That was nothing. This wins.

"Did I pick the 19th as your due date? Where are you going to be on the 19th? (You might not want to reveal that info to me because I might google info on how to induce labor.)"

- In an email from a coworker, in reference to his Baby Reeder Split-the-Pot guess

You can't make this stuff up, folks. Creeper alert.

Full-term.

We're full-term, friends. This kiddo is fully cooked and just needs to work her way south when she wants to meet us :)

How far along?: 37 weeks, 0 days.
Total weight gain/loss: +1.5 this week, +21 overall.
How big is baby?: 6 1/3 lbs and over 19 inches long.
Maternity clothes?: It'll be weird to start shopping in the normal person section as opposed to the maternity section again. I can’t wait.
Sleep: Oddly enough, the bathroom breaks are down to only 1 a night. It's the aching back/belly/hips/etc. that wake me up every hour or so. I'm down to only being able to "comfortably" (I use this term loosely) sleep in one position....my poor left hip....
Movement: Party in my ribs, 24/7. The doctor goes "Oh yeah, that baby's right up in your rib cage, huh?" Um, duh.
Labor signs: Still not a thing, other than BH's. Absolutely no cervical progress at today’s OB appt, which is not at all surprising considering she's so darn high right now. I swear this kid is moving up rather than dropping. Typical.
Food Cravings: There's a piece of a Jersey Mikes club sub in my fridge that's calling my name.
Gender: C'mon, little one, let me give you a name already!
Belly button in or out?: Flat.
What I miss: Emotional stability.
What I am looking forward to: Christmas. Preferably with my baby in my arms and not in this big belly.
Best moment this week: Getting to spend some serious quality time with Baby Reeder’s daddy over the long Thanksgiving break.
Weekly Wisdom: There is definitely such a thing as “doing too much.” It often leads to pain, discomfort, occasional tears, and Tylenol PM.
Milestones: Full-term. Holy cow. It’s so surreal to make it to December. Any time now, baby, any time.