Week 39: Business as Usual

Me?  I'm just carrying some boxes at work.

There has been some excitement the last few days,  most of it of the not-good variety.  Again the important takeaway here is that Jane's fine, and I'm fine.

Last Friday was my now-weekly midwife appointment.  It was and has been quite hot out.  Once we got to the part where they listen to her heartbeat, the midwife thought it was a little high (160 when 'normal' is 130).  They sent me to the hospital, across the street, for a non-stress test, where they put two monitors on my belly to get a baseline and make sure she calmed down.  She did, but they kept us there two hours.  Not that I'm complaining--it was cool in there and they brought me juice and crackers.

Saturday we did very little, because Andy was concerned about Jane's well-being.  But then came Sunday.

Our carpeting downstairs is dark brown, and Brisco's hair shows up very well on it.  It'd been a while since we'd vacuumed, and one of us mentioned it should be done that day.  Somehow I noticed a white patch (not unlike his hair) but I determined it was mold.  Once we noticed that, we started noticing more of it on the carpeting, as well as a few patches on the linoleum that had shown up with the extended period of humidity we're having.  The linoleum just needs a Clorox wipe, but what do you do about carpet?

I called our landlord who lives in New York, and asked what he'd have us do.  He said he'd "probably" be in town the weekend of the 14th because his daughter was expecting a baby that day.  I said I was too, and we were not going to wait for him to possibly be in town to take some kind of action on the mold.  (Remember Andy's what-turned-out-to-be-yeast ordeal?)  He suggested a dehumidifier and I, in turn, suggested that it be deducted from our rent.  I also said Andy'd be willing to rent a steam cleaner but that the rental would also come off the rent.  Our landlord agreed, so Sunday was spent moving furniture, mopping (and drying) the kitchen floor, moving the couch to the kitchen, steam cleaning the couch, steam cleaning the carpets...

I helped out as much as I safely thought I could.  We both wore those surgical masks.  Brisco and I retreated to the air-conditioned bedroom several times.  The dehumidifier filled a few times (it's just a small one, as Home Depot only had TWO left, and it's an LG, which I knew my in-laws would not approve of) so it's doing its job.  We mentioned the mold to our neighbor and she said she'd found the same thing, though she doesn't have carpeting.  Her apartment is mirror-image of ours, so she mentioned a particular closet that had mold, so we knew we had to tackle that too.

Yesterday I found more mold in one of the kitchen cabinets.  Luckily it was just the one, and not all of them, but it needed cleaning out which meant Andy had more to do.  Everything in the cabinet went through the sanitize cycle on the dishwasher.  Then today we emptied out the utility closet and mopped it out, though we didn't find mold in there.  Andy found a bit behind the dryer but was able to clean it up too.

Basically it's not a safe place for either of us, but it's much, much better that we've found and dealt with it now than when Jane was here.  We thought she was coming last Saturday, so it's good that she didn't!

Pictures

So I mentioned we went to a drive-in.  Brisco loves the car.  Have I mentioned he's a tall dog?

 LOOK HOW HAPPY!!

 I am also pretty happy.  Real butter on popcorn!  A few people commented on my shirt.  As they do.

 So this picture was taken Sunday, before I think she dropped:

 And this was taken this morning (same shirt for easy comparison).  What do you think?  Can you see a difference?

What I Learned

I like to think I've read a lot about pregnancy.  I've been pretty well-prepared for the things that many women find surprising during these nine months.  Really the biggest surprises I've had are the things that haven't happened (what pregnancy heartburn?) but her dropping did indeed catch me off guard.

It HURT.  The only thing I knew about babies dropping was that it frees up more lung space for me, but that comes at the cost of her pressing her head into my pelvis and that did not feel great.  It's a lot better today than it was when it first happened, but now that I know of this phenomenon, Google has confirmed that plenty of women have discomfort from it.

She occasionally finds my sciatic nerve (I think) and presses on it, but only for a moment.  I slept much better last night than I did on Sunday, and took an afternoon nap as well.  I was even able to walk Brisco this morning.  Last night was the first time we turned the air on in our bedroom and corralled the dog in with us, and he was surprisingly tolerant of it.  Carla never had a problem being in a room with a shut door with us, but we'd never tried it with him.  I fully expected him to whine to be let out, especially when I got up to use the bathroom.  But no, he appreciated the cool.

Anyway, we took a picture on Sunday and I think we should take a picture today to see if there's a visible difference.  Andy says there is, but I wonder if it's as obvious to the casual observer.  Comparison pictures to come soon!

Up at 3 AM... totally normal

I hit 38 weeks today--woo hoo!  Tonight I got really uncomfortable and was wide awake at 1:30, so I've been downstairs watching TV and bothering the dog for a while.  Who knows if it means anything.  I might try to doze here or head back upstairs in a bit.

In the meantime, enjoy some pictures from Dick and Wendy's visit!

Andy and our pre-baby stand-in, Curious George

Me and Andy at the Night Kitchen for dinner on Father's Day

 Andy and his folks

 Me, Andy and Brisco.  Look how smiley we all are!

I don't know what to think right now.  I'm having a bit of pain/aches, but nothing I would call contractions.  I couldn't get comfortable in bed even with the help of my body pillow.  I woke Andy up just to tell him I was heading downstairs, so he wouldn't worry that I wasn't there.  That was two hours ago, and I guess he's not worried--I haven't seen him since!  :)  (One of us should be getting sleep, anyway!)

You'll either hear from me again soon, or not for a while.  Either way, home stretch!

Still here, still pregnant (Weeks 36 and 37)

The big news is I've/we've made it to full-term, not that there was any reason to worry that I/we wouldn't.  She could be born any time now(!) and be ready to go and figure out what those lungs are for.

I don't have any pictures handy, but I'll post some when I do.  Dick and Wendy were here over Father's Day weekend, which was great.  Wendy got to feel Jane wiggling around, we shared some good meals, and they got to see our new place, dog, and life before everything gets completely turned around.  It was a nice visit and we're looking forward to having them back to meet Jane in the flesh.  Or out of the flesh, I guess.

I've had a few noticeable changes in how I've been feeling, which the midwife assured me was due to lower levels of progesterone, signaling the upcoming end of pregnancy.  Nothing unmanageable, occasional chills and much less stamina.  I am still grateful to be having such an easy pregnancy.  I'm hopeful that Jane's chill-ness will continue on into her life at home with us.

I got some bad news at work last week.  My position was created because the office manager needed help, but the owners now agree that I don't need 30 hours a week to get it done.  Unfortunately for us, this means I'll be cut down to twenty hours after I come back from maternity leave and will be losing our insurance.  Twenty hours is not enough for us to live on, but it is something that I will have until I find something else.  We can get on Andy's insurance in August or September, so the timing will work out there as well.  It's not ideal but it's the best of a bad situation.  I have started looking around for other positions and have compiled a few possibilities.  As everyone keeps assuring me, it will work out.  I was not planning on leaving this job before we finished our time here in Mass, but you just can't plan these things out with certainty.

Andy and I practiced cloth-diapering on our Curious George doll the other night.  The snaps are a new thing for me, but we will get used to them in no time.  When our friends' baby Calvin was born, he didn't fit into the cloth diapers they had for several months, so I'll be curious to see whether they fit Jane initially or not.  They're supposed to be able to fit a newborn.  She feels huge to me when she's kicking my ribs, but I know she's going to seem tiny when I meet her, like it was impossible for her to have been imparting that much force.

This week has been and continues to be quite busy.  It's funny to have so much on our calendars, because each day I look at what there is to do, and I think to myself, "Am I actually going to be doing those things?"  Hard to tell at this point.  Tuesday and Wednesday I worked 8:15-5 (instead of my normal 2:15) because the office manager was out, today I volunteer after work and then we have our final birthing class, and tomorrow we have appointments both in the morning (midwife) and afternoon (hospital intake and carseat check).  Then a BBQ on Saturday and a Movement for Birth class on Sunday.  Busy!

Andy, Brisco and I went to a drive-in last week, which was fun.  I, unsurprisingly, fell asleep, but it was still a nice time.  We won't be able to stay out until 2 am(!!!) again for a long time, not that I'd probably want to.  There are a few pictures from that night that I'll get around to at some point.

That's enough for now, I suppose.  :)

Childhood Dream Fulfilled -- 35 Weeks

First, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, WHITNEY!  I hope you had a great day.  :)  I was thinking about you, and then, yeah, you know... I probably lost my train of thought and then wondered why I was putting my cell phone in the freezer.  You'll always be my Caesar Sister!

Anyway, ever since I was young and watched reruns of the Kids in the Hall on CBC, I was taken with the image of a pregnant woman running around in a bikini in the intro.  Well, that, and everything else about the show, but that could be an entire blog unto itself.

Cross THAT off my bucket list!  (Sarah, if you're reading this, can you believe my Bora Boras have held up this long?!)

 Yesterday Mark and Pam invited us to join them for a hike and a swim in their pool.  We skipped the hike because I don't have that much energy anymore (and can't be far away from bathrooms), but we did join them for some pool time and burgers.  And yes, I had a ton of sunscreen on.

 For once we actually had someone else around that could take pictures of the two of us!  Look how tall I look!

 Our next door neighbor wanted to paint her door and thought it'd look weird to just have one painted (side-by-side townhouses) so we got a lavender door as well.  I like it!

Last but not least, we made English muffins for the first time this weekend.  I was not overly impressed.  They were good, but maybe not up to the good: amount of work ratio.  Maybe we just needed a more amazing topping.  They also took a lot longer than expected.  I had to have two pre-breakfasts while they were cooking.

We hit quite a few garage sales on Saturday and got some good stuff, as well as a bouncer from the free store at the Survival Center, and the glider arrived too.  Jane's room is filling up.  Good thing she won't be in there right away!

34 Weeks

We had a couple of very hot days last week.  We're trying to figure out what works best to keep our apartment cool.  It seems like keeping the downstairs closed is the best bet.  My hair got curly in the humidity.  That, and I haven't had a haircut since Cat visited in January.

 I'm definitely rotating through a set number of outfits.  I'm wearing that coral-colored shirt again today.

Since our CSA ran out a few weeks ago, we've been having a harder time planning meals.  When we pick up veggies each week, we would at least have a jumping off point for meal-planning.  After much debate, we finally decided to renew our membership, even with knowing that cooking will become more of a challenge after Jane's arrival.  If we have the produce available, it puts us in a much better position than not having it.  That being said, we had a recipe for a pasta pot with tomatoes, greens, onions, and feta planned for last night.

But I wanted blueberry pancakes.

 A plethora of cast iron!  When I suggested pancakes to Andy, he was on board immediately.  Not because brinner is amazing, but because, as he put it, "You haven't had that many cravings, and I feel bad about it."  Not going to argue.

 Brisco the wonder dog, awaiting dinner of his own.  Or at least waiting for someone to drop something.

 We got two big-deal items this week: a changing table/dresser, and the carseat/stroller.  The changing table is apparently very heavy (I wasn't allowed to help move it), but luckily our neighbor helped get it out of the car and into Jane's room.  Starting to stock it up!

 My dad and Karen sent us the carseat/stroller.  Now that the dresser has been picked up (yay Craigslist finds!) we can put the carseat and base in the car to live there from here on out.  George was the test subject.  Dino-hat courtesy of Uncle Keith!

 Changing table and Brisco in his favorite room

 Filling the dresser with stuff!  If you know Zingerman's, you might recognize a smiling pig on a bib in the middle drawer there.  And the Michigan pennant that we randomly found on the ground in Amherst last summer.  Of course.

I did prenatal yoga yesterday and realized how much my muscles have changed in the last eight months.  It was much harder than I knew it to actually be (if that makes sense).  It's still kind of a foreign idea for me that there are things I can't do that I used to do relatively recently.  All in all, pregnancy is a pretty fast journey, so I guess my mind hasn't yet caught up with the reality of this giant protrusion here.  Andy's doing a great job of keeping me/us safe and well-rested.  I'm still trying to walk the dog as I'm able and keep the house in decent order.

And, equally importantly, we now have nineteen burritos in the freezer for post-baby.  And six pizzas, and several dozen muffins, a frittata, some chicken...