Comfort, Confidence, and Support

Today, the baby friend has reached 36 weeks, which means that we are officially in “the safe zone.” Now that we’ve made it this far, we can deliver at the birth center with our amazing doctor and midwife. Barring complications, this little one will come to earth in a place that we have grown to love and where we feel comfortable, with only those that we have chosen by our sides.

...

When I first became pregnant, I immediately visited the doctor that my family swears by. Let me be the first to say, he is a wonderfully intelligent man. Still, I wanted something more. I wanted a personal relationship with my health care provider and I wanted to know that they would be at my birth, no matter what.

In college, I took a course called, The Psychology of Sexuality. Well, it had absolutely nothing to do with psychology and everything to do with sexy time. Of all the classes throughout college, though, it surprises me to look back and realize that this class planted a seed in my mind, for this is the place that I learned about natural birth, birth centers, and midwives.

I began my search for a new health care provider by interviewing a home birth midwife. As great as she was, I realized that I wasn’t quite ready to birth at home. I needed a little more emotional security for my first birth experience.

This led me to Mary, who had just opened Blossom Birth Center alongside Nichelle Whitehead, an OB-GYN.

Stepping into the birth center felt so right. It was comfortable, clean, and peaceful. It was also a great reassurance to have a midwife and an OB in one place – the best of both worlds. As I have continued my appointments at the birth center, I have grown to love Mary and Nichelle so much. I love the things we have in common, the interest they take in my baby, my body, and my life, and their constant support.

I am so excited for this journey. It will be hard work and it will be painful, but each contraction will bring me closer to meeting my little girl or little boy. With my husband and mother by my side, watched over by caring and knowledgeable women, I have faith in the birth process.

...

Here are a million silent prayers that I will be strong and that my body will be capable of birthing naturally, like so many of the women before me.

When You're Large

You know you’re pregnant when you leave work at 3:50 pm to walk, in 110 degree weather, to Burger King, for a $1.00 chicken sandwich.

But it was oh, so delicious.

Is this what my life is coming to? Insatiable appetite, difficulty putting the dish soap under the sink, and the inability to sleep without a body pillow? I haven’t even cuddled with Husband in months, due to my striking resemblance to a wood-burning stove.

It’s just too darn hot and uncomfortable up in here.

Nevertheless, today is a big day. Today, I am exactly one month away from my due date. Add to that the fact that my mother had all of her children 2-4 weeks early, and things are looking pretty serious.

So, here I am at 35 weeks. 

Too big, too small, or just right?

Also, can you believe that there's a real-life baby in there!?

iPhone Vomit

A cute little niece with the best poker face you've ever seen.  She doesn't fall for funny faces or silly voices, unless you're mommy or daddy.  I do wonder, though, will my kids look like this little one?  Her parents are definitely the closest "combination" to Husband and I.

Not creepy.

The twins at Cracker Barrel.  Husband was a first-timer and he was not impressed by the fried livers.  He definitely lost some brownie points with the dudes.

Evidence of the rollie pollie invasion.  Around this time of year, the rollie pollies (Husband calls them pill bugs) make the long trek to our garden oasis.  Upon their arrival, they are greeted by the waft of air conditioning underneath the front door.  Well, they don't knock, they just barge right in and head straight for the bathroom.  Why the bathroom, you ask?  This I don't know, but it is apparent that they have chosen it as their rollie pollie cemetery.

My sweet weight-gain-chart.  Really, this needs to be tracked for the posterity.

I wasn't planning on sharing this, but really, how could I not? 

Self-explanatory.

Musings of a Beached Whale

Over the past 24 hours, I have experienced many of the joys of pregnancy.

1. Wicked calf cramp at approximately 6:00 am.

2. Wanting to drink a gallon of water while peeing a gallon of water.

3. Doing housework for one hour = sore back and feet, profuse sweating, extreme thirst, an attempt to wash dishes while sitting on a birth ball, and too many mini Twix bars.

4. Praying every night that I will be more grateful for the blessings in my life and nicer to my husband. In other words, praying that I will be less of a grouch.

5. The inability to use my ab muscles to lift myself out of bed and resorting to a strange flip/flop/bounce, while Husband stands at the side of the bed and laughs.

6. Did I mention peeing A LOT?

On top of the above madness, I ate five cheeseburgers in one week and I don’t even like cheeseburgers! Okay, well I like Lenny’s cheeseburgers. I think it’s all in the bun; the cheaper, the better.

So, here’s some Lenny’s.

The Lenny’s in Phoenix is more expensive than the one in Mesa, so that stinks, because $1.49 suddenly becomes way too much for an ice cream cone.

And here I am at 31 weeks and 33 weeks.

I can't believe there's a baby in there!

Extra Buoyant

This is my warning: the following picture is sure to incite extreme emotions, whether they be laughter (stemming from the sheer amounts of white in this picture or my child-belly), disgust (again, the large midsection), envy (“I WISH I could be that disproportional!”), desire (some people are into that), or curiosity (is that swimsuit painted on or did she squeeze into it somehow?), I cannot tell.

Just know that I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the pool last weekend.

Heck, I floated around and I felt weightless! I might have burned off 2.5 calories by lounging on a noodle! I practiced my birthing squat on the stairs and it was so easy! My suntan constituted an approximately 0.5% increase in skin pigmentation! I got to see my husband shirtless!

To top off my swimming escapades, I used some coupons at Sonic to purchase a corndog and a Cream Slush for a grand total of $1.08. It was the perfect meal to kick off summer. (Baby agrees.)

As long as I keep visiting my SIL’s pool on Saturdays and find another pool (that a doesn’t require a 7-8 month pregnant woman to climb over a fence) for the other 6 days of each week, I hope to keep the cankles at bay.

Less than 11 weeks to go!

Yesterday in My Belly

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and, I have to admit, I felt a little bit like a mother.

Just a little baby-fetus-in-my-belly bit.

The talks at church were wonderful and it was the first Sunday in awhile that I have actually paid attention the whole time. (I am so grown up!) If only old ladies told stories about their childhood during every Sacrament meeting...

(Being old is going to be so cool.)

So, there you have it. I am a mother-in-the-making.

25 weeks from the front is different...

than 25 weeks from the side.

...

Highlights of Pre-Mother’s Day include: A slave husband, strawberry pancakes, back rubs, washed dishes, and tasty mashed potatoes.

Too Hungry to Think

22 weeks

I really feel like my blog has been extra lonely lately. 

You've heard of pregnant brain, right?  I think I'm beginning to develop a serious case of the scatterbrained, which sounds about right.

Hopefully by tomorrow, I will be alive enough to post about my amazing baby shower!  Right now, I'm too busy eating each and every piece of my Easter candy.

Until then, check out a few new belly pics here.



Examen Para Mis Estudiantes

What would you think if you took all four of these pictures in one day?

 

A. If I don’t stop eating office cupcakes, when will I be unable to fit through the small space leading to the next cubicle?

B. If my fetus is to grow healthy and strong, should I be eating numerous cupcakes and ice cream treats?

C. Do I look fat or pregnant?

D. If I have gained one pound a week (which is the average, dang it) in the last five weeks, will cupcakes keep me on track or bump me up to two pounds/week category?

E. Is this cupcake the reason that I had to take a break during my 10-minute video workout, where the instructor is a 36-week pregnant woman?

F. Would taking wheatgrass (per midwife’s instructions) help offset my cupcake compulsion?

G. Should I spend more time looking at my feet?

H.  Is there a correlation between cupcake consumption and cankles?

What do you think?

Wish Upon a Passing Airplane

You know in movies, when the main character walks into a bakery and the worker knows his name and order? “Hey Tom, how’s it going? One pumpernickel bagel with strawberry cream cheese and a small hot chocolate, coming your way!”

Is it strange that I have always wanted to be that guy? Little did I know, the recipe for this scenario is painfully simple:

1 cup of predictability

1 cup of frugality

1 slice of sausage and mushroom pizza

1 water cup

1 Kieren (can and should be substituted with Karen)

Mix together and bake at 350 for approximately 5 months.

In January, I was bowled over when the pizza guy asked me, “It’s Karen, right?” In February, I almost went into cardiac arrest (in a good way) when the pizza cashier double-checked that I wanted a water cup with that sausage and mushroom. Then, in March, oh glorious March, my pizza lover asked, “Is it the old standby today?”

Yes, I said!

And I kissed him full on the mouth. 

(No, I did not.  But wouldn't that have been fitting?)

I offered him $3 and he handed me a receipt, 76 cents, a water cup, and my most shiny accomplishment.

Thank you, pizza man. Thank you for making my dream come true.

P.S. This is the reason that my skirt is currently unzipped, but covertly hidden by my maroon cardigan. No, it’s not because of the sausage and mushroom pizza addiction. How very rude of you to attempt to tarnish my splendid achievement like that.