Week 39!

Okay, now I'm really starting to feel the waiting!

Only five more days until Nathaniel's official due date. He could be here any time now! Amazingly enough, sometimes it STILL doesn't feel like I'm really about to have a baby. I go into his room and look at those tiny clothes and still can't believe that someone who's small enough to wear them is about to be moving in.

Yesterday was my last day of working in the office. Now I'm going to work from home until I officially start my maternity leave. The organization that I work for doesn't offer any sort of fully paid maternity leave that is separate from vacation/sick/holiday time (which is really surprising to me since I work for a nonprofit children's hospital). Even my former company (a work-you-like you-don't-have-a-life market research firm) offered fathers two weeks of paid paternity leave that was completely separate from all other vacation/sick time. I'm sure their offering for mothers was even better.

I feel lucky that I get to use short term disability for 6 (vaginal delivery) to 8 (Caesarean birth) weeks, even if I'll only be paid 60% of my regular salary. But I don't feel completely lucky. Given what many other countries offer their mothers in terms of paid leave, I also feel extremely pissed off. Think there's a chance I could get German citizenship in a few days and collect my 330 days of paid maternity leave?

Week 34

I can't believe we're almost there!

We've taken a bunch of classes. We had our baby shower. We met with our doula this week to go over some things about labor and the birth. We're touring the childbirth center at our hospital next week. It's almost time...sort of. :)

The third trimester has brought some mood swings. One day I feel awesome and on top of the world and the next I feel irritable and/or teary. I know that some of this is because we recently had to deal with looking for a new place to live and moving, which is stressful even if you aren't in your third trimester of pregnancy, but some of it is purely hormonal.

Aside from the weird moods, physical slowness (it takes me much longer to walk to my office when I get off the bus these days), and difficulty getting comfortable, turning over in bed, and getting up out of chairs and off the couch, I'm feeling pretty good. :)

I'm so excited that it's almost time to meet our baby! I can't wait to see him, hold him, and kiss him for the first time. I can't wait to be a mom. I can't wait to get to know our son. I can't wait to see Drew with our baby. He's going to be such an amazing father and I can't wait to witness it.

I'm also nervous. I'm nervous about being a good mom. I'm nervous about knowing/learning how to take care of him. I'm worried about our finances. I'm worried that my lack of mommy skills will warp him forever. You know, the usual stuff. :)

This is going to be a huge adventure and I'm ready for it to start. I can't imagine what it's going to be like and I'm looking forward to finding out.

Catch Up with Me on Inward Facing Girl

I've been super busy trying to get moved and settled before Nathaniel's arrival, so catch up with what I've been up to on my primary blog, Inward Facing Girl. :)

Week 25 - Birth Art Assignment #1

Last night Drew and I started our childbirth classes at Amazing Mama Birth Services in Bothell. Our instructor, Oesa, bases her classes on the Birthing from Within method. One of the Birthing from Within techniques is the use of creative expression (specifically birth art and journaling) to explore your feelings and attitudes about birth.

For our first birth art assignment, we had the choice of creating a "birth landscape" or thinking about creating our birth space and what we feel needs to be there. I chose the second option and created this drawing to represent what I need emotionally in my birth space.

In the middle of the page, there's a large pink circle with a dab of blue in the middle which represents me and Nathaniel, and right next to us there's a blue circle representing Drew. We're surrounded by a thick circle of red, which represents a strong bond of love and support. Nearby are two circles representing our OB and our doula, who are separate from us but still sharing our space and providing support. The black exterior represents all of the negativity surrounding birth, including other people's negative and unhelpful opinions, as well as the doubts and fears that swim around in my own mind. In my birth space there's a shield against this type of thought and imparted "wisdom." The warm colors on the inside represent strength and confidence and the cool colors represent being calm and focused during the birthing process.

I think that making birth art is going to be a cool way to think about my own childbirth perceptions and help me start to get into the mindset that I want to have when it's my time to give birth. I'm looking forward to next week's class! :)

Week 24 - Babymoon!

Drew and I are headed to Kauai for our first anniversary/babymoon trip. Neither of us have been to Hawaii and we're super excited for several days of relaxation and exploring. With all of the things that we have ahead of us, this looks like it could be our last chance to really chill for a long time. :)

When we get back, we immediately begin our apartment search. Hopefully it won't take too long because we're planning to move at the end of May/beginning of June.

We start our childbirth classes two days after we get back from our trip. In addition to the four week childbirth series, we're taking a "bringing home baby" workshop (practical newborn care), a breastfeeding class, and an infant safety/CPR class.

We have to finish our baby registry. My friend is planning to throw a baby shower for us a couple of weeks after we move into our new place. After the shower, we have to buy the rest of the things that we need for little Nathaniel.

Then, hopefully in this order, it's time for labor and he's here!

Books for Kids

I have a love-hate relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow's GOOP. Much of the time, it's full of information that's useless to me, but today's issue was crammed with children's book recommendations. I'm looking forward to checking out many of them.

Since Nathaniel can hear my voice now (22 weeks, yay!), I read him his first story a couple of days ago. For obvious reasons, I chose Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat. I didn't read this book as a child, so it was my first time hearing the story too. I was excited to learn that there's a whole series of Nate the Great books!

Drew and I are big readers and we can't wait to start the ritual of reading to our son at bedtime.

Week 20 - Halfway There!

I can't believe I'm at the halfway point! It seems like yesterday when I saw the word "pregnant" on that little digital stick.

I've been feeling pretty good and I'm getting more exercise. We recently bought Wii Fit Plus and I've been pretty motivated to use it. I also have some DVDs on the way - Summer Sanders' Prenatal Workout and Jennifer Wolfe's Prenatal Vinyasa Yoga and Short Forms 2 DVD Set. I'm trying to take advantage of the extra energy when I have it!

While I am feeling more energetic, I'm losing out in the sleep department. I've joined the 78% of pregnant women who experience insomnia during pregnancy. It started a couple of weeks ago. It's weird because I've always been a hard sleeper who falls asleep fast and doesn't wake up until morning. I guess my body needs a lot of preparation to get ready for those late night feedings.

Last week we met with and hired our birth doula. Rebecca seems great, and we're really excited to work with her. She's been a doula for about four years now and has attended over 100 births. We really liked her attitude, philosophy, and warm personality.

Warning...the next paragraph has a high ick factor.

Have you ever heard of placenta encapsulation? No? Neither had we. Drew and I read about this recently and my initial reaction was, "Eww! No way! I would never take capsules filled with my dried placenta." This is an optional service that our birth doula offers, so she gave us some information about it during the interview. I'm still leaning toward the no side, but after hearing the information and reading more about it online, I'm not as freaked out as I was when I first heard about it. There aren't any clinical trials that back the benefit claims at this point, so the evidence is really theoretical. Who knows, it could just be placebo effect - no one seems to be sure what effect the drying of the placenta has on the hormones/other stuff that are thought to be beneficial.  If anyone out there reading this blog has done this, please share your results in the comments section - especially if you've had two children and did it with one but not the other.

Okay, now that I've left you with that in your mind, time to move on and brighten the day for others. :) Happy Tuesday!