Baby's Head!

This morning in the shower I felt the baby's head! At our midwife apt. this morning the midwife Donna said that I was 1cm dilated. She was trying to find my cervix but apparently it is off to the right side of the baby's head. She said that labor will help to bring the cervix down to where it needs to be and if I do some squats that could help too. So I figure I will go to the new house today and do some cleaning in the squatting position, you know kill two birds with one stone! When we asked the midwife when she thought the baby would come she said she wouldn't say because she doesn't have a crystal ball and doesn't want to disappoint us if he doesn't come by the time that she thinks. She did say before we left that she would be surprised to see us at her next apt (next Friday). 

If he doesn't come by Monday I have a non-stress test scheduled. For those of you who don't know what that is I will tell ya... I will wear two belts around my waist; one that registers any contractions I may be having and the other that measures the baby's heart rate. It takes about 20 minutes and sometimes up to an hour. If the baby's heart rate increases when he moves or when I have a contraction then that means that everything with the baby is okay. 10 days past my due date they will repeat this test.

They will also perform another test at the apt. called the Amniotic Fluid Index which is an ultrasound that looks at the amount of water around the baby in my uterus.

My guess... I think he will be born before the test on Monday.... if not then I think that I will have at least started labor by then. Keep you posted!

Life As Three

I created the name for the website of this blog with the thought that when the baby arrives we will now be a family of four, Patrick, baby, Emma and I... However for the moment we are still life as three.  Baby has not arrived and he hasn't told me his plans for arrival so I guess only time will tell.

NEW HOUSE

So today we were given our keys to the house! Everything is final, we are now homeowners of a 3 bedroom, 1 loft house with a big backyard and garage. After collecting our keys we went to check out the house again. I began tearing out the old contact paper from the kitchen cupboards. Yesterday we finalized all of our appliance decisions ( thank goodness that is over!). Patrick began taping all of the molding so that he can start painting the living room tomorrow. After his run tonight he is going back to the house to spackle. Pictures soon to come!

                                        (Our new house keys!)

           (A yummy gift of pretzels from our "loan guy"... I do believe we finished them within two days)

***SNOW***

Winter in Vancouver, WA usually consists of continuous rain and the occasional freezing temperatures, but not today! Last night we got a beautiful coating of snow. Emma and I took a nice walk in the fresh snow at 12:30am.  During the day the sun (yes I said sun, we actually had some today!) melted the snow. Just as we left to go pick up our keys it began snowing again! Many of our neighbors built snowmen in their yards. I took a picture on my phone of one that I thought was particularly well done! He was at least 6 feet tall!



The Guessing Game

So I kind of feel like a kid who is excited for Christmas day, only there is a catch nobody will tell you when Christmas day is.  Some say it will be soon, others sometime this month, still others say perhaps tomorrow.  So the question is "where is this baby"?

I am really hoping that he decides to come out sooner rather than later but not for the reasons that most people hope this. I am actually quite comfortable and able to do things as I have been minus bending directly forward while in the sitting position. Now that I think about it putting on my socks was a much easier task a few months ago as well. All of this aside though, I like being pregnant. My concern is that he will decide to be born on his own a little too late and the midwives will tell me that I can't do the birth naturally. I really want to have the time to go through all of the motions of trying for a natural birth before having to receive any drugs or other interventions and I most certainly do NOT want a c-section.

So the guessing game continues... when will baby Connor Patrick, or Eli Thomas, or Caleb arrive?

Any guesses?

Beacon Rock

                                                    (Beacon Rock)



   

                                            (Mom and I at the Trailhead)

On Saturday night my mom flew in to visit us.  She will be here for two weeks and hopefully during that time she will get to meet her grandson. Also during that time she will become a much needed pair of helping hands for us, we will be keeping her busy, packing, cleaning, moving, cooking, etc. (we begin our move into the new house next weekend).

(Lots of switchbacks)

However, today my mom and I decided to take a potentially labor inducing break from our current list of to-do's and go for a hike while Patrick went to price out appliances, again. She has never hiked Beacon Rock a favorite of ours so I decided to take her there. It is a 600ft climb up and took us about an hour. All three little dogs hiked with us as well. There were many switchbacks but the weather was beautiful! Here are a few pictures.

                                                                               

(39 weeks and 6 days pregnant)

                                                  (Emma and I)

(Mom, Maggie and Peanut)



39 Week Midwife Visit

Here is a sideways video (I don't know how to turn it, sorry) of me while we were sitting in the doctors office today. My belly really does look quite big on this video a different perspective from my usual birds eye view. My belly measured 37 cm and I weighed in at 152lbs (to which I say bah).

You can't really hear me in the video but I was showing my crooked, brown line on my belly. Then I was describing how the baby is sitting in my stomach. First I pointed out his butt then his leg on the other side.

Blue and Black Cohosh

So I decided to try a little blue and black cohosh... not even remotely tolerable! Patrick thought it would be funny to tape my end reactions. Enjoy!