I want you to know that I am taking your suggestions in the lead up to the Bambino Whirlwind seriously and I am doing things alone while I still can.
Took myself out to Discovery Coffee this morning. I drank my tea, read my book and wrote in my journal. Alone.
I also purposely chose a black pleather chair to sit my very pregnant tookus on. You know, just in case.
This is me doing a “Hello! Made it to 37 weeks pregnant!” jig. I made it to full term! Yeah! That means even though my estimated due date is March 25, even if the baby decided to make his/her appearance now things would more than likely be peachy-keen. Phew. I didn’t realize how much of a relief it would be to get past that marker, but it was.
One of the things I have on my list of Things to Do Before Baby Arrives is to get my camera cleaned. Turns out it can take from 2-4 weeks so it’s still off getting scrubbed. 2-4 WEEKS! Taking photos with the phone has been fun and all BUT I WANT MY CAMERA BACK. There is a very strong possibility this kid is going to grow up used to a lens all up in his/her grill and I would like that education to start on Day 1.
Also on my list:
I am feeling good. I am really lucky in that I sleep through the night and I’m still able to walk the dogs for a couple hours a day (I don’t walk them for 2 hours EVERY day, but I’m able to when I’m on dog walking duty). My belly is itchy. The baby’s bum juts up into my ribs and although it doesn’t hurt, it feels funny to have my ribs pushed on from the inside (my rib did pop out twice a few weeks ago and THAT hurt like a sonofabitch. I am SO glad John is a chiropractor. I have no idea what I would have done if I hadn’t been able to roll over at 6 o’clock in the morning and choke out, Dude, can you fix this please?).
People ask me if I’m “so over” being pregnant, but I’m not. Really. I had a bit of a pang the other day, missing my trusty torn jeans (of all things) and I try to limit the number of things I pick up off the floor (WHY do I drop so much crap?), but other than that I’m liking this. I like my round belly. I like being this close to the baby. I like the little changes I notice each day.
I feel excited that I could go into labour at any time now. And I feel curious. It’s not every day that you get to experience something for the very first time. Did I say that already in an earlier post? I might have. But it’s so fascinating… when we’re younger “firsts” happen all the time: first step, first bike, first day of high school, first kiss, first, first, first. Firsts don’t happen as often now and I’m excited to experience labour and birth and meet my baby and to join the millions of other mothers who also have this “first” under their belts and in their memories.
I wonder if I will feel as shmoopy about changing my baby’s first diaper…
More belly bump pics:
36 weeks pregnant (needle)
35 weeks pregnant (inappropriate maternity wear)
34 weeks pregnant (being pregnant is weird)
33 weeks pregnant (spanxy)
32 weeks pregnant (time flying)
31 weeks pregnant (emotional rollercoaster)
30 weeks pregnant- no photos! I missed it! Ack!
29 weeks pregnant (fitness edition)
28 weeks pregnant (bring, do, take & an ode to accepting help)
27 weeks pregnant (christmas edition)
26 weeks pregnant (psychedelic tool edition)
25 weeks pregnant (clean freak)
23 weeks pregnant (the meltdown)
22 weeks pregnant (grand canyon edition)
All “Bambino” related posts
Spring is coming, SPRING IS COMING!!!
Snapped these with my phone when we took the dogs for a sunny walk on Saturday. Soon there will be gorgeous cherry blossoms and wild roses and other flowers I don’t know the name of and VERY SOON I’LL BE ABLE TO HAVE A GLASS OF WINE.
Whoops. How did that last one that doesn’t have anything to do with Spring get in there?
Whenever I get groceries and I grab my soy milk or rice milk or whatever I always check the expiry date and it makes me think of something I’m looking forward to:
Expiry is Dec 23rd! It’ll be 2 days before Christmas!
Expiry is June 21nd! It’ll be 3 days before my birthday!
Expiry is Whatever-the-heck-it-is! We’ll be on the plane to somewhere fun!
The expiry date for this bad boy is April 13th. Even if I end up being the Most Overdue Pregnant Woman in the History of the World WE’LL HAVE A BABY before this soy milk expires…
AND we’ll still have time to finish this carton off.
Here I am at 36 weeks pregnant. This is what I wore to my prenatal class this week. I’m rockin’ the didn’t-wash-my-hair headband. The last time I photographed this shirt was at 22 weeks pregnant and I did a terrible job showing off the bump. Got some cool shots of the Grand Canyon though.
Things are starting to get real. Although my due date is March 25, a “normal” time to go into labour would be any time 2 weeks before or 2 weeks after that… so I could go into labour anytime in the next 2 to 6 weeks (or any time before that, really).
TWO TO SIX WEEKS, y’all.
Our prenatal classes are going well. This week we talked about common medical interventions. When we started talking about pain medications I started to get nauseous and abruptly left the room.
I don’t know what my problem is with needles. It’s not even really the needle specifically. I prefer to look away when a piece of metal is puncturing my skin but other than that I’m fine. I give Kayloo a cartrophen injection for her hips every month… no problem. I give blood… no worries. My issue seems to center around THINKING about the needle and THINKING about having some substance injected into me.
The first “incident” happened way back when I was a teenybopper:
In high school we got a booster shot. We were taken out of classes to get the shot and group after group of smelly teens were assembled in the front foyer to await our fate. We stood in long lines, talking and laughing and peering into the faces of the brave souls in front of us getting their injection and living to tell the tale. I was standing with a friend of mine and he was taking an inventory of the various needles he had received in recent memory… THIS needle before surgery… THAT needle at the dentist… that HUGE needle he got before going somewhere foreign and fascinating…
Pretty soon I started feeling funny. My Booster Buddy continued to rattle on: “Needle.” We shuffle forward one step. “Needle…” The nurse swabs a redhead’s arm… “NEEdle! Needle! NeeDLE! NEEEEEDLE!!!…” I was now at the front of the line looking at a nurse who was looking back at me. I was supposed to plop my butt down on the bench and pull up my sleeve. Instead I teetered, then swayed, saw black dots explode in a haze in front of my eyes… and dramatically passed out. All over her neatly stacked pile of (unused- phew) needles. In the front foyer. IN HIGH SCHOOL IN FRONT OF EVERYONE INCLUDING – MOST LIKELY – THE HOTTEST GUY IN THE SCHOOL OH MY GOD HOW EMBARRASSING.
As far as I know I was the only one who passed out that day. That was NOT a title I was looking to earn.
Since then I’ve experienced a few bouts of whooziness when dealing with needle-wielding folk (when a doctor in Japan pulled out a needle to get a blood sample at the local hospital I tried to warn her that perching me on the equivalent of a bar stool to draw my blood probably wasn’t a great idea. I woke up on the floor. Clearly my Japanese wasn’t very good), but for the most part a few deep breaths is all I need to keep it together. Conversations about injections don’t come up that often, I’ve been fine with being a human pin cushion on occasion during this pregnancy… and then we had to have the Medication Prenatal Class.
It was talking about the epidural and spinal that got me. The needle goes into the back. Something about dura and spinal fluid and bathing the spine… blech. Eventually I got up and grabbed a glass of cold water in the next room and sat there until that part of the program was over. I could still hear her explanation but the wall between us seemed to sufficiently protect me against doing a face plant.
So, aside from almost throwing up and diving unconscious in a lumpy “kathunk” in front of the whole room, the prenatal classes are great. Highly recommended. John and I are taking the midwife stream since we’re with a midwife (they have a midwife stream and a doctor stream) and we opted for 6 classes over 6 weeks rather than the intense weekend course in the hopes we would get a chance to know some of the couples in the class. People who are doing this whole baby thing for the first time and have no idea what to expect like to hang out with other people who are doing this for the first time and ALSO have no idea what to expect. Confusion likes company.
“Dura”… “spinal fluid”… yep, still makes me queasy. I’m going to wrap this blog post up now.
More belly bump pics:
35 weeks pregnant (inappropriate maternity wear)
34 weeks pregnant (being pregnant is weird)
33 weeks pregnant (spanxy)
32 weeks pregnant (time flying)
31 weeks pregnant (emotional rollercoaster)
30 weeks pregnant- no photos! I missed it! Ack!
29 weeks pregnant (fitness edition)
28 weeks pregnant (bring, do, take & an ode to accepting help)
27 weeks pregnant (christmas edition)
26 weeks pregnant (psychedelic tool edition)
25 weeks pregnant (clean freak)
23 weeks pregnant (the meltdown)
22 weeks pregnant (grand canyon edition)
All “Bambino” related posts
My mom sent some baby stuff to us last week and one of the little outfits came with a little bib. The little bib has a giraffe on it, can you see it? Omg so cute.
John put the bib on Mickey. I told my mom… she didn’t approve (“oh, that is so wrooong!”). What’s not to like? He’s aDORable!!! I’m not going to lie, I found it amusing (don’t worry mom, it’ll be nice and clean for the babe!).
As we learned from the Cone-of-Shame incident Mickey likes having things about his head. So he trotted around with a peppy air like he just don’t care.
And with that groovy rhyme I will leave you to your weekend. Happy Friday!
35 weeks pregnant. I bought this top last weekend even though it is completely inappropriate as maternity wear. It’s not quite big enough in the belly region. I figure it’ll be good after the baby is born and my stomache is still… a bump. Or maybe that was a bad idea because it’s white? Actually, nursing would probably be impossible with this shirt… hmmm, too bad I didn’t think of that in the dressing room. So much to learn, so much to learn…
Speaking of inappropriate maternity wear, this is the last non-workout-esque jacket I can close. Doing it up is a rather precarious endeavour actually, it BARELY makes it and the zipper now threatens to devour whatever shirt I am wearing in the process. As I walk the jacket hitches up my back, which is a pretty snazzy look:
This jacket is vintage. Older than me. It used to be a trench coat and it was my dad’s. My DAD used to wear a WINE COLOURED LEATHER TRENCH COAT. I LOVE the mental image that conjures. Love my dad, love him. I don’t buy leather anymore because of the whole vegetarian thing, but I also don’t throw away what I have because that would be wasteful and this jacket holds a special place in my heart. It’s lived in every city I have. I think of my stylin’ dad every time I pull this baby off the hanger. Dude is VERY excited to be a grandpa.
I’m not buying any more maternity specific clothing. I didn’t end up getting that much, actually. I have my 3 pairs of pants, a handful of tops and a bunch of non-maternity stuff that has done just fine (thank you mom and mom-in-law for helping me out in the threads department!). Working from home has made this a million times easier because sweatpants are very forgiving and uber versatile (super stylish for phone conferences, dinner dates at home with your husband AND lounging!). I save up most of my stylin’ for you guys on Belly Photo Day. If I worked in an office… well, if I worked in an office I’d still be thrifty/cheap/whatever so I probably would have ended up trying to magically make the same clothes look different each day. You know, with different earrings or something.
What can I say, I suck at being a fashionista.
What did/do other people do? Did you find you had to buy much? If you work/worked outside the home how did you do with that?
More belly bump pics:
34 weeks pregnant (being pregnant is weird)
33 weeks pregnant (spanxy)
32 weeks pregnant (time flying)
31 weeks pregnant (emotional rollercoaster)
30 weeks pregnant- no photos! I missed it! Ack!
29 weeks pregnant (fitness edition)
28 weeks pregnant (bring, do, take & an ode to accepting help)
27 weeks pregnant (christmas edition)
26 weeks pregnant (psychedelic tool edition)
25 weeks pregnant (clean freak)
23 weeks pregnant (the meltdown)
22 weeks pregnant (grand canyon edition)
All “Bambino” related posts
I knew I was pregnant before the tests confirmed it because of this dog right here. Kayloo started having a particular interest in my breath. When she had the chance she would get up close to my face, specifically my mouth, and sniff and sniff and sniff. She wouldn’t try to lick me, she just sniffed.
I knew.
I had been pregnant once a few months before but the little one didn’t get make it past a few weeks. Kayloo had taken the same interest at first, sniffing and sniffing but quickly lost interest. Soon enough various biological signs let me know things didn’t work out… but not before Kayloo alerted me wtih her lack of interest in the smell of my breath.
Before I was pregnant I was out walking the dogs on a particularly sunny afternoon and we had taken a break on a strip of grass to enjoy all the smells a gnarled tree trunk had to offer. A young woman was walking towards us along the sidewalk and suddenly Kayloo made a beeline for her. A very intent beeline. Kayloo is a strong dog. I was dragged.
This is going to sound a bit dramatic, but sometimes Kayloo picks out people who need her. I’m not kidding (her meeting with this woman is an example of her sixth sense). Sometimes people need her… sometimes she just wants to share an overly friendly hello. I wasn’t quite sure what we were in for but it was VERY clear she felt it was VERY important she meet this woman and she kept making her way forward with my, “Enough. Kayloo. Sit. Hey,” commentary ignored in the background. And then Kayloo’s snout was firmly wedged in her crotch.
And I couldn’t get her to back up.
Holy crap. I am so sorry. I do NOT know what is going on here.
The woman was really sweet and obviously a dog person because she just laughed and said, “Oh, it’s okay. I’m pregnant. That is difficult to resist for many dogs.” I congratulated her, asked her how far along she was, “… about 6 weeks I guess.”
6 WEEKS!!!
Forget expensive pregnancy detector kits, if you want to know if you’re pregnant just come on over to my house. Don’t wear a skirt.
Kayloo knew even before 6 weeks both times with me… and the funny thing is I didn’t wonder for a second what it was she was sensing. Of course, we were trying to get pregnant so that helped narrow down what her behaviour could mean, but I knew right away this was about getting knocked up and I didn’t doubt her accuracy for a second.
Both dogs have slowly been giving me more space as I have physically and mentally grown to need it. Both dogs seem to understand that I only have so much patience these days and don’t test me quite as much. Kayloo has taken a renewed interest in my breath lately and I know things are changing and getting closer. I appreciate the heads up.
I also appreciate that Kayloo checks out my breath rather than goosing me to conduct her scientific experiments. Much appreciated, Monkey Head.
PS- I edited this photo via picnik.com. They are closing mid-April and their Effects etc are free so if you like playing with themes, textures and that kind of thing, enjoy!
John took this photo on Valentine’s Day with his phone, right before we went out for dinner. 34 weeks pregnant. 37 weeks is considered full term. Not long now, y’all…
dot… dot… dot…
Being pregnant is weird. For years you’re trying not to get pregnant. You’ve got Fort Knox going on to make sure that The Worst Thing Ever doesn’t happen, and even with that you look at yourself sideways in the mirror every now and then freaked out that your breakfast belly is actually motherhood threatening to snatch your life away.
And then for some (like us), you’re trying for years to GET pregnant. Fort Knox has been obliterated and you’re (bitterly… sadly… with confusion) laughing at yourself for having been so paranoid about getting knocked up. You try, you try not to try, you count days, you don your rose-coloured glasses and confidently choose not to buy tampons in the hopes you won’t need them for the next 9 months (and end up making a quiet trip to the corner store again).
And then for some (very fortunately, like us), you get pregnant. You’re in. For the first while you might not really believe it, or even if you do believe it you don’t fully wrap your mind around the reality that there is Life the size of a misshapen peanut growing right inside you. It’s a surreal thing to realize. Sometimes you don’t have time to get to that realization for awhile because you’re spending more time wondering what OH WHAT you could eat to make the nausea go away. Or what you can do to make sure you don’t do anything to screw this up.
You start to feel the baby move. I was expecting it to feel like there was an alien moving around in there but it didn’t feel that way at all. At first it just felt like gas (isn’t that sweet?). Then it felt like my baby was moving around, getting comfortable, falling asleep, waking up. It feels normal. A couple months ago John was watching me watch my stomach roll up and down with the baby’s each shift and stretch and he said I looked utterly happy. I love watching him or her squiggle around.
Maybe at some point you, like me, feel fat (it doesn’t matter if you actually are, or how you compare to others, beauty is all about confidence and how you feel). Your clothes don’t fit right and your boobs are bulging weird, but you can’t complain about either because this is the Miracle of Life and you are grateful to be here and it would be ever so un-PC to bitch about the numbers on the scale creeping up and up and up (fuck) when the priority here is Baby. And you don’t want to jinx it. You don’t want your baby to hear and end up jinxing it.
Being pregnant is weird because something changes every day and you have aches in odd places and your stomache keeps getting bigger (you don’t really notice and then suddenly, oh, you notice) and you find you care in ways you never knew existed. Sometimes you get oh-my-god-what-have-I-done flashes but this change is now a part of you and now, no matter what, you are different from how you were before. Maybe no one else notices, but the world has shifted on its axis. Somewhere between the folic acid, the tears, the reading about mucus plugs and cloth diaper research you realize there has been an Adjustment. You care in a Lion Hearted Way about someone who isn’t there yet, but who really has always been a part of you even though that part didn’t yet have a heartbeat. You know that Lion Hearted Way has given you access to Lion Hearted Courage and that special courage has something to do with Motherhood. You’re curious about what it is going to feel like to fully wield that kind of strength.
For me being pregnant is so weird because I am still me (I’m still sarcastic, I’m still a homebody, I’m still crap on the phone)… but Nature has taken over in so many impressive ways. I used to think I had control and now I am getting closer to understanding that in actuality I do not.
I wouldn’t change any part of any of this. I really do appreciate every little bit. Some of it has hurt (physically, emotionally and all the rest), but I really wouldn’t change it.
So, being pregnant is weird… but absolutely completely freaking awesome.
More belly bump pics:
33 weeks pregnant (spanxy)
32 weeks pregnant (time flying)
31 weeks pregnant (emotional rollercoaster)
30 weeks pregnant- no photos! I missed it! Ack!
29 weeks pregnant (fitness edition)
28 weeks pregnant (bring, do, take & an ode to accepting help)
27 weeks pregnant (christmas edition)
26 weeks pregnant (psychedelic tool edition)
25 weeks pregnant (clean freak)
23 weeks pregnant (the meltdown)
22 weeks pregnant (grand canyon edition)
All “Bambino” related posts
I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s Day!
It looks better when you take the photo BEFORE the food is on the table. I know. You will notice that John has already placed his napkin on his lap and I have not. John married a heathen.
We went to Cafe Brio. I know lots of people hate Valentine’s Day… I’m neither here nor there about it. I really enjoy, however, going out for a nice dinner. We had a gift certificate my parents had given us for our anniversary (which is in June) that we hadn’t completely used up yet so we decided to use the rest of it. I’ve been told to enjoy nice slow dinners while we can… so we did. Four courses and we topped the night off with this chocolate mousse thing that was sent directly from heaven. I even had a sip of John’s red wine. Oh, it was lovely.
I have noticed that John and I don’t have a lot of pictures together ever since I got my new camera. It’s not easy to hold a DSLR with one hand. Well, John got a fancy pants new phone (an iPhone. He will be happy to tell you ALL about it and how it is waaaay better than my Blackberry) so when we got home I decided Valentine’s Day was the day to start snapping away.
This was the best photo we got:
It would appear we are out of practice when it comes to taking self portraits. John may have thought this would get him OUT of enduring a lot more of this, but he would be incorrect.
Get smiling, Snappy. Many, many, many more practice shots are in your future…
Thank you for a lovely Valentine’s Day!
