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A quick hello, as things don't stay quiet for long around here and I am typing with one hand. Here is the hospital pic...more pics from us on the way. Mama and Baba are exhausted but happy. Hmmm...when my brain is working better, I'll describe the feeling/s more accurately - but happy works for now! We've received so much love from everyone - sending lots of love right back out.
We had our baby shower this weekend and were overwhelmed with love and support. I feel very lucky to have so many great people in our lives! Here's the deal - I want to write lots more about the shower, to give out bunches of thanks, and to give updates on baby. However, I am in a bit of a panic regarding all the stuff I need to do before kiddo is here (read - internship applications and dissertation proposal due in a manner of *days*. That's right folks, not weeks, but days.) so I am going offline for a small bit, and will be back early next week with lots of updates and more pictures! I'll leave off with some shower 'teasers' - stop by next week for more!
Yep - this has been a sneezing/coughing week for us. Yuck. The worse part is I can't take anything! Even the Hall's cough drops say 'pregnant women should consult physician.' Ugh. Ty is actually feeling better, but since I got it a few days after she did, I'm still in the worst of it. Hopefully it will be better by tomorrow - that's when we have our final ultrasound. Yes, I know I said the last one would be it, but our OBYN said she wanted to take one final peak at him. He's been measuring just fine throughout the pregnancy, and at his 30 week ultrasound, measuring right in the normal range. However, because my belly is a little on the small side, she wants to check him out one final time. So - we're going to take this as good news and look forward to getting one final photoshoot before the big day.
On another note - we found our doula! It's been quite a search, and we had almost given up on finding the right person for us, but all is good now. Yeah! It was difficult finding someone who would match with both us and our OBYN, as well as be affordable. I feel much better knowing that we will have support for the entire labor process.
Several folks have asked me 'so what do you 'really' need?' If you are wondering the same question, here's the scoop on baby needs and where to find them:
- diapers and wipes (7th generation - Market of Choice and several internet places)
- a diaper pail (Target)
- nursing bras (a gift certificate to a place I can buy them, such as motherhood in springfield mall)
- diaper bag (Ty's registered for one at Target; I'd like a smaller backpack at REI for myself)
- baby thermometer (Target)
- mattress and sheet for cradle ('whatiwant' website)
- glass bottles ('whatiwant' website, or Fletchers)
- mobile and mirror (Target)
- sleeping sack (Target, or 'whatiwant' website)
- a baby carrier (a gift certificate to MamaRose's - a local baby store.)
- a car seat stroller frame - looks like a skeleton stroller ('whatiwant' website and Fletchers)
We’re registered for other stuff that we ‘want’, like a queer-friendly baby memory book and toys, but I wouldn’t call these ‘needs.’ :-) Thanks for all the support!!!
Gabriel got his first ever mail today - diapers! Thank you to whomever was the anonymous angel who sent these, we greatly appreciate it. In honor of this gift, we decided to conduct a little experiment (hey, with two grad students in the household, what can you expect?) We had a few 'sample' diapers from our doctor (the 'bleached white' with pictures on them kind.) Ty poured water into both diapers and we compared the two. The winner was our 7th generation diapers, hands down (or bottom up.) The conventional diaper soaked up the water so well that the diaper didn't feel very wet - but felt very squishy and simply 'weird' inside. The 7th generation diaper soaked up just as much liquid, but felt a little damp (as it should!) and didn't have the odd chemical weirdness to it.
On a different note, we also attempted to figure out how the whole 'put the diaper on' process works (using Gabriel's teddy bear.) Embarrassingly, it took us a whole 5/10 minutes to figure out how the tabs work. It was definitely one of those 'duh' moments after we got it figured out. Technology now-a-days, the little tabs are velcro - but the velcro is *so small* that you can't see it, hence us trying to figure out how the tabs stuck to the diaper without feeling sticky. We finally just slapped them on the diaper itself - and they stuck!
Yeah! My papa came over yesterday to put up a little shelf by my side of the bed so I could have somewhere to put my drink and nighttime reading books when I move the co-sleeper in. Sure enough - it all goes together nicely. I have just enough room to get out of bed comfortably. One more piece put into place.
Tonight, while I sit on the floor by the coffee table and update my blog, Ty and Sammy are curled up napping behind me on 'baba's couch.' These are the moments I treasure the most in my life.
And speaking of favorite places - Little One temporarily claimed Gabriel's bouncer until I evicted her. She has a cute habit of claiming a new 'favorite sleepy spot' every week or so. Some of them have been very odd - like the time she choose a plastic grocery bag that had been accidently left in Ty's studio room. Go figure.
In celebration of Sukkot, Ty and I took an afternoon walk on the Ridgeline trail off Spencer's butte. The ridgeline trail is especially wonderful in the fall when it is raining softly, as the canapy keeps the rain off, but you can still hear it falling up above. It's a magical feeling. We went about 3.5 miles, and I felt pretty good throughout the whole hike. The next day, however, my leg muscles rebelled, especially those around my pelvis. Ouch! I had an exaggerated 'penguin walk' for days.
A week ago I posted about how a car horn scared Gabriel (I could feel him jump inside of me.) This time around, it was mama and baba's turn to be scared. Late last week I woke up in the middle of the night to Gabriel's intense hiccups, much more intense than I had felt them before. They went on for 15-20 minutes (usually, they stop at around 5 minutes.) Next, I felt him shake inside me like he was having some sort of seizure..this happened several times in a row. He had shaken similarly a few other times, and I know these movements are often considered 'normal,' but in combination with the odd hiccups I was really worried. I got up and walked around for a while talking to him. After I felt him move around a little, I went back to sleep. The next morning, I told Ty and we both 'checked in' on him, like we usually do, by rubbing my belly and talking to him. We've done this every morning for the past several weeks. Of course, this morning, he didn't respond. No movement, nothing. We were both really scared. I called our doctor's office and they told us to come in right away. Getting ready to leave, I finally felt him move around a bit. We both felt the heaviness lift a little, although we were still worried. He was moving around and kicking like his normal busy self by the time we arrived at the clinic, so my anxiety was slowly dropping. The clinic set up up with a NST (nonstresstest), which is basically a funny contraption that measures Gabriel's heartbeats and my uterus contractions. I was given a little button to push everytime I felt him move. We had a nother little scare in the beginning because they couldn't find his heartbeat, and then when they did, it was very faint. Ultimately, he was just in a bad position, and the nurse finally found a place to put the monitor that picked up his strong little heart. What a beautiful sound!! He kept trying to move away from the monitor, though, so Ty picked up a sports illustrated and started to read to him. Sure enough, he quieted down and stopped moving around. Go baba! We left with a clean bill of health. Our OBYN said it couldn't of been 'nothing,' or it could of been Gabriel trying to get the umbilical cord untangled. Sometimes it wraps around them too tightly, and they will thrash around to loosen it up. Our doc was great about giving us kudos for coming in right away and assuring us that we could check in at anytime. 'I'd rather it be 'nothing' 100 times than to miss something important. You can come in everyday from now until delivery if you want.' :-)
