D-Day

Devyn Fae Boggs-Renner
born 4:22am, April 22, 2011
6 pounds, 6 ounces
19 inches long

37 Weeks, 6 Days

Did a LOT this weekend. Maybe this is that "nesting" burst of energy people talk about?

On Saturday, we drove up to Boulder with the dog and wandered around the wonderful Boulder Farmer's Market. (It's almost as good as the one in Santa Fe, which will ever be the farmer's market of my heart.) Bella did amazingly well with all the noise and traffic and people, especially considering that the last time I took her, she got spooked by a loud noise, slipped her collar and dove under a parked pickup truck and I had to practically crawl under there with her in order to extricate her.

Then we walked over to the downtown area and went to Rebecca's Apothecary. Whitney told me to start drinking a tea made of red raspberry leaf to help support uterine health during my labor and delivery, and she said this was a place to get it in bulk. The ladies there were extremely nice and helpful and I also bought a dram of Tea Tree oil for use in making our reusable wipes solution.

Yesterday, Brandon spent the morning planting trees, and then we headed to Castle Rock to the outlet mall to take advantage of big sales at the Banana Republic outlet—Brandon really likes to buy his clothes there now (and I'm a fan, too!).

Brandon got a pair of pants and I found a skirt with an elastic waistband and a wrap dress that were both marked down like crazy. I know! Buying post-pregnancy clothes before I've even had the baby is probably beyond nuts, but I'm a sucker for a great sale. ;) We also stopped into the maternity outlet store and I found two nursing tops. Not so much on huge sale, but less expensive than they would have been at the regular store, so I'm calling it a win.

And can I just rant about two things for a minute here? First, how come there are almost NO nursing clothes out there, when theoretically, you could be nursing for longer (in some cases MUCH longer) than you were pregnant? Do women just make do with regular clothes in most cases? I guess they must.

And second, who in their right mind pays $125 for a button-down Oxford-style shirt with elastic panels in the sides just because it has a fancy maternity label? (A Pea in the Pod, I'm looking at you.) It was on the sale rack, marked down to $90, then to $45. And I still thought that was too much to pay for what you were getting. The really depressing part is that all the cutest clothes come from those more expensive maternity lines. Apparently, you can either be rich and cute or frugal and frumpy. But even if I had all the money in the world to spend on my maternity wardrobe, I CANNOT see paying those kinds of prices for things. Ridiculous.

OK, end of rant.

Whitney has given the OK for me to get a pedicure this week and go ahead and keep my dentist appointment for a cleaning on Friday. I'm also planning to get a haircut. Figured I would go ahead and get all that sort of stuff done, so I won't have to worry about it for a while post-baby.

Fifteen days til my due date. I am officially on maternity leave and slightly concerned about what I'm going to do for the next two weeks to stave off boredom. I've got tons of little things to take care of in the next couple of days, so hopefully I won't even notice the time passing, at least for a little while.

37 Weeks 2 Days

Brandon's coworkers threw him a baby shower this week, which I thought was awfully cool and sweet. You don't hear about many dads getting their own baby shower, and I think that's a shame. Why the heck not, I say? We mainly received diapers, but there's no bad there. :)

In addition to cake, crudites and diaper unwrapping, they are also taking him out for happy hour on Friday night. And that's where my jealousy kicks in just a tiny bit, because an ice cold beer has been sounding better and better lately.

Though maybe not today. We woke to an inch of snow on the ground and it's still coming down with gusto. Welcome to springtime in Colorado. Luckily, I don't think it's too cold; I fear the years when a sudden cold snap nips all the buds on the trees and bushes that are trying to bloom.

My Strep B test came back today and is negative, which is awesome. If it had been positive, they would have wanted to treat me with antibiotics during labor, and because I'm allergic to penicillin, they would have given me the really STRONG stuff, which means both baby and I would probably have a dose of all the fun side effects that come along with strong antibiotics (I leave those to your imagination). So very glad that is not something we have to consider.

Confirmed with Brandon's parents that they will come out for a couple of days when the baby is born, and then my saintly mother-in-law has agreed to come back a week or so later to help out in my second week of momdom. My folks will be here for the first week, then Zana for the second week, and then I know I have friends I can call on if I need help in weeks three and four. (Our doula made it plain that I should plan for help I can call on for at least that long.)

Brandon has told his work people that he will be taking off at least one full week. Depending on how things are going, he plans to go in for shortened days the second week, just to make sure nothing explodes at the office (and considering he's a scientist, that's actually a concern!).

Tomorrow is my last day of work before maternity leave. I'm pleased to have negotiated a freelance gig with the magazine starting back up in August, so that's exciting. We had planned (financially speaking) to be OK even if I didn't work at all, but having a little money coming in will certainly be helpful. And I have a friend with whom I've started discussing sharing babysitting duties once a week or possibly sharing a nanny. We shall see.

And Baby Bean's birthday boyfriend, Tahl Lund, was born on Tuesday to very happy parents and a great big brother. Congrats Lunds!

The little ticker on the blog says 19 days to go.

April is poetry month

Lies I've Told My 3 Year Old Recently

Trees talk to each other at night.
All fish are named either Lorna or Jack.
Before your eyeballs fall out from watching too much TV, they get very loose.
Tiny bears live in drain pipes.
If you are very very quiet you can hear the clouds rub against the sky.
The moon and the sun had a fight a long time ago.
Everyone knows at least one secret language.
When nobody is looking, I can fly.
We are all held together by invisible threads.
Books get lonely too.
Sadness can be eaten.
I will always be there.

~Raul Gutierrez

36 weeks OH AND!

I can't believe I forgot to tell this story. At my doctor's appointment on Friday, I mentioned that I'd been having this weird thing with my leg.

If I stand on my left leg and have to pick up my right leg for anything bigger than a normal step (say, to put on pants, get into bed, etc.) I get this strange sensation that someone's twanging a guitar string on the front right side of my calf, just below my knee. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it tingles and goes kind of numb. It frequently causes me to feel the need to rub that spot vigorously, even though that probably does absolutely nothing productive.

The nurse practitioner said, "Huh. Could be a blood clot."

That phrase is pretty high on my list of "things I don't want to hear a doctor say," but OK.

She went on to explain that because the area isn't red, or hot, and doesn't have any visible signs of distress, and because it's below my knee, that it probably wasn't anything to worry about, but she wanted to order an ultrasound.

Right then.

So after my checkup, I went downstairs and walked to the adjacent hospital and got all checked in to medical imaging. They gave me a patient ID bracelet and everything. And they kept asking me if I wanted a wheelchair to go 50 feet or so. I declined.

And even though everything was probably fine, and ultrasounds are probably the least scary medical procedure of all, it was still a little unnerving to find that they've worked you in to look at you RIGHT NOW.

Anyway, the tech scanned my entire vein from my groin to my ankle on the inside of my leg. And that didn't make a ton of sense to me since the pain was on the outside of my leg, but I, admittedly, never took A & P. But when he said he was finished, I casually said, "Even though the pain is over here? I mean, I'm sure you know what you're doing..." And he was very nice about it and scanned that bit too.

And then, by the time we got back to the waiting room, my doctor was on the phone for me and told me everything was fine and to buy some support hose.

So, I had more ultrasound gel on me that day than anyone should ever have and nothing came of it. But that is fine by me if it means my doctors will keep scary phrases like "blood clot" out of their vocabulary when talking about me.

36 weeks, 5 days

• Went to the doctor on Friday and all is well. Best news: Bean is head down, which is a nice relief. Hopefully she will stay there. :) We saw her on the sonogram—sort of. Lots of gray blobs, still no good view of her face.
• Then we met with Whitney on Saturday and got some good information and a format for writing our birth plan.
• Brandon got the car seat installed today, which is good, and I made a pillow for the glider in baby's room.
• Oh yeah. The glider. It arrived. In a box. Some assembly required. We thought it was going to take 24 weeks to get here, or whatever, because it was a custom upholstery job, but our custom color was a slipcover. Pretty disappointed with Babies R Us on many levels at this point and seriously thinking of boycotting them going forward.
• Whitney reminded us that anything up to 42 weeks is normal. So Bean could hold out on us until as late as May 17th. Six more weeks.
  

36 Week Updates

• The glider people called. They're ready to deliver it. Whatever, Babies R Us, with your "26 weeks to delivery" stuff. I am totally over you by now anyway. We're still glad we bought the $40 consignment glider. Now we can have two; maybe one upstairs and one downstairs.
• Spend last Sunday doing baby stuff, including buying the last few remaining necessary items off our registry. Babies seem to require an awful lot of stuff. I mean, even paring it down to what we considered absolutely necessary, it's still a lot of stuff. We got: a hamper, a small trash can for soiled cloth diapers, a washable liner for said trash can, a collapsible baby tub that will fit in the sink (not strictly necessary, but given our weird tub/sink situations, probably nice to have), the changing pad and covers, sheets for the pack and play, bottle brush and drying rack. We still need to buy bottles but I'm having a hard time deciding which ones.
• There's only one other thing (besides bottles) that I really want to get, and that's this play mat (see above). It seems like a great investment when our entire first floor is hardwood. I'll probably order it in the next day or two.
• I am being really INCREDIBLY good about not buying a special "coming home" or "first photo" outfit. You have no idea. This is why they put the adorable baby clothes right at the front in Babies R Us (no love for you, store): to tempt the hormonal mommies. I made Brandon give me mad props for not having bought such a thing. He was happy to comply.
  
• We also opened/unpacked/assembled a lot of baby stuff. The pack and play is assembled and living in our bedroom. The high chair is assembled and living in the dining room (more in case Grey comes to stay than because Bean will need it right away), the baby monitors are charging, the toys are in the toy basket and everything is washed, folded and put away.
• I did manage to catch up with my to do list (more or less). I've packed my hospital bag and a bag for baby. Brandon has NOT packed his bag (slacker) and we haven't got around to installing the car seat yet. I've bought nursing bras and we will write our birth plan on Saturday with Whitney. The only problem is that they keep ADDING things to the list as time goes on. Oh well.
• I still really think I feel a lot better than many ladies do at 37 weeks, but my list of odd ailments is growing. The joints in my fingers and toes hurt. My hands still fall asleep ALL the bloody time from doing extremely strenuous things like driving, typing or sleeping. My knees and ankles hurt if I sit too long. Or if I stand too long. My feet and ankles are INCREDIBLY swollen; I look like I have puffy hobbit feet with cankles. And I am getting pretty severe round ligament pains pretty often—but considering I found out in child birth class that there are really only two tiny muscles holding everything in place, that seems pretty much par for the course! (Honestly, who designed this system??? I'd like to have a few words.)
  
• So now we wait. Four weeks seems like an awfully long time, and yet, like no time at all.
  

Almost 37 Weeks

I discovered yesterday that because of the girth of my baby belly, the only truly comfortable way to sit is with my legs spread inappropriately wide apart. I only noticed it yesterday, because I was wearing a dress.

At least in maternity jeans, no one can accuse you of not being a lady! ;)

~*~

Brandon and I went to our child birth class on Friday and Saturday of last weekend. We had picked the short version, because the idea of spending four weeks going over the information seemed excessive, but afterward, we both agreed that it was a LOT of info to cram into one evening and one day.

Some of it we knew, some of it we didn't, but we were both impressed with the tone of the class and the way it focused on having a productive labor (getting up, moving around, anatomy and positions that make it easier for baby to come out, etc.) rather than a purely clinical one. I think we had both assumed that, being put on by the hospital, the party line would be, "Get in bed and let us strap on our monitoring equipment and drug you up!" but that was not the takeaway message at all. Very reassuring since we want to labor as long as possible before even considering drugs.

They also showed us a lot of videos of different births. We were both kind of grossed out by the placenta, but it is what it is. (Also, how do people not make a bigger deal out of the fact that a woman's body basically MAKES a new disposable organ to support the baby??? That is trippy stuff.) Brandon wasn't able to watch the video of a woman getting an epidural because of the needle. (Luckily, Emily tells me they send the husband out for that bit.)

The best was the video which had not had all the sounds edited out. It was a compilation of many different women going through different stages of natural childbirth. Our instructor told us it makes a lot of people uncomfortable—more so than any of the others—because many of the sounds the women make are very similar to sounds made during sex. And she was totally right.

I've told Brandon that if I feel inhibited about making noise, he's going to have to moo like a cow with me. Or sing Bon Jovi songs with me at the top of our lungs. It's part of the contract.

So, it was a very informative class, and I'm extremely glad we went. I left feeling very confident in my choices. Of course, I had a panic attack and minor breakdown about the whole thing a couple of days later, but I'm going to choose to think that's normal. And I'm back to a mid-line of, "Mostly confident with a chance of scattered panic."

Which I think is also normal.

~*~

We go to the doctor on Friday and I believe they will do one final ultrasound to check the position of the baby and probably other things. And they will probably also check to see if I am dilated at all while they are testing for Group B strep.

Then, on Saturday, we meet with Whitney the Doula again, and she will help us write up our birth plan. I think we will meet with her one more time before baby comes to talk about breastfeeding and other things like that.

Either today or tomorrow (I'm not sure which) I will be at 37 weeks, which is officially considered "term." I can't believe how fast it has gone by. And also how slowly. And I can't believe how long—and simultaneously how short—four weeks to go seems.