My "First Mother's Day"

My dear sweet hubby decided to "hedge his bets" (his words) and treat this as my first Mother's Day. He gave me an adorable card and the necklace you see here. There's a tiny diamond on the smaller heart that represents our baby. "I hope the gift will always remind you of all the joy and excitement surrounding the birth of our son," he wrote it the card. Awww...

Later we went out for delicious ice cream at the Mar.ble Slab. It was my second time there and his first. It's amazing! Keith says we'll definitely be going back there this summer. Yay!

It was a beautiful day. The only thing that could have made it better is the arrival of our baby, but he seems quite comfy in there. I haven't been feeling anything that would indicate progress. I'll update tomorrow after my OB appointment.

First Internal Check

At 39w2d, my cervix is closed and firm. This does not surprise me at all. My OB says after the due date they'll start sending me to the hospital for ultrasounds to make sure the baby's still doing all right in there. Sounds like they'll start talking induction one week to ten days after the due date.

Come on, baby, I sooo don't want to be induced!

I'm feeling very nervous about this whole labour and delivery thing right at this moment.

Help Me Decide!

Please vote in the poll to the right!
ETA: I should add that the first one costs nearly twice as much as the second, and so I need to like it a LOT more to justify spending the extra money.

Choice A (Mi.gi Alpha.bet):


Choice B (Sumer.sault Geo):

Let the Labour Watch Begin

Friday was my last day in the office. The next four days will be my earned vacation days, and then my maternity leave officially begins on May 8. I have ONE YEAR off — amazing! It feels so weird to exchange my working identity with my still unknown mommy identity. In the meantime, there's nothing to do but wait for labour. Well, that and clean and organize and make things as perfect as possible for my baby boy's arrival.

Not much else has happened since my last post. Last Friday I had a 24-hour sickness that I'm calling food poisoning. Someone kindly pointed out to me that vomiting and diarrhea can also be signs of early labour, so I had a minor panic over that on my way to see my OB for my regularly scheduled appointment. But she assured me that if I'm not having contractions I'm probably not in labour. Okay, that makes sense. I'm having a fair number of the belly-tightening episodes that I call Braxton Hicks contractions, but certainly no real contractions.

Finally, can I just say that my husband is awesome? He did four loads of laundry this morning before I even got out of bed. Yesterday he cleaned the bathroom, which is the one chore that is always mine. I hope to prevail upon him today to clean all the floors. He always does more than his fair share of the housework — and cooks dinner more often than not — but he has been outstanding in the last couple of weeks as my pregnancy has become increasingly cumbersome.

Yesterday we went out for a nice dinner to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. It's not until May 15, but we celebrated early for obvious reasons. Dinner was awesome — fantastic steak followed by "chocolate heaven" for dessert. When we got home, Keith handed me a card and a gift. We don't usually do anniversary gifts, and last year I didn't even get a card ("I didn't think we were doing cards"), so you can imagine my surprise. And he did good! It was a beautiful white gold chain with a heart-shaped diamond-crusted pendant. So pretty.

Here are some pictures:



And finally, a belly shot that I love (38w5d):

FULL TERM!

Can you believe it? The past few weeks especially have flown by. I've been blessed with an incredibly easy pregnancy so far — couldn't have asked for any better. The aches and pains are just now setting in, but I knew it was only a matter of time. Surely nobody completely escapes that particular pregnancy problem. I can't believe I'm so close to the end.




I got a little artsy with that last one, huh? What do you think? LOL

Actually, I'm pretty much in love with my belly right now. I think it's perfect and endlessly fascinating. The baby's movements are so strong now, and so close to the surface. So undeniably real.

I can't quite fathom that I'm going to be a mommy sometime in the next three weeks. I can't even fully wrap my head around labour and delivery, let alone how drastically my life will change once I have a newborn. It's overwhelming. It's thrilling and terrifying at the same time. I hope I can be a good mother. I hope some maternal instinct takes over and guides me whenever I'm full of doubt, which will probably be often.

I feel unprepared, like I don't know nearly enough about taking care of a baby. I don't even know enough about the stuff involved in taking care of a baby. I really don't think we have everything we'll need, but I couldn't tell you what we're missing... if that makes any sense.

Anyway. Despite the anxiety, I'm happy, and I know we'll be just fine. I can't wait to meet my (still nameless) son!

Work, Work, Work

All I want to do right now is plan for baby, prepare for baby, and daydream about baby. But instead I am still struggling to finish my last major project at work. I missed my original deadline (today) by a long shot and have promised my boss that I will absolutely be finished by the end of this week. To do so I will have to work late every night. Like I did last week. I'm so tired.

Okay, okay. I just have to get through this week and then I can relax, and in another two weeks I will be done work for a year. Imagine — a whole year!

35/35

I couldn't let this milestone pass without comment: 35 weeks down, 35 days to go. Wow! I'm going to be a mommy so soon!

Have I mentioned that apparently I've gotten huge? In the space of a month I went from comments on how small my belly is to comments on how huge it is — and, yes, at my shower last weekend, someone even uttered the dreaded "Are you sure it's not twins?"

Friday was my "surprise" work shower. It was very nice — beautifully decorated with daffodils (one of my favourites) and yellow and green tablecloths and streamers. It was a potluck lunch and everyone brought delicious things. My 33-week pregnant co-worker and I each got a little gift basket with a towel, facecloths, booties, and a Babies.R.Us gift card. One very crafty co-worker made each of us a stuffed bear. An employee who has been on maternity leave since I started there dropped by with her baby and brought each of us a beautifully wrapped gift. Mine was an adorable yellow sleeper with a mouse on it.

The tortuous part of the work shower was the attention from so many people I barely know. One co-worker kindly told me later that I turned red and splotchy and my hands were shaking as I opened the gifts. Nice. I'm just glad I was sharing the spotlight. Of course, I'm sure they wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of a shower just for me anyway. After all, I'm still the "new girl," and I haven't really made any friends.

On an unrelated side note, while chatting at the shower I learned that my team leader thought I was 23, max. For some reason that really bothers me. I'm 31. I've had my driver's licence for 15 years. I have seven years of experience working in my field. I've been married for five years. It took nearly two years to conceive this baby. Really — I've come a long way since 23.