Because I know she'll be here by Halloween...

I made this hat for Jillian. I still have to weave in the ends, but I've got 31 more days.

40 Weeks

Today marks 40 weeks. Jillian's due date. And despite what my ticker says there are 0 days to go. My doctor's appointment today went well. It seems that Miss Jillian is quite cozy in my ute with plenty of amniotic fluid, a healthy heart rate and no signs of stress. The other good news is that I'm starting to make some progress as I'm 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. This doesn't necessary tell me that much about when I'll go into labor...maybe next week, maybe this week, maybe tomorrow. But it is nice to hear that my body is actually preparing for this momentous event. My next appointment with another u/s and NST is Thursday morning, so we'll see what that brings.

In the meantime, I'm just trying to relax and get the house a little cleaner bit by bit. Jeramy on the other hand has been quite anxious, and I'm pretty sure he wants this little girl out of me more than I do! Oh and here is the 40 week belly pic. I think this explains why my back (hell, my entire body) is so sore these days.

Slobberfest

We took Cujo to Slobberfest 2008 this afternoon. Just what the heck is Slobberfest, you ask? Well it is an annual meet-up of over 100 bulldogs in the Seattle area. Hence the word slobber, and there was plenty of that to be had with so many panting, grunting, and snorting bulldogs. There was a Bar-B-Que, vendor booths, and contests. Cujo even won a prize for being the tallest bulldog! Jeramy and I had a good time scoping out all of the bullies. Cujo had a good time convincing all the humans to pet him (he's more of a people dog) and peeing on everything in sight.

It was nice to take Cujo on an outing before Jillian arrives. He definitely knows that something is up. He frequently wanders into the nursery and just looks around trying to figure out what the crazy humans are doing. It will be a tough transition for him given that he's been our baby for nearly seven years now. He is a calm dog and good with babies and little kids, but those ones always went home. It will be interesting to see how he handles it when one moves in for good.

Speaking of dogs, a co-worker asked me if I would donate my placenta to train search and rescue dogs. It is a bit morbid, but apparently that is the best way for them to learn how to find cadavers. Of course I agreed as it is a good cause, and it wasn't as if I was planning on doing anything else with it. I'm also in an autoimmune disease study at my work (many autoimmune diseases go into remission in pregnant women), so I need to get them to draw my blood and take a sample of the cord blood. I'm sure the nursing staff is just going to love me and all my demands.

Anyhow, tomorrow is my due date and my first appointment for an u/s and NST. So maybe I'll know more tomorrow about whether I'll be making all these donations sooner rather than later.

Appointment Update

My 39 week appointment was this afternoon, and there has not been much change on the cervical front. It's still high and close, so we are still on track for that October baby. I find it fascinating that people keep saying "I'm sorry". I'm definitely anxious to meet Jillian, but at the same time I'm enjoying these last few quiet days around the house too. I am sure she'll be here soon enough...no later than October 13th to be sure. I am sore, swollen, and waddling, but I can certainly tolerate all of these things in the short term. Honestly, I'm more afraid about postpartum recovery, because what that is like remains an unknown to me, and I'll have a newborn to handle when dealing with that.

Speaking of the overdue prospect, I often spend some time on the WebMD pregnancy boards. Can I just ask what the deal is with all the gals being induced these days? I'm not talking about medical reasons for induction like pre-eclampsia or high blood pressure or going well past your due date, etc. I'm talking about inductions for convenience reasons. For example, I read about gals who are so uncomfortable at 38, 37 or even 36 weeks that they whine to their doctors for inductions...and sometimes doctors will do it! Or inducing because the doctor thinks the baby might be big when measurement technologies are not exactly precise. It's as if people don't realize that induction comes with risks like more difficult contractions and increased risk of c section. Also, while it might be convenient to have something planned, I feel like part of the anticipation of having a new baby is that you never know when labor will start, and I'd rather not be robbed of that excitement.

Okay, I'll step off my soap box now...

I forgot to mention in my last post that Jeramy gave me an unexpected gift...diamond earrings! When I was getting ready for Jessie's wedding on Saturday, Jeramy noticed I was wearing my hair back. When I asked if it looked okay, he commented that it would look better with earrings. Now I don't own a lot of jewelry, and I didn't really have any earrings (well pairs of earrings at least) that would go well with my dress. So when I said that, Jeramy pulled out a box with 1 carat diamond studs. I was so surprised! Of course I wore them, and I've hardly had them out since. He was going to wait to give them to me until we had the baby, but the wedding presented the perfect opportunity. Plus I'd rather not think of them as a "push present" which I'm firmly against (did you ever see that NY Times article with those demanding, selfish women?).

39 Weeks

It's amazing how quickly 39 weeks can fly by. 39 weeks ago it was Christmas Eve and the start of a new cycle using Femara for the first time. I was hopeful, but certainly not as optimistic as I had been on my earlier Clomid cycles. I think my goal at that point was to have a cycle where I ovulated on time but did not wind up with an ovarian cyst at the end of if. Instead, the new year got off to a much more wonderful start, and here I am 39 weeks pregnant.

We're starting to get inquiries from people wanting to know if the baby has arrived. So we tell them about the last doctor's appointment, my lack of progress and recommend patience as the odds are on an October baby and it could well be three weeks before Jillian arrives. People seem a bit surprised that I'm not more anxious about this delay. But really, I'm not overly uncomfortable at this point, and while we're anxious to meet our little girl a couple weeks is nothing in the grand scheme of things. What I don't want is an induction when my body isn't ready for it.

On a side note, I think my due date ticker knows something that I don't. It has always been a day off (e.g. today it says 39 weeks and 1 day even though I'm 39 weeks even). It also says 9 days to go, when my due date is only 7 days away. Perhaps it is just screwy. Or perhaps it is psychic and telling me I'll have this baby in 9 days (which would be 10/1). Who knows.

What is really hard to believe at this point is that this is my last week of work until January (well except for a little work from home I have planned). This week is shaping up to be very low key. It is mostly about tying up loose ends, and I could start leave tomorrow with no fall out. In fact, I'm only planning on working a few days this week, because there is no point in starting new projects now.

I had a very good weekend, and thanks to working half days Thursday and Friday I am feeling very refreshed this morning. The highlight of my weekend was most definitely my friend Jessie's wedding on Saturday. It was a beautiful, simple, small ceremony and reception. She patiently waited for several years for the right guy to come around, without fretting about being single or desperately dating whatever guy happened to ask. Instead, she spent time investing in her career, figuring out what she enjoys and being her own person. Then when she met the right guy quite unexpectedly everything just fell easily into place. I'm so very happy for them both.

We also got together with friends yesterday for lunch at one of my favorite pizza places. They are another couple who are both were in Jeramy and my class from high school and funny enough they are expecting their first baby (also a girl!) in October. So of course we find plenty to talk about between the joys and anxieties of becoming parents in the near future. Our discussion ranged from cankles to baby names to what our babies will look like. The boys enjoyed the beer, and the girls drove home.

That's it for now I think. Maybe I'll have more news after my next OB appointment on Wednesday.

No Progress

Yesterday was my 38 week doctor's appointment, and it seems that the trend of no dilation and a thick cervix is continuing. Dr. C told me not to worry about her being on vacation next week, because if she were reading her crystal ball correctly, I am destined to go past my due date. In fact, she felt so confident in this prediction, that she had me schedule appointments at 40, 40.5, 41 and 41.5 weeks for ultrasounds and NST's. I feel like I should be feeling very anxious over this prognosis, but for some reason I am not. This whole thing still seems so surreal to me that this whole birth doesn't seem imminent to me, and I am just going to stay 9 months pregnant forever.

My projects are nearly wrapped up at work. I'm working half days from home today and tomorrow, and by the end of the week all the big stuff will be done. I'm planning to go in for a few days next week to wrap up the loose ends, and then it is on to maternity leave. It feels so good to have everything in a place where I don't have to worry about it for the next several months, and I there are quite a few interesting projects lined up for me when I return in January. I'm sure it will be hard to go back, but at the same time I am not really sure that I am cut out to be a full-time stay at home mom. I really need the structure and adult interaction that a job provides. Besides, there is no way I could quit with the economy turning sour and construction work starting to slow. My job offers stability that Jeramy's just cannot provide.

Here is the 38 week belly pic. It probably isn't the last as it sounds like there will be a 40-weeker in my future.

Enjoying the Last Moments of Freedom

Of course I am very excited to welcome Jillian into the world. But I am also realistic enough to know that after a decade of freedom, Jeramy and I are about to embark on a very big change. Since fishing season has been a total bust, we needed to burn off a bunch of gas. So yesterday after work, we enjoyed the sun and took a boat ride out in Puget Sound. We went down to see the new Tacoma Narrows bridge. There were also a lot of seals and sea lions out and about...maybe they were finding the salmon that have been eluding us.

We lacked a camera, but Jeramy managed to get a couple of shots with his cell phone. The new bridge is the one in the back, although it's hard to distinguish one from another in these shots.

37 week appointment

My 37 week doctor appointment went well. Admittedly, I was a little shocked by how much weight I gained in a week, but I'm guessing (and hoping) that at least some of it is water retention since I pretty much resemble the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man these days. Otherwise the appointment went well and everything is normal. I asked for an internal, since I'm always one to opt for more information rather than less. Not surprisingly I'm still closed tight, although Dr. C threw me a bone and said my cervix seemed softer than last week. But at this stage I'm fine with that. If I'm still not dilating two or three weeks from now, I might start getting a bit cranky.

My boss is encouraging me to work from home as much as possible, and so I'm definitely taking her up on that tomorrow and perhaps late next week as well. I've made a lot of progress this week in wrapping my projects up, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to work just part-time during the final week before my due date. It would be nice to get the house cleaned up and finish my to do list before Jillian arrives...or I could just put my feet up and enjoy my last few moments of freedom!

Full Term and a New Career Option?

Yesterday marked 37 weeks, which means I'm officially full-term. I guess this means that this whole delivery thing could go down any time now, although I'm pretty sure it will be later as opposed to sooner. I'm just so amazed that a real-live baby...my real live baby...will be entering the world very shortly. This pregnancy has gone by at an astonishingly fast rate.

One way I've marked the passage of time in this pregnancy is by football season. When I got my positive pee-stick, we were in the midst of playoffs, and now a whole new season has started. On Sunday, I was quite happy to get back in the Sunday routine of watching the Seahawks play; I just wish the game hadn't gone so very horribly. No amount of yelling or pleading on my end could produce a receiving or running game, an offensive line capable of blocking, or decent punts. Granted, I was not optimistic before the game given recent injury reports, but at times it felt like I was watching my high school football team play. And keep in mind that my high school football team holds the infamous distinction of losing the most consecutive games (about four years worth) in state history.

Now all three starting wide receivers are injured, which leaves us with three rather green back-ups who appear incapable of actually catching a pass. However, rather than seeing this as a problem, I see a career opportunity, as I'm pretty sure that a 9 month pregnant lady with a fear catching a ball (I close my eyes when a flying ball comes towards me) could play the position better than these guys.

Oh and in other news, one comment you will not be receiving from me is that I'll keep everything crossed for you. It seems that my sore, swollen, sausage like fingers no longer allow for such gestures. Good thing I took my wedding rings off months ago.

Quiet Weekend

So far, we've enjoyed some pretty quiet weekends in September. Perhaps I should say that I've enjoyed them. Jeramy, on the other hand, gets quite antsy and feels the need to get out of the house. Luckily he is happy to take a ride on the motorcycle and leave me to the peace and quiet of home. I've been using the extra time to work on knitting and cross-stitch projects, that I'm trying to finish before Jillian arrives. It's a good thing I'm happy being a homebody, since there will be plenty more of that in the months to come. I'm a little concerned about Jeramy though, because he is rarely content to sit at home.

My co-workers threw me a baby shower last week. I was thinking that it would just be something small, and I was admittedly overwhelmed by all the gifts. They bought us a swing, which was the last big item that we needed. I also received a ton more clothes (including some larger sizes!) and lots of other items. After we buy a lamp, I think that the nursery will be complete. I can't believe there are just a few weeks left, give or take. Every strange pain I feel, makes me stop and wonder if this is it.

I'm more than happy to wait a few more weeks though. I really need to get a couple more weeks in on my projects at work so that they are in a good stopping place, as there is nobody to cover for my absence. Friday, I ended up working from home because our van pool was not running, and I had no meetings scheduled. It was nice to put my swollen feet up for the day, and I got a ton of work done. I was so productive it was almost difficult to quit for the day. If I'm feeling as exhausted by the end of next week as I was feeling at the end of this last one, I might need do the same thing again. While I've had an easy time of it pregnancy-wise, I must admit that the swelling, aches and fatigue are starting to catch up with me.

36 Weeks

Most unbelievably, I am quickly approaching the end of this pregnancy. During my OB appointment today she did an internal check for the first time. My cervix is softening, but I haven't started dilating yet...pretty much what I was expecting at this point in the game. Now I start weekly appointments, and hopefully I can maintain my record as the most boring OB patient ever.

I'm starting to wrap things up at work in preparation for maternity leave. My plan is to work right up to my due date since I have a pretty low key desk job and want to save my paid time off for time when the baby will actually be here. In all honestly planning for maternity leave has thrown me off a bit, because I don't like to plan for events where the start date is unknown. As a planner and a project manager, this goes against my very nature, and I do worry about going into labor before I'm able to get all my projects to an acceptable stopping point. So today's appointment was actually a bit reassuring, because it lessens my worries about having this baby in the next week or two.

Anyhow, here is the 36 week belly pic. After feeling my stomach yesterday, Jeramy pronounced me to have abs of steel. I've never quite thought of my baby bump from that perspective before, but I like it as rock hard abs are certainly a first for me. It's just too bad that they won't be quite so firm for long...