The Niblet and the ninth month.
Jan. 5th, 2009 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaI'm 35 weeks pregnant today. I felt really well up until last week. Now I feel "really well, considering," which is not the same thing.
I get pretty fatigued by the end of the day, especially if I've done much walking. I'm having trouble staying hydrated enough. I'm up a lot in the night for bathroom trips and have trouble getting back to sleep. My pubic bone is achy. I have various pressure-related symptoms, including varicose veins that appeared early but have now grown (a) quite large and (b) sore. I have a fair amount of trouble getting up off the floor. And my days of bathing Alex are done for a while - I just can't handle the leaning and bending and lifting. On the other hand, I feel pretty well for the early parts of the day. I'm carrying this baby incredibly low, which means that breathing is much more comfortable than it was with Alex. Surprisingly, I don't have any back pain. And Prevacid is controlling my heartburn.
Next week I'll go back to the midwife for a pelvic exam and a Group B Strep test, which we devoutly hope will be negative. We'll find out if I'm dilated at all, or if these sharp pains in my cervix have just been a useless annoyance. After that, midwife appointments will be weekly until I deliver.
We're moving forward with preparations and plans. Alex takes her sibling prep class on the 11th. Michael and I take the hospital tour on the 14th. We're meeting with my friend Emily, who will be our unofficial doula, tomorrow night to talk over labor plans. We worked out what we each want to ask for in terms of leave and schedule adjustments, and will be talking to our bosses soon. We've made arrangements for Michael to meet each of the new midwives.
We bought a double stroller; really, a stroller-and-a-half. Instead of a full second seat, there's a sort of a bench in back for the older child to sit on, and a standing board in case they'd rather ride standing up. Alex loves it. I have a vague uncomfortable feeling that we're not going to get much use out of it - we don't use Alex's stroller much anymore. But that's probably because we've been driving a lot more places than we did when I wasn't, you know, hugely pregnant. We also bought a new baby monitor, and a warm fleecy thing that covers the carseat in lieu of a snowsuit. (You're not supposed to use a snowsuit in the carseat, because it makes the straps fit incorrectly.) I have scoped out, but not purchased, BPA-free bottles, breast pump, breastmilk storage, etc.
I laundered three loads of baby stuff last night. And a good thing I did, because I discovered that our burp cloth supply is sadly diminished. I think we sent a bunch to my brother and turned some others into cleaning rags. So I need to buy another pack or two of prefolds. We have tons of 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes. It's so fun to look through them all.
Our friend and Alex's former nanny Dorian will be our primary childcare for L&D, in combination with nursery school. If there is a gap in Dorian's availability, or if we have to go to the hospital on an emergency basis and there's no time for Dorian to get there, we have two primary sources of on-call backup childcare: Claire, an across-the-street neighbor who goes to our church, for nighttime; and Suzanne, a close friend of mine with two kids who lives a few blocks away, for daytime. Dorian teaches a class on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and in case I'm in labor on either of those days I want to arrange for Alex to walk home from school with one of her classmates until Dorian can come pick her up. (Suzanne could go get her, but there would be carseat issues.)
Wednesdays are my usual at-home day, and Alex's class is usually unable to accept an extra child on Wednesdays. But the director assures me that they will juggle someone to another classroom, if necessary, so that I don't have to worry about lining up all-day childcare. I am amazed, but pleased.
I hate asking people to do things, but here are the responses I've gotten so far:
[Claire, before I can even get my whole sentence out] "Yes. Yes. You know, I wanted to offer, but I thought it would be too forward." It was clear that she really had been thinking about offering, too, because she had thought through all the logistics. We may even be able to just bring her the baby monitor and a key, and not even have to ask her to leave her apartment.
[Suzanne] "Yes, absolutely. I was planning to offer, and I'm sorry that you had to ask me before I offered."
[Nursery school director] "Please don't give it another thought. We will absolutely be here for you and Alex."
...So I guess I should be feeling less shy about contacting Alex's classmate's mother, huh? People are nice.
I get pretty fatigued by the end of the day, especially if I've done much walking. I'm having trouble staying hydrated enough. I'm up a lot in the night for bathroom trips and have trouble getting back to sleep. My pubic bone is achy. I have various pressure-related symptoms, including varicose veins that appeared early but have now grown (a) quite large and (b) sore. I have a fair amount of trouble getting up off the floor. And my days of bathing Alex are done for a while - I just can't handle the leaning and bending and lifting. On the other hand, I feel pretty well for the early parts of the day. I'm carrying this baby incredibly low, which means that breathing is much more comfortable than it was with Alex. Surprisingly, I don't have any back pain. And Prevacid is controlling my heartburn.
Next week I'll go back to the midwife for a pelvic exam and a Group B Strep test, which we devoutly hope will be negative. We'll find out if I'm dilated at all, or if these sharp pains in my cervix have just been a useless annoyance. After that, midwife appointments will be weekly until I deliver.
We're moving forward with preparations and plans. Alex takes her sibling prep class on the 11th. Michael and I take the hospital tour on the 14th. We're meeting with my friend Emily, who will be our unofficial doula, tomorrow night to talk over labor plans. We worked out what we each want to ask for in terms of leave and schedule adjustments, and will be talking to our bosses soon. We've made arrangements for Michael to meet each of the new midwives.
We bought a double stroller; really, a stroller-and-a-half. Instead of a full second seat, there's a sort of a bench in back for the older child to sit on, and a standing board in case they'd rather ride standing up. Alex loves it. I have a vague uncomfortable feeling that we're not going to get much use out of it - we don't use Alex's stroller much anymore. But that's probably because we've been driving a lot more places than we did when I wasn't, you know, hugely pregnant. We also bought a new baby monitor, and a warm fleecy thing that covers the carseat in lieu of a snowsuit. (You're not supposed to use a snowsuit in the carseat, because it makes the straps fit incorrectly.) I have scoped out, but not purchased, BPA-free bottles, breast pump, breastmilk storage, etc.
I laundered three loads of baby stuff last night. And a good thing I did, because I discovered that our burp cloth supply is sadly diminished. I think we sent a bunch to my brother and turned some others into cleaning rags. So I need to buy another pack or two of prefolds. We have tons of 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes. It's so fun to look through them all.
Our friend and Alex's former nanny Dorian will be our primary childcare for L&D, in combination with nursery school. If there is a gap in Dorian's availability, or if we have to go to the hospital on an emergency basis and there's no time for Dorian to get there, we have two primary sources of on-call backup childcare: Claire, an across-the-street neighbor who goes to our church, for nighttime; and Suzanne, a close friend of mine with two kids who lives a few blocks away, for daytime. Dorian teaches a class on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and in case I'm in labor on either of those days I want to arrange for Alex to walk home from school with one of her classmates until Dorian can come pick her up. (Suzanne could go get her, but there would be carseat issues.)
Wednesdays are my usual at-home day, and Alex's class is usually unable to accept an extra child on Wednesdays. But the director assures me that they will juggle someone to another classroom, if necessary, so that I don't have to worry about lining up all-day childcare. I am amazed, but pleased.
I hate asking people to do things, but here are the responses I've gotten so far:
[Claire, before I can even get my whole sentence out] "Yes. Yes. You know, I wanted to offer, but I thought it would be too forward." It was clear that she really had been thinking about offering, too, because she had thought through all the logistics. We may even be able to just bring her the baby monitor and a key, and not even have to ask her to leave her apartment.
[Suzanne] "Yes, absolutely. I was planning to offer, and I'm sorry that you had to ask me before I offered."
[Nursery school director] "Please don't give it another thought. We will absolutely be here for you and Alex."
...So I guess I should be feeling less shy about contacting Alex's classmate's mother, huh? People are nice.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-05 06:03 pm (UTC)The stroller-and-a-half thing sounds great - here one can buy bolt-on bits for regular strollers but I'm not tall enough to reach over a seated or standing child to push a stroller without leaning forward hard. Also, it sounds great for groceries and library books, since it's designed for more weight than stroller luggage-racks.
Snowsuits and puffy coats compress against the straps in a sudden stop or a crash, making the straps loose and unsupportive. In case anyone is wondering.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-05 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-05 08:40 pm (UTC)[Edited to change "our" to "your"]
And I've seen faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar bigger pushchairs for one baby, even. I *have* a bigger pram/pushchair for one baby, in fact.
Don't forget the intensive study in Nottingham where they glanced at babies in pushchairs for a few minutes one day and decided forward-facing babies were more likely to grow up manic depressives than mother-facing babies.