pressure waves

Man, if I wasn't only 36 weeks, I'd swear this was early labor. Regular pressure waves that feel very tight all through my belly and back... this has been every night for the past 3 or 4 nights.

Love

It's now to the point where sleeping is tough. It kind of stinks, because it used to be that laying down on my left side was guaranteed relief! And now that I don't have that... all I have is my 30 minutes of hypnobabies practice every day. I have constant contractions and they wake me up sometimes. The round ligament pain is pretty bad, it feels like a UTI if I try and change positions in my sleep without very carefully supporting my belly! My liver is under so much pressure, I have to keep my spine perfectly straight at all times in order to not be in excruciating pain. I just remembered though, my belly is supposed to drop down more and more as I get closer to birth, so he should be giving me some more room soon.

The good news is that since sleeping through the night isn't ideal/comfortable anymore, I'll be used to it before the baby gets here! Thank goodness I'm not working and can sleep during the day as much as I want. I don't think it will be a problem for me to "sleep when the baby sleeps", like everyone suggests. The hypnobabies thing has made it easier than it has ever been in my life to just lay down, close my eyes, relax and drift off.

As uncomfortable as I am, I still can't imagine having him anytime soon. HE HAS JUST GOT TO WAIT until after my brother moves out to college. I feel like it's important for one person to leave the house before another comes into it. Plus I get to turn his old room into a sewing room!!

The big sale at the Red Hen was today. I got 60% off everything... and everything in the store was already used anyways. Sweet deals galore! They did not have a single prefold left, so I just got 3 medium sized fitted diapers ($5 each!), one medium all in one ($5 as well), and an insert ($1). All the ECing websites seem to suggest they only ever use about ten diapers, even if they aren't doing it full time. So I should be covered, having way more than that, especially in newborn sizes (thanks Melanie!).

I went to a meetup tonight to hear some home birth stories. Everyone was so nice, positive, respectful, encouraging... and their babies were very cute. This area is really great as far as resources and support for the kind of mom I want to be. And integrating myself into this community has really helped me face the reality of becoming a parent.

Ash picked out a big hardcover moleskin notebook with heavy pages, to use as a baby book. Now we just have to go back in time and ask people how to make photos physically exist! I feel like anything we print out and put in there will just fade away in a couple years... does anyone know of a way to print archive quality photos from digital formats? And if I put them in the book by just laminating them straight onto the paper... will that preserve or destroy them?

I love my son so much already, and I haven't even met him. Looking at the little baby clothes he will soon fill brings tears to my eyes.

36 weeks

Home visit from the midwives is next week! I spent this week getting together the birth kit and generally nesting (washing things for the umpteenth time, making my husband rearrange furniture, last minute sewing projects). I bought some soap nuts and have been doing my laundry with them... it seems too good to be true, but they really work. It's cheap, easy, and it's 100% safe for your family and the environment (and cloth diapers!!). I highly recommend them.

I finally broke down and bought one of those big body pillows.... I was at Target today, buying supplies for the birth, and they had a big long pillow for only $10. I took the LONGEST NAP EVER today with that thing. Lesson learned!! Pregnancy + big pillows = SLEEP. Of course, it's 1:30 in the morning now and I'm wide awake :)

Changes in the last couple weeks have been numerous... in the second half of the day, I basically have BH contactions one after another! It's starting to feel a bit uncomfortable when it happens; it's not painful, just tight in my back and tummy. My feet hurt like I've been walking for miles, even though I stand only about ten minutes at a time. When I get up to pee at night, I feel like an old lady in my hips! It seems like my legs are slightly out of their sockets as my hips widen out. I feel really large in general. At this point, Lucca is always up on my liver, so there is no stopping that pain anymore. It hurts about 90% of the time, and 30% of the time it's excruciating. I just hope it's not distracting during birth (maybe he will drop down and move away from it?).

Last night I woke up with a yell because he punched me in the cervix! I didn't even know babies could do that in there. It's weird to have such intense feelings in organs which I was previously unaware of.

Boy am I tired of peeing. I think I pee every ten minutes now.

It's weird to feel so healthy while feeling so crappy! I feel like a really well oiled machine carrying a load that's just too heavy. I've never eaten better in my whole life. I feel vibrant but... exhausted. I got the OK from my midwife to stop taking my prenatal vitamin, since I'm eating so well and supplementing with iron, vitamin B12, dandelion/raspberry tea and bone broth every day. Stupid prenatal was the only thing keeping me from staying regular!

I have been trying to do more reading on elimination communication, since I've mostly been hoarding cloth diapers and I don't want to forget about it! This website has some great stories and photos from one family.

35 weeks

From the front, you can see what position he has pretty much settled in... head down, with his big butt on my left (I feel all the kicks on the upper right). According to spinningbabies.com, this is an optimal position... so hooray!

I know my shorts are ridiculous, but there are about three things in the world that still fit me and that's one of them. And those don't really fit me either.




I made two ring slings, one black flannel for winter and one green cotton for summer. They are a little less wide than the internet said to make them, and a little bit shorter too... so I hope they work alright. I followed the instructions on the sleeping baby page to make the pleated shoulder.




I also made a changing table pad. It has waterproof PUL on one side and yellow flannel for soft padding on the other side. The rectangle at the top is sort of like extra padding for a pillow, and it also serves as a pouch that the whole thing can roll up into.

Getting close now...

I will be 35 weeks this Wednesday. HOLY COW. I weigh 155, pretty much the same as my husband now.



The beach last week was lovely. We stayed in an area of the Outer Banks with a private beach (Southern Shores) so everything was clean, uncrowded, and quiet. Live and learn though- that island is almost completely void of heathy food. Their "gourmet" markets are pathetic! Just a couple choices of overpriced brand name "natural" stuff that isn't even organic. There was exactly ONE place to get fresh whole grain bread, but it was $5 per loaf. I had to get some sad looking organic produce from Harris Teeter. Lame. I'm so glad we brought nice beef/sausage/chicken from Whole Foods from home! And I also baked a loaf of my own bread to bring, and brought local honey/peanut butter. SO I didn't starve, but I did eat a whole lot more junk food than I wanted to, which only upset me because I'm trying to give Lucca 100% the best of everything, I don't really care about indulging on vacation for myself. I tried to eat ice cream out one night... it gave me a MASSIVE headache almost instantly! So I guess I have properly detoxed myself from my former sugar addiction.

I did a lot of napping, a lot of walking, and a lot of sunbathing (no burning!!) so Lucca did a lot of growing. My liver pain came back. :( Still working on that one.. but at this point, his little butt and feet are always all up on it, so I'm not sure how it can stop hurting completely.







I have been craving sun gold tomatoes all year, and they finally came in our garden!!



I can't wait to take Lucca to the Eno Festival next year! So much to explore.

Some pictures

I got a really great train and a little car at the Eno festival.... these were the best priced wooden toys I have found so far, so I got this big huge train for Lucca. I like that it has toddler activities built in!



Sometimes our cat will attack the dog over and over and the only way to stop him is to cover his face somehow. Bags work, towels work too.



Here is a photo from a potluck we went to for the home birth practice we are using. The four midwives are front and center... pink dress, blue dress, green shirt, and holding toddler.

Birthday

On the radio today, they said Louis Armstrong (born August 4th) always wanted people to celebrate him on July 4th instead. I can't think of a more American family tradition to start than listening to Louis all day on the 4th each year!!

Tomorrow is my birthday! I will be 23. I am volunteering at the Eno River Festival all morning and then finding a nice shady spot on a blanket the rest of the day. There is a booth there every year that sells wonderful handmade wooden children's toys... and of course Parlez Vous Crepes will be there!

Quinten made cinnamon rolls because I didn't want a cake (cake is sort of the not-as-tasty version of... all other desserts):





My kitty very, very carefully climbed up onto my belly to snuggle me.



I forgot that Ash took a picture while I was on the acupuncture table: