Month: April 2016

I’m still pregnant! Despite the few times this week when I felt like labor was about to start, our baby is still just hanging out and enjoying herself in there.

So far, she seems to take after me in that I take for-ev-er to get ready and wait until the last minute to leave, but ultimately show up wherever I need to be just in time. This tendency certainly frustrates Aaron, whose philosophy is that if you’re not 10 minutes early, you’re late. What can I say? I like to take my sweet time, and apparently our baby does, too.

This was my last week going into the office for work, and Aaron and I drove together each day instead of taking the bus in case I went into labor and we needed to get home/to the hospital quickly. I even had a little emergency kit prepared if my water broke at the office (extra pants, undies, a towel, and a few heavy-duty pads), but of course that didn’t happen.

Now I’ll work from home until the baby actually arrives, as there’s no sense in wasting my paid time off or maternity leave just to wait around. But I’m not a huge fan of working from home, so I hope she comes soon!

I made sure to take some dorky photos to remember my last week at work. Here I was on Monday, in the dress I wore to Carly’s wedding but layered over a tank to make it more work-appropriate. It definitely, uh, maximizes the belly! But it was $35, is super-comfy, and will probably be something I wear quite a bit through this summer since it’s made of a stretchy knit fabric in a faux-wrap cut that will work well for breastfeeding.

Thursday was my final day, since we had a doctor appointment on Friday and planned to work from home anyway.

Jeans and a t-shirt, plus some sort of cardigan on colder days, was my go-to look these last few weeks. I’ve never been an especially fancy dresser, and my maternity wardrobe was no different. Thank goodness for a casual-ish work environment! Some people certainly dress to the nines, but I’ve never felt out of place in what I’ve worn, especially since I had the ultimate excuse to dress for comfort.

I felt a little “off” all day Thursday and thought it might be the day I’d go into labor. I used the restroom more than usual and regularly had minor Braxton Hicks contractions, which felt like tightness throughout my belly mixed with menstrual-like cramps. 

When I got home, I had a serious craving for a chocolate milkshake and made one out of nearly a full pint of chocolate coconut-milk ice cream and a little coconut milk, chugged it, then passed out watching a Khloe & Lamar marathon on E!. What, like you’ve never done that??

I hadn’t felt that strong of a craving or that exhausted in a long time, so I spent the whole rest of the evening anticipating I’d go into labor, but then… nothing.

Our 39-week appointment was the next morning, and the doctor reported I had finally made progress — one whole centimeter dilated! OK, so one centimeter out of the 10 centimeters I ultimately need to be dilated to deliver the baby doesn’t sound like that much, but I’m thrilled to be progressing at all. It’s nice to know that the weird feelings I had on Thursday moved things in the right direction.

In other news, the baby’s heartbeat is still nice and strong, my belly continues to measure on track, and I gained less than a pound since our last appointment, so I’m still up 36 pounds overall.

Our doctor said she’d be on-call all weekend and would love to see us back on Saturday or Sunday to have the baby, and we had our fingers crossed, too… but no such luck. Other than waking up Friday night with more minor Braxton Hicks contractions, I haven’t felt much happening, and it’s got me feeling a little bummed. Now that our calendar is completely clear and we have nothing left to do but have the baby, the waiting feels endless.

The good news is that I’m still sleeping really well and physically feel great. I didn’t set an alarm to wake up on Saturday or Sunday, and slept from 9-6 each night with just a few restroom wake-ups. I keep hoping to wake up to some real contractions or my water breaking, but in the meantime, I’ll enjoy these last few restful nights of sleep while I can.

I’ve been eating pineapple every day and had spicy food for dinner Friday and Saturday nights in the hopes of encouraging labor — both old wives’ tales, but they can’t hurt and are delicious to try! I also vacuumed this weekend (the urge to keep our house clean is strong) and we went to Costco, but vigorous cleaning/bulk shopping didn’t do the trick, either.

Finally, I went for a long walk today. I stopped by the gym 1/3 of a mile in for my first bathroom break and to capture my sweet basketball-belly look.

I did my usual 4.5-mile route and it started pouring about halfway through. I had a rain jacket and umbrella in my backpack, though, so I stayed warm and dry! I know I like to brag and post pretty pictures when Seattle is warm and sunny, but it does look like this a lot of the time, too. I love it anyway.

It’s supposed to stay cooler (in the 50s and 60s) this week, which is much better for walking (and new-baby snuggles) than the high-80s heatwave we just had! I’ll have to get out for a shorter walk every day now that I’ll be working from home to continue encouraging progress and keep myself from going stir-crazy.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful about waiting for the baby to arrive — I’m so thankful to have carried her to term, and hope that she’ll be very healthy and ready to take on the world when she does arrive — but I never expected the mental aspect of this last bit of pregnancy to be challenging; I always figured it would be physical discomfort that would get me down. I probably should have planned more activities to keep myself distracted from the waiting! “A watched pot never boils,” goes the saying, and I definitely feel like the pot right now.

I know much bigger challenges await after the baby arrives, so I don’t want to wish this time away, but I also just can’t wait to meet her!!!

Aaron is doing a better job of keeping busy than I am, as he’s been going out for bike rides and “man-dates” with friends — ha! He even went for a ride with his mom this morning. Look how cute they looked in their neon!

Plus, he’s busy cooking something delicious for dinner as I write this. 

I really haven’t given Aaron enough credit in these weekly posts for all the amazing ways he’s supported me throughout this pregnancy — from cooking me breakfast and packing lunch and snacks for me to take to work every day, to finding all our nursery furniture on Craigslist, to singlehandedly assembling our baby registry and stocking up on things like breast pads and nipple cream (!!!) that he somehow knew I’ll need. He’s so excited to be a dad, and he will be the best. I mean, he wants me to teach him how to braid so that he can eventually do our daughter’s hair! I can’t say enough about him. I may be the one physically carrying our baby, but he has carried me through this whole thing. Talk about things to be thankful for. ❤

Our next doctor appointment is on Wednesday — the day after the baby’s due date. Cross your fingers for some action before that!

I would love it if she comes on her due date after all, just like her just-in-time mom. 🙂

I’m starting to get Facebook messages and texts from family members who live far away checking in to see how I’m doing, so I know people are officially on baby watch! 

There’s absolutely nothing going on yet, and I’ll be 39 weeks along tomorrow. I’m simultaneously prepared to go into labor at any moment and convinced that I still have a week or two left to go. In fact, my mom commented over the weekend: “You’ve got plenty of time; you aren’t nearly miserable enough yet.”

And I’m not! I’m really surprised to feel so good this late in the game. I visited my chiropractor twice last week, and I had another awesome prenatal massage earlier this evening. I think those two things, plus maintaining a decent-ish level of activity, have been key to staying fairly comfortable. 

I’m getting impatient for the baby to arrive, but I think that’s more due to the fact that not knowing when she’ll come is driving me crazy rather than the fact that I’m physically sick of being pregnant. I’m not. Yet.

Anyway, let’s rewind to our doctor appointment last Friday to start this update! I got checked again and the baby had dropped a bit; the doctor said she was at -2 station compared to the previous week’s -4 station (completely dropped would be 0). My cervix was 80% effaced (thinned), but still not dilated at all. 

The doctor said none of this info had any bearing on when I’d go into labor, but in my completely non-scientific opinion, the baby seems quite comfy in there. I also haven’t been feeling any Braxton Hicks contractions that would indicate some sort of progress — although I’ve talked to a few moms who didn’t feel any contractions until they were actually in labor! So basically, I know nothing.

I put on another pound since our previous doctor visit, so I’m up 36 pounds total. As I write this, I’m working on my second bowl of ice cream today — temps hit 88 degrees, which is nearly as hot as it ever gets in Seattle — and I officially DGAF. I should probably start thinking about reestablishing better eating habits so I can be my happiest and healthiest postpartum self, but no. Just no.

Actually, my understanding is that I’ll need to eat even more calories once I’m breastfeeding, so yay! They probably shouldn’t all be ice-cream calories, but yay anyway!

We clearly made it through all the activities we had planned this past week and now have nothing on our calendar. Aaron turned 30 on Tuesday, and we celebrated by going out to dinner and a special Teatro ZinZanni circus show with friends! Teatro ZinZanni is typically a dinner-theater event, but this one was just a mish-mash of performances. There were singers, dancers, aerial artists, and even a lady who juggled umbrellas with her feet! It was a late night out for us, but so much fun.

Isn’t Aaron just the cutest at every age?? Happy 30th, my love!

On Wednesday, we took an infant safety class at our hospital, where we learned how to perform CPR on incredibly creepy baby mannequins.

That thing will now haunt your nightmares; you’re welcome.

We also learned what to do in the event of choking, how to baby-proof everything in our house, and how to minimize the risk of SIDS by ensuring a safe sleep environment. It was an extremely helpful class, and now we feel ever-so-slightly qualified to be parents! Once we actually have our baby, we’ll quickly realize we know nothing, so I’m savoring this brief moment of feeling educated.

On Saturday, we had a bunch of friends over to celebrate Aaron’s birthday with a potluck brunch. The key word here is potluck, which is code for, “Please come be a guest in our home, but bring some food while you’re at it.” Genius! We provided the essentials (fruit, bacon, mimosas), and our friends filled in the rest to make a delicious spread. 

I’m aware this photo looks about as fun as an AA meeting, but it was the only one I snapped, near the very end, when everyone was gathered in the living room chatting together. It made my heart happy to have so many of our favorite people in our house for what will be the last time before we have our kiddo. 

On Saturday evening, we celebrated Aaron’s birthday and my mom’s birthday as a combo, since we’ll likely be busy celebrating another birthday around the time of my mom’s (April 30).

My mom and her husband recently got back from their belated honeymoon to New Orleans (they got married last July), and they brought back such cuuuute stuff for the baby!

It’s already clear who’s the star of the family since she got the most gifts that night and she’s not even born yet. 🙂

Sunday was nice and low-key. Aaron saw a movie with his best friend, and I went for a long walk in the sunshine. I even dusted off my Garmin to see how far I go on my usual route, since the health app on my iPhone typically says about 4.5 miles, but it doesn’t feel that far. Sure enough:

Notice I was actually moving for 1:23, yet I was out and about for 2:32. The downtime includes multiple bathroom stops and about 40 minutes of sitting on a bench, eating snacks and soaking up the sun. That part is very necessary for me to be able to walk so far at this point!

It was the loveliest day, and I’m so happy I was able to go out and enjoy it on foot. Soon enough I’ll be taking my daughter on this same walk! I’ll need to bring about 50,000 more things than I bring for just myself, and our snack break will probably be more for her than for me, but we’ll have fun just the same. 

That brings us up to speed! I’ll try to check in on Instagram every few days to let y’all know if we’re still waiting around or what. 

We probably won’t be posting a baby announcement right away, since I’d like to make sure all our family and friends know first, and I don’t want to get caught up looking at social-media notifications in those first few days when I should be savoring time with our baby. 

I haaaate it when I’m Facebook/Instagram stalking someone who is about to have a baby and they don’t post anything for like five days after their kid is born, but I totally get it; you never get that precious time back. But, we also might be too excited to hold off. We’ll see!

I have a feeling I’ll be back next week with a 39-week update anyway. 🙂

Holy crap! I don’t have many more of these updates to write! 

All of the baby’s systems are now pretty much developed and she would probably be perfectly fine if she were to arrive now. Of course, it won’t hurt for her to hang out for a while longer and continue to fatten up. I’d been on high alert for signs of labor since I hit 37 weeks (I’m almost 38 now, as I write this), but after our doctor appointment on Friday, I’ve relaxed since it looks like the baby is in no rush.

My doctor “checked” me for the first time, which is a nice way of saying she felt my cervix (not super pleasant) to see if I’d made any progress toward going into labor. She said that my cervix has begun to thin out, but hasn’t dilated at all, and the baby hasn’t dropped. At this point, I’m feeling pretty confident I’ll make it to 39 weeks. Our next appointment is this coming Friday, when I can get checked again if I’m curious — of course I am! — so we’ll see if there’s any progress then.

Everything else is still looking good: my blood pressure is normal, the baby’s heartbeat is strong, my belly is measuring on track, and I’ve gained a total of 35 pounds. The recommended weight gain throughout an entire pregnancy for someone with my pre-pregnancy BMI is 25-35 pounds, but I strongly believe that should be adjusted to take Girl Scout cookie season into account. 😉

I continue to feel surprisingly good, other than some tightness between my shoulder blades that was bothering me this week. I visited my chiropractor for the first time in a long time, and he cracked the crap out of my neck and back — so good. He recommended I come in twice a week until the baby arrives, which I’m more than happy to do to stay as comfortable as possible. I also had a prenatal massage, which took care of the lingering tightness. I’ve scheduled one last massage for 39 weeks, so we’ll see if I make it!

The weather continues to be beautiful in Seattle, so dresses are still my jam. I attempted to make this maxi look slightly different by layering a shirt over it instead of a denim jacket. It… sort of worked? At least I was comfortable!

My co-workers threw a baby-book shower for me this week, which is the tradition for our team since we’re a bunch of word nerds (copywriters and copy editors).

For some reason I expected there to be a super-casual pile of books, but I was so touched by the effort everyone put in to make it a really sweet shower! It was a lunchtime potluck with plenty of food and desserts (yesss!) to go around.

I was sweating and red-faced the entire time I opened gifts because it was slightly stressful to have everyone looking at me. I’m still one of the newer members of the team, as I only started my job in July, but I’m so thankful to have such wonderful co-workers who I really love working with (seriously, not a bad one in the bunch!) and who keep me laughing pretty much all day, every day.

Fun story: Technically, day one of my pregnancy was also the same day I started my job! A pregnant woman’s due date is calculated as exactly 40 weeks from the first day of her last period, and I vividly remember getting my period on my first day of work, July 21. I wasn’t actually pregnant at that point, of course, but I got pregnant shortly after, and that’s just how doctors calculate the due date. Weird, huh?

So thank you, co-workers — and especially my boss — for being so supportive of the new girl who wasted no time in getting knocked up! 

At a baby-book shower, you might expect there to be repeats of some classic books, but the only repeat I got was one I wasn’t expecting: Corduroy, times three! This was amazing because Corduroy was actually my beloved childhood bear, yet none of the three women who gifted it to me knew that; they all just loved the book when they were kids.

Now we have copies for our house and for the grandparents’ houses. 🙂 Corduroy is pretty pleased with the whole situation.

Aaron and I finished off the week by touring our daycare and paying a deposit to secure the start date! Again, I’m so relieved to have this taken care of before the baby arrives. I have no idea what the daycare situation is like in other cities, but in our kid-packed suburb, daycares give priority to families who already have an older kid who goes there, so it’s hard to secure an infant spot as a new family. I’ll pass along the same advice we got early in our pregnancy to other new parents-to-be: Get on those waiting lists NOW!

The weekend kicked off with one of the most spectacular weather days we’ve had in a while — blue skies, a few puffy clouds and temps in the low 70s. Aaron went on an all-day mountain-bike ride with a big group of friends, so I took a meandering two-hour walk (including plenty of bathroom breaks and bench time to rest) and covered 4.5 miles.

It was sooo nice to be outside in shorts and a T-shirt, soaking up the sun. I did wear SPF 30 — no worries, Mom. 🙂

Aaron got home Saturday evening just in time to rinse all the dirt and blood off his legs (standard mountain-biking life) and get ready to go to a 30th birthday pizza party thrown by our friend Gillian for her husband David.

It was warm enough to eat outside!!! Yayyyy, Seattle!!!

Gillian made the most delicious cupcakes! How cute is this couple?? That night also happened to be their six-month wedding anniversary. I was a mere 11 weeks pregnant at their wedding, and I remember being hyper-aware of the teeny-tiny bulge in my belly at the time. In fact, I never posted this photo anywhere because I thought someone might notice. HAHA.

Back to the pizza party — it was so much fun, and my friends’ gentlemen were very fascinated by the belly. They kept thinking they felt the baby moving, but it was just me laughing at them.

The next day, we got a head start on celebrating Aaron’s upcoming 30th birthday by having a wonderful lunch with his dad and stepmom, and then dinner with his mom, stepdad and grandpa.

Have I mentioned how much I love both sets of my in-laws?? They are the best! I’m a lucky girl to have become part of their families.

I don’t know anyone who loves her son as much as this lady. 🙂

And that brings us up to speed! Aaron’s actual birthday is tomorrow, which is also the day I hit 38 weeks. Things are looking good for Aaron to not share his birthday with his daughter, which is great since we have fun plans to celebrate!

Hopefully I’ll be able to write next week’s recap to share it with you all. After that, we’ll be ready for this kiddo to come anytime!

We took this photo at about 7 p.m. the day I turned 36 weeks pregnant, and it was still sunny and warm enough for short sleeves! Oh, how times have changed from when we had to take photos in the early afternoon on weekends because it was way too dark on weekdays. I’ve never loved spring more than I do this year! Warmer weather and longer days means baby time is not far away.

My pregnancy app says she was about 19 inches long and in the 6-pound range this week — about the size of a papaya. I go back and forth between thinking my belly doesn’t look that big (because I’m so used to it) and realizing how huge it must look to other people. The baby feels huge, too, since I can feel her pressing from all angles as she wiggles around. As I write this, it feels like she’s trying to bust out! I’ll be 37 weeks along tomorrow, so maybe she really is…

This was our last week of not having a doctor appointment, and starting this coming week, I’ll have one every week until she arrives. I can’t wait to see if our doctor will find any signs of progress this week!

I finally took off my wedding rings because I got way too nervous about waiting until they actually got stuck on my finger, and now I wear a simple hammered-silver band that my mother in law gave me a few years ago as part of a set of stacking rings. It’s plenty big to easily slip on and off, and I feel so much better about wearing it! Plus, my rings will feel extra-fancy when I start wearing them again. 🙂

It was warm enough in Seattle to wear a dress to work a few days this week, and I hope that trend continues because I’m soooo much more comfortable wearing dresses than pants! I only have a few that fit, so I’ll definitely be wearing them on repeat for the next few weeks, but luckily I stopped caring about anything other than comfort long, long ago.

How long will I keep going to work, anyway? At least through this week and probably next week — through 38 weeks — and then it might be a good idea to work from home until I go into labor. I find it very boring and isolating to work from home for more than one day at a time, so I don’t want to start doing it too early and then feel stir-crazy for weeks on end. In the meantime, I need to bring a change of clothes to the office in case my water breaks while I’m there. I know multiple women who’ve had that happen, so it’s a real possibility!

Side note: The more things I do to prepare for going into labor before my due date (April 26), the more I believe I’ll actually go overdue and it’ll all have been for nothing. But it’s always better to be prepared!

I went on one three-mile walk in the sunshine this week and felt great. I’ve outgrown my biggest pair of workout shorts, so I resorted to wearing the maternity jorts I bought a few weeks ago in anticipation of warm weather! 

I have these Liz Lange ones from Target. They are super soft and comfy, and I figure I’ll be able to wear them even after giving birth since I definitely won’t fit into my regular shorts for a while.

I’m still sleeping really well, and my legs/feet only get swollen when I’ve been on them for a while. The only physical thing that’s been noticeably different over the past few weeks is that I’m so thirsty all the time. Part of me is interested to track how many ounces of water I’m drinking each day, but another part is scared that the number will be at or above the “drowning myself from the inside” level. I’d rather not know.

We got great news about daycare this week: I checked in regarding our wait-list status and discovered there are three infant spots available around the time we’ll need to enroll our baby! We’ve chosen the most convenient start date based on her due date and are completing the paperwork this week to secure our spot. HUGE RELIEF!!! Remember, we joined the wait list last October. Daycare competition is real!

Thanks to those of you who weighed in re: feeling an instant connection to your baby after birth. Most women confirmed they did feel it (including my own mom — aww, thanks Mom!), with one woman saying it took her a few months to really feel a connection. I suspect it takes many women a while to feel it, but they are probably more hesitant to talk about it. 

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, and while I’d love to feel an instant connection, I recognize there’s a chance I won’t. It wouldn’t mean I love my kid any less; it just means something completely crazy happened to turn my whole world upside down, and it might take a while to comprehend it. I really won’t be surprised if my first reaction to seeing our baby is, “WTF! That came out of me??” We’ll see! I’ll share my honest experience either way.

Last but not least, the most exciting event this week was my longtime friend Carly’s wedding! This was the wedding I was originally afraid I’d miss, since Carly and Nate got engaged just a week after we found out we were expecting and immediately started planning an early spring wedding. Luckily it was early enough that Aaron and I were able to attend, and it couldn’t have been a more beautiful event! The weather was perfect, the venue was stunning, and the bride and groom were so incredibly gorgeous and in love.

We stayed at the same hotel where Carly and her bridesmaids got ready, so I was able to hang out in her suite for a bit and visit before the wedding, plus grill one of the bridesmaids who just had a baby eight weeks ago about her birth experience — that was very helpful! I also got to see Carly have her “first look” with her dad, which was so special. Her dad is the best; we joked back in our junior high days that I was his fourth child, since I lived so close by and was at their house a lot. It was really emotional to watch him see his daughter in her wedding dress for the first time. ❤

I didn’t take many pictures the whole day, as I’m consciously trying to be on my phone less and enjoy life in the moment, but here are a few I do have.

The hotel was within walking distance of the venue, and it was so nice to walk there with our group of friends in the warm sunshine!

The wedding was held at Union Station in Tacoma, which is a former rail station featuring an amazing rotunda filled with tons of natural light and Dale Chihuly glass art. It was definitely the most elegant venue I’ve ever been to; the wedding photos are going to be incredible!

The ceremony was so personal and heartfelt, and of course I cried. Aaron and I snagged a little family photo during the cocktail hour, during which I ate two of every appetizer and drank a ton of water. 🙂

I kept holding my belly not to be that obnoxious lady who’s all, “Look, I’m pregnant!” (although I am that lady anyway… welcome to my blog), but because my dress was pretty tent-like without a little helpful definition. It was super comfy, but made me look huuuugely pregnant. I guess because I am.

I was hoping to get on the dance floor a bit after dinner, but I must’ve been on my feet more than I thought because my legs and feet were all swollen and I just didn’t have it in me. Plus, right as I was mustering up the energy to go dance, a bunch of Domino’s pizzas were delivered and Aaron and I made a beeline toward those instead. 🙂 It was fun to watch the dancing, though, and I jumped into the photo booth a few times, so it looks like I was partying hard.

Look at that gorgeous bride! #1 stunna. Huge congrats to Carly and Nate!!!

Their wedding was the first milestone I was hoping to make it to before giving birth; the next is Aaron’s 30th birthday on April 12. After that, I’m happy to have this kid come at any time. Cross your fingers that she’ll hang in there for at least that long!