Hurry up and wait.

I am finally full term. Feels like a lifetime ago I found out I was pregnant on a hot September morning. Now it's spring and I am ready to burst.

I am 37 weeks, and technically I can go into labour anytime, but I know it will probably be another month of waiting. I am ok with this, I can use the next few weeks to freak myself out and fully enjoy the end of pregnancy irritations.

It is 2:20am. I had almost a week of sleeping through the night, and now I am back to waking up for a few hours every morning. A combination of heartburn, hunger and braxton hicks is what does it. Having to sleep on the couch doesn't help either.

Aside from being awake between one and four am, and my limited mobility I am doing well. I still manage to exercise everyday, and even have convinced hubby to join me on his days off. (He is starting to notice sympathy weight around his midsection)

Nursery

I bravely posted pictures of my nursery on the pregnancy website I frequent. The comments I received made me laugh out loud.

"Oh Halloween's coming"

"Kinda dark for a baby"

"What if the baby doesn't like dark"

"Reminds me of Nightmare before Christmas"

I wasn't sure how to take this reaction, I like the room, my husband and family like the room. Do I care what these people think?

I showed my sister the comments, and she roared. She thought it was hilarious. She posted her own comment "Nice Satan room! Just kidding, I love it, it isn't fruity like most nurseries".

What do you think?

My sister suggested hanging the Iron Maiden onesie in the background as a finishing touch :-)

Food.

I don't know if I have cravings, it's more like I forget about a food then rediscover it and eat it non-stop. My first trimester was pogo's, V8, and apples. Second trimester was soy milk, broccoli and danishes, my third trimester so far in it's infancy has been iceberg lettuce, Rolaids, and macaroni and cheese.

I bought a bottle of V8 remembering how much I loved it in my first trimester, I have yet to crack it open.

Nutrition was a big concern for me. In the beginning I was working a lot of hours, and needed the right kind of calories to make it through the day. I remember planning lunches hoping I wouldn't run out of food or water. I seldom did, but it did involve carrying a lot of extra weight into the woods with me every day.

When my job ended I started looking into the kinds of food I was eating. I was soon to cut out meat, then dairy, then eggs. I stayed this way for a couple months, then started to slowly introduce dairy back into my diet. I thought I had developed lactose intolerance, but I think it just grossed me out.

Now I have reached a balance. I eat cheese, but drink vegetable milk. I eat eggs, but only organic free range. Meat is harder, I don't eat much if any. I don't trust packaged meat, and the stuff in the grocery store makes me shiver. When and if I decide to eat meat again it will have to be from organic animals.

There is so much information out there regarding nutrition and pregnancy I have to trust my gut, and since there is a little boy swimming around in it everything I put in my mouth is put in his too. That being said, dinner will be macaroni and cheese (with a side of broccoli and cake).

Blueberry

It's five am. What do you do when you can't sleep?

This is a first for me. I went to bed craving blueberry bread. Something I have never had, and woke up still wanting it. So, I am currently baking some. It will be ready by 6:30.

I think not needing sleep is a sign of getting older. I suppose this will work to my advantage once I have a newborn. But for now it's just irritating. I am currently awake for 17 hours a day. When I could easily be sleeping for at least another five. But no, I am shaken awake by my cat, and unable to fall back asleep. The cat however is quick to find a spot to curl up once he see's I am out of bed.

Yesterday I over did my workout. I went cross country skiing twice, and painted the nursery. The only part of my body that is rebelling are the muscles that connect my legs to my torso.

I will take today off to recover.

Instead, I will go shopping and probably hunch over my sewing machine. I have all kinds of ideas swimming in my head.

Friday my crib arrives, as does my sister. She designed a mural for the nursery and we are going to paint it this weekend.

I got my Rh shot this week from a very frazzled midwife who is filling in for my usual midwife while she's on vacation. She kept saying sorry for having to cancel then re-scheduling the same day. I felt like saying "I literally have nothing to do, I stay at home with my pets, relax". But let her spin around.

I am thankful for the midwife I have.

The baby has turned, I figured as much as my ribs are taking a beating. Hopefully he stays this way. I hope to have the nursery complete by next week. Pictures will follow.

After eating an entire pot of soup I was sure I would be sick forever. I stayed in bed or on the couch, in a half sleep half ache wearing the same fluffy pink night gown with unwashed hair, (but for some reason shaved legs) that I had put on two nights before.

The highlight of my day was knowing that hubby would be home soon. He took the afternoon off which meant that he might be home before dark. I sent him a message to pick up some truck-stop gingerale because water was starting to taste like puke.

I tried peppermint tea, and it tasted very good and I drank an entire pot. The only problem with drinking a lot of tea at once is you are chained to the bathroom for a couple hours after. At one point I went to the bathroom, then immediatly sneezed, thus peeing myself. How does this happen? Oh I forgot, I am pregnant.

At 4:30 hubby pulled in the driveway, and along with gingerale he had got me flowers. He said the flowers were to make me feel better. I am pretty sure this is the first time he has bought me flowers "out of the blue" in the 10 years we have been together.

Exhausted from my day of sleeping, and hubby nursing a strained back we turned in around 6:30. By 10:00 pm, on one of my many bathroom trips I realized that I had slept, and I didn't feel like death anymore. By 2:00am I felt amazing, Hubby on the otherhand was just getting up to go to work and was hobbling around like a cripple. I told him the flowers worked.

By 7:00am I feel a million times better. Almost good enough to shovel the pile of snow we got last night....almost.

Sick

I was being cocky. My excellent immune system wouldn't let me down. It has been 11 months since I have been sick. I know the last time because it was when I started my new job, a sinus infection and flu last spring.

Now I am layed up at home again. Not that I have anywhere to go, but I feel like death warmed over. I was hoping it would be one of those 24hr bugs, but no such luck.

Being sick is not fun, being sick while pregnant is even less fun. Drugs that offer brief periods of relief are forbidden. Sleep which was near impossible before is just a memory. It's only been a day but it feels like forever. I am such a baby, except I don't have someone to take care of me :(

Final Stretch

Today marks the beginning of my third trimester.

I am finding one of the most annoying symptoms is not being able to think, or string words together. I have written this post three times and have erased it because it made no sense.

I have 13 weeks to go. I have gained 20 pounds, and 10 inches on my stomach. Thanks to working out everyday I have mananged to keep inches off my butt and thighs. I have only gained 1/2 inch there. This is a small miracle concidering the amount of danishes and low sodium chips I have eaten.

Other than that, this pregnancy has been quite fun. The baby is now on a sleep cycle, I know the time without needing a clock. He's up at 7, 10, 4 repeat, we'll see if this is the same out of the womb.

Speaking of sleep, in a marathon of sewing I finished the baby blanket to match the curtains. I am somewhat happy with how it turned out. It was my first blanket so mistakes were made. I doubt the baby will notice.


I am off to Toronto for a week, I will catch up with everyone when I return!

Symptoms return

For the past week heartburn has returned. The constant, doesn't-matter-what-I-eat-where-did-I-put-the-Rolaids type of burn. I hope this means my baby will have a full head of hair. My husband was born bald, but I had hair. Hopefully some of my genes don't get trumped by his.

My need for sweet food has increased as well. I almost did a mid-air arm pump when I remembered my sister stuffing chocolate bars into my knapsack before I left her place yesterday. I had forgotten until now. I have two left, should hold me until tomorrow.

Can weight gain really be called a symptom? I am 26 weeks and have gained 20lbs. So far only on my boobs and stomach. The tape measure says so! Even though hubby says my ass is definitely bigger.

I think my hour of cardio everyday is keeping the chocolate bars and danishes from finding permanent residence on my ass.

Speaking of gaining weight. Hubby just called, looks like he will be home tonight! Time to find something wonderful to cook for dinner.

The Sadden Silk Uncertian...

I put my head down and a powered through finishing my nursery room curtains today. Focusing intently on stitching around each bird my hair got stuck in the sewing machine tread advance.

I am beyond happy with how they turned out. I immediately sent photographs to my sisters and a friend. The first comment back was "Are they for your nursery? Why are they pink?" Pink? Huh...I guess they do look pink. Great, the curtains I spent hours on are pink when held up to light.

I made my boy pink curtains. I'll just say they are from "The Raven" and call them purple.

The boy without a name.

Hubby and I had an easy time picking out a handful of girl names we both loved. Then three months later sitting in the ultrasound I got a full view of testicles and penis. We are having a boy.
Finding a name for our male child has been difficult, I don't know if hubby was set on a girl and is having a hard time adjusting to having a son, or if memories of his childhood conjures up ill feelings. Either way he has not liked a single name I have chosen.

A few weeks ago he said "It's just not important, I know nothing about this kid or what he looks like, how can I choose a name?". Ok, fair enough. (I didn't remind him about the list of girl names) I let it go.

Seeing how distressed I was he gave me a project. Hubby has taken to giving me projects now that I stay at home and he is on the road most days a week. Write the alphabet and put a name you like beside each letter. Great, I can do this.

I made my list, leaving out a number of letters that I couldn't find a name for.

Sunday, hubby was looking up baby names. I told him where to find my list on my computer. I said "Fill in the ones you like and erase ones you don't". He quickly read through the names and announced he didn't like any of my choices and stands by his original idea of naming the boy after him. Dejected again I admitted defeat and thought about "the boy without a name" swimming around in my belly.

Today I opened the list to see that he in fact put some new names down. Hooray! The man is trying....Until I read them. N - Nylon, O-Ovarian, U-Upton, V-Vernier, and Y-Yahweh.
The boy without a name continues to swim.

Birds

I am currently in the middle of designing my nursery. Before I got pregnant I told my husband that if I become one of those pregnant ladies who obsesses over the nursery he was free to slap me. Luckily he doesn't remember that and happily goes along with in depth talks about fabric and paint colours.

I have searched high and low for a crib set that meets my criteria. No pooh, no ducks, no cartoons, no obnoxious colours. The only one that came close was in the States and cost $500. Not exactly in my single income price range.

I have decided to make my own bedding and curtains. The theme, on paper sounds Edgar-Allen-Poe-quoth-the-raven creepy, but I think it will be nice. Gray curtains and bedding with black and light blue applique birds. My sister is designing a mural (picture featured) that will match the bedding and curtains. The walls will be a light blue or off white.

I am at the point where I lay in bed and think "Do I want three birds or two birds, and should they be the same fabric or should I mix it up, maybe I will...." This literally goes on for hours at a time.

I enjoy my free time thinking and planning a nursery my child will not remember. I know that in a few months I won't have the luxery of spending hours wandering around fabric stores or searching endlessly online for the perfect pattern of babylegs. I fill my days with cooking, cleaning and decorating. Such is my life as a stay at home pregnant lady.