birds on branches

They fly over where the crib will be.  (Where the crib will be when we get the missing parts and finally put it together…but don’t worry, she’s starting out in a cradle in our room, so there’s no rush on the crib.)  It’s a real forest of a room.  If her room were a highschool dance, it would be called “Midwinter Night’s Dream.”

Thank God her room is not a highschool dance.

birds, not yet a mobile

Thanks to Spool for the free pattern.

the tree is on the wall

one month to due date

“My due date is in one month.”

“That’s soon.”

“Then we’re going to have a baby with us, all the time.”

“Yeah.”

Pause.

“I hope that works out ok.”

——-

I’ve decided to just not step on the scale anymore.  I don’t want to know how many pounds I’ve gained.  I feel better not knowing.

I wake up and switch sides every couple of hours.  My hips and butt ache in my sleep, my allergies make my nose stuffy and my throat sore, of course I have to go to the bathroom, and then sometimes acid reflux wakes me too (has that fact induced me to change my eating habits?  No.  So I can’t complain).

In the daytime, my main complaints are how difficult it is to bend down and then get back up, as, for example, when tying shoes or picking up a dropped pencil.  That, and the pain of stretching ligaments, which is sudden and can make me gasp a little. Oh: and don’t let me forget the achy, swollen hands.  Feet too, but right now the hands are much worse.

I feel more energetic.  I don’t know if the energy is due to my iron levels going back up or due to the fact that I’ve quit work and can take life as easily as I want to.  Not that I’m taking it THAT easy.  Yesterday, while 8 inches of snow blanketed Seattle, DH and I spent six hours deep cleaning the kitchen. Whew.

Our inane birthing class is finished.  My recommendation: instead of the 150 or 200 or whatever the class costs, just get yourself a free library card and promise to spend 10 or 15 hours reading books and watching dvds.  The books I’ve read have been way more informative and empowering than the class was.

Gear decisions have been made.  And re-made.  And made again.  We ended up choosing a Chico infant car seat instead of the  convertible we’d originally chosen, so that we could pop out the seat and carry it places.  This will mean that we’ll have to buy a second car seat at 12 months, so it’s not the thriftiest of decisions.  But maybe eventually we’ll need two seats anyway, a toddler seat and an infant seat, depending on what might happen with a baby #2.

As for diapers, Mom bought us our first dozen bum genius 3.0 one-size diapers, which are adorable.  They are washed and ready to go.  I’m also going to get some old-fashioned cotton prefolds and covers, which are cheaper than bum genius, but not quite as simple.  I bought a bunch of cotton flannel remnants at the fabric store, and I’m cutting them into re-usable cloth diaper wipes.

Instead of buying a sling, I got a long piece of fabric from the discount section (it cost like $10, total) and will try it out as instructed here and here.

I found a great website to help determine what laundry detergents are good to use for baby stuff: http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm.  For now, I’m using the Arm and Hammer for Sensitive Skin, just because it’s sold at the grocery store a few blocks from my house.

And as if I haven’t committed my little sewing machine to enough other projects, now I want to use the leftover quilt fabrics to make a flock of birds.

baby quilt

For size perspective...at the foot of a twin bed.

The back is a little furry with textured hearts.

without the flash...more accurate colors?

The quilt is made with the same fabrics as our tree art project was made with, plus a few extras that I had around.  It has a lot of mistakes that you can see if you look closely…squares not matching up, fabric pulled instead of smooth…but it was my first quilt, and I made it entirely by reading instructions online and figuring things out as I went along, without using any professional tools like a rotary cutter to get things even.  I did a simple “stitch in the ditch” to quilt it together, so it’s nothing fancy.  But it’s warm and cozy.

30 weeks and 2 days; 68 days to go

A couple of nights ago I had a dream that while I was at school one day, babygirl stuck her hand out straight through the left side of my stomach.  It didn’t hurt, it wasn’t bloody — it was like one of those fantasy movie scenes where somone steps through a mirror or wall.  She grabbed onto my finger.  I asked one of my students to take some pictures.  We all thought it was pretty cool.

—

And speaking of movies, sometimes when baby girl is kicking, I feel like I’m in a sci-fi flick, and my body has just been taken over by an alien.

–

Some people know exactly the right things to say: “From the back, you don’t look any different!”  “You look beautiful.”  Other people, trying to show their enthusiasm, could do better: “Ooohhhh…getting bigger!” (Thanks for pointing that out, as if I don’t feel huge enough already.)

–

“How’s the baby?”

I don’t know.  I’ll ask her when I see her and get back to you.

–

We’re halfway done painting babygirl’s room.  It’s a little limey.  But I like it.  It feels brighter and cleaner than before. (Postscript: After two coats, the green walls next to the dark wood trim look like a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream…)

–

My blood test results last week indicate that I have very low iron (29 when it should be 35, though I don’t know what those numbers mean, exactly).  I’m feeling it, too.  The last week, I’ve had a couple of headaches and a lot of bone weariness.  The worst part has been the breathlessness, though.  Lecturing in class, going up and down stairs, swimming, even just prepping the walls to paint today: I lose my breath and have to stop. I’m taking my iron pills, with vitamin C to help absorption, and I’m trying to eat iron rich foods every day.  I wonder how long it will take to build my levels back up.

–

Reading Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth is probably the most empowering thing I’ve done in my pregnancy.  It’s making me feel much more prepared for giving birth.

crafts

We finished our wall art project today!  I’ll post a picture of the whole tree once it’s up on the wall, in a couple of weeks, but here’s a preview…

applique

In preparation for our ambitious wall art project for babygirl’s room, I’ve been doing a little practice appliqueing.  A pillow, a fleece baby hat with a little appliqued heart.

Babysized things are adorable no matter what.

Here are some awkwardly taken pictures of the belly.

nursery colors

So, we’re not really doing an all-out nursery…just cleaning out the room across the hall and putting a borrowed crib in it, basically.  But we are, as I said, going to attempt some wall art, and if I’m ambitious enough, I might also make a little quilt.  Here are our “colors”:

And here’s a site with very basic instructions for an infant quilt.

bring on the pink

Highlights of the fourth and fifth months.

Over Labor Day weekend, we traveled south to meet our first niece four days after her entrance into the world. I half expected the baby in my womb to leap when I met Giana, but I guess the cousins aren’t quite that bonded (or spiritual) yet. While we were there, my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law threw us a surprise shower with all the extended family, and we got our first onesies and plush toy and blanket. Not to mention the petit fours.

The most eye-opening aspect of our trip was watching Jack with his 20 month old nephew. Jack was totally taken with him. I’ll show you the video to prove it. I’m now a little worried that after our baby is born, I’m never going to get any attention from him because he’s going to be so enthralled with baby girl!

A few days after our trip, we saw our baby for the first time. The ultrasound was way more interesting than I thought, from my vast knowledge of ultrasound scenes in movies, that it would be. And, the moment I had been dreading — the moment of shockingly cold goo squirted on my stomach – wasn’t dreadful at all. The goo was warm.

You don’t just get to see your baby. You get to see every part of your baby. There’s the head, the spine, the heart pumping away. There’s the stomach, the bladder, the arms, the legs, the hands, the feet, the nose, the mouth. And then there it all is again from a different angle. And see those three dots? That means you’ve got a girl.

We didn’t cry, we just smiled and felt happy and nervous and made Juno references.

Two nights ago, we were in bed, probably eating frozen blueberries – either that or cookie dough – and probably watching the first season of Get Smart – either that or the new JJ Abrams show – and baby girl was kicking up a storm (she moves a lot when I eat chocolate, so it was probably the cookie dough). I put Jack’s hand on my belly, and a few minutes later she gave one of her hardest kicks to date, shocking both of us a little bit. His first chance to feel her move.

Yesterday I made what was, I think, my first purchase for the girl. A cradle. A wooden craig’s list cradle. Baby girl will sleep in it in our room for the first couple of months. I probably didn’t bargain hard enough for it, but I still saved at least fifty percent off the price of a new one. Here’s the craig’s list picture:

And, I’ve found my inspiration for any nursery decorating we do. I’ll admit, I’m not proud that it’s a pottery barn inspiration, but there you have it.

But I’m not buying this. Jack and I are taking it on as our next arts and crafts project. We’re going to make it, and we’re going to make it better. For instance, check out the bird in their tree. It’s got horns! Our tree is going to have an owl instead. And no apples. Maybe pears. We’ll see. Apples are soooo one hundred years ago.

I’ll try to scan the ultrasound pic, and post it as well as a picture of my little belly soon.