Dad's first post

The Finish Line

39 weeks!

+27 lbs (8lbs gained in last 2 weeks)

0 stretchmarks - night before delivery

7 hours before we leave for hospital

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds. See and track where it all began - http://www.babycenter.com/mybabycenter/103.html

It's Heebie Jeebie Thursday!

I'm a mess - so many mixed emotions, one of them being utter FEAR, I'm not gonna lie. Here are some factors/realizations that may make me barf before the end of the day:

No food or drink tomorrow - I don't think I am even allowed to eat, but if I am, it's hospital cafeteria food. Heard they serve up a mean placenta!

Enemas - I'm hoping we can skip this entirely. If they ask I will nicely decline. Not going there. No. No. No.

Catheters - mmm I get one in my spine and one in my bladder. Maybe they can insert more in my eyeballs while they're at it.

IV - I hate that they stab it into the top of your hand or wrist, and then it's in the way all day, shooting ice cold meds into your veins.

Magnesium sulfate - if my blood pressure rises during delivery, I get this is my bag. Supposedly causes nausea and audio/visual hallucinations.

Nausea - I hope and pray I am not one of those that throws up throughout labor. I can not handle puking on top of everything else going on. Just shoot me.

Stripping of membranes/breaking my water - just does not sound pleasant. I'm sure this will be one of the times where they say something like "okay just relax for a minute, you're going to feel a little poke."

The afterbirth - yikes. I don't want to see it, smell it, hear it, nothing. I'll just focus on my beautiful little baby's face.

The epidural - woo boy. I HATE needles, especially big ones in the spine that feel like electricution. And then sometimes it falls out and has to be reinserted, or sometimes it just doesn't take and you feel everything anyway. No wonder many women decide to go without, BUT -

Contractions - so I've heard them compared to anything from intense mentrual cramps to the worst Charlie Horse you've ever known to your abdomen losing in a fight against a great white shark. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

The Ring of FIRE - episiotomy vs. tear. I can't even think about this without breaking into a sweat. Just google 4th degree tears and recovery if you really want to know.

Failed induction ---> Cesarean Birth - so after all is said and done, my body could just stall and fail to progress. Off to the operating table and under the knife I go.

Mia's health - I've wondered what if the cord is around her neck? What if she inhales meconium into her lungs? What if? What if? What if? Bleh.

So anyway, as you can see, I'm just a little nervous. I keep reminding myself though that women have been doing this for a long time now. Everything is going to be fine. I just have to stay positive and focus on the end result. I can breathe through it. Cry through it. Laugh through it. This is going to be the best day of my life.

And man, Pete is so darn excited right now, it's very cute. So far this morning I have seen him break out into song and dance twice. He says tomorrow will be like the best Christmas ever. I say it will be like the best Christmas ever, except with a little side of torture before opening the most incredible gift of all.

3 Days

Here she comes! In her palanquin

On the back of an elephant

On a bed made of linen and sequins and silk

- The Decemberists, "The Infanta"

Happy Hour

Nesting

Pete took apart the house this weekend! He's been organizing and reorganizing and putting this here and that over there. He's made 2 Home Depot trips, replaced drains and put up shelving in closets. I've been trying to help sort through some old, yet unpacked boxes, but the belly I think grew even more since last night's Soho Sushi/Marble Slab outing, so I was instructed to go sit. All the moving around though kind of kicks little contractions in, so I feel like I should not be sitting - jumping jacks, maybe?

It's going to be a busy week, which is perfect because I think this may be the slowest week of my life, slower than the week before our wedding and the week before we left for Italy. I need to have something to do every hour of every day, or I think I might lose it. I'm banning myself from watching A Baby Story this week. No more of that. We're making some freezer meals to stuff the fridge with, that way we have things to simply thaw and serve after we get home from the hospital. So far we've come up with baked ziti, turkey chili, shephard's pie, baked cheesey chicken and broccoli rice, Mama Lori Nuffer's enchiladas and Pete's ridiculously-awesome Bolognese sauce, which you can spoon onto anything for instant artery-clogging gratification.

Full Moon

Tonight is a full moon! Here's to hoping its gravitational pull will send me into labor naturally. Don't know if it's an urban legend, but supposedly hospitals overstaff their labor and delivery areas on days of full moons and impending storms. Come on Mia, we know we only have 5 days left, but I'm getting antsy!