This is how it's going down. 36 weeks 6 days.

Friday, May 28, 2010.

I get off work at 5:00, right after I set my Out of Office Assistant to read: "Thank you for your email. I am currently out on maternity leave. Please contact Ann in my absence." I just have a feeling that today is the day.

Throughout the day I noticed my belly tightening up pretty regularly, so when I get home I start timing the sensations and lo and behold they are contractions that are 10 minutes apart! So I go about my business, making cookies for the nurses who will be taking care of me at the hospital (have to butter them up so they don't tear up my birth plan!), making sure my bag is packed, tidying up the house. Contractions continue but aren't bad, so I go to bed to rest up. I wake up around 6:00am, and wow! The contractions are now four minutes apart! Off to the hospital we go!

Then I labor for about 2 hours, and suddenly it's time to push! My doctor is there to deliver the baby because I went into labor before she did - hooray! Zoey comes out after four pushes and she's perfect. Labor was a breeze - let's do this again next weekend! Then everyone comes to visit on this lovely Saturday afternoon.

I can dream, can't I? :)

Is that a hand poking out? 36 weeks 4 days

On Tuesday I had my first weekly doctor appointment and thus my first exam. I've been advised not to have exams done until absolutely necessary (39-40 weeks) because they can cause infections and because if any progress has been made then you tend to get overly excited for no reason. I agreed to the exam because, well, I'm impatient and excited and was really curious to see if I had made any progress. And good news! I'm 1cm dilated and 60% effaced! And now I'm really overly excited, and Jimmy even more so. I ask him at least once a week to go on a walk with me and he usually turns me down, but now he wants to go for walks every day to help move things along. Of course we both know it will happen when it's supposed to happen, but we're just so darn excited!

I've been having more of those stabbing cervical pains lately. I'm thinking the more pain, the more progress. The last couple days I've had quite a bit of these sensations so who knows maybe I'm 3cm by now! Sheeyeah, right. I can dream, can't I. I'm still feeling pretty well most of the time. It's getting harder to get comfortable when I sleep and I need help sitting up and tying my shoes sometimes. And today I noticed that my cankles are coming in. My legs and feet feel tight and a bit swollen, but I'm not waddling quite yet. I still haven't felt any contractions but apparently I could still be having them. My stomach does tighten up regularly so I guess this could be pre-labor contractions, they're just undetectable. Pain-free contractions - love it.


I cannot believe I only have three and a half weeks until my due date. It's so weird that Zoey can arrive pretty much any day now. Jimmy and I are so excited we can barely stand it.

• How far along?: 36 weeks
  
• Weight gain: 18 pounds
  
• Maternity clothes: blah. I miss real pants.
  
• Sleep: Lots of tossing and turning and trying to get comfortable and getting up to pee a lot.
  
• Stretch marks: I don't want to talk about it.
  
• Movement: Lots of big, weird movements and the stabbing pains down low and in my legs.
  
• Gender: Girl!!!
  
• Best moment of this week: Hearing I was 1cm dilated on Tuesday!
  
• Food cravings: Nothing notable really. I've actually had some nausea lately and haven't felt very hungry most of the time.
  
• Belly button in or out: In!
  
• What I miss most: Booze and real pants.
  
• What I'm looking forward to: My appointment next Tuesday. Anyone think I can get to 2cm by then? :)

Nighty night!
Ash

Now all I need is a baby. 35 weeks 6 days.

The nursery is all put together. Everything has been washed, sanitized, and organized. All the gear that blinks, shakes, or sings has batteries. We've attended a breastfeeding class and next week we learn about Infant Care for the First Six Weeks of Life. We have two weeks of Bradley classes left. I'm running out of reasons to go to Target. We are so ready for this baby, which means I'm super bored.

I use the term "ready" loosely, because of course you can always use more time in these situations. However I do feel like if I went into labor right now I would feel totally confident in our preparedness. We've been practicing the labor techniques we learned in class, so I feel like we have that down pretty well. The only reason why going into labor now would not be good is because I still have some projects to wrap up at work. My temporary replacement started this past week so I've been working on training her which is taking time away from my being productive in the final weeks. She's really nice and she's been in HR for something like 30 years. I really hope she doesn't do a better job than I do, otherwise they may not want me to come back! Must.. find a way.. to sabotage her...

I've been having those annoying stabbing pains more often. I asked my doctor about them a couple weeks ago and she said it's just the baby moving around, and since space is limited as she gets bigger that's why it's becoming painful. It feels like Zoey is headbutting my cervix, trying to break free! I don't think I've had any more contractions, and if I have then they aren't painful. My stomach does feel awfully tight sometimes so perhaps those are very mild Braxton Hicks contractions. Other than that I'm feeling really good lately. I'm not giant and swollen yet and I still have a good amount of energy. I do get tired pretty early - in fact last night (Friday) I started nodding off at 9:30. How lame am I! I used to be quite the night owl. Now I can't even make it through the local news.

I have a feeling Zoey is going to arrive early. Not really sure why, just a premonition I have. :)

• How far along?: 35 weeks
  
• Weight gain: 17 pounds
  
• Maternity clothes: So tired of the elastic waist bands that go up to my arm pits. I miss my old clothes.
  
• Sleep: I love to sleep, any time of day. I still have to get up two to three times a night to go to the bathroom.
  
• Stretch marks: Oh my god they are coming on fast and furious now. Every time I feel an itch on my belly I know another one is popping up. So very sad. :(
  
• Movement: I get kicked in the ribs pretty often, hiccups are pretty regular, and she likes to stretch and swim around a lot.
  
• Gender: Girl!!!
  
• Best moment of this week: 5:00pm on Friday when I could finally relax! It has been a long week.
  
• Food cravings: I have to have sweets almost daily, other than that nothing notable.
  
• Belly button in or out: In, and doesn't look like it's going anywhere.
  
• What I miss most: Booze. And a stomach free of blemishes.
  
• What I'm looking forward to: My appointment on Tuesday. I think I may have my first internal this week, so here's hoping for some progress!
• Words of wisdom: "There's no hope without dope." -Jake's dad, after I told him I'm having a natural birth