The one where the due date is showing up in the 14-day weather forecast...

38 weeks, yahoo!

It's been an interesting few days. For most of the end of last week, I just worked my little bum off trying to get the house ready for Ladybird's arrival. Remember the previous post and what her room looked like? Well, when we left the house on Monday, here's how it looked:
























The view from the doorway. The stroller will obviously go into the trunk of the car and will be replaced by a rocking chair in that corner.



















Dresser/change table.
The top drawer contains all her newborn and 0-3 month sleepers.
The middle drawer contains the rest of her sleepers up to 12 months.
The bottom drawer currently contains only extra diaper inserts and the cupboard has all her diapers - clean, dried, stuffed, and ready to go!
























The closet. Oh, the closet. There was no picture of the closet in the last post and be thankful for that. This ... this was my project. It took me what felt like forever to organize. But there it is - the fruits of my labour and I'm so happy that it's mostly done. I still have some laundry that's in the dryer needing to be put away and two small loads to do later, but for the most part - it's DONE.



















And, lastly, her crib.
I forgot to take a photo of her cradle - it's in our room, all put together and ready for her. I'll take a picture next time I'm home (when she's in it - eek!)

And, as always, click on any photo to make it larger.

Thank you to Mom for helping me with the laundry, Joe for putting the dresser together, Laura for helping to bring stuff in, Boydo for painting and putting the crib together, and me for organizing the hell out of all that baby stuff.

Shout it from the rooftops, people!
HER ROOM IS READY FOR HER!!

There are obviously things that we're still waiting on (baby monitor, mobile, wall hangings, etc.) but I just love knowing that all the important stuff is squared away and organized.

Now, after a good three days of straight working (seriously, working until the wee hours of the morning, getting maybe 4 or 5 hours of sleep, and starting again) I'm back at my mom's house until Ladybird makes her arrival. This, of course, means I have nothing to do. It's such a drastic change, but I know I should really sit back and enjoy it. So, I'll try.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and another class tonight. My appointment last week went well. The doctor checked me and said that my cervix was still very high, but it felt like it was thinning quite nicely and I was about 1cm dilated. I chose not to have a check this time around because that one was borderline painful and I don't really think I've progressed enough to go through that again. The higher the doctor reached, the higher I climbed the table. It was not very nice. Boyd was able to make it to the appointment yesterday which was great! He hadn't been able to get to any appointments since the first one (besides the ultrasound, of course) so it was really nice for him to be there, meet the midwife, and hear Ladybird's heartbeat again :)

Aside from all that, nothing is new! Now we just play the waiting game. Ah, the waiting game sucks - let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos! Ladybird's baby updates seem to becoming more about me than her since she's pretty much ready to go, but let's see what's going on in there anyway!



















Most babies around this gestational age weigh about 6.8-7lbs. I asked the doctor what her guess might be and she said since I'm measuring pretty much right on track (so, average) that she weighs about 6.5-7lbs. Sounds good! All Ladybird's organs are in place and ready to go except her lungs, which are still developing and maturing. It will even take a few hours after birth for her to establish a proper breathing pattern. One website tells me that her eyes have no tear ducts and that those develop a few weeks after birth! How very interesting!

The one where Ladybird is done cooking

37 weeks on Monday means that Ladybird is officially full term. This means she can come anytime now and not be considered a preemie.




















It also means that I'm gigantic! I'm curious to see how much bigger I can possibly get in the next two and a half weeks. (And yes, I found and unpacked my camera cord - yippee!)

I have a lot going on right now and I'm just trying to take it easy as much as I can. It's really hard to do that, though. I have some personal/family stresses that I'm dealing with right now (nothing that I will post about) in addition to just trying to find some sort of semblance of routine in my life so I can not go insane when Ladybird makes her arrival. Right now, this is the bane of my existence:




















See the walls? Still the same as when we moved in. See her stuff? Either still packed or strewn about the room. See this room? Driving Lisa insane.

Countless people have said things like "it's okay, she won't care that her room isn't ready" or "all a baby needs is food and a place to sleep" just to try and make me feel better. Don't say that to me because it makes me feel worse. I know she won't care. She's a newborn. I know she doesn't need a whole slew of stuff. I get that. I need her room done and organized for me. Anyone who knows me knows that I am organized. I need organization in my life. I know when she arrives, I won't have time for getting organized. I know life will be turned upside-down when she gets here and the last thing I want is to be living in a house where everything is upside-down as well. I absolutely do not want to have all her stuff still in boxes or strewn about when she gets here. I don't want to be digging through boxes or piles, looking for something, while she's crying in my arms. Oh, here Ladybird, let me put you down on the floor amongst all this stuff while I desperately search for a new sleeper/diaper/pack of wipes/burp cloth/whatever I need at the moment. Yeah, no thanks.

Thankfully, it's on its way to being done. Boyd primed the walls last night and has one more coat of paint to do today. Mom came by on the weekend and we got all her newborn and 0-3 month clothes washed and dried. I washed and dried all her diapers so those are good to go. I'm hoping that by Monday the room will be ready - not decorated and pretty, but at least functional and organized. That's all I need. And I need it by Monday because that's when I head back to Antigonish and will not be coming back home here until Ladybird is with us.

I'm off to my mom's tonight for the first of my childbirth classes and a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. So, on that note, I need to get up and moving. We'll end with Ladybird's 37 week baby update to see what's new!
















Yep, we made it to the watermelon. Most of her lanugo (fur coat) has disappeared now as well as the vernix caseosa. She'll swallow them (gross, Ladybird) and store them in her bowels for her first BM after birth. Awesome, thanks. Most babies have their heads cradled in the pelvic cavity by this point. I'm not sure if she's dropped or not, so I'm guessing she hasn't. She is basically ready to go at this point, but is still just growing and developing in there while she waits to come out - she's refining her sucking, inhaling, blinking, etc. and putting on weight.

The one where Lisa promises she didn't forget about this blog...

Better late than never, right?

We're at the 36 week mark and only have about three and a half weeks left until Ladybird's due date. We've still been very very busy over here at the new house so that doesn't really help with the whole "OMG she's coming SOON!" extravaganza. Keeping busy always just makes time fly and, right now, I don't like that! I still have a ton of stuff to do and I really would like it done before the baby arrives. I've had countless people tell me that it's no big deal and that the baby won't notice if nothing is done when she arrives. Well, yeah. She'll be a newborn - she'll barely know that she's human. I'll notice, though, and if I don't get it all done before she arrives then I won't have time once she's here because, ya know, I'll be taking care of a newborn. I just like having some type of routine and I know a newborn throws all routine out the window. I can't even imagine how it's going to be when she arrives and I hadn't even had a routine to begin with. I was really hoping for a few weeks of normalcy before she arrived just for my own sanity's sake. I'm jealous of all those people who have everything washed and prepared and the nursery all finished and who get to relax in their last few weeks of pregnancy. Not me. Ugh. It doesn't help that I'm huge and sore, so even trying to get things done takes twice as long as it should. I'm never moving across the country and buying a house when pregnant ever again!

Ladybird, however, is faring through all of this just fine. I can feel her getting bigger and bigger and sometimes I feel like she's just going to bust out of the front of my stomach, haha. That's not the way out, kiddo! She still moves around quite a bit but not as often as before. I find she has a big movement spell in the morning when I get out of bed, another one late afternoon/early evening, and usually as I'm trying to go to sleep at night. Obviously she moves around more throughout the day, but those seem to be the big ones where I'm uncomfortable because I have a full size baby moving around inside me. She still stretches out a lot and it's still hilarious. She hasn't dropped yet and I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not. On one hand, it'll be great to breathe again and not feel that pressure on my ribs, but on the other hand I'm already dealing with lots of pelvic pain and I'm not sure how much more I can take once she's further down there! It's so funny to think that she's basically just a regular ol' baby in there now. I'm so curious to see what she looks like now. I imagine much less Skeletor-like :) As much stuff as there is to finish up around here, I really can't wait to meet her. The hospital will only let me go to 41 weeks before they induce (not 42 like I had thought/hoped), so I guess she'll begin her journey out by October 18th? We'll see! Everyone is convinced that she's going to come early - everyone except me of course.

Anyhow, the sun has finally made an appearance outside after a few days of being away, so it's giving me a bit of an energy boost to get some things done! We'll leave with a baby update to see what's new in Ladybird's neck of the womb!


















Ladybird weighs about 6lbs now and is pretty much the same in length (anywhere between 18 and 20 inches long). Her face has filled out now and is smooth and plump! She continues to store fat and her knees and elbows have started dimpling because of the fat deposits. Cute! Her skull is nice and firm, but not hard to allow her to come through the birth canal. The amniotic fluid has reached its max in there and apparently the placenta now weighs about a pound itself!

The one with 33 days left... AAAAAAH!!

So busy.
Blog update short.
Me Tarzan, you Jane.



















35 week baby update! Ladybird is the size of ... well, the size of a baby! She's approximately 5 and a half pounds and about 20ish inches long. Her body parts start protruding when she moves and stretches (I say as her entire butt is sticking up and making me lop-sided), her kidneys are fully developed, and her liver is producing waste products. She's even started to develop her own immune system at this point. Hooray!

The one where Ladybird could be an infomercial product...

Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. Shipping and handling not included.

Yes, Monday marked 34 weeks pregnant so we have six weeks left until her due date! Hooray! I enjoy that now when people ask when I'm due, it's easier to just say "six weeks" instead of "October". It sounds a lot sooner that way too and people don't make that face like gee, you're a whale if you're not due until October. Six weeks til she's due ... eight weeks until she's way overdue ... it's all coming nice and quickly!

I had an appointment at the hospital today and met with with one of the two midwives there. I really like how the hospital here does things. Apparently it's the only one in Canada that works as a collaborative practice - the midwives and the obstetricians work together as a team rather than separately. It makes me happy because I was really hoping to see a midwife when I moved home, but was told by the NS midwife society (or whatever) that they couldn't see me since I was coming home so late in my pregnancy. Anyhow, it was a great appointment. The midwife was super friendly and very thorough. Everything is still going really well with me and the baby. She's still head down (hooray!) but I do still feel her kicking my right side quite often, so I asked if she might be diagonal. The midwife could easily feel her moving around on that side and asked if Boyd was tall haha. So, she must be all stretched out! So much for the fetal position.

After my appointment with the midwife, I went to my appointment at the Open Arms clinic, which is a family clinic located in the hospital. It was really nice and informative. They gave us a brief tour of the birthing area and said we can come back as many times as we want, so we'll go back again so Boyd can see it all. Aside from not having any bathtubs (boourns!) it all looked and sounded very nice. I think it's going to be a really relaxed and positive atmosphere - plus, I can bring my own snacks and Boyd will have a cot to sleep on in my room. Bonus :)

Now I'm just trying desperately to survive the hottest day on record here in Nova Scotia without ripping anyone's head off. I'm absolutely melting and pretty miserable. It's been a crazy hot week and we won't see any relief until the weekend when Hurricane Earl heads our way. It worries me a bit, since the oceans are SO warm and he's a category 4 right now. Hopefully we won't have much damage! Tomorrow we're moving a few things into the new house and removing some wallpaper to get the dining room ready for painting this weekend. We closed yesterday and got our keys - it's all so exciting! I just can't wait to get in there and get my life routine back on track!

It's too hot to even be on my computer (the heat from the laptop on my wrists is actually driving me CRAZY) so we'll wrap this up with a baby update to see what my stretchy little lady is up to this week!



















Ladybird is about 18 inches long (woah!) and just under 5lbs now! She's huge! She's getting rounder and fatter to help regulate her body temperature when she comes out. Her hearing is fully developed so she can hear me bitching and complaining about this heat. Her central nervous system is still maturing but her lungs are almost fully developed now. She's starting to shed her lanugo (remember her fur coat?) but her vernix caseosa (cheesy substance) is increasing. 99% of babies born at this point would survive outside the womb with no major problems. Yippee!