Big

I feel big. Just... big.

Last night I decided to try on my troupe bellydance costume and make the necessary size adjustments before the show. Ho-ly cow. I knew I'd gained weight in my hips. And they've spread out some. I'm 38 weeks pregnant. This is normal. But inches? Plural? Whoa.

How my belt fits now - hooks are on the very ends of the pieces, though it *does* meet (thank goodness!)

The difference. Inches. The finger on the right is pointing to where the hooks attached back in May. Finger on the left indicates where they attach now. Yep, bit of a difference.

Practicing

"Pregnant" Doodle, practicing

In preparation for our homebirth, we've talked a lot with Doodle about the birth process and how things will go. We've even shown her some birth videos (with a running dialogue between Mama and Doodle all the while) to help her understand that it's okay when Mamas make noise. Things like that. I guess we're in the Open and Honest Explanation category when it comes to explaining birth.

Doodle seems to be processing all this birthy info really well. In fact, she has been practicing giving birth for the past three days. This is typically how it goes:

She shoves a baby up her shirt then tells me "I have a baby soon!"
She stands there for a second, then starts saying "Oh! Ohh! Baby's comin'!" as she pushes the baby down.
Baby comes out of her shirt, Doodle catches it.
She brings the baby up to her chest and starts making cute cooing "Ohhh, hi baby!" sounds.
She holds baby out to me, stating "Baby's messy."
I pretend to wipe off the baby while I tell her congratulations and that her baby is beautiful.
She holds the baby for a few seconds then tells me "Baby needs milk." Depending on her mood, she'll pretend to nurse the baby or she'll insist that I need to "because mama has big milk boobies."

I think she's ready for the big show.

Shazadi Soiree, Oct. 2nd

Because I just realized that I haven't posted info on the upcoming bellydance show...


...here ya go. I'm hoping to perform in three choreographies in this show, so if you want to see an immensely pregnant woman (39 weeks!) dancing a lot, come see the show!

Home Visit (37w3d)

Today our wonderful midwife Melissa came to our house for The Home Visit. I was excited to finally see her, as it'd been nearly five weeks since we'd met (I saw her midwifery partner for our last appointment). Oddly, I was nervous about the home visit. Nervous! I mean, really. She's been to my house before. She's helped with the birth of my child in my house before. Yet I was nervous that somehow my house wouldn't meet her approval? Yes, preggy logic strikes again.

The appointment went well. Very chill. Belly is measuring normal, my pee is good (though I seem to be perpetually spilling sugars... grrr). Still no internal exams, so no official numbers to offer up as to my cervical status. I know you're bummed. Tough. ;-) I told Melissa I've had pinchy cervical twinges off and on, and she said "Good!" I also told her that 1-2x/day I've had an actual contraction that feels labor-ish and makes me stop what I'm doing and pay attention. Her reply: "Great!" She's encouraged that my body seems to be getting ready, but also seems to be in no rush. Hooray for me.

Added bonus of the home visit: we now have drop cloths and chux pads and an inflatable kiddie pool at the ready for labor. I already have baby clothes laundered, towels at the ready, and the house is probably more tidy than it's been in a LONG time.

Now all we need is 1) J to come home, 2) me to complete my last few pre-delivery obligations of teaching and, hopefully, performing in the bellydance show coming up. Then baby gets the all clear and we're ready to go!

37 weeks

Some awful belly self-portraits taken in the mirror this morning. 37 weeks, 2 days. Officially to term, and our midwife can attend our homebirth from here on out.

Still feeling mostly good most of the time. Sitting is becoming uncomfortable because little one takes it as a cue to stretch out in my ribs. Other than that, all is well. We have our midwife home visit tomorrow and will get all of the birth supplies from her then(!). This pregnancy has really flown by. It's crazy.

We can do it! (I hope...)

Today marks the start of what may end up being a very VERY long week. You see, J will be spending the next week on the far side of the country from us, doing big collaborative things with his data and an awesome bunch of people. This trip is really a great thing. It's a wonderful opportunity for J to get help with analyzing a metric shit-ton of data while networking and schmoozing and being Mr. Independent PhD Student. It will help him A LOT.

The only drawbacks: I teach this week (meaning some creative Doodle-juggling is in the works), and I'm 37 weeks pregnant. So I'm tired exhausted most of the time, becoming progressively less comfortable by the day, and am totally stressing about all the things I need to get done *NOW*. Or yesterday, really.

At least today went well. We'd planned a big full day of a newborn-wearing sling tutorial followed by errand-running, more errand-running, grading and a midwife home visit. We ended up lounging, relaxing, coloring, doing minor errand-running, texting J a lot, and chillin' with the FanClub. Doodle had a couple minor meltdowns which started out as "Ow I smushed my toe" and ended up each time as "I neeeeeeeeed my Paaaaaapaaaaaaa!" But we got through. And now, courtesy of an early wakeup, no nap and fun with the girls this evening, she's asleep 1.5 hours before our usual bedtime. Ahhh, sweet tranquility.

I do have most of my major nesting projects done, so now it's time to buckle down, turn on a DVD (or five) this week and get some more thesis writing done. And grading.

Feel free to send any Mellow-Doodle and Baby Stay Put! vibes our way this week. Hopefully we won't need a lot of them, but you never know.

International Rock Flipping Day

September 20th is International Rock Flipping Day. This is a fun way to explore a part of the outdoors that's often overlooked, and to share what we find. Homeschoolers, this would be a fun project for your kiddos to participate in.

If you're joining in for the first time, here's a quick rundown of the procedure:

• On or about September 20th, find your rock and flip it over.
• Record what you find. "Any and all forms of documentation are welcome: still photos, video, sketches, prose, or poetry."
• Replace the rock as you found it; it's someone's home.*
• Post on your blog, or load your photos to the Flickr group.
• Send Wanderin' Weeta a link (she's coordinating IRFD this year). Her e-mail address is in her blog profile, or you can add a comment to any IRFD post.
• She will collect the links, e-mail participants the list, and post it for any and all to copy to your own blogs. (Maybe we can Tweet it, too, this year. Use the hashtag #rockflip.)

There is a handy badge available for your blog, here.

* A reminder to all rock flippers that rocks should be flipped back into place. If there are critters underneath, don't place the rock back on top of them, move the animals to the side, replace the rock and let them scurry back.

Thanks to Bug Girl for alerting me to this fun exercise in nerdery.

Hope to see you flippin' rocks on the 20th!

Ooh, great idea!

I'm so curious to see what this newest little person will look like... time to go make some Punnett squares?