Baby Norah Is Here!!!

On Thursday, May 19th at 2:45 in the morning, Norah Claire Galloway arrived weighing 8 pounds, 4.5 ounces and measuring 2o and a half inches long. I will post all about it in a couple days. For now, enjoy a few pictures of our sweet baby girl!

40 Weeks Pregnant...No Baby Yet!

Oh, my God, I have a PLANET attached to me. Ok, Norah, you can come out now!

I know it was only a few days ago when I said that I really wasn’t that anxious to be done with pregnancy just yet, but now I’m ready.

Psychologically, even though I have expected her to come late all along, now that my due date has come and gone I find myself wondering what’s taking so long.

Physically, I’ve been feeling different in the past few days.

Braxton-Hicks are continuing to get stronger and more frequent.

Norah’s kicking and stretching is sometimes painful. At night, even when it doesn’t hurt it’s annoying.

I keep crying over nothing. I cried in the middle of Target last week because we couldn’t decide on which blinds to buy and my feet hurt.

I’m tired. I don’t feel like doing much of anything, and even when I sleep late I still sometimes take a nap in the afternoon.

My belly is itchy and feels like it can’t stretch any more.

I have random annoying aches and pains.

That pretty much covers my list of complaints. Norah is just getting too big for this!

At today’s appointment, we found out that Norah’s head is still not engaged, and there isn’t much I can do to get her to move down. It just takes time. The midwives don’t do pelvic exams unless you ask them to, so I don’t know if I’m dilated at all or not. They don’t do it because it can introduce bacteria, and it doesn’t tell you much. They’ve had a mother who was walking around at 5 centimeters for two weeks, and they’ve had women who weren’t dilated at all and then gave birth within 48 hours. I don’t want to know, because it would probably either disappoint me or give me a false sense of hope. I feel like Norah and I are slowly but surely heading in the right direction. Other than that, I’ll just have to wait and see what happens. She has to come out sometime. I just hope it isn’t at 42 weeks in a hospital after having been medically induced.

I guess one good sign is that when we arrived for the appointment, we could hear a baby crying and learned that there had just been a birth a couple of hours earlier. The midwives are always telling us that for whatever unknown reason, their clients always seem to give birth in clusters. We also ate Chinese for lunch and Travis’s fortune cookie said that we would be surprised by a long time friend. J It didn’t say when, though.

After the appointment I felt weird. Kind of nauseous and hungry. Several weeks ago when I felt that way our Bradley instructor told me it was probably a hormonal shift. I think that’s what it was this time, too, especially since I then broke down in tears for no reason. Again. Hopefully this is also a sign of impending labor.

I felt better as soon as we got home and I could get some food in my stomach and open a fun package that had arrived: the last six diapers we had ordered! Norah’s stash is now complete. And completely adorable.

Getting Ready For Norah

Our bags are packed. Norah’s bag is packed. Our cooler full of (nonperishable) food is packed.

Our house is almost clean.

ALL of the laundry is done.

I’ve gone slightly OCD labeling things and typing out instructions on how to wash the diapers, etc., so that whoever does the housework while I’m recovering will know exactly what to do.

I think that about covers it. We’re ready. Bring on the bébé.

DUE DATE BONUS BLOG!

Here is a video tour of the nursery! If you click the icon in the bottom right corner, you can watch it full screen!

Enjoy!!!

39 Weeks Pregnant

The stretch marks are taking over!!!! AAAAHHHH!

As I write this “39 week blog” I actually only have three days until my due date! Sorry it’s another late one.

I am finally done with all of my lessons and recitals for the year! Both recitals went really well. I feel like I’m an awkward public speaker, but I guess I did ok. My students did a great job, too. Now I can relax a bit and focus on all of the last minute preparations for Norah! I still think she won’t be here for another week or more, so I’m planning on doing a 40 week blog. I might also do one or two bonus video blogs before then if I can figure out how to edit and upload them.

Norah’s pretty much just hanging out in there and putting on more weight at this point! I’ve been advised not to eat too many carbs and sugars, since they make babies put on unneeded weight. I’m trying, but those are some of my favorite foods!

I did notice that Norah seems to have a new trick! Or at least one I couldn’t feel until now. I’m pretty sure I have felt her practicing breathing a couple of times! I was lying on my side, and I could just feel constant up-down movements on the side where her back is. It was very cool.

This week’s appointment was pretty uneventful, as usual – I guess I should count that as a positive thing! I am measuring 37 centimeters now, and my weight was 140 lbs., which is slightly less than I weighed two weeks ago. Amy didn’t say anything about it, so I guess that’s normal. I’ve heard that after 38 weeks or so some women stop gaining. The heartbeat is still great, of course. The most interesting piece of news, which really isn’t news at all, is that Norah’s head is not yet “engaged,” meaning it probably isn’t low enough in my pelvis for labor to begin just yet.

I’ve been getting a few questions on a daily basis from people, so I thought I would address them here (even though I don’t mind when people ask).

The first is, “So, are you ready?!”

I don’t know how to answer this question. I guess…mostly?

As far as being prepared, we’re almost there. We still have some things we should do before I’m in labor, like pack our bags! It just hasn’t quite made it to the top of our list. Maybe tonight. I’m going to call the nursery “done enough.” It still needs blinds and a curtain, and I am planning to make some sort of mobile to hang over the crib. I bought most of the supplies.

The mental/emotional readiness is also still in progress for me. I think Travis is more ready than I am. Isn’t it usually the other way around? As I said in a previous blog, I think the trick is to not think too far ahead – to take things one step at a time. Am I ready to be a parent for the rest of my life? Or am I even ready to handle parenting a toddler? I’m not sure of those. But I feel ready to deal with the immediate future, which is taking care of a newborn. Everything else will fall into place when the time comes.

The next question – or comment, really – is related to the first one: “You must be just dying to get her out of there!”

No, not really. I’m excited to meet her and all, but I’m still quite content being pregnant. I’ve enjoyed it, and I’ve been lucky to have such an easy pregnancy thus far. I do have my moments, like when I can’t put my own socks on, or find anything to wear, or get up off the couch without help, or when Braxton-Hicks contractions and a full bladder wake me up in the middle of the night, sometimes three times. But I’m not constantly uncomfortable or anything, and I still like feeling and watching her move, and I like my basketball belly, even though the stretch marks aren’t pretty.

Lastly, “How will I know when you’re in labor?”

Well…you might not. Sorry. :-/

It kind of depends on how things progress, but here is our plan.

When it is apparent that labor has begun, we will inform the midwives. We will stay at home until contractions are 4 or 5 minutes apart, or until I just feel like things are urgent enough that I should go to the birth center. We will probably call our parents at this point, and they can keep our siblings informed. Depending on how quickly labor progresses once we are at the birth center, we may or may not call our parents again at some point. Everyone else will be informed after Norah is born.

We have a few reasons for only telling close family members when I’m in labor.

Travis is my labor coach. I am going to need his constant presence, support and attention once I’m in hard labor. We don’t want to feel like we have to keep updating everyone throughout the process. I need a low stress environment.

Labor could last for 24 hours or even longer. I don’t want to feel like people are waiting on me, otherwise I won’t be able to relax.

We aren’t planning on having any visitors at the birth center. We want some time to bond with our baby and let our new parenthood sink in. When we come home, which could be anywhere between two and 12 hours after the birth, we will be ready to have everyone come over and visit.

I really hope I’m not coming across as rude. I am really excited for everyone to meet baby Norah! I just know that we will probably be tired and emotional and will want to spend every minute together staring at and cuddling with our new daughter.

Last Thursday was our final baby shower! It was thrown by all the teachers at Travis’s school, and was a combined shower for us and for one of the gym teachers and his wife, whose baby is due at the beginning of June. It was so nice! We got some diapers we had registered for, some more adorable clothes, and some other very cute and useful things, plus some money and gift cards! We sure have been thoroughly showered in the past few months! We’ve hardly had to buy anything! THANK YOU SOOO MUCH EVERYONE!

Sunday was my first Mother’s Day! I wasn’t sure if it counted, but I got cards and gifts from a few people, which was really nice! Travis made me a really sweet card telling me how proud he is of me for taking such good care of Norah for the past nine months, and for all the research I’ve done on everything. J

Getting Ready for Norah

We’ve actually gotten a lot done in the past week!

We got oil changes for both of our cars, and of course they check the fluids and tires and all too, so we shouldn’t have to worry about any car problems in the near future.

We also got the car seat inspected. They said Travis did a wonderful job installing it! We have another base to put in my car, but we haven’t done it yet because we probably won’t need it right away.

Norah has a little baby book that we filled out the other night. There are family trees for both sides, questions about us, and questions about the pregnancy. We’ve almost filled out everything we can before she’s born (there are other sections on her birth story and milestones throughout the first year), but we still need to add a few pictures.

I’ve finished sewing the changing table cover and the crib skirt. As I mentioned, there are a couple more nursery projects I’d like to do. Travis is also still working on his little paintings.

Travis’s parents brought us the cradle that they used for their three children. It’s a really nice wooden one that kind of swings from side to side instead of being on rockers. We’re going to put it next to our bed and Norah will probably sleep there for a few months.

Yesterday I sterilized all of the baby bottles, pacifiers, breast pump parts, and nasal aspirators. J We probably won’t use the bottles until we go to Pennsylvania next month, but I think you only have to sterilize them once, and after that you can just wash them with dish soap. Let me know if I’m wrong about that. You are supposed to sterilize the nasal aspirators after each use, which seems like a pain.

I also finished washing all of Norah’s new clothes and diapers. I had ordered a diaper cover and several inserts from www.nickisdiapers.com, and they came in the mail yesterday so I decided to go ahead and wash them all. I wanted to wait until they were all here so I could do them all at once because you’re supposed to wash and rinse them several times before you use them, otherwise they won’t absorb very well. First I boiled the hemp inserts (twice) because I heard that’s a good way to get the natural oils out of them, then I put all the diapers through a hot prewash with vinegar, a heavy duty wash with just a little detergent, a rinse with more vinegar, and a second rinse with just water. Hopefully that did the trick!

Travis installed the diaper sprayer in the closest bathroom to Norah’s room, so we can spray off the grossness into the toilet.

And finally…SURPRISE!! Here are some photos of the nursery!

38 Weeks Pregnant

Only two weeks till the due date! I wanted to get this blog up sooner to make up for last week, but yesterday and today were both pretty busy…sorry! I also wish I wasn't wearing the same outfit two weeks in a row...hopefully no one cares. :-)

We got home from our final Bradley class around 9:00 last night, and then I couldn’t stay awake for another minute. All day today I was working on preparations for one of the recitals I had scheduled for my students. (Half of them were in tonight’s recital, the other half will play in next Tuesday’s recital.) I had this great idea to make three different kinds of cookies to put in goody bags for each kid, but when you procrastinate and end up doing all of that in one day, it’s a big job, especially when you have to go out and buy ingredients and cute bags to put the cookies in. I also had to make certificates for them, which Travis ended up pretty much doing for me, and I had to alter the top I wanted to wear, etc. etc. The recital went really well, though!

Baby Norah is still growing, I’m sure, but my belly measurements have stayed the same this week. As predicted, she has started to descend into my pelvis, which is pretty exciting! I definitely feel like she is lower. I told Amy that sometimes when she moves I feel crampy in the lower part of my belly, and she said that’s a good sign that things are moving in the right direction! I seem to be having even more Braxton-Hicks now, and sometimes they’re stronger than usual.

I didn’t get to weigh myself at this week’s appointment because we were in a different room (there was another appointment going on in the usual exam room), so I don’t know what I weigh this week. I don’t mind. J

The only other piece of news from the appointment is that I am Strep B negative. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if I was positive, but it’s nice not to have to worry about it.

I got my oral Vitamin K in the mail, and I am to take a drop a day to give Norah a boost while she’s still in utero, and then I’ll keep taking it for some unknown length of time so it will be in my milk. I think Norah is supposed to get a drop soon after birth, another at one week, and another at one month.

Someone bought the 5-W from us! Yay! I’m really glad our money wasn’t wasted, and neither were the pills.

Travis’s Aunt Carolyn and cousin Leanne threw us a great baby shower last Saturday! They went crazy with food, decorations, and gifts!!! The cake was so cute – they used a picture of the mural Travis painted on Norah’s wall (which I realize I still haven’t shown you…) and had it airbrushed onto the cake, which was so yummy! Unfortunately, most of it is still in our fridge, and I refuse to eat it. I think Travis might take it to school tomorrow.

Anyway, we got lots of CUTE outfits and other stuff we needed. Travis’s sister Rachel even got us a Boppy pillow that matches Norah’s room! So I guess my other one will be a spare, or I’ll keep one upstairs and one downstairs or something. We also got lots of diaper money! We’ve already used some of it to get all the diapers (6 of them) that we wanted from www.alvababy.com. I can’t wait to show you our diaper stash! The Alva Baby ones will probably take several weeks to get here since they’re coming from China and the shipping was free. Here, I’ll show you a picture of one of them:

While I’m at it, here’s a photo of a couple of little tiny shirts that Travis screen printed for Norah. So cute!

Our last Bradley class was kind of sad! I can’t believe it’s been three months since we started. We learned so much and feel very well prepared. Mary spent most of the class talking with us about how to handle different situations, such as strangers trying to grab the baby’s hands or pick the baby up, or people staying too long when they visit, or people trying to push their own parenting style onto us. It was good just to start thinking about how we would handle situations like that. I’m not terribly worried about all of that, but we definitely do want to make sure Norah isn’t exposed to too many germs before her system is developed enough to handle it.

Then we spent a few minutes talking about care of a newborn…mostly just feeding, bathing and caring for the umbilical cord. Interesting factoid: you don’t have to rub alcohol on the umbilical cord stump. If you leave it alone, it will actually fall off faster because the bacteria help it to decay. However, if bacteria gross you out, it’s fine to clean it. J We’re going to do a bit more research on that.

At the end of class, we got contact info. from some of our classmates (the ones who didn’t run out the door before we could get to them), and Mary gave us each a goody bag with some free samples of stuff, plus a couple of adorable burp cloths that she made.

As I mentioned, we really feel like our class helped us to feel prepared. My excited emotions are starting to outweigh the apprehensive ones. I’m really not worried about anything going wrong. Sometimes I’m still afraid of the pain, and sometimes I’m totally confident that I can handle it. Hopefully I still have two weeks or so to finish getting myself mentally prepared. I’d like to go into it just feeling excited and ready. We are definitely looking forward to meeting our little Norah!

37 Weeks Pregnant: Full Term!

I’m so sorry this is so late! I’ve never been this late with a blog before. This week has flown by.

I’m full term! Can you believe it? This has gone by SO fast for me – especially the second half or so.

Norah is now gaining weight at a rate of approximately a half ounce per day, and she sure is kicking hard sometimes! She probably weighs over six pounds now. My measurement around the belly is about 40 ¼ inches, and I’ve now passed the 140 lb. mark! Eek! I weighed 140.5 at my midwife appointment on Monday. That’s not bad, though, it’s just weird when I’ve never weighed more than 115. If I gain 5 more pounds by the end, I’ll still be well within the “normal” range. Amy also said that my official belly measurement is 36 centimeters (still technically a week behind), and that it might not get any bigger since Norah’s head will probably start to descend into my pelvis soon.

Random tidbit: I hate wearing pants now, especially if they aren’t super stretchy. I was left with only one pair that was still comfortable, so the other day I went to Target and got some yoga pants, leggings, and a few long tops/dresses. I only bought one maternity item, because I won’t need them for too much longer.

I finally figured out where the pharmacy is that had all of my prescriptions, and I went to pick them up on Monday. My insurance covered about half the cost of the Pitocin, and almost nothing on the Methergine and Vitamin K, so I called Amy because she told me if they weren’t covered she might have some at the birth center left over from patients who didn’t need them. She told me to just get the Pitocin for now, and then she started talking about the Vitamin K shot, so I told her that we had decided on the oral Vitamin K and that the doctor had told me it’s the same stuff, but you just administer it orally instead of as a shot. I had been surprised when he told me that, but I didn’t ask questions. She said that, yes, you can do that, but then the baby is still exposed to the preservatives, etc., that are in it, so you almost might as well give the shot if you use the same stuff. She pointed me toward a natural form of drops, which I just ordered today.

Speaking of supplements, it was pointed out to me that some of the herbs in the 5-W I planned to take might not be safe for pregnant women. I don’t think they’ve been proven to be harmful, but they haven’t been proven to be not harmful either. Wow, double negative. You know what I mean. Anyway, since it’s probably not really necessary, we’ve decided that I might as well not take it. Unfortunately, I had already opened the bottle just because I wanted to see what they looked like. Dumb me. So now we can’t return them. Amy said if she has any patients who want to use it, she’ll give them the option of buying ours for a few dollars cheaper.

I am especially confident that I probably won’t go too far past 40 or 41 weeks now, because the other day I woke up at 5:00 in the morning with pretty strong contractions. Braxton-Hicks don’t bother me much, but these were painful, especially in my lower back, and I had to stop what I was doing to cope with them. I couldn’t get back to sleep. I called Amy because though they were strong, they didn’t seem like real labor contractions because they weren’t coming at regular intervals. They were anywhere between 2 and 5 minutes apart and between 30 seconds and just over a minute long. She said I just have an “irritable uterus,” and to take a bath (which I had already done) and have a half a glass of wine. It worked. They stopped soon after. Now, don’t freak out over the wine! At this point in pregnancy it’s considered safe to have a small amount of alcohol. I certainly wouldn’t condone drinking for no reason if you are pregnant, though. I didn’t even drink a half glass. Alcohol is like medicine to me. Blech. Anyway, my guess is that if I’m having tons of Braxton-Hicks, plus that episode of strong contractions, I’m probably getting ready to go into labor in the next few weeks. Actually, I’m hoping Norah can wait at least that long, because I have piano recitals for my students on May 3^rd and 10^th, plus a baby shower in North Carolina this Saturday and one at Travis’s school on May 5^th! Not to mention I’d like to finish my sewing projects. I also just don’t feel quite ready to be done yet! I feel like I just got to the point where I’m obviously pregnant, and for the most part I’m still enjoying the attention that comes with that. J And it’s just going to be such a huge shift when Norah goes from being part of me to being her own little person. It’s kind of scary.

Other than the contractions, my main symptom right now is leg cramps at night and when I wake up in the morning. I’ve tried drinking more water and eating more bananas, and neither seemed to help. Oh, well.

Getting Ready For Norah

Even though the blog is pretty much all about getting ready for Norah at this point, there are a few specific things we’ve been doing to prepare.

First, my sister Toni brought her kids over on Tuesday to do yard work! She and the boys mowed the lawn, trimmed the bushes, and even washed my car, while the girls and I cleaned the porches (between cuddle sessions with one of our cats). All of this was long overdue, so it’s so great to have it done. Travis and I don’t much like yard work.

Travis installed the car seat in his car, and there’s a free car seat check at his school on May 4^th.

We've got all of the placenta encapsulation stuff pretty much ready to go. I also found a list of the “known ingredients that give the placenta its healing properties”:

Gonadotrophin: the precursor to estrogen, progesterone and testosterone

Prolactin: promotes lactation

Oxytocin: for pain and bonding; produced during birth and breastfeeding to facilitate bonding of mother and infant

Thyroid stimulating hormone: boosts energy and helps recovery from stressful events

Cortisone: combats stress and unlocks energy stores

Interferon: stimulates the immune system to protect against infections

Prostaglandins: anti-inflammatory

Hemoglobin: replenishes iron to prevent anemia, a common postpartum condition

Urokinase inhibiting factor and factor XIII: stops bleeding and enhances wound healing

Gammaglobulin: immune booster that helps protect against postpartum infections

I found detailed instructions for encapsulation at http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1577334/Placenta_Encapsulation_Instructions_w_Pictures, and we ordered some empty capsules and got permission from Travis's very generous (and apparently not easily grossed out) mother to use her food dehydrator. The only other thing we need is a jar to keep them in. I'll probably just use the one my prenatal vitamins are in. I'm really excited that we went the super cheap route with this...to have someone come and do it for us would cost $200. To buy a kit with the instructions costs $75, and a kit without the instructions costs $25 (I'm curious as to why there's such a big price difference for with versus without instructions). On the site I was looking at, even just the capsules in a cute jar with a flower on it would have totaled $13. The capsules we bought were around $6 from Amazon, including the shipping. So, instead of ending up with a $200 jar of vitamins, I'll get the same thing for $6! I just love saving money. :-)

Speaking of saving money, someone told me about a consignment sale going on throughout the month of April, so I went to check it out a week or two ago and bought a Moby Wrap and the exact type of chair I wanted (a dish/saucer chair) for Norah's room. Both items are normally $40, and I got them for $14 each. They weren't priced quite as low as most of the stuff we found at the consignment event we went to a month or two ago, but still good deals.

I have also made my own laundry detergent. This is in the "Getting Ready For Norah" section because you can't use just any detergent on cloth diapers, or they will start to lose absorbency. I THINK you can use All Free and Clear or Tide, but even these are sort of iffy. There are better ones, but you have to order them. I just thought I'd rather make it myself since I found a recipe online that people swear by (http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html), and I sort of thought it would be fun. It was! The stuff gels up to a really strange consistency, and Travis and I honestly had fun squishing it in our hands for like 15 minutes. We're easily entertained, I guess. Also, the recipe makes 10 GALLONS (!) of detergent with just one cup of Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda, a half cup of Borax, and one bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap, plus some water. Super cheap. Smells good, too!

We have also started getting our bags ready for when it's time to meet baby Norah. We've mostly got her stuff together in the diaper bag, and we've made a list of all the stuff we want to pack for us. We haven't picked out Norah's "going home" outfit yet, because we still have those two showers, so we'll probably have more to choose from. Other than that, I think we should have all we need. We will probably only be staying at the birth center for 6 hours or so after she is born, so it's a little easier than if we were packing for a two- or three-day hospital stay. (Just so no one is concerned, a short stay is pretty standard for birth centers, but they will send a postpartum doula to our house the following day to check on all of us, and the pediatrician will see Norah the day after that. The doula will continue to make home visits for six weeks, or until we leave for Pennsylvania.)

The Bradley class this week was mostly a review of what to expect during labor and how to handle it (for me and for Travis), especially some energy-saving techniques to ensure that I can get through the whole labor without getting exhausted. Next week is our last class! I think we'll be going over newborn care.

Lastly, we had a great Easter! After church, Travis's brother Nathan took some photos of us so that we could get some better ones of both of us and some of my henna. Then my dad, step-mom, and brother all came over and brought Easter dinner! We showed them the nursery, even though it's still not completely finished. I'll show it to you soon, I promise! Here are some of the photos Nathan took. Have a great weekend!

36 Weeks Pregnant

See my henna tattoo?! J Travis has a couple of Indian students whose mother does them, and ever since he expressed interest months ago, they’ve been pestering him to bring me to have one done. I love it! And she was SOO nice! She also did a sun on Travis’s hand and a bird on his inner forearm, and then gave us four tubes of henna paste so we could do our own later since she didn’t think she would be able to use them up before they expired. And THEN, she wouldn’t let us pay her anything! She just gave us some business cards and told us to send people her way. So if you like what you see and you live nearby, let me know and I’ll give you her info!

Also, you may have noticed our new picture at the top of the blog. Last Thursday we decided that we would go get the henna done the next day, and I wanted to take some cute belly pictures before then. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to take a walk anyway, so we went to a nearby garden (the same place we went for our engagement photo shoot!) and Travis brought his nice new camera and a tripod. We ended up with several great photos, including some of both of us, which I was most excited about since we take pictures of just me every week! We’re hoping to go again while I have the henna, which should last for 1-2 weeks. Here are a few more from last week’s trip:

With only a few weeks to go, the onslaught of mixed emotions is starting to hit. I’m anxious, worried, stressed, excited, happy, sad, needy, sentimental, selfish, loving…the list goes on. I hope we’re ready for this. I think I just need to remember to take it one day at a time. I feel a little bit better since I made a list of things I’d like for us to get done before Norah arrives. It has almost 30 items on it, though!

One of the things I’ve been wanting to do is apologize to our friends and family for not being a better friend, sister, etc. I want you all to know that I’m so sorry I/we don’t spend more time with you. There are a lot of reasons why we don’t, and while I don’t want to flood you with excuses, I’m hoping you can sympathize with some of them.

The main reason is simply that Travis and I have opposite schedules most days. When he gets off work, I’m just starting. By the time we’re both home, we just want to spend some time together at home.

In that same vein, my schedule is different every day, and I teach every day (including weekends), so it’s hard to plan things.

I don’t really like driving. I don’t mind riding, but that means Travis always has to drive.

I always seem to get tired before everyone else does (especially now), and when I’m tired I truly CANNOT function, and then I end up coming across as rude or angry or unhappy.

I’m terrible at socializing. I just am. It takes a lot of effort for me to carry on a conversation. I enjoy spending time with people, but after a couple of hours I’m drained.

I’ll stop there. I just wanted everyone to know that we neglect all of you equally, and it’s not you, it’s us. :-P

Also, I can’t guarantee that it won’t get worse once Norah arrives. In fact, it probably will.

I’m worried that our friends who don’t have children won’t understand. I don’t think they can. For example, I don’t think I’ll be okay with leaving Norah with anyone overnight for quite a while, and then very seldom. I guess I’m just sensitive to other people’s opinions, and I will take it personally if people don’t like some of our parenting choices, or if they think we’re lame for staying home with the baby all the time, or whatever. I hope everyone has enough confidence in us to know that we've put a lot of thought into our decisions, and we’ll do whatever we think is best for our daughter.

Norah has been even more active than usual lately! It seems like she spends more of her time awake now. She has been waking me up most mornings this week. This morning as I was watching my belly, I saw her two feet go – step, step! I could almost see the exact shape of each foot! So tiny!

Yesterday I had my 36 week doctor appointment. As far as I know, everything was fine. He didn’t tell me my belly measurement (I should have asked, but I’ll see the midwife next week anyway). My measurement all the way around is 39.5”. The heartbeat was good, and my weight was 137.4. I did the strep B test, and I’m not sure when I’ll hear back about that. I really like that doctor, though. He’s a family doctor/obstetrician/pediatrician. He seems very laid back and open-minded, etc. We will probably keep him as our family doctor.

He also wrote my prescriptions for the Vitamin K, Pitocin, and Methergine tablets. Unfortunately, I spent over an hour driving around looking for this specific pharmacy that carries all of those, and which is supposedly less than two miles from the doctor’s office. Never found it. Drove home feeling like my whole day was wasted. I’ll go back later this week, after I call his office to ask once again where the place is and what it’s called.

Yesterday’s Bradley class was really helpful. It was sort of a labor rehearsal. After we watched a video reminding us of some of the positions we could try during contractions and some things our husbands can do to encourage and make us more comfortable, we went into the birth center and did several practice contractions. Travis took notes on what I liked the most.

Well, I think that's all the news I've got for today. See you next week, when I will be FULL TERM!!! :-)