Baby Watch

Oh, so slow at blogging lately. Might reveal that I'm lazy or unmotivated, but in this case, it suggests that I've got my priorities correctly aligned. I'm been soooo busy, motivated, and productive. On Friday afternoon when Eric arrived home from work, he looked glanced at the house and said, "looks like we're going to have a baby tonight." Which is to say, "Wow, you've been cleaning like a banshee!" Alas, I did not have the baby that night (at a girls' sleepover, no less), but I did time contractions for an hour or so in the night. I am interrupted with several contractions a day lately, sometimes several in a row in the evenings. Unlike with the two previous pregnancies, these ones actually really hurt and feel like they're doing work down low, if you know what I mean. One of the goals of drinking my daily raspberry leaf infusion is to make contractions stronger and more efficient. I'd say, it's working!

So, back to the baby watch. No big news to report. I'm very much enjoying watching the poll of baby girl names change. At my appointment last week, I was dialated to two centimeters, but otherwise not "ready" to go. That is different from Hope, since with her I was TOTALLY ready from week 37 on (meaning dialated to 4+ cm, completely effaced and dropped). Hopefully this labor goes as quickly despite the fact that my body's not getting ready as early.

I had a little preeclampsia scare last week. After a morning play date with old friends who live 45 minutes away, we were about half way home when I realized my hands were killing me. Sure enough, they were swelling at a rapid rate and hurt badly as they expanded. Earlier in the day I had been complaining to my friend that my eyes were bugging me... everything cloudy or spotty or out of focus. I realized that my depth perception was messed up too. By the time we got home, I had a raging headache. When combined, headache, swelling, and vision issues are strong indicators for preeclampsia. That was a crummy day, but thankfully at my appointment the next day my blood pressure was low and my urine was clear, so they declared me preeclampsia free.

At my appointment I learned that I tested positive for Group B strep, which is a first for me. Traditionally, the preferred treatment is to run two doses of IV antibiotics during labor. This should protect the baby from contracting the bacteria in the birth process, and prevent the baby from developing meningitis, pneumonia, and blood poisoning after birth. Even though we are very strong proponents of natural childbirth around here, the statistics are pretty convincing- antibiotics will probably be the plan of attack. We're still looking at some other options and trying to determine if there are good herbal/homeopathic treatments (so far, it looks doubtful). My midwife did say that ideally I would have two doses of the antibiotic, which would take about 8 hours and that probably isn't realistic given my history of shorter labors. Even if I just had one dose, it would take 4 hours. She assured me that if we didn't get the dosing correct, we can test the baby afterward to watch for infection. She was really laid back about the idea of me not getting the antibiotics in time, which leads me to question if they are as critical as some would say. Anyway, I'll probably be experiencing my first ever IV and my first antibiotics in at least 15 years sometime soon!!!

Well, I wrote a while back that I had a list of at least 25 things that I wanted to get done before the baby came (in addition to the normal daily hubbub)... I'm going to end this post on a self-congratulatory note by listing how much has actually gotten done. When it comes to task-efficiency, I am to be doubted. But, NEVER doubt the efficiency and motivation of a woman about to give birth. Here's proof:

clean/declutter/reorganize office - clean/declutter/reorganize storage room - declutter/organize "dungeon" - sort girls' clothes for fall - put away summer clothes - make blanket for Erin - redecorate living room walls - redecorate bedroom walls - redecorate guest room walls - wash/put away baby clothes - set up bassinet - get/organize baby diapers, etc. - make arrangements for girls - clean/install baby car seat - make stain remover - make lots of laundry soap - paint bedroom - paint front door - clean all window blinds - wash inside fridge (twice) - "deep clean" girls' bedroom - deep clean our bedroom - wash all area and throw rugs - scrub living room floor and molding - scrub kitchen floor - vacuum van.

PS) I've left all the essential pieces to the very end: Hopefully I'll get around to packing a hospital bag, making cloth wipes, and printing out our birth plan. For now, I just feel like cleaning a few more things!