To Do...

My "To Do" list stretches on for miles, yet I lack the energy to accomplish even a few of the smallest items. Best case scenario, I'm checking into the hospital tomorrow evening to be induced. With that in mind, I made sure that our bedroom was vacuumed and dusted (since baby will be sleeping in there with us) and vacuumed the rest of the house. The office is ok, the baby's room is ok, the kitchen is even ok. Not immaculate, but manageable.

Kind of weird to think this may very well be my last night without children.

I'll keep everyone updated, as promised!

One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning

Today. What a great day! My good pal Naomi was in town from Buffalo, NY, and cooked dinner for a crowd over at Liz and Dave's place (and April & Jason were there, too!). I actually surprised myself by going in the first place. I've felt so damn lazy lately, and it is hard to get me out of the house these days. What can I say - the temptation of seeing Liz, April and Naomi all at once was too much, and I'm really glad I went. The conversation was fantastic (as it always is) and I really enjoy discussing motherhood with Liz. She and I may not agree on everything, but I can totally level with her cause she is just cool like that.

Something that came up in our conversations tonight was the hospital situation, and specifically if it was ok to visit me in the hospital. My response? Absolutely! I would love to see you! But please, not until after the baby gets here.

My preference is that no one comes to the hospital until after the baby is safely delivered. I realize that not everyone is going to be down with not coming to the hospital until that point, so I just request that you stay out of my room until the baby is here. I don't want you in there. Nothing personal - I just already have to share the room with 10 doctors and nurses and Josh will need a place to stand, too, and I just don't want to see anyone until after we are all done. Thanks!

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Update: I've been having contractions! Like, real contractions. Alas - they are like 15-20 minutes apart and aren't killer yet, but things could be happening on their own! Of course, they could come to a complete stop and go nowhere, but it would be cool if I went into labor on my own before Monday!

The Waiting Game...

“How much of human life is lost in waiting.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

It seems that the waiting is not over for us, yet. At today's doctors appointment I learned that not only has Michael not done much at all in the last week, but I have acquired a brand spanking new UTI. Doctor: You have lost 2 pounds, and you have blood and protein in your urine. Actually, you have a UTI. Have you been eating? Me: Uh, yeah, eating definitely has not been a problem for me. Doctor: Oh, have you been drinking water? Me: Ummm, yeah, I've been making sure to drink that from time to time.

Also found out that my doctor decided to go ahead and be on vacation from now until January 8th, which is a major frickin' bummer. What the heck! I'm not mad that she is on vacation, but I'm a little irritated that I had to find out from the receptionist. I really was hoping she would deliver my child, but now it will just be whatever Doctor happens to be on call that night. My doctor did leave instructions to go ahead and induce me at 39 weeks, so I have one last ultrasound on Monday to check for growth and position. Then the final wait begins. APPARENTLY there are doctors out there that will induce women at 39 weeks just so they can get a tax break. WHAT?!?!? Then you have me, with sumo baby, and I'm going to have to compete with these women for an induction. They said they are going to put me on the schedule as fast as possible, but they can't guarantee that they will be able to get me in on Monday for sure.

So - what does it all mean? I guess it means that I'd be much better off just going into labor on my own. How does December 27th sound to everyone?

Merry Christmas, Baby...

After the doctor told me that I would be induced no later than December 21st, I made the dumb mistake of going out and buying a "My First Christmas" outfit for my stubborn child. So, here we are, on December 24th, and besides the consistent pressure, it does not appear that Michael is planning on making his arrival any time soon. Well, I'm not going to let that stop me from putting my baby into his "My First Christmas" outfit. Oh no. Here you go, butterball :)



Husband and I are laying low around the house for Christmas Eve, and will be heading up to spending Christmas morning in Scottsdale with DH's folks and my Sister-in-law, too. Here is hoping for a nice, quiet, uneventful Christmas. Of course - in typical Josh and Kerith style, I will not be surprised in the least if our baby is born on Christmas day - my Husbands least favorite day of the year, lol.

And still, nothing...

*Sigh*

I go from feeling like I'm about to have this kid any second to resignation that I will have to be induced a week from today. Ohwell - at least I'll be able to crank him out before New Years! Hooray for Tax Credit Babies!

I've had an overly productive day (well, at least overly productive for an overly pregnant lady). First I walked down a few houses to Sean and Farrah's place. Sean and Farrah are awesomeness. They were our first new friends in the neighborhood, and we've had plenty of good times hanging out with them over the last several years. Sean and Farrah also recently had a baby - he is just now 2 months old! It is going to be great for Michael to have a little guy to grow up with since Sean and Farrah are in the same housing predicament we are (as in, our houses are now worth 50% less than what we paid for them). Anyway, Farrah is on maternity leave until she starts her new job in January, so I got to catch up on all her exciting baby adventures. Dilan is apparently a dream baby - a good natured snuggly little man. My strategy was to make Michael jealous that I was snuggling another baby, hoping this would induce labor. After an hour or so, I still wasn't in labor, and Farrah needed to run errands, so we parted ways.

After that it was off to the grocery store. I <3 the grocery store in the middle of the day during the week. It was still crowded, but I didn't have to wait in line for 8 million years like normal. I was able to stock up on several 12 packs (coke products were 5 for $12.00 - woo hoo!) and also picked up wrapping paper and other stuff. By stuff I mean a big fat bottle of wine, which I will most definitely be enjoying a glass of tonight!

Upon arriving home after the grocery store, this strange nesting phenomenon set in and I've been a cleaning fool ever since. I mean, our office is CLEAN people. I don't remember the last time our office was clean. The kitchen was "re-cleaned" for the 3rd time this week, and then I started in on putting batteries in all the battery operated baby gizmo's.

Now I'm off to make the hard working husband some Shepherds Pie for dinner, and I think tonight I'll finally write out all those thank you notes and Christmas cards so I can mail them out tomorrow (hey - it counts as long as they are postmarked before Christmas, right?).

I leave you with my all time most favoritest Christmas song ever. Karen Carpenter has the voice of an angel. /contented sigh

Recommending...

Recommending...

1. Panko Bread Crumbs: These seem to be ALL the rage on The Food Network lately. Guess they are usually meant for Asian/Sea Food dishes, however, they translate well to EVERYTHING ELSE! I've never had such tasty, light, crispy chicken. Uh... I didn't check calories, but they can't be too bad. Tonight I made chicken tenders breaded in Panko, and they are DELISH!

2. The Dave Ramsey $10 Sale: All of his books and software are on sale for the Holiday's for $10.00 each! And, if you spend more than $65.00 you get free shipping!

3. Weight Watchers Online: The only reasonable way to lose weight, IMO. I would never be able to stick to in person meetings, but their website has so many awesome tools! I'm looking forward to using Weight Watchers to lose the baby weight (errr, and those couple extra 20 pounds I put on after the miscarriage last January). The new Weight Watchers Momentum plan seems pretty cool, and I look forward to jumping right in as soon as little Mike makes his grand entrance!

Husband is betting that I'll be in labor by Sunday night. I tend to agree with him, but honestly, who really knows. What I do know is that I will have my sweet baby in 10 days at the very latest :) Pretty exciting stuff!

Progress...

Had an internal at the Doc's this morning. Michael is on the move! All that pressure I've been feeling the last 2 days has amounted to the following:

1-2 Centimeter's dilated
Lower/Anterior Cervix Position
80% Effaced
-2 Station
"Soft" Cervix

Doctor says to get my butt in motion (ie, go walking) and I should have this kid out in no time!

We did discuss induction at great length. The doctor said that I shouldn't feel anxious about the size of the baby; that my body will be able to handle this kid. However, she can appreciate that he has been measuring several weeks ahead. With that in mind, Doctor gave me the go ahead to be induced on December 29th. That is my official "39" week mark and no amnio will be required in order to have an induction at that point. However, based on my "progress" the Doctor said she wouldn't be surprised to see me in the hospital this weekend.

Woo hoo!

What Strangeness is This?

Feeling TONS of pressure down below. Not comfortable. And this morning I woke up ready to take on the world! Getting ready to go into town for some shopping, and then going to tackle some more cleaning at home!

Josh is worried that this sudden burst of energy = going into labor soon. I told him I'd wait til Friday so he doesn't have to take too many extra days off work ;)

Yule Shoot Your Eye Out....

I am so not in the Christmas spirit this year! Could it possibly have to do with the whole full to my ears with baby thing? The crappy economy? The incoming administration? I just realized that not one person has asked me what I want for Christmas this year. Thank goodness, for my responses would be incredibly lame. Besides, that is the great part of being an adult. I don't have to wait all year long to get what I most desire. If I really want something, I can go out and buy it. As a matter of fact, there are a few things that I've really been wanting to purchase lately (usually I'll get an idea in my head and then run out and buy it right away... but for some reason I've been stockpiling *wants* lately).

1. Super Fancy Pepper Grinder





I lurve pepper. I lurve lurve lurve it. I especially love freshly ground pepper. I had a pepper grinder (a tiny little crappy one) and I abused and broke it. I need a big fancy one :)



2. Food Processor





Because everyone on the food network has one. And I want to make stuff. Like chimichuri sauce for all the grilled pork tenderloins husband is going to grill me once the back yard is looking spiffy again.


3. Spaghetti/Steam Pot Set





Again, because everyone on the food network has one of these. Screw strainers! I want one that is built in! How cool would this be for making pasta and potatoes, or even steaming brocolli!


Ok, I swear there are other things that I want that don't have to do with food.


4. Nikon D 60 DSLR (yeah, I'll need to save up for this one)





Isn't she magnificent? Of course, the $600.00 camera is even more expensive once you factor in all the lenses and other accessories I would want. I'll stick it out with the 12 mega pixel Fuji Fine Pix for now :)


5. This Ikea Arm Chair (x2)





6. CD Player (for the Jeep) that my Zune can plug into





I love my Zune, but I need an aux input in order to plug it straight into the jeep and not have to deal with a stupid FM Tuner thinga-majigy. The only solution is a new cd player because the factor cd player does not have this input.


Ok, I suppose that is a long enough list of Kerith's Christmas Presents to herself, lol. Now, if only I could actually get motivated to do some shopping, lol.

Maternity Leave...

I'm thinking I might need to change my career path to become a Stay At Home Wife/Mom. In just one day I have managed to accomplish tasks that would have otherwise taken YEARS! Ok, I'm exaggerating, but not by that much. So, what can one accomplish between 8 and 4 when that silly thing called "going to an office" isn't getting in the way?

-Pay Bills
-Clean Out Fridge
-Take out Garbage
-Schedule Landscaping Company to Blow up my Backyard
-Drive into town to get car washed (Jeep is now worthy of car seat)
-Meet Husband for Lunch
-Pedicure (My feet are still fat, but at least my toes have snowmen on them!)
-Costco! (I accomplished 75% of the grocery shopping here --- the rest manana)
-Drive back to Maricopa
-Put all the food away
-zzzzZZZzzzz (this is me sleeping on the recliner)
-Dishes! (My sink was stacked to the ceiling with dishes for some reason)

Life is good :)Or at least it will be rather fantastic while I only juggle home and a baby. I'm sure it'll go back to insanity when I put work back in the mix. But - perhaps with a little help from Fly Lady and Dave Ramsey, I might be able to get my household to a tighter running ship over the next 8 weeks, and when I go back to work it will be easier to manage!

I leave you with a picture of Michael, at 37 weeks:

It's cold outside...

Omg. Kill me now. Seriously. Or at least get this baby out of my uterus. He is fully baked now (aka, full term) and since my Doc did a complete 180 on me from a week ago I'm starting to feel hopeless. We went from "lets induce on the 21st" to "Inducing is bad, mmmkay." Nooooooo! It seems like right after the ultrasound at week 36 the size of the baby was a life threatening emergency. At 37 weeks? Well, now we don't want to induce because bla bla bla bla. Doctor still thinks I will go on my own at any minute, and agreed that if I'm not in labor on my own by December 23rd, we can induce on the 23rd. "But Doctor, I don't want to be in the hospital on Christmas." Oh, don't worry she says... you will get to go home on Christmas day!

Ummm - not if I my baby weighs 13 pounds and I have to have an emergency C-section! Blargh!

So, kiddo, please, work with me. Daddy put your swing together, and set up the bassinet in your pack and play! He even installed the car seat base in the Impala. We are totally ready for you! We've got you a bitchin' Christmas onesie even! I'm already on Maternity leave! Mommy can't walk, none of her shoes fit, and she is retaining water up to her belly button.

On second thought - how about you wait until... oh, Friday. Then I can have at least a week off between work and a baby to get things done around the house :)

Always...

Don't you love running into an old song that you've completely forgotten about? I adored this song when it came out (at the tender age of 11 in 1994)



In other news, my hospital bag is packed, along with the baby bag, and they are both loaded up in Husband's car and ready to go. Now all we have to do is get the car seat installed and we are ready to rock :)

Sagittarius Baby?

November 22 - December 21
Planet - Jupiter
Element - Fire

That happy-go-lucky child in the play circle is bound to be a Sagittarius. These carefree tykes march to their own drummer, and yes, they will walk early! They'll also be beating a path to everywhere, since they love to explore. Independent and free-spirited, it's imperative that the Sagittarius baby have lots of room to roam. Confined spaces are a disaster for these wandering souls, so they'll simply flail about until they can get out. The good news in all this is that the Sag baby won't have to be entertained every second of the day. That said, be sure to keep tabs on them in public places, as they could easily wander away! Above all, the Sag baby loves to explore, whether it's a new toy or a new friend. No fear here! This kid is a sponge, soaking it all up with relish. Thankfully, this child will know how to make friends and can be counted on to have lots of them. They love being part of a group, whether it's at home or out in the big, brave world. And it's that world they want to see, which may be why it's so easy for this baby to hit the road. Whether by train, plane, or the high seas, the Sag baby will travel better than the rest. To sum up, the Sagittarius baby needs freedom, has a curious mind, and is forever on a journey of discovery. Happy trails!

An Early Christmas Gift...

I was expecting little baby Gaines to continue to measure ahead at today's appointment. At 29 weeks when our little fella's head was measuring 32 weeks, I figured "there is no way I'm making it to my due date." However, I was not prepared for how far ahead he would be measuring today. I am almost 36 weeks pregnant today. Michael has decided to come in at the 97th percentile of babies in the womb and has a head that is measuring 41 weeks, and the rest of his body is measuring 39 weeks. HOLY CRAP! The ultrasound tech estimates that he weighs 8 pounds! At 36 weeks!

So - we at least have a game plan now. Doctor said that it is still too early to induce me right now, but I have another appointment at 37 weeks and they will perform an amnio to test lung maturity. Assuming his lungs are mature, the countdown is on. The doctor said to cross my fingers that I go into labor on my own by 38 weeks (and she really believes that I will), but if I don't that is when they will induce me. What that means is that Michael, at the latest, will be here by December 22nd.

With that in mind, I'm going to go ahead and begin my Maternity leave a week earlier than I originally anticipated, and my last day of work will be December 12th.

Let the countdown begin :)

Now and Then...

Yeah, so I've been hiding from the camera as best as I can during this pregnancy. I bloated up like a puffer fish, and have been retaining so much damn water I don't recognize myself half the time. But - Having stayed home from work today, I had some time to look through OTHER people's pictures, and I found a picture from an ASU homecoming game lastyear, and then a picture from the same time this year. AGHHHH!!

Then: (i'm the one on the far right)



and Now: (I'm the bloated puffy whale on the left)



Don't get me wrong. I am SO SO SO excited to be a mom - so looking forward to meeting my baby - I can't wait, really. But, I'd be a big liar if I didn't also admit that I'm looking forward to getting my body back. To being able to exercise, get back in shape and lose a couple hundred pounds of water weight, too.

Productive Lunches...

Today, instead of going out to eat with a co-worker and burning an hour on good conversation, I opted to burn some gasoline and headed to the nearest Target in order to knock some items off my lengthy to do list. I was able to purchase the obscene amount of Thank You note cards that I will need to start sending out ASAP (I really want to get these finished BEFORE Michael is here, thank you very much). I also found Christmas Cards that I liked, so I was able to cross those off the list, too. And, after much searching, I was finally able to locate Breathe Right Nasal Strips. Husband was threatening me with divorce, and after waking MYSELF up 3 times in one night, I figured it was time to do something about this pregnancy induced snoring.

But - I'm not done yet! I have many more things to accomplish today! On the way home from work I'm going to stop at Kohl's and attempt to purchase Nursing bra's (ok, I'm weirded out by seeing that written out). According to every Hospital Bag packing list I have read, a Nursing bra is essential. *Shrug* What if I wasn't going to nurse? What if I can't nurse? Should I bring a bottle to the hospital? Formula? These items are not mentioned on packing lists that I have seen. I'm also getting conflicting information on what Hospitals do and do not provide. Everyone is saying "BRING SOCKS!!" but then a co-worker who just delivered said that her hospital gave her socks. What gives? What do I really need to bring? I want to pack as lightly as possible :)

Finally, when I get home this afternoon, I'm going to teach Guinness how to vacuum and Sammie how to unload the dishwasher. While the dogs clean the house for me, I'm going to assemble the baby swing, finish unpacking the babies room, and knock out my Thank You cards!

Now, everyone cross their fingers and lets hope that my appointment on Friday leads to scheuduling an inducement date of December 27th! Hooray for tax credit babies and not having to stress over what my hospital co-pay will be effective January 1st when our insurance company switches from Cigna to United Health Care.