Packed...sort of

Well, I broke down and started packing our hospital bag today. Neither one of us owns a watch any more so tonight we decided to go out and get one. I decided to get some mints and hard candy for during labor. I doubt those are things we'll want to mess with before going to the hospital. I also made sure we had travel sizes of our bathroom stuff so we aren't trying to pull that together at the last minute. While we were at the store we decided to get a stop watch instead. Crys just thinks that will make recording contractions easier for her. My dad used to coach my sister's soccer team and I knew they used to have a lot of stop watches, so after a call to my mom to make sure they still have a few stop watches, we decided to borrow one from them instead of buying one.

So I put together a bag with mints, hard candies, chap stick and hair tyes for during labor. We have the basic bathroom stuff ready. Emmett's going home clothes and blanket are all packed up too. I still need to make photo copies of the proper legal paperwork- something I should have done already. Then all we have left are my clothes for going home, some extra socks and underwear and our electronic stuff.

So I probably didn't need to do all of this yet, but like getting on the exercise ball, it just feels good to be doing something to prepare. I like to be organized and I like to know what to expect. There's no way to know what to expect out of labor and delivery, so I'm organizing what I can. The closer we get to our due date, the less I'll have to organize. It could be an interesting month.

Pick a date

When we found out our due date is in April, a little part of me hoped we'd have an April Fools baby. How much fun would that be for birthday parties? Crys wasn't as excited about the idea as me and honestly, I knew that a month early was too early. So it isn't something I've really, really wanted. But still. A little part of me had hoped that he'd come early and be perfectly healthy. With the first of April coming in just a few days and absolutely no signs of pre labor, I'm sure this isn't going to happen. But it was a nice thing to think about the last eight months.

I'm not the only one with hopes for a specific birthday in April. Crys's dad's birthday is April 7th, my mom's birthday is April 11th and my dad's is April 14th (he's been telling people that's Emmett's actually due date). Then there's Crys who has the birthday closest to Emmett's, April 16th. They're all hoping he decides to arrive on their birthdays. Luckily, they're also realistic and no one is going to be too upset when their birthday is missed. Somehow my mom managed to have a baby on both grandma's birthdays. I was born on my paternal grandma's birthday and almost two years later my brother was born on our maternal grandma's birthday. So I think she's hopeful that I'll be able to do the same thing.

Now that it looks like my original hopes for Emmett's arrival will come and go with no baby, what do I want? Well, I'm hoping he comes in May now. Not too far into May of course. Five or six days over due would be okay. (yeah, I say that now, I'll most likely revisit that comment in a month if he's late) It just seems like with all these birthdays in April, it would be nice for Emmett's birthday to be in a less popular month. But at the end of the day, he's going to come when he's good and ready. And that's okay with me.

Stretch it

This post is brought to you by our exercise ball, I'm sitting on it while I type. In our second birthing class, the nurse brought in a few birthing balls and I really liked using the ball. There was also a poster that said using a birthing ball during the last month of pregnancy can help stretch the pelvic muscles. Since we had an old exercise ball in the basement (and really, birthing and exercise balls are the same thing), I decided to try it out. I don't expect that this will help induce labor or make labor easier but it feels nice to do something to prepare for labor.

We are 30 days away from our due date. It seems impossible that it came this fast and that our due date is so soon. At the same time, thirty days feels like forever away. I've noticed a few changes lately. I think relaxin is starting to work through my body. It seems like every day a different joint is sore. Usually in my right leg. My right hip, knee, ankle have all bothered me a bit on different days over the last week. My left hip and knee have been sore, but not for as long as the right side. It could very well be something else, but that's what I t hink it is.

My hands and mostly my feet have been swelling more lately. A big part of it is too much sodium, I've really slipped up lately and have been watching that over the last couple of weeks. The swelling is going much better these days.

I've been tired more lately and a few nights after I've had dinner and I'm waiting for Crys to get home from work, I'll take a little cat nap on the couch. Not very many BH contractions that I can feel yet. Once in awhile Crys will be trying to feel Emmett move and say I'm having one. Surprisingly (to me anyway) my belly button hasn't popped yet. I thought it would months ago and while it's more shallow than normal, it's still there. Crys keeps predicting it will happen any day now but she's been making that prediction for at least a month.

It's just hard to believe we're so close. This time last year we were still researching sperm banks. I hadn't even been to the doctor to get our consent form signed yet. We had no idea it would all come together so quickly. We both feel very lucky and getting really excited to meet our son.

Eating with the old folks

Lately I haven't been snacking much, I just eat my three meals a day and that seems to work out fine for me and Emmett. Sometimes at night I'll eat a little something before bed. My dinner is always right after I get off work. I'm usually really hungry by that time. Lately Crys and I have gotten into the habit of going out to eat on Friday evenings if she's off work. She was this Friday and I got off at 4:30 today so we just drove directly to a restaurant for dinner. I've been joking that we're eating with the old folks because of how early we go. Well, for the last couple of months I haven't been getting off work until five. So tonight when we got to the restaurant, there weren't even old folks yet. They were arriving as we were leaving. I can't say I cared too much, I was ready to eat.


In other news, Crys and I bought green paint the other day for the dresser. Crys is working on that right now. We also decided to paint the inside of the closets in Emmet's room green. Crys finished one closet today. The other closet still has all of my clothes in it, I'll probably take them out this weekend so we can paint in the closet. I'm not looking forward to sharing a dresser and closet with her again, but Emmett's room is Emmett's room. So at some point, I need to move out.


Crys went to the doctor today. She's been coughing a lot lately and a little blood came up this morning. The doctor thinks she has the beginnings of bronchitis and put her on antibiotics. So I called my OB to find out if I need to be worried. She said I've already been exposed to it so there isn't much I can do to prevent it and to call if I start having symptoms. She did advise me to be sure I'm taking care of myself. You know, plenty of fluids, vitamins and rest. Considering Crys has had the flu and two colds this winter and I haven't gotten sick, I'm not too worried about getting bronchitis. Plus, I'm one of the few people in my office who didn't get a nasty cold in January.

This weekend is looking pretty busy. I'm cleaning out my closet and finding space for my clothes in Crys's already full closet and dresser, going to a monstrous indoor garage sale to see if there's anything else we need for Emmett and I'll try to get some work done on my final paper for class. The paper is due the week before Emmett is so I want to get going on that so that its done. Hmm, maybe I'll just work on the paper.

Co-bedding

We try not to have too many theories about how we're going to raise Emmett. I know I've already talked about a few of them, but we're trying to be realistic and keep in mind that what we want isn't necessarily what will be best for Emmett. Anyway, here are my thoughts on co-bedding.

We don't plan to co-bed or have Emmett in our room at all. There's nothing wrong with co-bedding, we just don't think it'll work for us. First is our cats (our dogs sleep in kennels). Kind of silly, yes. But the cats have been sleeping with us for eight years. We've tried to break them of the habit before and the end result is always that we get more sleep when they aren't on the other side of the door yowling and scratching to be let in. With an infant, we'll need all the sleep we can get. Our worry is that the cats and Emmett will not mix as bed mates. Emmett will sleep in his own room with the door closed when we aren't in it feeding him. This will make Crys and I sleep a little better at night.

Reason #2 is the more logical of the two reasons. Since I can't breastfeed, one of us has to get out of the room to make his bottle anyway. Instead of getting up, making the bottle, crawling back into bed and possibly waking up the other person we think it'll just be easier to get up, make the bottle, feed Emmett in the recliner in his room and then go back to bed (or fall asleep in the recliner). As far as we can tell, this arrangement is just what will be best for us.

Of course, Emmett might have his own ideas. We know that infants like small spaces for sleeping because they spend nine months in a cramped uterus. Deciding he should spend every night in his big, open crib might just be easier said than done. But there are alternates to him sleeping in his crib at first that don't involve sleeping in our room.

Whatever happens, I'm hoping it doesn't take long to come up with a sleeping arrangement that works for us, Emmett and if possible, the cats. After all, they are our first babies.

Shower pictures

Pictures from my work baby shower.

Pictures from Crys's work baby shower.

The last shower and getting ready

Crys's work threw a shower for us on Thursday. It was completely different from my work shower but just as much fun. We played games at this shower. The first game was to find paperclips in a bowl of rice while blindfolded. It's a lot harder than it sounds. The top score was 28. I got 24 and Crys got 13. The second game was to scoop up cotton balls into a bowl with a big spoon while blindfolded. Also harder than it sounds. Last everyone was given a balloon to blow up and stuff under their shirt. Then they had to try tie their shoes. I didn't play this game since I do that every day.

Crys's co-workers were very generous. We got more clothes, some cute little shoes, a small diaper bag, two cute handmade blankets, a few gift cards and some other nice gifts. Since we're done with showers, we decided to take the gift cards out and blow them on stuff we still need. We bought a highchair, travel bed, diaper pail, a few more bottles and a couple little things we still wanted to get before Emmett comes. I think we now have everything we wanted to get before bringing him home from the hospital. We're both happy about that.

This morning we decided to put the car seat in the car. I personally think it's still a bit early, but the dogs ride in the car pretty regularly so we want to give them plenty of time to get used to the car seat taking up the middle of backseat. Plus Crys was starting to get anxious about it. Everything is really coming together. It's hard to believe that in six or seven weeks, he's going to be here and we'll be moms.

Baby shower and more mother-in-law

My work baby shower was yesterday. The two other women on my team (M & R) did all the planning and decided that the theme would be a surprise. So around noon yesterday they started setting things up on and off until three when the shower started. All afternoon I could hear the conference room door down the hall from my office opening and closing and people laughing as they came up to see how everything was coming together. But it was worth the wait. The theme was "Emmett's reading room". Everyone in the office was asked to suggest a few books enjoyed growing up or ones their kids liked. M & R picked several and bought them for the shower. They also incorporated food into the theme. We had green deviled eggs and ham sandwiches, they used cupcakes to make a caterpillar and some other things. We also received a bookshelf (which I had Crys put together as soon as we got home) and a personalized book bag for Emmett. Two women made us a beautiful quilt, M crocheted a blanket and my mom made a blanket. The support and kindness from everyone I work with is just amazing. In everything I've done personally and professionally, I've had support at work. When it was all said and done, I don't think I expressed how grateful I was or how much it meant to me. Everything was wonderful.


Then Crys's mom called and wanted to come over. I was a little sad because I fully expected her to kill my buzz from the shower. Kim is in town all week for work meetings. She came with gifts. A textbook on childhood and adolescent development for us and an outfit for Emmett. The textbook may seem like an odd choice, but she knows how much I love school so I can see where she'd make that choice. And on the inside she wrote a little note that was signed "grandma Kim". It was the first indication she's given that she sees herself as a grandma. She also made a few references to Crys being a mom. We were both excited to hear that she is finally coming around and getting excited about Emmett. Especially Crys, not knowing how her mom was doing with all this was really starting to wear on her.

Tuesday was a very good day. Thursday promises to be good too. Crys's work is throwing a baby shower for us too! I'll post shower pictures but wait until we have pictures from tomorrow and do it all at once

Slowing trend

We have an ultrasound picture, but my scanner is being stupid. So no picture with this post, but I'll post it later. Oh, and Emmett did finally get his little head off my sciatic nerve on Sunday so my hip has been feeling better. Today he hit it again, but only for a few minutes.

So the appointment. Four weeks ago, my uterus was measuring 4 weeks ahead of my due date. Two weeks ago it was three weeks ahead and this week we're down to two weeks ahead of schedule. This time, the measurement was confirmed by the ultrasound. So I'm feeling better about everything. Emmett is still on track to be large, the ultrasound tech figures if his growth stays steady from here to the end, he'll be in the 97 percentile at birth or over eight pounds. I'll take that over a nine pound baby any day! Another nice thing to hear, his head is average, it's his torso that's big. Delivering a large torso is significantly easier than delivering a big head, or that's what I've been told. Whatever happens, I'm not panicking about his size any more. He's slowing down, which for now, is reassuring. Hopefully he won't slow down too much more, then we have other problems to worry about!

A few other things...we learned that he's head down, it's facing my left hip with his spine against my right side. His bottom is right underneath where the two sides of my rib cage meet. I feel his bottom more than anything these days. He was yawning when the ultrasound started. It was adorable. He was swallowing after that. We discovered that we've passed the size where his entire body fits in the ultrasound picture. Clearly he's grown since our last ultrasound, but still, it was a bit of a surprise to see him looking right at us (or where the ultrasound thing was pointing). We discovered the reason he doesn't respond to our poking is because our dogs climb all over me so he's used to poking and prodding. It doesn't even phase him anymore.

During our visit with the OB I asked if I do go into labor in the near future, if we need to go to the hospital right away to try stop it and she said no. We're good to go as soon as Emmett is ready. I've given up hope that he'll come early. But that's okay. We brought in our completed birth plan and she was okay with it. She's been encouraging us to get that taken care of, which surprised me because I didn't think most OBs were fans of birth plans.

So it was another good appointment.

Weekend recap

I'm going to be posting again later because of our appointment this afternoon, but I'm procrastinating writing an article for work. So I'm going to write a post about my weekend instead...


Friday night SKN stopped by on the way to her in-laws and dropped off some baby stuff for us. It was fabulous, we got a vibrating chair, monitors, carrier, clothes, an exersaucer, diapers and a few other things that I can't quite remember at the moment. We are incredibly luckily to have such generous friends (especially generous friends who need to get rid of baby stuff). After she left I fell asleep on the couch (at 7:30). I don't remember being all that tired but just couldn't stay awake any longer. Crys finally got tired of my snoring and woke me up around 8:00 so I could go to bed. This was after she took some not so flattering pictures of me on the couch. She thinks they're cute. I don't agree. I splet until 7am on Saturday.


Saturday I got super productive and Crys said I was nesting. Maybe, but not the nesting that signals labor will be starting soon. Or at least, I don't think it was that kind. I always organize after we get stuff for Emmett and there were a few things I've been wanting to do for awhile now but didn't have the motivation to get them done. It's funny what six weeks until the due date will do to motivation levels. Our list of things to buy is getting much shorter and most of it is stuff we can live without for awhile or isn't essential, just something we want to buy. Saturday night SKN got a break from her kids and in-laws when we went out for coffee. We had a good time hanging out even if I found out she doesn't plan on moving back to Nebraska anymore. Ah well, at least her in-laws are still here so she has incentive to come visit.


Sunday was the wedding for Crys's co-worker. She was a groomswoman and looked damn good in the tux. I didn't realize until the day of the wedding that Crys being in the wedding party meant that I'd be sitting alone most of the night. Luckily one of her student workers was there and he kept me company. Poor kid, the first thing I did when I found out he is graduating this summer was try recruit him for graduate school. It was a small wedding and over half the people that came were gone by 9:00 so we left at 9:30 without feeling bad about it. We had a good time but Crys was happy when it was over.


This was probably one of our busiest weekends by far, but it was nice to do more than sit on the couch, which is all I've been up for lately. Maybe we'll have a few more busy weekends before Emmett arrives, I could probably handle that.

Found it!

Dear Emmett,

I hope you're enjoying your time in my uterus. I've been trying to make the experience as pleasant as possible for you. You know the poking is just your Mama C and I trying to interact with you, right? No harm meant. And when I tell you to get your feet out of my ribs, I'm just kidding, you're feet can go where ever they are comfortable. So anyway, I was just wondering if you could do one little thing for me. Do you think you could get off my sciatic nerve? You see, it makes walking awfully painful. I know its right around where your head needs to be right now, but if there were any room for you to budge over a little bit, I'd sure appreciate it.

Thanks big guy, see you in a few weeks!
Love,
Mom

So Emmett found my sciatic nerve yesterday and apparently he likes to smoosh it. Or pinch it. Or whatever it is that's making my left hip hurt. Walking isn't my favorite thing right now, but hopefully he'll move a bit and give me a bit of a break. And if he doesn't, well, better now than three or four months ago. My cousin had this problem almost her entire pregnancy.

In other news, we have a big week coming up. Today Crys is a groomswoman for a friend. It's a small wedding and I think we'll have a good time. Tomorrow is our ultrasound. Tuesday my co-workers are having a shower for us. My boss is orchestrating the event. She had me reserve the conference room starting at noon for set up. The shower isn't until three. She also won't tell me the theme. So we have no idea what to expect. All she'll tell me is it's different and she hopes I'll like it. I just told her that I love different. Thursday is our shower with Crys's co-workers. This one we know more about. They've told us what games we're playing and all that. Thursday night Crys's mom will be staying with us. She discovered that work meetings will prevent her from going to the shower but still wants to see us. We're both interested to see how that visit goes.

Temperatures are supposed to be great this week. I'm looking forward to everything coming up. Even the visit from my mother-in-law. I'm hopefully that she's finally come around. Now, if only Emmett will decide my sciatic nerve isn't very comfortable, I think its going to be a good week.

Excited

I'm not just anxious about Emmett's arrival, I'm pretty excited about it to. Here are a few of the things I'm looking forward to...

• Holding him for the first time.
• Seeing Crys hold him for the first time. Well, just seeing Crys with our son. I love watching her with babies and kids. She doesn't believe me when I say it, but she's a natural.
• Bringing him home.
• Tiny everything. Fingers, toes, knees, etc.
• Getting to know the person that current resides inside me.
• The end to being pregnant.

So, being pregnant isn't bad. But I won't be sad when it's over.

33 weeks and counting

Yesterday marked the first day of week 33. We're starting to get anxious. It's a little earlier than I had hoped this would happen. I was hoping this wouldn't happen until the last few weeks. Part of the problem is the uncertainty about his size. If he's still measuring three weeks ahead at our appointment next week, he'll be approximately the size of a 37 week baby. I know his lung development, not his size is the important factor, but I can't help wonder what's going to happen if he keeps growing at this rate. I also worry that this isn't good for Emmett.

I realize our doctor can't predict what's going to happen in the next seven weeks, but I'm hoping after she sees the ultrasound measurements on Monday, she'll be able to give us an idea of how our next seven weeks might differ from the last seven weeks of a normal pregnancy. Not to say Emmett will be here in seven weeks or that our pregnancy isn't normal, but not knowing how this is going to turn out is driving me nuts. I like to plan and my plan for this pregnancy was that he'd arrive after his due date. Since you know, first time babies are usually late.

I also realize that it sounds like I'm obsessing over this kid's size and worried about the birth. That part doesn't worry me. This kid can't stay in me forever. He's getting out one way or another.

Other recent worries:

• I'll be in a car accident and lose Emmett. This never happens when Crys is driving, she drives so often that I don't even think about it. I rarely ever drive so when I'm in the car by myself I tend to think about accidents.
• The umbilical cord will get wrapped around his neck.
• I'll go into labor early and his lungs won't be developed enough.
• I won't go into labor soon enough and his health will start to deteriorate.
• Something will happen at the hospital and Crys won't be with me.
• Something will go wrong and Emmett will die.

So I know these worries don't make me crazy, it happens. I also know that the likelihood of any of this happening is practically non existent. These are just fleeting worries that come and go when I'm least expecting it. Doesn't stop me from worrying once in awhile though. Crystal on the other hand is worried that we won't be ready when he does come and that something will happen to me or Emmett during the delivery. She hides it pretty well, but it's nice to that I'm not the only one a little anxious right now.

Puppy tricks video test

We bought a digital recorder a few months ago so that we can share videos of Emmett with family members that live out of town (and with our blog world friends). I decided it was time to test out the camera so that I'll already know how to upload videos when Emmett gets here.

Enjoy our puppy tricks!

My mother-in-law

This wasn't supposed to be a long post, but my mother-in-law and I have a long history.

Crys's mom and I have always had a fairly tense relationship. It's mostly because I don't like the way Kim treats Crys. It goes back farther than my relationship with Crys but I came into the picture when Kim was getting ready to marry her second husband, Jack. At first the four of us got along pretty well, then it became clear that the only one of their children they had any interest in was Jack's son. Kim and Crys's sister Loree became estranged, Jack and his daughter were already estranged and Crys's relationship with them was going the same way. The longer Kim was with Jack, the more he controlled and the less contact she had with her own family.

Then Jack tried to kill himself. He ended up in intensive care in a coma and she had him brought to Lincoln, where we live. They live about four hours west of here and Kim believed he was receiving inadequate medical care. Crys and I became a source of comfort and support for Kim, not a problem at all. We thought things between them might change. Jack was in intensive care for about three weeks and then at another medical facility for rehabilitation for a month. They drove off into the sunset after he was discharged and things went right back to the way they were before. So very little contact from them.


Until four months later when he told her he wanted a divorce because he's gay and she needed to move out. She had to move out because it was his house. After they got married she sold her house so they could put the money into remodeling his, expecting that he would put her name on the house. He never did. She also sunk her retirement plan into his house and had to quit her job because she wasn't retirement age and would have just been working to repay what she took out. The day he helped her move out he first said she didn't have to do it then moved a man he'd been seeing for months (possibly years) as soon as her last carload was out of sight.


They never actually got a divorce. It's been four years and she still pays for his health care on her new (well, new after the job she quit) job. Last fall, they reconciled and she moved back into his house, on the condition that she agree to legal separation before she move back. We're fairly certain he just needed someone to help pay the mortgage after his boyfriend moved out. After we found out we were pregnant in August, she was supportive and seemed happy for us. After she moved back in with Jack she became uncomfortable and indifferent every time Crys brought up the baby. Jack once told us he doesn't think gay people should have children and Kim pretty much agrees with anything he says. There have been conversations where she tells us one thing and then changes her opinion when she finds out Jack has a different one. It's sad.


During the four years Kim and Jack weren't living together, Crys and her sister were Kim's support system. She called three or four times a week and she'd visit every couple of months. My relationship with Kim remained a bit tense, mostly because when Jack kicked her out and she was having a hard time getting over it, I was honest with her about what everyone thought of the situation. But it was nice that things were better between Kim and her daughters. And my relationship with her had been getting better.


But Kim has been living with Jack since October. She hardly ever calls Crys anymore. In fact, we didn't even know for sure when she was moving back in with him. One day Crys tried to call her mom and the line was disconnected. It seems like Kim and Loree are still doing okay. We hear things from Loree, like recently Kim was hurt because Crys wasn't calling her more often. Apparently it's okay for her to stop calling and expect Crys to pick up the slack. She calls maybe once a month and hasn't visited since shortly after moving back in with Jack.


After Kim moved back in with Jack, Crys decided to be honest with her. They went out to dinner without me last time she was here. She told Kim she was happy for her, but she needed time to get used to the change. It actually happened without a lot of warning. We had no idea they had been talking about getting back together for months. Kim took it pretty well. Or at least, we thought she did. Maybe it made her upset her and she didn't let on. Anyway, I hoped that if our having a baby made her uncomfortable, she'd be honest and let us know she needs time to get used to it. We found out from Loree that Kim said she's happy for us but doesn't know how to feel about.


That would be easier to take if it weren't for Jack's son, who married a woman with a child from a previous relationship. That little boy called them grandma and grandpa from the first time he met them (which was very early in the relationship between his mom and Crys's step brother). She had no problem with that. So I'm not sure why Emmett is different.


Over spring break our co-workers are both having baby showers for us. Kim also happens to be in town for a work meeting (she works for the state and comes to town pretty regularly on work business) the day before Crys's shower. So I suggested Crys invite her, she could stay with us the night before and work from the state office building in the morning, like she's done in the past when she wants to spend extra time with us. When Crys brought it up Kim told her she has to work that day and cut the conversation short, she and Jack were watching TV. A few days later she called to tell Crys that Jack said it would mean a lot to Crys if she went and that she should go. So Jack is back to calling the shots for Kim, something we've suspected for awhile.

I can't even tell you how hurt Crys was by that conversation. Someone else had to tell her mother that going to our shower would mean a lot to her daughter. Oh, and she decided the first week in May, right after Emmett is due, is the perfect time to fly out to Washington to visit Loree. Loree says it just happened that way, it wasn't intentional. But Kim has been planning to visit Loree since September. You can't tell me that's the one and only week she could go.

So that's where we are with Kim right now. It's hard for Crys because she just doesn't know what to expect from her mom anymore. We just have no idea how Kim is going to treat our son. We keep hoping that once he's here and she sees Emmett, she'll come around. But it doesn't sound like she has any interest in seeing him. We both know it could be worse, but the problem is, it has been worse with Kim and it looks like we're heading that direction again.

My mother

I don't think I've told these stories in my blog. If I have, my apologies.

Not long after Crys and I found out we were having a baby, I saw a 25th anniversary c.abbage patch kid doll in the store and it reminded me of how much I loved those dolls when I was younger. So I thought it would be fun to get one for our kid regardless of if we were having a boy or a girl (we didn't know the sex yet). Last month I was telling my mom about this and she told me, "Mandy, you need to get him trucks too you know." Yes, because the one and only toy I will ever buy for my son is a doll.

A few weeks ago we inherited some baby things from the daughter of a woman my mom works with. So my mom got them from her co-worker and then gave them to me. One of the things was a boppy with a pink cover. Mom wouldn't stop talking about the cover until I said we could always buy a different one. Then she said she knew that, so I pointed out that an infant wouldn't care about the color. She repeated that I could always buy a new one.

In that same conversation I mentioned we'll be getting a pink vibrating chair from a friend. Mom said we could probably recover it. I said he's an infant and we could just leave it as is. Then she said if we took a picture of him in it, we could just cover the pink. Or, we could just leave it. She didn't want to give up on covering every inch of pink that he might be associated with.

All this makes me hope that my son is one of the boys who loves dress up and pink. Just to mess with my mom. Now, I don't care what he likes. He can turn out to be a football player and I'll be fine with it. I'll have to learn how to follow football, but I can handle it. I just can't help but hope he challenges my mom's opinions on gender typing.

Oddly enough, my dad doesn't seem too concerned about any of this. I thought of all people, he'd be the one who really pushes Emmett acting like a little boy. But it looks like my mom is taking that over. Whatever happens, Crys and I know we'll have to watch the way my parents, or my mother at least, treat Emmett as he gets older. We can't always control the lessons he learns about gender and what it means to be a boy (i.e. only sissies cry, boys don't play with dolls, etc) but we do have some say in what he learns from our families.

Super slacker

I skipped work today because I couldn't make myself do my homework last night. I worked from home for about half the day and now I'm trying to make myself finish the homework. This is not a pattern I can let myself slip into. There aren't that many weeks left and our final paper is due a week before I am. There is no reason I can't finish this class before Emmett arrives. So after this post, it's on to my weekly paper that was due at the beginning of class two hours ago. How did I buy myself more time? I "forgot" to attach it to my e-mail to the professor saying I wasn't going to make it to class. I feel like an undergraduate again.

In other news, Emmett has been moving around a little more today. I honestly think he had been transverse and rotated yesterday. I told Crys on the way to work it felt like something funny was going on in my uterus. She got all worried that it was something funny bad. Sometimes I have to be careful about how I tell her things like that. Until today the only movement I've felt has been on my sides with the occasional rib punch. Now I feel him down low and up by my ribs but not on my sides. Whatever is happening in there, he seems to be having a good time.

32 weeks and then some

We went to the doctor today, we're officially on every other week appointments this month. We learned a lot this time around.

Emmett has dropped. At our last ultrasound (18 weeks) he was transverse or laying on his side and since I've really only felt movement on my sides, I assumed he hadn't turned yet. Today I asked the nurse if she could tell his position and she was fairly certain he's dropped. That was good to hear.

Our doctor has been saying for the last month that Emmett is going to be a big baby. Today I remembered to ask her how big I'm measuring. Today I was measuring 35 weeks. Apparently two weeks ago I was measuring four and a half weeks ahead. So he is slowing down. I'd rather have a big baby than a small one, but hearing his growth has slowed a little was nice.

We talked about his movement today. Actually, I asked if we'd get to have an ultrasound again before the end of the pregnancy (my mom is wanting more pictures). She asked us about movement and I told her I feel him every day but not very much and she got a little worried. She decided to schedule an ultrasound for our next appointment because either she'd still be worried about his minimal movement or he'd still be far enough ahead of schedule that she'd want to do one anyway. So we get to see Emmett in two weeks.

It was a pretty good appointment.

Tired...again?

Have I already posted something about being tired? Maybe but that would have been in the first trimester. This is the third. I usually do okay throughout the day. In the evening I may need to lay down for a bit but that's all. Today I kept getting worn out. Maybe it's because I went to bed a little late last night and the cat woke me up a little early this morning. Or maybe the third trimester is starting to kick my ass.

Tuesday marks the beginning of our seventh month. Today we bought baby wipes, powder and oil because those are really the only things left to get that would make us mostly ready for Emmett to come home. We have clothes, diapers, bottles, formula and the necessary furniture. In the highly unlikely event that I go into labor early, we can bring him home without too much hassle.

This whole baby thing is starting to get real.