The Power of the Bendy Straw?!

You know what I LOVE?

SUMMER!

Yes, that's right.

I don't care that I am 32-33 weeks pregnant and the heat index hasn't even ATTEMPTED to go below 100 for days and days and days (possibly a month?) on end. I don't even care that I look RIDICULOUS in tank tops and maternity pants these days. (I even broke down and bought some... maternity shorts. Shudder: I hate shorts.)

The heat is ridiculous, right? It really is. The main reason I'm loving summer this year is that people see THE BELLY they feel so sorry for me being all knocked up and enormous in this heat that's all they want to talk about and they don't even ask me questions like "Boy? Girl? Name? Nursery?" and all those other baby questions I can't seem to answer! They are just like "September? OH YOU POOR DEAR!" all the time.

See? It just keeps GROWING. Maybe the baby really IS coming out.

I had to take several pictures as a "ghost" in order to get Nate to even attempt to pose normally for me. Ahem. Like so:
I'm feeling pretty great to be honest. Like, I'm still definitely in denial that a baby could be here in the next couple of months, but I've hit this point where I'm enjoying the end of my pregnancy and we've been building up our birth bubble. Instead of a birth plan, Karl and I just decided to call it a birth bubble - deciding things like who we want at our birth (answer: NO ONE. Well, we want our midwives there this time!) and how I want to labor (answer: standing, standing, standing or really, anything but laying down) and where we would go (and at what point) if we need to transfer to a medical facility and when we want to go to the pediatrician.

We did get our birth kit in the mail this week. Nate helped me open it. Birth in a Box.


Wondering what is in a home birth kit? Gloves, gauze, chuck/bedding pads, herbal baths, a peri bottle, um... what else? A footprint kit, some other stuff I can't think of right now, A PLACENTA PAN, er BED PAN , er WHATEVER THIS IS USED FOR THAT I don't really like to think about so I'm sharing it with you! (You're WELCOME.):

What else? Bendy straws. HA. For real. There are bendy straws in there. A girl in our birth class was VERY concerned about what the bendy straws (secret hippie midwifery weapons/tools?!) were for but the midwife teaching our class assured us they really are just for drinking (and sometimes you need water or labor-ade and you're in super-weird positions or in a birthing tub (where I will NOT be) and ONLY A BENDY STRAW WILL DO THE JOB PEOPLE!) (Also recommended to have a SIGNIFICANT supply of bendy straws for outside baby nursing sessions if you are like me and feel an INSANE thirst when your milk lets down!) (What? You know you wanted to think about breastfeeding and boobies today, right?!)

I WILL be glad to get my brain back and to start remembering words like CHAIR (it's REAL awkward to be like "Hey, babe, can you drag that thing over here? You know the one with four legs and that you sit in?"). AND AND I WILL be glad to get some sanity back and stop crying when Karl does things like bring me a glass of water and THERE IS NO ICE IN IT. (The horror.)

32 weeks, 2 days.

Nate delivered at 38 weeks, 4 days and is currently 3 years, 1 month and 2 days old.

list of lists. i love lists.

Summer is such a mix of slow and fast, right? It's flying by but the hot, lounge-y days can seem long when the heat prevents us from much outdoor activity.

I think I have forgotten to tell you several things:

(Of the important) Karl received a promotion this month at his office. For those of you that have been following this blog for a while, many know that he was reluctant to leave his last gig (startup and freelance work) to go back to corporate life but MAN this move has been good for us. It's his story to tell but I'll just leave it at: it's good. We're happy.

(Of the mundane) Some of you may remember my friend Sarah and I were sharing photos at Share Love Everyday. She dropped out somewhere along the way but I'm proud to say I posted 365 photos from March 2010 to March 2011. It (most def) was harder than one would think to post like that and I did not post each and everyone on time. (Though Wordpress allowed me to make it look like I did!) I then took a break for several months, moved the site to tumblr and am mostly posting from my phone (through the Tumblr app) and my Instagram account. Mostly they are Nate images and I do expect anyone to look and I definitely do NOT promise to post every day but I am trying to keep it going for my own personal enjoyment/record.


(Of the ridiculous) The nose ring is officially out. I couldn't handle the moms of the teen moms on MTV's Teen Mom (what? it's so good!) and the checker at Wal-Mart and, well, EVERYONE having one and my nose is spreading (oh yes. it is happening.) and it kept popping out and I've been having bloody noses (i know. it's gross.) so I had Karl rip it out this morning.

(Of the fun) Karl was in Los Angeles for a work Microsoft conference for, well, FOREVER (and a day) so when he returned (flight delayed. of course.) he was on Nate-duty for the majority of the weekend. He did convince me to remove myself from the couch to hit up a swimming hole - a lot red neck, a lot fun. (For my local friends, off Hwy 5 in Saline County.)


(Of the nerdy) Karl and I have been trying a new list share called Wunderlist. We use the iPhone app and it syncs our lists and, when you HIT THAT SATISFYING CHECK BOX, removes the task/item for both of us. So far I'm totally loving it. (It is just for lists; our calendars are synced through Google Calendar.) This morning, I noticed Karl created a "Birth Stuff" list. Ahem:

(Of the sleepytimes) My eyes are now heavy so that is all. Good night moon.

somewhere between 29 and 30 (weeks)

I started this blog post last week with the intention of Karl taking some stellar 29 week pregnancy photos.

Then he left for LA for a week for a work conference. Within the first HOUR of his departure, my dog knocked over the trash can and consumed an ENTIRE LOAF of bread. (Roxy. Clearly.) Nate also emptied an entire canister of flour onto the counter. I'm ashamed to say that, instead of cleaning it or even scolding him, I let him play in it for a solid 30 minutes while I cooked dinner. I'm pretty sure some of it is STILL stuck to the sink.

So, good intentions on the photo but, uh, you get this awkward iPhone shot instead:

That shirt is one of my REAL PREGNANT looking items! AND, erm, I had just polished off some pizza, and, um, JESUS I LOOK PREGNANT.

So, yea, about this BABY that is SUPPOSEDLY coming out. I'm not sure it's really happening. Like surely, it's not, right? Because when I tell people I could (potentially) have a real, live OUTSIDE HUMAN BEING in about eight weeks, I start to sort of hyperventilate. This pregnancy has been a weird mix of vomit (ittttttttttt's baaaaaaaaaack) and exhaustion and bad skin and normal pregnancy anxiety but I'm not sure that means I'm ready for it to be over so soon. If I remember correctly, pregnancy anxiety takes a backseat and becomes a mere distant and fleeting memory when you have to concentrate on, oh you know, keeping a newborn alive and happy.

So, what do you guys want to know? I just started swelling a little bit - the 100 degree temperatures and 110+ heat indexes this week MIGHT have a little something to do with that. I'm chugging water like a CHAMP and continuing my pledge to, if at all possible, remain near a body of water if outdoors.

I see my midwife tomorrow and I think it's my last monthly visit - we'll move to every two weeks from here on out. I will also see my OB one more time before the ejection. In other medical news, I failed my one hour Gestational Diabetes test and had to sit for the dreaded 3 hour test (which takes four hours plus and which I passed with flying colors apparently). My blood pressure is still higher than I'd like to see but it's been consistent so no one (as of yet) is concerned about it. I also take it regularly at home and it's always lower here so Karl fully believes I have a bit of white coat syndrome. The baby continues to kick me with an intensity that I did not believe was possible from something that weighs between 2 and 3 pounds. I still love the movement - though I've had some killer kicks to the ribs in the last week or so that promise to become a little more uncomfortable.

The plan is, as of this moment, to birth this baby in our home (I haven't picked a specific ROOM yet but you can sure as hell bet it won't be the 4x4 smallest room in our house!). I (obviously) can't predict what will happen but I hope that turns out to be the case. He or she is already in an excellent head-down position and we're hoping he or she stays that way! (PELVIC TILTS Y'ALL!) We haven't decided what exactly to do with Nate while I'm in labor but, most likely, he will go to Karl's mamas.

Several people have asked if I think this baby will arrive early like Nate (38 weeks, 4 days) and I just don't believe that will happen. Mostly because Karl got this invite to a developers conference in Kentucky that is "ALWAYS" in November but, magically, this year begins September 26. When he got the invite, he said "Maybe you'll go early" thereby SOLIDIFYING the fact that I will most definitely, 100% make it to my due date and beyond. Nevertheless, I've started my walking regimen for the 3rd tri - dubbed "Walk the Baby Out" and is an attempt at a minimum 1 mile per day. It's not quite as easy this pregnancy as any form of walking in this heat starts up the contractions so I'm more cautious and WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY slow.

Other than moving Nate into his "big boy" room we still have nothing purchased and nothing set up. We continue to discuss names we hate instead of names we might actually use. As most of you know, our girl name for Nate was Nora Kate and it's still a contender. Neither Karl nor I have a good feel for the baby's sex - we thought girl all along but as it gets closer, I'm thinking perhaps this child has boy parts.

What do you guys think? Should I just call the ultra sound tech and have her pull our images and find out?

the 4th (also known as the holiday I most often threaten to divorce my husband)

I really hate the Fourth of July.

(SORRY BUT I DO.)

Drunk people and fireworks? It just doesn't seem like a great combination to me.

Also, every year Karl decides he wants to host a party.

Every year it involves an adult slip and slide (which I roll my eyes about every year!).

(May I remind everyone that I am currently 29 weeks pregnant and that we hosted a birthday party last week?)

(May I also remind - or perhaps share with you for the first time - that last year's event ended with Karl and one of his friends eating disgusting charred and lighter-fluid flavored pizza from the grill?)

So. Yea. It's his thing. I do not cook. I do not clean. I do not shop. I do not invite.

To his credit, it all gets done.

And, to his credit, I have to admit this year was an excellent, relaxing event.

There was even some solid kid curling:
Plus, we were in bed by 11 and I didn't have to clean up a bunch of beer cans and other drunk people litter the next day!

SUCCESS!