Patience is a Virtue...

...which I have yet to master. Well, today is my due date, but as Timmy reminded me this morning, it is only an estimated date of arrival and certainly not a guarantee. As you can probably tell by my lack of news, Tazby has yet to make her grand entrance into this world.

I had an appointment with my OB yesterday. I'm making progress, but there's really no way to tell when this whole thing is going to go down. If she's not here by Tuesday, I have another appointment and we'll talk about doing a biophysical profile to assess how she's doing and whether or not an induction will be necessary. I'm hoping to avoid that, but we will, of course, do whatever is safest for her.

Although it is disappointing to see your due date come and go, I know she'll be here when she's ready. At least I only have 1 day of work left before I start my maternity leave so I'll be able to get plenty of rest to prepare for labor and delivery.

As the waiting continues, wish us luck that we'll meet our little girl soon (Any time would be fine with us, but I know Timmy is secretly hoping she'll come sometime this weekend between the BC football game and the Patriots season debut)! Thanks for checking in!

"Is she here yet?"

While I appreciate that the phone calls have not yet started asking me if I’ve had the baby, I’m starting to realize that it’s still the only thing on most peoples’ minds. I was just sitting here (at my desk at work) and feeling distracted (which is the only way I feel these days). It was one of the more quiet moments I get here when no one walks by me and comments that “Oh, I’m still here?” followed by advice on how to induce my own labor. Well, as I was sitting, I was thinking I should call Timmy at work and say hi. He’s been so busy trying to tie up some loose ends so he leaves everything in a somewhat completed state when he has to pick up at the drop of a hat and head out on a couple of weeks of paternity leave. I thought maybe a quick phone call instead of an e-mail would perk up his day a bit. But I’ve decided against it after more thought. Even if there are a million things going on around him and he’s far too busy to have a pointless conversation with his bored wife (which I know he is and completely understand), he’d answer his phone in fear that it was me calling in an emergency situation (which it isn’t at all). I think I’ll leave the phone right where it is.

I called my mom yesterday to tell her how we had finished all of our final shopping for the baby and I swear she was half way to the car on her way to the hospital by the time I got a single word out. Even Tim has all but been forbidden from calling his family in the middle of the day because it’s so out of character for him, they assume it must mean baby time. Even when I called my dad last week to set up plans for BC’s tailgate on Saturday, the first words out of my mouth were “don’t worry, there’s no baby yet”. I’m not even sure he was going ask, but I thought I’d go for the preemptive strike in that case.

Eh, I guess I can’t blame any of them. I guess it’s easy for me to judge since I always know what’s going on with me and the baby. I think the best solution is to start appreciating more how many people there are that care about us so much.

Labor Day!

Yep, it's labor day! Unfortunately, it has little more significance for me than the usual three-day weekend off from work. So, you guessed it, I'm still pregnant. I can't complain too much though. I'm not actually overdue yet or anything and my back has been feeling significantly better over the past several days. Plus, not having a baby yet gave Timmy and I a chance to get the last of our baby shopping done today, as well as some house organizing and laundry done. I have to give Timmy the credit for all of that though. By the time we got back from a day out at Babies R Us and Magic Beans, I was exhausted and not feeling well at all. He's really been taking amazing care of me and letting me get all the rest I need. He's going to be a great dad.

Tomorrow I'll officially be able to say that Tazby is due the day after tomorrow. I'm not sure why this is significant, but I guess I'm just happy to say it. We've decided that we'll just be as prepared as we can be for her arrival because, in all honesty, we may really never feel completely ready. There is just too much unknown. I'm trying to be patient. As I said in my last post, I know she'll come when she's ready. We're predicting next weekend, but I've been having a lot of contractions over the past couple of days so I guess we'll just wait and see. I'm just relieved to know that after our shopping excursion today, Tazby has a Goober Bear to come home to :-) What a lucky girl....

5 days to go!

Well, I guess I'm counting down to a fairly arbitrary date. While it is my "due date", it is, after all, referred to as an estimated due date. I have to say that I was fairly shocked to find out that less than 4% of women actually deliver on their "EDD". In fact, first time moms can almost always be counted on to deliver 10 days after their assigned due date. So, I guess it's all a waiting game at this point. Since I've never been pregnant before, I have absolutely no idea what all of the aches and pains I'm feeling are. I'm definitely having the occasional contraction, but nothing that I can really track. While they can get pretty painful, there certainly nothing like what I've heard described. Every time I feel one, I think to myself , "this has to be it." But in my head, I'm pretty confident that I shouldn't even begin to expect her until after her due date. It's funny that it's even more tangible to count down to the start of my maternity leave, even though I'm not scheduled to leave until 1 day after my due date (unless she arrives early or on time).


So, basically, I'm thinking that doctors should start giving expecting parents an estimated due month...or maybe even a 5 week time span. I'm just thinking that if they did this, they'd avoid all of those unhappy very pregnant women who anticipate their due date for 9 months only to have it pass them by uneventfully. I guess I'll just keep on waiting on her. I'm sure she'll come when she's ready. Until then, I'm going to keep counting down to one of many possible days that she might make her arrival :-)

Scary Baby!

As my work day was wrapping up yesterday, I came to the realization that I hadn't felt Tazby move for almost all of the day. Now, I can't emphasize enough what an incredibly active baby we have here. I didn't want to be alarmed, but my midwife is always telling me that the baby should never slow down (which is what some people say will happen as you near your due date).

So, I gave my doctor's office a call, but of course by now it was after hours so I was connected with Brigham and Women's and the midwife there said they wanted me to come in and get monitored right away. I called Timmy and told him what was going on, but that everything was probably fine. He sounded so nervous I think he probably had enough adrenaline to run to the hospital faster than he could drive.

I hopped in a cab and went straight to the hospital. They took great care of me and immediately hooked me up to a bunch of monitors to track Tazby's little heartbeat and my contractions. It took her a little while, but after 3 glasses of apple juice, our little girl was back to her normal rambunctious self. Timmy raced to the hospital (even offering to get our labor and delivery bag from home on the way...I told him we wouldn't need it) and he was great at reassuring me that I had done the right thing by getting us both checked out.

Long story short, every thing's great. She's even been overly active today (which is much more reassuring than bothersome right now). I think it might have something to do with the stern talking-to Timmy gave her last night (don't worry, he read her a book right after :-) My midwife even called me at home before work this morning so she could have me come in and get monitored at my usual doc's office just for extra reassurance. Everything looked great. Despite the scare she gave us, she really came through in the end. I couldn't be happier or more relieved.

Only one more week to go until the big due date! Come on little Tazby!

Going Strong!

Well, there are officially only 9 days left until my due date! I can't believe it's here already. I am happy to announce that I am feel much less stressed and more prepared than in my last post. Timmy did an amazing job on our nursery and it's absolutely beautiful. She's a very lucky girl to already have such an amazing dad. All of Tazby's clothes are washed and put away in her drawers and we've stocked up on all our newborn essentials for when she comes home. It's incredible to think we're going to meet our little girl so soon.

I met with my midwife today. Everything is going great. Tazby keeps getting lower and I'm about 70% effaced, but not dilated yet. I'm hoping I'll make even more progress before my appointment next week. Anyway, everything is going great. I'm having some back pain that's making it hard to get around, but it's bearable knowing I don't have to deal with it for too much longer.

I'll try and keep posting small updates every day until the big day comes! Thanks for checking in!

Only 4 weeks to go!

I have to be honest, I'm really feeling the pressure right about now (and no, I'm not talking about the baby constantly sitting on my bladder, which she is.) I know I haven't posted in a while, but things have been hectic and I think there are far too many emotions currently going on for me to be able to really focus on one thing for long periods of time.

On a good note, my mother threw me a lovely baby shower where our little Tazby was spoiled beyond belief by many people who already care about her. She is definitely a very lucky girl and I'm lucky to be reassured that she will be well taken care of always.

Prepared Childbirth class has been going well (despite traumatic video viewings of a birth and c-section), but we managed to survive and Timmy has been great through the whole thing (only one more class to go). I can tell though that he's feeling the pressure as much as I am. While I'm focused on actual labor and delivery and bringing home a newborn, he's worried about having everything ready and providing and taking care of his family. I suppose we're both just anxious about the unknown. It's so hard not knowing when she's coming because, honestly, a due date certainly doesn't mean she's going to show on that date. I even started feeling a lot of cramping and pain in my abdomen on my way home on the train tonight and completely convinced myself that I was going into labor. As soon as I got home, I rested and the pain eventually subsided. I'm pretty sure that she's just dropping and hitting things I haven't felt before, but it did make me acutely aware of how petrified I am that she'll come early. We don't have bags packed or the nursery ready. There is just still so much to do, but we're making progress and my wonderful husband is prepping so much for her.

People who have never been pregnant sometimes compare it to planning for a wedding. Now, this is totally delusional. A wedding lasts for a day! One single day! While some relationships may change slightly after the wedding day, it is certainly nothing like the dramatic change you undergo when you have children. Not to mention how unfair it is that I had 18 months to plan for a single day and only 9 months to prepare to claim sole responsibility for another human being!

Suffice it to say, I'm nervous. I guess I have to assume that every pregnant woman feels this as she nears the end. I know that friends who are expecting after me are all feeling the same pressure. It's hard to get up and go to work everyday and pretend like you're not completely distracted by this little baby jumping and kicking. I've even started analyzing every ache and pain to determine if perhaps it's the "real thing". Well, it's not and rationally I know that, but something in my just wants to make sure that when it's happening, I know it's happening. I just hope that soon I can start feeling more assured and less completely overwhelmed. As excited as I am to meet our little girl, I'm hormonal and emotional and completely scared. Maybe I'll have to wait for that to subside until she heads off to college.

For all you who have missed me, I'll be posting again shortly on the shock of discovering my first stretch mark and fred flintstone feet...oh what a week that was!