Sigh. This little guy really wants to come

So as many of you know, I am in the birthing center. It appears that Fenix is really ready to come out now.
Here's what happened....

Early Weds a.m. I started having tons of painful contractions. This went on for about an hour and a half. I tried all the tricks to make them go away and eventually they did.

Fast forward to Thursday. I woke up feeling less then great so I decided to work from home. That afternoon I had an appointment with my midwife and I mentioned the contraction incident from Weds. She seemed concerned and decided to check my cervix. Well guess what? It was thinning and softening. Not a good thing at 33 weeks.

She sent me over to the birth center (across the street) for an ultrasound and to be put on the contraction monitor. We found out that I was still having contractions... some that I hadn't even noticed. Given the frequency of the contractions they gave me a shot to stop them and then another slower acting pill that does the same. They stopped for about an hour and came right back. At this point the decision was made to give me another shot of the drug and then a shot of steroids in my hip to help speed up lung development in the baby in case he was really coming soon.

I was admitted, transferred to a private room and got a sleeping pill to get me thru the night. Jason slept here too.

Well at around 1pm today the painful contractions started up again. That's when they decided to pull out the big guns and give me an IV of magnesium sulfate as a last ditch effort to stop my labor because a pelvic exam revealed that I am already 2cm dilated, my cervix is softer and thinner and the baby's head is low in my pelvis.
Bonus they gave me another ultrasound and I saw his little head and face. He is freaking so cute!

Anyway this latest drug makes you feel like ASS. And I mean that. But I am trying my best to stay positive and keep thinking good thoughts. I can still shoot for a vaginal birth (I'm told it will likely be easier on me now since he is small) and my midwife can still do my delivery.

As a bonus tomorrow my childbirth instructor, Penny Simkin, is stopping by to check on me. I have to say that this woman is my personal hero and if you are having a baby please please read her books. And better yet if you are in Seattle you must take her class.

But I digress. I feel like crap right now but at least I'm still pregnant. I don't want to leave my little boy here! I would love to have him stay in my belly to grow a little longer. Wish us luck...

and how cute is this?!?!

Talk about awesome overload!

I just saw this fabulous snail rocker on the Back to Basics website. It's an online store dedicated to classic toys but they have lots of other cool stuff too.

I think Fenix needs this.

baby shower/team awesome power

On the 17th my beautiful friends Ty and Lauren hosted an awesome baby shower for Fenix, Jason and I.

I can honestly say that we all felt so loved by everyone there. So much generosity and thoughtfulness. It was fantastic.

Enjoy some pics from the affair below (thanks to Lauren D. for the photos!):

and speaking of bartenders....

LOL... look at this
http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=171203&catid=27028

It's a breastmilk alcohol tester. Now believe me I am missing the adult beverages something awful during this pregnancy (what I wouldn't do for a glass of petite syrah!) but this seems just a teensy bit ridiculous. As long as you time your consumption of said adult beverage properly, you should be able to nurse without getting your kid shit faced. But I suppose if you want to not be uh, held down, by such things, well then this product is for you.

bartender, i'll have a boob juice, neat.

Read me:
http://www.alphamom.com/wonderland/2007/11/breast_milk_or_alcohol_which_i.php

I think I am actually more confused. But it was a fun read was it not?

did you know....

....That the presence of people who upset the laboring mother can actually stall labor?

I have been reading alot about this and it's quite amazing that the progression of labor is so suggestive that this can happen. Woman who are not surrounded by people who love them and care about them are much more likely to end up with a stalled labor. Or more to the point, women who have a person or persons in the room who are negative, mean or not supportive can end up with a stalled labor. And when that happens, out comes the vaccuum extractors... the forceps.... and ultimately maybe even a c-section. It must be hard to cope with the pain and being in such an emotionally tumultious state when you know that one or more of the people in the room don't have your best interest at heart.

I'm really happy about who will be in the room with me during my labor. Besides the midwife and a nurse it will just be me and Jason in the room. I'm glad that I had the presence of mind to make good, sound decisions about that. I wouldn't want anything or any one to take away from my birth experience. It's a special time and *only* the people that love you and support you should be included.

maternity clothes rave - target!

Long gone are my days of insisting on only wearing certain clothing brands (god, I can't believe I used to be like that - oh the materialism!)

Now I've adopted a much more economical approach to clothes shopping. Particularly in the area of maternity clothing. Are the maternity style seven jeans really cute? Yes. Does the baby style site have the trendiest maternity wear I have ever seen? Yes. Will I be buying any of that stuff? NO.

So I went to Target on Saturday to get a few things.. namely a coat because this business of having a coat that won't close in the front is so not cute.

I got this:

and this:


Both were under $20 and fit really nicely. The cut is such that I plan to wear them post baby too!

we shipped it! and other sh*t that is going on

So I finally finished up at work somewhere around 1 a.m. We've got a conference call at 11 a.m. today to discuss last minute hotfixes but the good news is that the late nights are pretty much over.

Anyway we agreed to get this crib from ikea for the nursery:


Jason is going down there in a few minutes to get it, a mattress and some basic bedding. I am priming and painting the changing table in bright white (as opposed to the distressed black that we originally agreed on).

Here's our latest inspiration nursery:

sigh. i'm still at work.

It's midnight... well almost and I'm still here at work.

FWIW I do get a sense of accomplishment after a big project like this comes to an end. To know that I had a big hand in shaping something that is really important to my company is a pretty cool thing.

All that said... I'm tired and I wanna go home!

30 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay! Today marks the 30 week point for our pregnancy. I'm in the home stretch :-)

::cue final countdown song ala Gob Bluth::

cinnamon almonds from trader joes are bites of heaven...

that is all.

teensy rave

I just bought ALOT of yarn (and a row counter) from the Joann Fabrics online store. Shipping was free with a discount code.

Plus every skein of yarn that I purchased was discounted.

In the end I spent way less than I would have spent if I went to the actual store - which is only about 2 miles from my house but still!

*sigh* I have alot of knitting to do.

and now my ears are warm

I finished knitting the headband that I mentioned in my last post.

It came out really great in spite of the fact that I used different yarn than what was called for in the pattern and I neglected to do a gauge swatch first. It came out a little big but I washed it in hot water which shrunk it down quite a bit and gave it a nice felted look.

The finished product:


I used a little red plastic rose button as a fastener:


Ready for a cold damp Seattle day:

so i started this thing last night.

It's a new knitting project (free pattern from knitty.com)



To clarify, I am talking about the thing on her head.

I am doing it with orange/yellow/green variegated soy wool yarn that looks like this:


The pattern is really very easy to follow. The funny thing is that I looked at this pattern about a year ago and thought, 'oh boy, I don't have the skills to do that'- which is sad because I did but apparently I was having a seriously dumb moment when I made that assessment.

So just yesterday while searching for things to make as xmas gifts I came across it again and thought 'wow that looks easy and quick'.
Alot can change in a year!

I'll post pics when I'm done.

damn this belly is starting to get uncomfortable and other musings...

check it:


I had a slight moment of panic this morning when I realized that the baby hadn't moved nearly as much as he usually does since last night. So I spent my waking hours doing all kinds of wacky positions trying to get this little bugger to wake up. I was on all fours, I laid quietly on my side, I propped myself up with pillows and sat up in bed, I jiggled my whole belly around. Finally. Finally! When I ate my breakfast he came to life and started kicking the holy hell out of my bladder.

God, I love this kid.

haha! i beat you to it mighty girl.

Ok it's not that big of a deal but awhile ago I posted about Gdiapers.

Well the word is catching on. The hilarious and cool Mighty Girl has posted about them on her site. And since I really do love just about everything that she has to say, I am waiting with baited breath to hear her feedback on these bad boys.

See the Mighty Girl post on G Diapers here.

i sold 5 things on etsy!

I sold 2 hats and three blankets from my etsy site. I have an offline order for another hat too. So exciting. I wish I had more time to do this stuff! I'd sew and knit stuff for babies any day over testing software.