The Nursery and the Homestretch

As I write this, we are currently 37w4d -- more or less full term and just waiting until the big day. I am still feeling pretty good and I am not yet at that point of being so-uncomfortable-and-just-ready-for-it-to-be-over.

Today, however, was a little different. Before lunch at work, I started to feel a little crampy and I was full-on sweating. Now, it was only in the high 50s today and rainy in the Philly area, so I mostly chalked it up to my decision to wear a light sweater today and the humidity. By the time I got down to lunch, I felt a little wifty and almost trembling. The pains in my abdomen were really mild, but I was slightly alarmed by the whole mess. I felt better while I was eating (figures!) but by the time I got upstairs, I was back in the zone I normally feel on about the second or third day of my period -- crampy and feeling like I could spend an hour in the bathroom.

Once I relaxed a bit at home and made C cook dinner (a momentous occasion!) I felt pretty much back to normal. The only thing about today is that it made me feel more like I wasn't going to make it all the way to May 16.

Right now, and I honestly can't remember if I have outlined this before, my intention is to work as long as I can. I have several reasons:

1. My short-term disability insurance from my work sucks and doesn't kick in until the day you give birth. This means that any day I stay home before birth comes out of my stock of sick days, which I am saving greedily. Our plan also only covers six weeks off from work -- regardless of doctor's orders -- and during that six weeks, the first week is completely unpaid and the consequent five weeks are only 60% pay. Given that C and I don't make much money put together and that I generally pay the mortgage, this is a problem. My HR representative agreed to supplement my disability pay with my banked sick and personal days, but the disability pay is often later than the normal paycheck would have been. Ugh.
2. I am a bit of a control freak about my job. To be fair, that which is left of the school year is pretty darned important. I am teaching one more chapter before wrapping up for finals, so that is important, and I also have to prepare the study guides and the final exam for the longterm substitute. Granted, she is being paid and already started last week for me to "train" her, but there is no way she can effectively make guides and exams based on material that she never saw or taught. She is literally just strolling in at the very end of the school year to babysit during finals review. I want the last chapter, the study guide and the exam to be done right and the longer I am there, the better chance I have of getting it all done.
3. I know that statistically there is generally nothing wrong with babies born after 37w, but I have two experiences that have freaked me out of late. First of all, my cousin was born just a few weeks premature and was huge. At over 9 pounds, the doctors figured he was ready. He ended up having premature lungs and suffering with asthma for the first 21 years of his life. I know this is just an anecdote, but I would rather Charley was as close to 40w as possible. Adding to this anxiety, I recently read an article from the March of Dimes about how babies should not be induced until 39w minimum whenever possible. I know, this anxiety is largely unfounded, but more time baking can't be a bad thing...

Moving on from my tumultuous tummy and irrational anxiety, let's discuss the fun stuff -- the nursery. As of this week, we are pretty much ready. All of his clothes have been washed, folded and put away. His entire cloth diapering system is prepped, organized and good-to-go. His bed is made, sleeper built, car seat installed and stroller assembled. 

My shower was really wonderful, but included many things that we never asked for and frankly cannot use. We spent the past few weekends gathering up exchanges, coupons and gift cards -- and spending a good bit of money -- picking up the odds and ends we still needed. I also had a beautiful shower at work last week, bringing us pretty much down to the homestretch. 

Below are some pictures of the nursery. We chose a monster theme, but the set was somewhat limited with accessories. We decided to make some of the details ourselves including some monster canvases (not shown), the "now we have everything" triptych and the name banner. 

Charley's bookshelf

Crib and changing table

Dresser and adorable monster lamp

I saw this saying ages ago and I just had to make something with it for Charley's room!

Paper bunting above crib

Charley's Reading Center (it's never too early, right?)

35/35

35/35! Just a year ago, this is a day that I just couldn't imagine happening!

As of today, we are officially 35 weeks along and there are just 35 days left until we are fully cooked!

Everyone is asking how I feel, and it is actually kind of nice. It is nice to know that people are concerned and excited. It also reminds me of how lucky I am to be feeling so well.

For a single day while we were on our "babymoon" in Florida for Phillies Spring Training, I had some sciatic nerve pain when I would get up from sitting. If I would walk for a bit, however, it would go away. Other than that day, I haven't had a problem with the shooting hip-to-knee pains that so many of my friends experienced. So far, I also haven't experienced any Braxton-Hicks contractions, unless the mild cramping that I occasionally experience is actually a mild BH. I have had the wicked indigestion since the beginning, and that hasn't really changed.

Finally, my only complaint is some pretty intense swelling in my feet and ankles. Since I was in my early 20s, I have always had some problems with swelling related to heat or too much time seated. Pregnancy has only intensified this problem so that it is happening pretty much everyday. It is helped by wearing comfortable shoes and walking/standing as much as possible, but it can be a little uncomfortable. I also hate not being able to wear my sandals now that the weather is warming up!

Overall, I have more energy now than I did before I was pregnant and we are really making some progress in organizing all of Charley's things. It still has not set in how quickly this due date is approaching, much less the fact that there is always the possibility of an early arrival! The clock is ticking and the countdown is on!

Showered with Love and Anticipation...

This past weekend was our baby shower and it really was wonderful and very personal. We used the same manor house venue where we got married. It is an older estate on the property of my mom's condo townhouse, so it was free for her to use. It really was great to be surrounded by the same family and friends in the same building just about four years after we were married there.

My mom and her scrapbooker friend made all of the decorations and my former-chef aunt and her mother-in-law made all of the food. Again, it was amazing to be surrounded by so much love and effort from my family. My cousin (my very close, like-a-sister cousin) worked her butt off organizing the guest lists, games and keeping everything moving. She is something of an expert on showers and seems to know what everyone loves and hates about them, so she kept it going. My lovely college friends made an assembly line of gifts, then repacked everything neatly and kept a running list of gifts for thank you notes. They really had it all together!

We had about 50 guests, mostly extended family of mine and C's. Even his aunt who just gave birth on Monday was able to be there!

Of course, we got tons of clothes and blankets, but we also got our stroller and our infant car seat, as well as a high chair, playpen, jumperoo and a few other goodies.

C is pretty old school with some traditions and didn't want to hang around much, so after he helped valet cars for our older guests, he hid in the kitchen with my brother-in-law and my cousins scarfing down leftovers and watching the Phillies on TV. He did have to be summoned at one point, however, when a good friend gave us a Levi's denim jacket with a hand-embroidered back patch of his band's logo. :)

As of right now, we are still sorting, organizing and assembling our haul, as well as compiling a list of what we still need before Charley arrives. We got several cloth diapers, but we will likely need to gather some more before he is born. We did not get our bassinet, but we were pleased to discover last night that our playpen came with several bassinet and napper accessories and that it fits perfectly in the corner of our bedroom for those first few weeks.

Maybe we didn't have the biggest and grandest shower ever, but it was fun, well-planned and, most of all, it made it very clear how much Young Charles is loved already!