Box Car Madness

Hopefully, we'll get pics when Ben gets home!


It started out rather civil. AWANA family night is tomorrow, so we're working on the 'box cars' for the race. I had a little 12x12" box come in the mail today, so we did a practice car for MissC. When MissB got her box out, it started. MissC wants to be in the box: MissB doesn't want her there.

I may just leave off until I have backup.. But, I was thinking of letting them paint the cars, and that should be done this afternoon when T.J. gets home and starts his..

List of Demands

Ha. I feel kind of greedy and whiny, but I need help. I'm just about at wit's end getting one or two subjects done most days (super basics covered now, more in depth again come summer - I'm more of a summer schooler anyway) that the twice a week classes T.J. takes are a blessed respite! T.V. watching has become daily -I need a nap or two. And, the girls have been fighting like mad.

I sent Ben an email this morning with a basic schedule for the next month, and letting him know I need him to start the day, too. My friends are being so sweet and gathering around to give me a hand with meals, and one is coming to help me clean tomorrow (I'm not vacuuming till April) while another watches her children.

For now, I'll get my achy self into the kitchen and make some breakfast.

Hiccups

Right now, baby's hiccuping. Thump thump through my belly against my thigh.

We had our checkup today. I think it's the first time she's seen the girls fight. Being one of 11, she knows it happens, but it's still too cute at this age. "How do you keep a straight face?" Haha, practice! Everything looks good with baby. Everything looks good, baby was 'dropped' again, so measured more than last time, but a little less than for dates (normal in the last few weeks). This could be a tiny 7 pounder. We're earliest 37w4d, latest 38w6d (39 weeks tomorrow), so definitely in the 'safe' zone for birth. She's had a Sunday afternoon birth each weekend this month, and the next gal in line with me isn't due till the 11th, but she's having more regular contractions than me -which is typical, I usually have sessions of Braxton Hicks once or twice in the last month then just go into labor. With #4 was the first time that I had regular daily contractions before the birth (every morning for 2 or 3 weeks, then they let up and one day I was in labor, in the morning).

It's always interesting to see how it turns out. Short or long, day or night. Could be this weekend, or next.. or whenever. No need to rush to meet the new little!

Too Much Food Network?

I lay down to take a nap and found MissB working on a 'pie' when I awoke.



Once she had the filling done, she'd worked on the crust..



There was flour, sugar and spices -lots of spices- all over!



All in all, she was quite proud of herself for making "One like they're making" on TV.

I've made up some 'real' pie crusts so we can make an edible pie tomorrow.

Getting Up

Wednesday, TJ had an ortho appointment. My MIL took him and the older girls, leaving MissC and I at home. We slowly walked over to the coffee shop, about 1/3 of a mile. We drank our coffee (half-caff) and finally meandered back home. Within a couple hours, my lower back and hips were sore.

Thursday, I awoke stiff. Barb took TJ to class and the three girls and I walked Ben to the coffee shop. I had MissA push the stroller on the way there. MissB decided to ride and MissC pushed most of the way back. My hips ached and the joints were freezing up all day.

Today's Friday, and I woke with comfortable hips! I was planning on being able to walk to the coffee shop today originally, but we've decided to check out the gardens at the Winchester House instead. I haven't been there yet, so I'm looking forward to our trip (and hoping they have benches so I can rest between gardens).

Can’t Sleep

Children are strange at times (aren't we all?). I told them to straighten up the girls room last night. There wasn't too much, so I gave them 10 minutes. I waddled in there after maybe 15 and the floor was cushioned with their bedding. I had TJ get a basket and they had to put all those blankets and pillows in and take them out of the room, then they had to finish picking up the toys. When he got home, poor Ben had quite a time with getting the blanket-deprived children off to bed! Since TJ had thrown most of the stuff on the floor, he was told to share his bounty -he took all his and made a bed for the girls on MissB's bed; so sweet!

Funny thing was, after the 'stress' of dealing with that, I finally had no contractions for a good hour or so! I don't want to spend the next week finding ways to keep adrenaline flowing, though. Adrenaline (the fight or flight hormone) is known to slow or stop labor.

It's finally raining, though. And, we need it! But, rain, on the other hand, is connected to increased Braxton Hicks. It doesn't bother all women, I suppose, but I've already noticed how much I'm affected by weather- In about 2001, I worked in an "open air" store (the doors folded out of the way during the day hours) in Colorado. Each day that summer just before when the clouds rolled down the mountains (when the 'front' came down, I suppose), I started aching in every joint. It was weird! A friend suggested it may be fibromyalgia, but it was only with the weather - My midwife asks at each appointment if I've had Braxton Hicks, and pointed out one day that it had been raining when I said that I'd had a lot that weekend, whereas usually I don't mind them at all.

I've had 2 or 3 in the last hour sitting here. Thankfully, the peeing thing alleviates them to a degree, but if I get 'twinges' with them, I immediately lie down. I'd been lying down most of the day, even had two or three naps. That just makes it a little harder to sleep with MissB's coughing.

My MIL is coming out today. She called Tuesday, after Ben told her about my Monday, and offered to come help out for a week. Ben's going to take the car to work so he can pick her up (oh, we're down to one vehicle -I've been a little tense with him at work and having to rely on someone else to get him here if something happens; like Monday and this all started, thankfully, he had the car that day!). It will be nice to have someone to help with the children.

Generally, the children have been patient. We've been watching way too much TV as it's hard to see the book through MissC's head when I'm lying down trying to read to them and she likes to cuddle right next to me. MissB has been trying to get in behind me, but has settled mostly with cuddling by my legs. MissA likes to put a pillow on the opposite end of the couch and keeps her feet warm on me. TJ gets them all riled up, so I have to take another approach with him. He's got schoolwork and lots of energy (and it's raining!), so it's every half hour or so that I tell him to change activity. I'll have the girls empty the dishwasher while he's doing a writing assignment, then he get to load it. Then, everyone does Math. And, I'll add in cuddle time when I'm up to sitting, or playtime with the girls when he's stayed on task. The other day, I assigned Math for 40 minutes. He never asked for help once, but only had 3 problems done by the end. Fine, it's an "F" for the day, but he'll get to finish the page today and get the average of the two grades on that assignment.

I have to go lie down again, though, as this is the worst possible chair to sit in, and this is tightening number 3 or 4!

Tightenings

Gee, I hope they're only Braxton Hicks. Thankfully, I slept really well last night, but before that I'd started in on the tightenings. Ben got home, looked at me, and asked what I was doing vertical (as in, sitting up). Yeah.. I asked him to get up with TJ this morning and get him going for his classes, so far it's been me, but I'm not making breakfast or lunch for the kid: I seriously cannot stand for long with out pain right now. I just have to ride it out at least another week and a bit I think.. or is it two weeks? Obstetric weeks can be counted two ways: entering the 37th week means that you're at 36 weeks, so I'm still confused whether the 20th or 27th is the earliest I can "safely" deliver. I think my midwife counts old school, but the U/S tech had that I'm 35+, so I'm aiming to stay on the down low till next weekend. Then, if baby comes, baby comes.

Right now, I've got to go lie down and hope that Ben gets up to feed the boy.

Resting - 35+ Weeks

Monday morning, I got up, looked around and started picking up. I got the girls' room tidy (I've been sleeping on MissB's bed because she's got a newer/nicer mattress), and started in on the hallway and family room. I made breakfast for everyone (Farmer's Breakfast from my red&white cookbook- super yum!) and took a nap. Then I got out the vacuum and followed up on the tidied rooms. You know, typical Monday morning clean up from the weekend process.

Then I started spotting. I called the midwife and explained and lay down. I pondered and prayed and eventually set up an ultra sound (I'm all for skipping these little conveniences in pregnancy until there's a need for them, and there was a need) -there was an opening at 4PM at LRD, hailed as the best U/S clinic in the South Bay (for good reason! He was the best that I've been to in my 5 pregnancies, and the pricing was the best I've seen). We wanted to rule out placenta previa or a potential abruption, otherwise it may have been labor.

Then I realized: I over did it this weekend. I'd gone to a class for practicing/future birth assistants and over the course was palpated by about 5 or 6 people. Since my second pregnancy (when I fell down the stairs and nearly had an early baby), my cervix has been friable. This time, there hasn't been any problems with it and I hadn't thought twice about it. Until now. The physical exercise (very much exercise at 8 months pregnant!) of vacuuming had been too much.

By the time we got to the clinic for the ultra sound, I'd pieced this together and just needed the reassurance. We went right in, the children sat and watched on the high TV screen with us. The tech asked if we wanted to know the gender.. I looked at Ben.. I'm good, I could wait another month, but you could just see it in his eyes.. -we couldn't find out gender with MissA according to policy in that area of UK, MissB was big and breech at the time of her scan and hard to see, MissC only had the one scan at like 10 weeks when I was kicked in the belly on accident by a toddler.. And, he's wanted to know at least once- ..and told the tech yes. But, will I spill the beans?

The placenta is in a great spot, on my back left side from about navel level right up into the fundus (top curve of the uterus). The baby's organs are developed nicely and working as they should be at this stage (pee in the bladder, 'cute' kidneys, fluid in stomach, 4 chamber heart beating away: 143 beats per minute). And, baby was adorable, rubbing face with hands, pointing, hiccuping, and playing with the cord (which is across the chest a few times, but not wrapped behind).

This was my first 4D scan. It's fascinating how they've improved to where they can take this set of 2D images and get a 3D image, add the time/movement and that's 4D and we get to see the baby moving and get an idea of what our future little one looks like.

The children are excited that they've peeked in the present and met their sibling. The tech gave them each an image of baby smiling, and a candy.

And, now I get to not pick up pretty much anything or walk too far (which means I get pelvic pain in the mornings -mild PSD strikes me when I don't move enough -lax muscles don't hold the joint in place well). I'm so glad I've got some bigger little kids that can give me a hand with things like carrying laundry baskets, and emptying and loading the dishwasher. It would be tough if I had only littler ones that were completely dependent on me.

(**I'll have to upload an image or two**)

Getting in the Swing

Yesterday I attended a doula class on birth positioning. It was a great combination of reminder for my own upcoming birth (in about 4-5 weeks) and beginning the process of learning how to support other women in labor. I was able to help by 'modeling' along with 2 other pregnant women (one was supporting her doula/midwife student friend, the other came at the suggestion of her yoga teacher; the yoga teacher missed because she had her baby the day before).

It was fabulous to meet some of the area doulas and future midwives!

Today, I attended my first Study Group. As an NMI student, one of the studying tools is Study Group: the group or group leader chooses the module we'll focus on and everyone studies and gets as much info on that as they can. Then we get together and discuss the answers, especially focusing on the ones people found difficult to understand or find the answer to. We focused on Placenta today and it was so nice to be able to contribute a bit and just listen to the rest and really get a grasp on what everyone's doing. Next time, it's Newborn Circulation and touch on C-Section and then on to units that include infant assessment. I know I'll have some time in the coming months when I haven't even cracked the books, but it's great to have that time that I'll be able to go and touch base each month and still feel like I'm moving in the right direction (learning).