Belly Casting

belly-casting-2.jpgI finished painting my belly cast today and am so excited about the results. As I noted in an earlier blog, my cousin Jennifer and her husband Chris sent us a belly casting kit in the mail as a baby shower gift. Jennifer had made a cast of her pregnant belly and breasts and thought she’d share the experience with us. Mike worked hard molding the plaster to my body for a good hour and boy was it a lot of work. But afterward is where the real fun came in. I got to practice painting (which my only experience comes in the form of pastels, so this was new for me.) I used acrylic paints and a latex high gloss finishing spray to make my masterpiece. I painted it to go with the colors of our room which is comprised of garden colors–wine, green, and white primarily. I originally didn’t plan to use so many other colors, but as I continued painting, my mood changed and so I just went with it. Anyway, for those who would like to see more details of the painting, please click here.

I had such a fun time and am disappointed that I’m already done with it. I was hoping to have something occupy my time until Kanan comes. Well I still need to drill two holes in the chest area and hang the casting from a sash on a wall in our room. After that, I’ll start my new book. Its called A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah. Its a memoir about the author’s experience being corrupted and brainwashed by the militia in Sierra Leone as a boy. After seeing Blood Diamond, I really would like to read more about what this could be like.

I’m feeling pretty crampy right now, so I’m hoping that means I’m making progress. I’m eating lots of pineapple, spicy foods, and exercising in multiple ways, so hopefully something will kick my body into gear.

40 weeks and still waiting!

I had my 40 week appointment today and low and behold, I’m still “high and tight” as my doctor would say. The baby seems happy though. His head is still down and he has a good and steady heart beat of 130-140 bpm. My blood pressure is good and there is no sign of hyperplasmia or any other problem. Still, my doctor doesn’t not think it is safe for the baby to stay in me after one more week. She will be gone until next Wednesday, so if I go into labor before then, her on call doctor will deliver Kanan. As a back up plan in the likely event that Kanan does not make his grand entrance by then, she has me scheduled for a NST (a non-stress test) to see how the baby is doing next Tuesday. And then next Wednesday night (9pm), I will go in for in for Cervidil (to soften my cervix) before they induce me the next morning (Thursday). So that means the baby will be here sometime between now and the 15th! Hopefully, I will not have to be induced and the baby will come before then. But my doctor doesn’t think it is safe for the baby or me to go past a week overdue. The chances of the baby passing his first stool increases, as well as my placenta not working properly. The chances of still birth increases and then of course comes the possibility that the baby will begin to get huge–thus increasing my chances of tearing or needing an episiodomy or suction cups or something else drastic. I’m a little scared of the cervidil process because if I need that, it shows that my body is just not ready for labor and I’m scared that it will foreshadow a long, dragged out, painful labor, but waiting longer seems like it might not be such a safe idea either.

In the meantime, I’ll keep walking and using my birthing ball. I walked to the pier and back a couple of days ago with Bandito (the black Corgy). He was such a good dog. He walked at my slow pace because I basically had to waddle the whole way down to the beach. He waited for me outside of The Dairy Queen as I bought a large Butterfinger Blizzard and we sat outside on the sidewalk meeting passing pedestrians who had something to say about either him, my belly, or their own stories about their dogs or pregnancies. This week, I’ll take Smoky (the blonde) but I just can’t take them both because then they get competative and my 40+ week pregnant self can’t handle the pull.

I also just spent 50 bucks on art supplies to decorate my belly cast this week. I started doing the background paint already and will work on some details tonight while Mike is at his EMT class. My mother went with me to find the art supplies this weekend. She was so sweet by coming down to cheer me up and keep me company since Mike has been swamped with work and it hasn’t helped me cope with this wait. Its definitely affecting me along with the hormones and anxiety about the upcoming labor. We went shopping and ate out and saw a movie. She even spent the night! Thanks Mama!! But Mike’s partner will be back this Saturday and Mike will be able to take all of next week off so that will really be helpful!

39 weeks!

Despite all my walking and concert attending, among other-things (clears throat), I cannot get this show on the road. I went to the doctor’s today and I’m still closed tight and the baby is still high (sighs….). Alas, my doctor tells me to continue doing what I can to try and get some contractions to happen and if by next Monday I haven’t started labor yet, she will induce me that week because she will be gone the week afterward. She said hopefully she will see me before Monday, but if not, she will probably induce next Tuesday (the baby’s due date) or Wednesday. Mike wants to see if we can schedule it for next Friday instead because that way he doesn’t have to put the business on hold. He is running it by himself right now because his partner is in Panama until next Saturday. Of course, all of this is hypothetical given if Kanan decides to come before then and on his own. I’d prefer this even if he does come at an inconvenient time just because I hear induction is a long and painful process, much worse than just going into labor naturally.

In other pregnancy news, I have lost 2 lbs since last weeks appointment, which I am very excited about because I was getting too close to the total weight I wanted to have gained by the delivery day. I think most of the weight I lost last week was water weight because at last week’s appointment, I could barely close my hands they were so swollen and I had like two chins and couldn’t even see my collar bones. I think I’m back to one chin, and my collar bones are visible although barely and yes, I can make a fist. Funny though, last night I was kneeling down folding baby clothes for maybe 4 minutes tops, and my feet started hurting. I looked down and my feet were dark purple…..I jumped up and immediately, the blood started flowing back up to where it needed to be. So regardless, my weight is definitely affecting my circulation.

Despite the fact that I wish Kanan would come ASAP, it was a good thing that he didn’t come this weekend. Mike and I went on a mission this weekend entitled, OPERATION KILL MICE. Yes, our kitchen was a disaster area as we (actually just Mike, while I pretended to manage from the kitchen table and eating pasta) patched up holes in the kitchen wall where mice have found there way in and replaced the stove and microwave with new ones because mice destroyed the old ones. We are now looking for a new refrigerator and dishwasher as well because they have been messed up from the mice as well. We have electrocuted almost all of the mice except there is one left that is too big for the electrocuting trap. My sister lent us a sticky pad, but our fatty hasn’t found it yet. A random little brother did, (we didn’t know he was here) and Mike killed it trying to pull it off the sticky trap (it was a messy death).

Finally, yesterday after OPERATION KILL MICE was over, I gave Mike a little present. He has been very insistent on Kanan coming home from the hospital in some sort of pirate outfit. Of course, I refused to have our son come home with an eye patch and a peg leg, but compromised for a dark onesie with a pirate emblem on it. What did Mike want for the pirate emblem? You got it, a skull and cross bones. Well I went to the swap meet yesterday in an attempt to start labor and found a booth that custom designed onesies. Kanan will be coming home in a black onesie (God forgive me, but Mike couldn’t have it any other color) with a skull and cross bones on the front. I’ll try and tame it down with some soft khaki pants and light blue beanie, but that is the best I can do. Mike is ecstatic and has his own dark blue pirate skull and crossbones shirt washed and ready for that special day too.

On the sweeter side, last night after the Academy awards, we made my belly cast. My cousin Jennifer bought us a belly casting kit to make a mold of my 9 month belly. Mike had to do most of the work while I sat at the edge of the chair in the bathroom covered in wet plaster for almost an hour. My rear-end was numb by the time we were done and Mike’s back hurt, but we now have a beautiful casting of my pregnant belly and breasts. I am going to paint it a dark cherry-wood brown and paint a white butterfly on the belly using Kanan’s feet as its wings. This may take some time, but I will post the final product in a couple of months. It will hang in either our bedroom or bathroom as I think it would be tasteful there given its intimate appearance.

The Nursery is Officially Done!

Well we have two weeks until Kanan is due to arrive. I’m finally off of work so I can put my feet up (when I’m not nesting like mad!). My 38 week check up shows no progress so far at the signs of labor, so I just might have to figure out more things to do as I wait. One of which, has been finishing up Kanan’s room. Click here to view the photo album of his room. It’s narrated, so just double click on each picture and you will get the narrative and then you can scroll through at the speed you wish. If you do slideshow, it might go too fast for you to read the captions. Thanks so much to everyone who has spoiled Kanan with gifts whether you were at the nursery or gave your gift in private. We could not have done this without you. I tried to set up the nursery so that pieces of all of you are everywhere. Whether you are in the decor or in his closet or dresser–your love is present and felt strongly in the room. Sometimes I just hang out in there because it just feels so full of love.

36 week check up

8 monthsAlmost four weeks and counting!! My hips are aching so badly that I’m waking up a thousand times a night. Kanan is moving constantly and has been kicking me in the ribs so hard, I’ve yelped out a few times. People are stopping me left and right and telling me that I look ready to pop. When I tell them I still have a month to go, most drop their jaws and ask me where the baby will find room. I’m not even sure myself how I’m going to make it. But knock on wood, I still don’t have any stretch marks.

But the doctor says all is well. I did the exciting 36 week visit today and got checked for Strep B–standard procedure (Mothers will sense my sarcasm here). The doctor checked my cervix and says that it’s still closed but the baby’s head is down and ready. She says my hips are aching because they are soft and spreading to make room for the big day.

This of course inspired Mike to come up with some invention that new mothers can use in which the husband secures a harness around the still pliant hip region shortly after birth and he puts one foot on the hip and then he pulls it tight before she goes to sleep. And it will hurt like hell, but she will wear it every night for a month so it will push her hips back into its normally small shape. He asked me if I would want to be the guinea pig to which I replied, No! We both laughed. Mike is such the joker (or is he?).

Top ten things I’ll miss about being pregnant

10. Smiles from strangers

9. Help from everyone for even small things.

8. Encouragement from everyone to enjoy the cookies and second servings.

7. Great hair!!

6. Great nails!

5. watching my body miraculously change shape

5. the anticipation of the future

4. Enjoying cookies and milk and cereal like I’m a child again.

3. Viewing images of our child on a sonagram machine as he grows in my belly or listening to his heart beat with the doppler.

2. Waking up to feeling Mike’s hands on my belly in the middle of the night as he spends some bonding time with his kicking son.

1. Feeling Kanan move inside my womb even when it does make me yelp out.

Almost There

I will be 34 weeks pregnant in just a couple of days and for the first time in my entire pregnancy, the fear of what is actually going to happen is finally taking place. First–the fear of labor. How bad will it hurt? Will I have to get an episiodomy? Will the baby get his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck? Oh my gosh, a human is going to come out of me!! Then there is the acknowledgment that I will no longer be going out on weekend nights. Baby sitting will be a rare luxury and my child will be the primary focus of Saturday nights at least for the next 14-16 years until Kanan begins to do his own thing, but by then, I will be so worried and concerned about him being okay, I probably won’t be able to do anything even then but wait up for him until his curfew brings him home (or not). Pregnancy is just the beginning….my life as I knew it before being pregnant is officially over and a new life is beginning. Hopefully better, but definitely different.

waiting, thinking, dreaming, worrying, and growlingThen there is the emerging heat of the mother bear growing inside of me. I feel her beginning to growl ….a quiet but intimidating growl…warning everyone around that she will rip apart anything that may hurt her child. It’s scary to feel the change inside of me, yet liberating at the same time. To be for the first time, free from concern over myself and instead, purely for the life and welfare of someone else. Yet at the same time, feeling instinctively incapable of taming a part of me that already loves something so much, I would be willing to die to protect it.

Well, Kanan is coming and there is nothing stopping him. The next 6 weeks are going to take forever as I wait for this beautiful child to introduce himself to me and Mike. I cannot wait to hold him. To kiss him. To smell his sweet, baby smell. To hear his first (of many many more) cry. Until then, I will bask in these moments like tonight…sitting here quietly in the living room, holding my belly and feeling him move inside of me–pressing his feet into my ribcage, sliding his knees and feet back and forth across my womb so that I can not only feel him, but see him. To anticipate and dream about him. What will he look like? What will he be like? Will he love Mike and I? Will he be healthy and happy in our care? What will he make of his life? What can I do so that he attains all that he is worth? What can I do to show him this world–its good and bad and lead him to a path that will allow him to see more of its beauty and less of its suffering? There is so much at stake here. My life is just beginning—I am being born again through the birth of this child. What a beautiful gift I have been given. And so I hope one understands my deeply rooted concern when I say that I hope I don’t @#$% this up.