You're Late

Dear Audrey,
You are late. Today I am 10 months and 2 days pregnant with you. I'm not sure why everything we have been told tells us that pregnancy only lasts 9 months; that is a big fat lie. 40 weeks adds up to 10 months, not 9! I am increasingly sore and tired and am more than ready to be done being pregnant, but you don't seem to mind staying put. I am sure you are more than comfortable and will come when you damn please. I hate to burst your bubble (not really), but if you don't come out on your own by Friday, you are going to be forced out! I know you don't mean to be causing me pain, although I keep having this nagging suspicion that you actually enjoy it (already!), but I know you're just doing what you were made to do: survive and thrive. I just wish you would decide to survive and thrive outside of my womb!

Mike is feeling increasingly sorry for me because of how much pain I am in. Neither of us are sleeping much at all these days. I am uncomfortable no matter what side I lay on, and I can only stand an hour or so on either side before I have to switch sides, I also have to get up to pee every time I switch sides, and I am hot and then cold and then hot again, so I am throwing blankets off and then pulling them back on all night as well. This makes it hard, to say the least, for Mike to sleep. I kind of feel bad for him, but then again, not really since this is the only discomfort he has had to experience throughout the entire pregnancy, while I have been in hell. We keep talking to Audrey and telling her that she needs to come out, but no luck. I guess it's just a waiting game at this point. It's a pretty annoying game really. Anyways, we are more than ready for her. The car seat is in the car, the hospital bag is packed, all of her clothes are washed, we have everything we need for her. There's really nothing left to be done, which makes this waiting game even more boring and annoying. I sewed my own nursing cover last week, which I felt I was putting off until way too late, but I guess not. I could always sew some more bibs, but it hurts to bend over the sewing machine and honestly I am just way too sore to do much of anything. So I am left to sitting around with heating pads on my SI joint and back and reading or watching movies. I was a little worried about not having enough time to finish all my pregnancy and baby books, but apparently I had more than enough time to finish those as well.

I continue to have really strange dreams. Last night I had two dreams where I had given birth to Audrey. In the first one she was very stiff like a doll which made it really hard to breastfeed her after she was born, and none of the nurses or lactation consultants would help me. In the other one I had given birth to Audrey, but Audrey was a boy and as if that's not bad enough, he was black! I wonder if this is my mind spinning Nip Tuck into my dreams. I was so upset because I had not cheated on Mike and could not make sense of how our baby turned out to be black and because the ultrasound technician had assured us that we were having a girl. Anyways, Mike stuck around, but we had nothing to dress him in and had to put him in girls clothes. I think every woman is a little worried about whether their baby will be a girl or boy regardless of what the ultrasound technician has told them. We have had three ultrasounds with three different ultrasound technicians since the sex could be determined, so I am pretty sure that they can't all be wrong about Audrey being a girl. I just guess there's still that fear somewhere inside of me; not that I would mind if we were having a boy instead of a girl, it's just that we have everything set up for a girl, so Audrey better indeed be a girl!

Anyways, we are as ready as we are ever going to be Audrey, so please come out soon! We love you and can't wait to meet you.

Nearing the end

I can't believe I only have 2 more weeks to go, 3 at most since my OB won't let me go past 41 weeks without inducing me. Although I really hope Audrey decides to come before 41 weeks because I would really like to be able to let labor happen naturally instead of having to trick my body into it. I also can't wait for her to be out of me and no longer kicking me in my ribs and punching me in my cervix. Either way, she will be here soon; I will actually be able to hold her in my arms and stare at her. While I can't wait to meet her, it is also a little scary. I have always loved kids and have been good with them, but I have never had one of my own, I have never been the sole care giver, the one that is completely responsible for them, and that is a little scary. Our lives are never going to be the same again, and I'm excited.

Last week I had an OB visit in that awful snow storm we had and it took Mike and I a little more than an hour to get there. My OB is right next door to Strong, where I will be delivering so I really hope we don't have a snow storm when Audrey decides to make her appearance, otherwise I might end up having her in the car! Anyways, I had actually lost some weight and my belly hadn't grown since my last two visits, so they became a little concerned about Audrey's growth and ordered an ultrasound to check everything out. Thankfully we were able to get an ultrasound the very same day right after our appointment with the OB. The ultrasound tech said everything looked great and that Audrey was just in position to be born, deep in my pelvis, and that was probably why I was measuring small. She told us that Audrey was weighing in at 6 lbs 12 oz and if she continued to grow normally she would be about seven and a half to eight pounds by 40 weeks, although there can be up to a one pound margin of error in either direction. Eight pounds sounds about right to me since I weighted 8 lbs 6 oz when I was born and Mike weighted just about 8 lbs. They say that your baby's birth weight will be right around where yours was, although I'm hoping a little smaller! A couple weeks ago (before the ultrasound) Mike and his mom were trying to convince me that Mike was a 12 lb baby and I almost cried! I am very relieved to know that Audrey is not going to be a giant baby.

Mike and I had been having a really tough time trying to find a home daycare for Audrey when I go back to work. We had gone to interview and visit two home daycare's and the first was tiny and the lady had to pack the kids in the car everyday to go pick up her kids from school which we didn't really feel comfortable with, and the second was filthy and the lady was absolutely crazy. I had had a tough time finding those two home daycare's, which by the way were licensed state home daycare's so they were inspected by the state which made we wonder what the hell kind of criteria the state has for these home daycare's and how they could let these two places be licensed, but anyways I was really starting to worry that we wouldn't find somewhere for Audrey to go when I would be able to go back to work. There were a ton of places in the city, but Mike really wanted to find somewhere closer to us. I told him that we might have to go into the city to find someone or else I wouldn't be able to go back to work. So Mike posted a little something on Facebook asking if anyone knew of any good, affordable daycare places in the Brockport or Holley area. About a week later one of his friends that is a stay at home mom with a 10 month old boy offered to watch Audrey for us when I go back to work. So we met with her at her house and talked about everything and it sounds like this is going to work out great. I am very excited. It's better than a home daycare in my opinion; Audrey will get more attention and have a buddy, and Mike and I will gain a friendship with her and her husband.

All in all things are starting to look up; Audrey will be here soon and we will have a loving place for Audrey to go when I go back to work :)