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It’s now 10 days until my due date. Totally nuts! I haven’t had many symptoms that would lead me to think that labor is imminent. However, I know one could just wake up and be in labor without any warning signs, so that makes this time pretty exciting. It’s odd; waiting for this child to be born is the only time I can think of where I’m waiting for something major to happen and I don’t know when it will take place. Every year when school started, I knew the date. I obviously knew my wedding date. Okay, I take that back; I didn’t know when Bryce would propose. But I wasn’t waiting around for it either, like I am with childbirth. Two of my good friends, Neyir and Julian are both due on the 17th, just 4 days from today.

If you haven’t guessed already, feel free to play our due date game:

Here’s the picture of Bryce outfitted with his “daddy diaper duty” tool belt, goggles and hard hat.

I had a lovely baby shower yesterday hosted by the ladies of our church. Lots of women showed up and our baby boy has been immensely blessed and spoiled as well with gifts! I was really overwhelmed by everyone’s support and generosity.

Here are a few pics from the event:

This one is of “Bryce’s diaper duty toolbelt.” It’s complete with a helmet, goggles, tongs and necessary implements to safely clean his son’s bottom. My mom has a picture of him wearing it, so I’ll get that up when I can.

If you’d like to take a guess about when Baby Hales will be arriving, enter our game. We’ll try to come up with a prize for the winner!

UPDATE: Feel free to guess the name, if you’re so inclined, in the comments section.

We just had our 35-week appointment today and as it’s the 23rd, we’re at the one-month countdown. Our doctor said that generally first-time moms tend to deliver late but that he had just delivered a 35-week old baby this morning and so to try to get projects finished up. My weight and blood pressure are all fine and I’m not having too many Braxton Hicks contractions — at least they’re not painful. Our lovely little boy was also still head-down and his heartbeat was very loud and fast (around 150 bpm). When I woke up this morning he seemed like he wasn’t in his normal head-down position, so I resorted to the ironing board in case he was breech. I didn’t feel him move between then and the appointment, so he must’ve simply been turned a slightly different way or perhaps is beginning to get more comfy in my pelvis.

We don’t have too much of interest to look forward to in terms of our doctor appointments. I simply get to pee in a cup, get weighed, take my blood pressure, hear the heartbeat and ask questions of the doctor. I imagine I’ll be tested for Group B Strep next appointment and we’ll probably have an ultrasound to check the baby’s position sometime. Other than that, it’s probably more of the same. Today we went over our birth plan and he was supportive of all of it, which is absolutely wonderful. He also thought we’d have an “average-sized” baby, about 7.5 pounds or so. That sounds just peachy.

We finished up our Bradley childbirth classes last night and it was kind of sad. We’ve been with the same group of people for 10 weeks every Sunday night and now we’re sort of being shuffled off into the great unknown and have to put all that we’ve learned into practice. We did get to practice some contractions again and some pushing positions and it makes me feel much more comfortable for the real deal. Now Bryce and I will need to commit to practicing regularly so that we know all the positions available and pain-coping techniques.

For those not in the know, the Bradley method is a childbirth method that advocates natural childbirth (i.e., drug free). So, yes, we’ll be declining the epidural and narcotics and pitocin and plan to birth like women have for centuries. I’m nervous of course but really excited to see what my body can do and how Bryce and I will work together as a team to bring our child into the world.

A baby update for those who are interested:
My very obedient son has decided to be head down. We had our 33 week appointment today and the doctor found baby’s heartbeat down low, so that confirms that he’s shifted position. As long as he continues to get comfy in my pelvis, he shouldn’t be going back to breech, which means I can have a normal birth and am not at risk for a c-section. Phew!

Things look good — he’s active and my uterus is growing right on schedule. Weight gain isn’t awful and I’m trying not to really worry about the numbers going up each visit. My blood pressure was high upon first reading but then was good and low after my appointment. I think I might have just been nervous about the baby’s position.

We have our next appointment in two weeks and we’ll take along our birth plan for the doctor at that point. After that we’ll be going every week until the little guy makes his appearance!

Well after simulataneously lying head down on a propped up ironing board and taking pulsatilla (a homeopathic herb that is supposed to help the baby turn) a few times a day, I think our baby has turned more or less head down. But I also think that he still must have plenty of room as my conjectures regarding if he is head up or down continually change. I think I’m causing Bryce too much stress in that department. I am very much the type of person who likes to be in control of things and so when I can’t be, I find it quite difficult to let go (or I continue to do everything in my power to affect change). I guess even small things, like breech babies, help me to see that in actuality, I am very much dependent on God (or should be) rather than myself.

The pregnancy continues to go well and I’ve stopped getting round ligament pain, which means now I can walk more than 20 minutes at a time without my hips aching. I’m dealing alright with the heat here in southern California by taking lukewarm baths and trying to get my new ice cream maker to successfully produce ice cream (Bryce bought me one for our anniversary to keep his pregnant wife cool and happy, and to get her proper intake of calcium! wink, wink).

My days are generally spent doing a few things around the house, taking the dog on walks and to the dog park, and trying to get some PhD work in. I should of course already have another chapter written, but it’s a bit slow-going at present. I find the heat makes my brain rather lethargic, so I need to work in the early mornings when it’s still cool.

Things feel very much in transition for us. I keep thinking haven’t the last three years all felt like one big transition? Shouldn’t we be feeling more settled now, being back in our “native land”? But I guess living abroad changes you because Pasadena feels pretty provincial now and it’s sort of boring to only be surrounded by Americans. I’ve come to grasp that being “settled” probably isn’t how life is meant to be for us. Thankfully I’ve also come to grasp that I don’t want the white picket fence (although a yard would be great for Francis to run around in) and I’m actually wanting a change already after having only been back in Pasadena for a year. So it’s all very interesting and I guess we’ll just continue to wait and see what happens!

So we found out that our baby boy likes the head-up position today when the doctor found his heartbeat up high by my ribs. He doesn’t seem worried as 25% of babies are breech at this point while only 3-4% are at birth. However, I’d really like to avoid a c-section and so am looking into turning techniques to do at home. I don’t relish doing handstands but that is one technique. So is playing an iPod by my pelvis (so baby will come towards the noise) or using cold and heat to try to get him to turn. Besides those, it’s making sure I’m not too recumbant (hence I’m typing while sitting cross-legged on the floor rather than sitting on the couch), walking regularly (helps open up the pelvis), and some slightly uncomfortable positioning to encourage turning.

Anyone have any suggestions or experience with this?

Today I am 28 weeks, which means I’m officially in the third trimester of pregnancy. This, itself, is a significant milestone, but 28 weeks has held a rather interesting place in my mind since we found out we were expecting.

It always was a big deal to me that I was born early, at 28 weeks. I can’t imagine the fear and worry my parents must have gone through driving to the hospital when I was on the way three months early. Thankfully after a three-month stay in the NICU my lungs had developed sufficiently and I had gained enough weight to go home. I’ve asked both of my OBs and our childbirth instructor about preterm labor and they all assure me that it’s not hereditary. In fact, I’ve learned that diet is the number one way to prevent preterm labor (particularly making sure one gets enough protein, calcium and fluids) and so I’ve acted accordingly. So I haven’t haven’t been *worried* per se about having a preemie, but it’s always been in the back of my head.

Of course now that I’ve reached that elusive 28-week mark, my pregnancy worries haven’t entirely dissapated. But I know that a baby born now has a 90% chance of survival (my mom’s nurses told her I had a 50/50 chance!) and so that eases anxiety. I’m happy to say that my baby is gestating longer than his mother, so well done son!

So you can all see how huge I’ve become and how huge I have yet to get!
Here I am at almost 26 weeks pregnant, roughly 6 months. Baby boy is due on August 23rd.