First Contact

"Take me to your leader, you ugly carbon-based bag of mostly water. And leave the smelly diaper behind."

Big Foot!

Xan's toes in the sunlight...

Still Life with Mighty Xan

Note that the interesting symmetric composition of the photo serves as a counterpoint to the surrealism of the underlying metaphor of the humanity of the baby's intrinsically compassionate yet voracious soul.

His nose is also quite big.

Mighty Xan

Dance like a butterfly, sting like a...

Em says it looks like a beestinger; I say he came pre-installed with a proto-mullet. He also keeps trying to crawl toward the empty Bud Light cans we have lying around. Coincidence?

Victory Dance

Urban babies wear black. Here Xan is doing his victory dance after completely dominating Em and I in a game of twister... (hat tip to Marianne for the cool onsie)

Baby's First Masala Dosa

Still Bill here guest blogging. Xan had his first pediatrician appt this afternoon. Summary: he looks very healthy, and he is pretty strong and has a lot of hair for his age (which right now is about 3.5 days). Afterward Em and I popped into the Indian takeout next door to the pediatrician's office and had a quick masala dosa. The black lump on me is Xan inside our 'Mayan wrap.' Much more incognito than a stroller :)

Profile of Hair in Natural Light

We were told all newborns need some sunlight, so here he is hanging out in a 'baby papasan' (thank you Don and Cyndi!) on the chest near our bay windows. The natural lighting gives a pretty good reflection of his hair color. So, what color do you think?

Gurgle, gurgle, swing, aahh, gurgle, ahhh, gurgle

Must... feed... every... two... hours...

Sooo sleepy...


Notice how Xan displays no fear of stylized sumo figures...

Breakfast for sleepyhead

Eggs, fruit and yogurt for Em... Xan still has his hands overhead.

Look ma, no hands!

We were worried his hands were getting cold, so here's the solution:

Alexander Dray: 4/25/2006, 2:55pm, 8.5 lbs, 21"

Baby photos!!!!! Courtesy of Bill as guest blogger, Em and the baby are very asleep.

Here's Em and Xan:


Here's Xan and I:




Here's Xan at home. My mom hand-knitted this baby blanket, it's amazingly soft. He loves to throw his hands over his head, and he won't let us wrap a blanket around him so his arms are tucked in:

OK, now they're not really getting closer together or longer, but are definitely getting more ouchy. We've given the birth center and the doulas the heads up that they might be getting a more urgent call if things move along. Now I'm just going to try to stay hydrated and get some rest. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep a bit between contractions.

Comments

FYI, when you leave a comment, a copy gets sent to my email, which goes to my phone, so I'll be able to see them even after we head to the birth center.

For true labor to be underway, the contractions have to be longer AND stronger AND closer together. Mine aren't really getting longer or stonger, but I've had intermittent contractions this afternoon, and they're starting to get closer together:

7:25
7:38
7:46
7:52
8:00

The weird this is that I'm still feeling the baby kick a lot, which I wasn't expecting, and I can't find anything on Google about it.

Happy Birthday Dad

I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday today and he encouraged me to try to push the kid out before midnight. When I wouldn't agree to go in for an induction, he suggested that if the spawn hadn't made an appearance by late this evening, I should get on a plane and start flying west so I'd have a couple of extra time zones to try in. Sorry, dad, that is one present I have no control over.

I got four or five mildly painful contractions this morning, about 20 minutes apart, but they went away when I got up and got dressed.

I'm headed out to Carberry's for coffee and a snack with a friend to think about something other than going into labor and to get away from my super noisy dishwasher that is driving me crazy.

...

Well, I'm back. I tried publishing the above earlier, but blogger is experiencing problems, so who knows when this will actually show up. I'll keep trying, unless I go into labor. Not that you'll know that, since if you're reading this it means that publishing is working again. Hopefully there will not be twenty million copies of this post once the bug is fixed.

Chatting with Maria was great. She's totally easy to talk to and getting out of the house is always welcome. I returned the winter pregnancy coat she loaned me, and upgraded to a Boppy that she no longer needs, which is very sweet of her.

Update: there is no update

I thought I felt a little tiny contraction last night around 11, but it didn't come back and one little baby cramp that might have been gas does not a labor make.

Yesterday I went back to the doula-training workshop I took last December, this time as a pregnant model so the women in the course could practice palpating for the position of the baby and listening for the fetal heartbeat. For my time I got my hands massaged and yummy snacks and a gift certificate to the ALACE bookstore.

Tonight Gina is stopping by for dinner and a Monty Python mini movie marathon. If I wind up in labor, she'll be right there.

Midwife Appointment

My midwife didn't seem too concerned about my stomach issues last night. Her first thought was that it was something I ate, and also said it could be my system clearing out in preparation for labor. I got the joyous pelvic exam again - the baby's at -1 and my cervix is still way anterior. It was so far back that she couldn't feel it at first and I had to scooch down the table for more uncomfortable prodding. She could finally just barely feel it and it was soft enough to push it open 1cm. So, same story, no action yet, but I could go at any time.

She scheduled an ultrasound for next Friday in case I haven't gone into labor by then to make sure there is enough amniotic fluid and scheduled an appointment for prostaglandin gel on May 2 to ripen my cervix if things still aren't underway, but hopefully none of that will be necessary and today was my last appointment.

Last night after the movie, I went to the bathroom, of course, and as usual, that triggered a Braxton-Hicks contraction. I was feeling a bit hot, so we walked the length of the Boston Common to the Red Line, instead of taking the Green Line and transferring. It took between 5 and 10 minutes and the whole time the contraction didn't go away and started getting uncomfortable. The pain wasn't where I was anticipating it would be for labor, though. Instead, it was in front, at the top of my uterus, maybe near my stomach, and was accompanied by nausea. I made it home and went straight to the bathroom again, where I spend a good bit of time emptying my digestive tract, followed by sitting on the cool floor, rocking back and forth, repeating "I'm OK. I'm OK. I'm OK." over and over while I waited to vomit. Didn't happen, though, and eventually I went to bed, taking a bowl with me, just in case. The pain and nausea continued pretty intensely for an hour or so, then to a lessening degree throughout the night. This morning I feel mostly better, except my throat is a bit raw from burping up stomach acid.

I'm guessing these are the flu-like symptoms some women get a day or two before going into labor. Lucky me, I don't get any nesting urge and burst of energy, but I get this? Woohoo.

Nothing to see here

Just a quick note to say still no action on the baby front. Bill and I are going to try to catch Thank You for Smoking tonight, since who knows how long it will be until we get to go to the movies again.

Custom Clothing

I followed Dutch's lead, and whipped up a few one-of-a-kind onesies for the spawn.

Every time my belly gets hard or I feel an uncomfortable twinge, in other words, constantly, I wonder if contractions are starting. It's strange waiting for something so huge and life changing, knowing it could happen at any minute or not for weeks. I wish I could sleep through it, but napping is not so easy these days.

Hey, at least audio posts are working again, and Bill seems to know how to make them. You may be getting periodic labor updates after all - but not from me.

I know I'm slow these days, but it's still a little insulting when the
automatic toilets flush before you can even get your pants down. I'm
going as fast as I can here.

Another midwife appointment

My regular midwife is out of town this week, so I saw a sub, who was totally nice. The reporter from the Chronicle tagged along, but they would only let her in as a "friend" and not as the press, so I don't know exactly what that means as far as what will make it into the story, but whatever. Things still look good, the baby position is head-down, lots of fetal movement. She said the fact that the heartrate went up once the baby could hear the noise of its heartbeat on the dopplar thingie and started moving around meant it was a responsive baby, another good sign. I can now start taking evening primrose oil 3x a day to start gently softening my cervix and drinking raspberry leaf tea to tone my uterus. Along with getting lots of rest and putting my feet up to reduce swelling, that's about it.

After the appointment, I hung out on the rocks in front of the science center for a while, enjoying the sunshine and waiting for 3:30, when the ice cream is served over by Bill's office. It was a lovely hour or so and I'm glad I was outside because now it's overcast and grim.

Hey, what do you think of the collage thing down there? I'm beta testing the site where I made it, Tabblo, and would be interested in your feedback.

Audioblogger down?

Remember that cool idea I had to phone in updates to my blog when I went into labor? It's not looking good. Last night Bill recorded a test audio post, seemingly following the correct prompts, but it never showed up on the blog. I tried again this morning. Nada.

I don't know if this is a temporary thing with audioblogger being down or what. It definitely does not seem to be our fault. I'll try again in a day or two and see what happens.

Emily

I'm testing a new tool out, so things might be wonky and appear and disappear for a while.  Pardon my dust.


... See my Tabblo>

Massachusetts drivers

Shouting "Hurry up" at an obviously pregnant woman crossing in a crosswalk is so classy, especially after breezing through a stop sign because you were only looking for other cars, not pedestrians.

Ack! She's talking about bodily functions! Avert your eyes!

Am I the only one who sings this song during a particularly satisfying toilet session? Probably. At least the only one who thinks, "I am so blogging this" while singing it.

Hey, be thankful I don't have any hemorrhoids to talk about. They're pretty common in pregnancy.

Quotes from the back of the pack

Bill and I lagged behind his officemates as we walked to lunch.

"Sorry, I only come in this speed."
"That is not my go lever."
"Here it is; here is your on button."
"Knock it off!"
"Where is the eject baby button?"
"Waddle, waddle, waddle, all day long. Waddle waddle waddle, while I
sing this song."
"I am so going to kick your ass."
...
"What are you smirking at?"
"Waddle,waddle, waddle, all day lo - ow! No hitting!"

"Someone's being passive agressive."

"I AM NOT. I am just being plain agressive."

....

"Who are you writing to? Hey, you can't liveblog our conversations."

Walking back from my midwife appointment, I was surprised to find myself keeping pace with three boys just out of school. Everyone else breezes by me, but they were very saunter-y. I eavesdropped a bit and it turned out they were discussing how to break into their school to steal a computer, with the intent to humiliate someone or other. It was clear to me how this would be humiliating, but I didn't bother trying to figure it out, as they didn't seem too bright.

The appointment itself was mostly the same routine - wieght, urine, BP, fetal heartbeat, height of fundus - but with the added bonus of an uncomfortable pelvic exam! The exam yielded good news, though: the baby's head has dropped part way into my pelvis, which is a good sign at this stage.

SNOW?!?!

You have got to be fucking kidding me. The weather better get this out of its system, because I am supposed to be having a spring baby, damn it. No more walking through blizzards to the birth center for me, especially not while I'm in labor. One of the women at the ALACE office apologized for saying yesterday, "Well, it's April 4th, so I guess we won't be getting any more snow." Clearly this is her fault.

To make the weather even more enjoyable, our heat was out this morning, so it's nice and freezing in here. Fortunately I'm having spicy Thai food for lunch, which should warm me up a little bit.

Bikini-clad Pregnant Sumo Wrestling

Bill actually spent 5-10 minutes trying to convince me to find another pregnant woman to sumo wrestle in a bikini, because that would be the most awesome thing ever, and who wouldn't want to see that. Um, no?

More fighting

Most nights before falling asleep, I palpate my belly to feel the position of the baby. It's pretty cool; you can feel the butt and the back, and usually some appendange poking out on the other side. Bill has a bit less patience for this than I do, as I direct him to Feel this! or Put you hand here! several times most days. The other night he was watching me do this and said, "How would you like it if someone put you in a sack and poked and prodded at you?" Then he threw the comforter over me and started poking. My rebuttal? Pillow to the face!

Bill is a party pooper

He wouldn't let me post that I had gone into labor as an April Fool's joke. Something about it being "too serious" to joke about. Pshaw.

Ow! OW! Is that a contraction?