Feeling better...

It's amazing what a day of complete bed rest will do for you.  I feel much better.  I'm able to get up off the bed by myself and walk to the bathroom.  It still hurts and feels like I've been riding a horse for a week straight,  but I can do it.  Tylenol is my new best friend.  

My husband has been amazing.  If you can take a 9 month pregnant woman "potty" in the middle of the night, you pretty much get a gold medal.  He's also been bringing me my meals and whatever else I've needed (coughOREOScough).  Last night he ordered chinese food for me and surprised me with it.  We've been eating leftovers all week it, so I was thrilled to see take out.  

I've been spending a lot of time with Food Network.  I'm convinced I gained 5 lbs just from watching Paula Dean ya'll.  She made this delightful Cajun Fried Okra with chili sauce.  I want it.  And I want it now. 

I have to admit I've really just thrown in the towel food wise in the last few weeks.   My friend Sheila said by the end of pregnancy you get no comfort whatsoever so you just end up eating comfort food.  :)  That's me.  I'm not necessarily eating all bad food, just bigger portions.  I'm allowing more indulgences here and there.  And of course Thanksgiving doesn't help.   I've been trying to think forward and think about my plan for post baby weight.  I've decided to begin my official "lose the weight" journey come Jan 1st.  2009 will be the year I lose it again and I'm pretty excited about it all.  I'm equally excited to get back to my classes at the YMCA.  I've told Ed that as soon as baby gets a little predictable with feedings, I'm planning on going to the 6am Heat classes again first.  Then once Shepherd is 3 months old or so I'll start bringing him to the Y.  I'm also planning on beginning a walking regime that will evolve into a running routine.  I want develop a fitness routine as soon as possible (within reason of course).  I know it's all about habit.  If you say you'll never have time, then you wont.  But if you work it in just like you do food, it will become second nature.  I'm also very aware of my tendency towards post partum depression.  Which is another reason I want to start exercising ASAP.  Our bodies need that surge of endorphins in the midst of all the hormonal shifting.  

I remember before I lost the weight after Amelia I decided to really visualize myself doing it.  I could see myself fit and in control of my eating habits.  And staying focused on that made a big difference in me staying OP.  I've been visualizing myself again.  Fit.  Healthy.  I'm going to have three kids now, so I've got to stay fit to keep up.  God I miss that Energizer Bunny energy that exercise gives you...  I'm afraid I won't be able to do much more until after baby.  I need to give my pubic bone a break.  

Okay, I'm off to watch History Channel and listen to narrators with english accents and learn things.  It makes me feel less vegetative and kinda smart like. 

Well, I've done it again

I've managed to injure myself.  This time it's my pubic bone.  I was bathing the kids last night and was in a squat next to the bath tub to wash them up.  When I went to stand up I slipped into an involuntary split.  Then, when trying to recover and catch myself I slipped again into ANOTHER split.  I tell you, I've never felt pain like that.  It felt like I cracked the front of my pubic bone.  Thankfully Ed ran in and picked me up.  I couldn't move for the first 10 mins.  And now this morning I can't walk, get up, sit down, or roll over.  I'm okay if I'm laying on my side, but I can't move or else it hurts.  Sweet.  

Talked to my midwife this morning.  She said she's pretty sure I pulled apart my pubic bone.  She ordered 3 days of immobility in the bed and some extra strength tylenol.  That and binding my hips to help relieve pressure.  Thankfully I already have a binder that I got from my chiropractor to hold adjustments, so that's good.  

I'm just relieved that I have an opportunity to heal before labor.  I cannot imagine trying to labor like this.  I mean, I stood up this morning and literally could not put one foot in front of the other.   

Hey, on the bright side- maybe I did myself a favor by creating more room for the fatty to slip through!  *nervous laughter*

How low can you go?

38 weeks.....   Wow.  In many ways this pregnancy seemed long, but now it feels like it flew right by.  I'm over it, but I'm definitely not have as antsy as I was with my other two at this point.  And I have to say, my body is in much better shape this time around.  I feel stronger even though I have a lot of back pain.  More healthy.

Saw one of my  midwives today, Kay.  I told myself this pregnancy I would not to cervical checks until I was in labor or went WAY over due (42 weeks).  So as tempting as it was to have a cervical check, I chose not to ask.  I've been having so much prelabor lately that it does make me curious, but I know better than to assume I'm dilated.  Kay did, however, feel my tummy and declared: "His head is gone!"  LOL  He's way down in my pelvis now.  Yeah, no kidding!??  Maybe that's why I feel like my pelvis is broken lately.  So tender and just not fun getting in and out of bed in the middle of the night.  Anyway, all great news.  Thankful for that.  I've never had a baby drop into my pelvis before labor, so I'm all about it!

Went on a walk with Penny yesterday evening.  I tried to step it up a notch from letting the dog pull me along to actually participating in the walk and even categorizing it as a "brisk" walk. Felt good.  Brisk, but short.  Gets some oxygen to my brain and just gives me a little booste.  

Today Ed and I took the kids tot he mall and walked around.  We were bored and wanted to get out and do something, but avoid the cold.  We didn't realize Santa would be there, so that was a fun surprise.  The kids just hung out and talked with him.  No one else was in line.  Then we just walked around.  Eventually we passed a nail salon and Amelia and I got pedicures.  Her very first time even seeing a place that was only for nails!  She was so thrilled and perfectly behaved.  Like she'd done it a million times.  They painted her toes and nails.  She kept perfectly still and waited for them to dry.  She was so happy.  Felt like a "woman."  I was so tickled watching her.  We've got to make a habit of that.  Her and I going to get mani/pedi's.  My little baby will no longer be the baby anymore.  But she will be the only girl and I plan to get away for a girl's day out with her often.  

Now I'm off for a nap.  I covet naps.  I love them soo, sooo much.  Ed is off of work and Amelia is asleep.  I'm going to lay down and get some rest after all that mall walking.  

Feeling the peace

I'm still not enjoying these last days of pregnancy, but I have to say this peace I've had the last few days has stuck around.  I'm in no hurry.  I'm taking these last days to just wonder about my child- who he is, what he looks like, what kind of personality he'll have.  Ya know, even you hard asses can get sentimental at the end.  You just want to see your baby's face.  

I had another bout of practice labor last night.  My midwife said he's down low again.  I definitely felt the contractions in my uterus and in my hips this time.  First hour they were 4 mins part, lasting 45 sec or so.  2nd hour they were stronger,  3 mins apart and lasting 1 minute.  I was breathing through them and just taking the opportunity to surrender to them.  Practicing all my pain coping techniques.  And despite that they kept me up until 2am, I was grateful I got to practice a little.  Makes me less anxious about the real thing.  Yes, and so of course they puttered out after I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep.  This is just how my body likes to do things.  A couple run throughs, some rough drafts, fine tuning the details and THEN we'll be ready to go!  

Today was not a good eating day.  I guess when you're tired and you want energy, you try to convince yourself that sugar will help.  The kids had a Thanksgiving Feast at school and there were lots of holiday yummies.  I indulged.  And now I feel processed and sugared out.  Blech.  

I have my Birthing Again class tonight with just the women.  I'm looking forward to that time.  We've all been there, done that- so it should lead to some interesting discussions.  

My father and step mom are taking my kids tomorrow for the night.  I cannot tell you how nice that will be!  I'm looking forward to waking up slowly Sunday morning.  No sippy cups of milk to be prepared, making everyone's breakfast before I even decided what I'm having, no diaper  changes, clothes dressing, hair brushing.....  Ahhhhhhh......

37 weeks

I'm here.   I'm rounding 3rd base, headed for home.  

I've had a weird peace settle over me in the last day or two.  Baby can come when he wants to.  I can get through 3-4 measly little weeks.  Hell, if I can train for a marathon, I can be 9 months pregnant for a while.  

Headed to the midwife.  At which  point I'll show up at my appt time and then wait 2 hours.  Happens every time.  I'm looking at it like "Study Hall."  I bring some books, maybe some knitting and get down to it.  

Went on a walk last night.  Brrrrrrr...it's cold here in the ATL.  Plan to do some walking again today.  

Body is behaving today

Feeling good today.  Much better than yesterday.  Kids dragged me out of bed at 7:30am and we all ate some breakfast and got dressed.  Carpool pick up was at 9am and then I headed out to get some random things done.  Post office, then pharmacy, then vacuum out van and go through the wash.  I'm a stickler about my car being clean.  I hate clutter and trash that can accumulate so easily when you have kids in  and out of your car all week.  It's therapeutic to get rid of the junk.  I  gave a thorough wiping down with non other than baby wipes (it's sort of scary how good baby wipes are at cleaning up stains) and Presto!  My car is like new.  

Of course I got back home and crashed.  Our neighbor is a genius on the smoker and makes killer smoked meat.  He smoked some yesterday and had some leftover offered it to us.  So for lunch I had a beef brisket sandwich and then took a 2 hour nap until the kids got back home from school.  I always say I'm going to nap while they're gone so that I'm rested when they get home- but then I end up trying to use the time to get stuff done.  I'm glad I chose a nap.  

I plan to get out for a walk this afternoon with the kids.  Then we'll stop at the neighborhood park and play for a while.  

Here's my tracker for today:

Breakfast:

Stoneyfield Farms Lowfat strawberry yogurt with grapnuts and almonds

Red Raspberry Leaf tea

Snack:

Non fat mocha, add protein

Lunch:

Beef brisket sandwich on wheat

Snack

"Ants on a Log" with Fischer (and carrots)

Dinner:

Using up leftovers: mixture of tacos, whole wheat cous cous and Minestrone soup.  LOL  Buffet style!  I'll serve a spinach salad to get the greens in. 

Snack:

Probably some nonfat chocolate frozen yogurt with almonds

The home stretch...

Waiting for a baby is like being on survivor during one of those immunity challenges where you have to hold up a board with a glass of water or something for an undisclosed amount of time without spilling it until you're the last one standing.  At this point my arms are shaking and I'm losing my balance.  

There are 11 (yes, ELEVEN) women due between now and January at my church.  We see each other occasionally, waddling to the bathroom or after our other kids.  We give that knowing smile like: "Yeah, I feel like shit too.  Isn't this magical and amazing?"  I firmly believe that you have to get so fed up and uncomfortable or be in down right pain at the end of pregnancy so that you're willing to go through labor in order to not be pregnant anymore.  I'm there.  And I'll only be 37 weeks in 2 days.  Sweet.  Oh, I'm going to get in trouble with my doula.  She reads this!  Teresa, I promise I'm in for the long haul!  I have no tricks up my sleeve!

 I'm an impatient person.  Add pain into that and I become a wimpy, weepy, irritable ball of mush.  I remind my clients all the time: "You know the average white woman goes 11 days beyond her due date.  You need to focus on your 'due season,' not the date.  It makes it much easier when the due date comes and goes."  And here I am thinking:  Dec 10th?  Are you sure you didn't get the one and zero mixed up and it's really Dec 1st? And by Dec 1st, I really mean November.  Really?  Have you seen me?  I'm like a science project gone bad.  The size of my stomach is grossly disproportional to my body.  My back going to literally break any second.....  People are staring at me in public.  They are scared.  Especially children.  

Okay, so maybe that's not true.  I went on a walk a couple days ago and this cop was directing traffic and called out across the street: "Have you tried castor oil?"  All I could say was: "No, I'm not a fan of anal leakage.  But thanks!"  

Serenity now.

I guess I'm not very 'inspirational' right now as far as diet and exercise.  I'm thinking I'll be bitching and moaning for the next weeks to come.  I am, however, maintaining my walks.  I've walked 3 days in a row and felt good during them.  They do give me energy and that's worth every step these days.  

A client of mine gave me her Hypnobirthing cds a while back.  I'm not a huge Hypnobirthing fan, but I like to listen to them at night before bed to help me relax and remember my body knows exactly what its doing.  I know God created my body to do this very thing.  I'm not faulty.  Just impatient.  

Long day

Though I think "long days" are pretty much going to be the norm for a while.  I had my prenatal with my midwife.  Baby is posterior, which I knew.  He's all over the place.  He's also come back out of my pelvis.  It probably doesn't help that I have an olympic size pool of amniotic fluid in there.   Anyway, just going to keep walking  and keep up my Optimal Fetal Positioning and ride it out.  

I've been doing well on my reduction of processed foods.  I'm doing the same for the kids.  Fischer is issues focusing and the fresher the food I can get into him, the better.  I'm lucky because my kids are good eaters.  Not picky.  They willingly eat and like vegetables and fruits.  This is good.

Here's today's tracker:

Breakfast:

Whole grain waffle with almond butter and syrup

Skim milk

Banana

Snack:

TJ's freeze dried white peaches

Apple

Lunch:

Chicken (rotisseri) sandwich on whole grain bread with mayo

Flaxseed corn chips

Carrtos and Cucumbers

Snack:

Pear

Hot chocolate made with skim, cocoa, and a little bit of sugar

Dinner:

Whole wheat cous cous with almonds and golden raisins

Roasted veggies with olive oil (carrots, onions, grape tomatoes, radishes, broccoli)

Sauteed Portobella mushrooms

Sliced pears

Dessert: (big one, Ed was sweet to go get me a craving I've had for a week now)

Chick-fil-A's Peppermint Chocolate Chip milkshake

36 weeks

Again, I think it would be hilarious to just take the pup on a walk like this.  For shear shock value. 

A little pampering never hurt a pregnant lady...

Well, once again, woken up around 3:30am with very crampy contractions. One nearly had me frozen and I couldn't move until it was over. Being on your side is no fun during contractions. Anyway, I knew it was false labor. Didn't put much weight in it. Just got up, peed (as per usual) and drank some water. Thankfully they went away much faster than last weekend. My kids had mercy on me and actually slept until 8am. So I felt pretty good. Got the kids off to school and headed to my chiropractic appt. He did his thing and I walked out feeling good. I told him if he wanted to do some "magic" that would put me in labor next week- he needs to be thinking about it. :) He laughed, but then said he had a few things up his sleeve of tricks. LOL

I then headed to my favorite nail place to use my birthday gift certificate for a mani/pedi. God it was good! THose ladies took forever just rubbing and scrubbing and I just melted. They even massaged my back while my toe nails dried! It's like a little piece of heaven opened up and poured down on me. I will have to go back again before this bambino makes his appearance.

I thought about a walk, but then decided against it since my nails were so purdy and I didn't want to put my tennis shoes back on. Priorities people.

Tomorrow I have a prenatal appt. I'm taking my daughter which always makes it interesting. She usually entertains the waiting room and then when we go back- the midwife lets her measure my belly. She feels very accomplished after leaving my prenatals.

I'm shooting for some exercise tomorrow. Whether it's outside or inside on the treadmill. Probably just a a mile or 1.5. My lower back and hips and butt is just plain shot!

Busy weekend. Lots of stuff going on. The holidays are fast approaching and time is flying. This is a good thing. Saturday night I had the pleasure of being woken up by painful contractions. Coming on every 5 mins and increasing in intensity. I spent 4 hours trying to get back to sleep and eventually gave in and got up. I took a bath and they got even stronger. Then I got worried. I'm almost 36 weeks and that's just too dang early for *me.* I mean, I'm all about getting this be be out, but anything before 37 weeks means I can't do a waterbirth at the hospital, so I was praying the contractions would stop. And, of course they did. They puttered over the course of the day. Coming about every 10 mins, then 15 mins then left. Unfortunately it left me very tired and crampy and just dead to the world. Oh the joys of false labor! Happens every time. I hoping it at least did me some good. Maybe a little ripening or dilating. Who knows...

So needless to say, I slept well last night. Like a rock, in fact. This morning I made myself some steel cut oatmeal and a Red Raspberry Leaf tea. My uterus has completely stopped contracting and I felt up for a walk. I walked 2 miles in the brisk air and felt good. I know baby is moving lower and lower because the back pain during my walks is getting lower and lower. Shifting and changing each day. People ask me why I keep walking if it hurts my back so much. Well, the problem aren't the walks, it's the baby. And the walks will only help the BABY come out, so I'm willing to subject myself for the odds of an earlier and smoother eviction. :) Plus, I get the cool endorphin release afterwards and that's really nice.

I'm going to do some yoga stretches tonight before bed. I gotta make some more room in there some how. Or at least give my muscles some comfort of some sort. I must say this every time, but I cannot wait to own my body again! I'll willingly give up the boobs, but my stomach and back will be all mine!!

Okay, gotta run. My bath is full and my body is ready.

Good day today...

I woke with an extra pep in my step, despite staying up until 1am and waking at 6:30am.  Obviously I voted for Obama and was so overjoyed to witness history last night.  I've been in a dream like happy haze all day.  

Went to the chiropractor today and got some serious relief for my back.  So nice!  Then I went for a 2 mile walk.  I really felt a lot of pressure from homeboy's head.  So the walk was very slow, but good.  I got a dose of endorphins the last half of the walk that was amazing.  I was in a zone and felt really good.  I imagined getting the same surge of endorphins in labor and just allowing myself to get in the labor zone.  It was a good thing.  Labor, for me, is a lot like running.  It's a physical challenge that you can accomplish by believing you can do it and letting your body keep going.  Mind over matter.  Then just plain surrender.  

Here's todays menu: 

Breakfast:

Ezekiel bread with Smart balance and jam

Water

Mocha with a shot of protein

Exercise: walk 2 miles

Lunch:

Cat fish sandwich w/ some fries  (promise I didn't eat all the fries!)

Water

Snack:

Milk

Vitamuffin

Dinner:

Verdict out.  Probably Ed's leftover turkey sandwich from lunch.  Or some TJ's vegetarian chili.  

Bedtime early tonight!

I'm getting a hankering to make some soups.  I'd love some homemade Tomato Basil!  Anyone have a good recipe?

Also-some of you asked for the Raisin Walnut Bread recipe.  I'll post that tomorrow!  Sorry I'm a slacker. :)

35 weeks....

Early morning...

Well my body pretty much decided it was done sleeping at 5am.  I made a good dent in the book I'm reading for book club so at least I was productive.  The bath is running now to sooth my achy back.  How can a back ache after a good night's rest?  Anyway, I've got carpool duty and then I'm off to vote!  GO OBAMA!

Last night was not pretty.  This pregnancy is kicking my ass.  After we got the kids to bed I went to lie down in my bed and was just miserable.  Every ^%$*%&* part of me aches.  I called Ed upstairs and asked him to rub my back.  And then I just starting crying like a baby.  I don't remember it being this bad the last two times.  So there I was heaving and crying while Ed rubbed my back.  It was only 9pm and at some point I fell asleep.  Thank God.

I'm hoping today is better.  I really want to walk, but I'm sort of scared walking is going to make my back pain worse.  But yet I do want to walk to get this butter ball down!  It's a catch 22.   I'm counting down the hours until my next Chiro appt.  I had graduated to only one adjustment a week but I'm thinking I need to do two.  We'll see.

In the mean time (despite this weekend which was full of Halloween candy) I want to focus on getting some clean food in me.   I'm a believer in the "food is thy medicine" bit and I've just been putting some nasty stuff in me lately.  (Despite my no carb or processed junk rant the other day).  Probably not the best idea to start that in the midst of Halloween.  Anyhoo, the plan is FRESH.  Fresh foods.  Eating better is going to help alleviate my pain I hope.  I need energy and sugar and junk ain't gonna cut it.