He’s here …
It’s taken me a while to get online to share the news with you, my dearest readers, but I’ve been BURSTING to tell you that Baby Boy is here, and he is absolutely perfect.
I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve touched a computer since Saturday afternoon — definitely a record for me. It’s a perfect example of how much my life has changed in just six days. You know those commercials — I think for Johnson & Johnson — with the tagline, “Having a baby changes everything?” I now totally know what they mean!
It feels like everything pre-baby (well, everything from before Saturday evening, when my water broke) is a dream from a long time ago. I can hardly remember what is feels like to be pregnant — good thing I have lots of posts to remind me in detail! I can hardly remember what it feels like to not have him here with us.
He is my entire world now. I knew, in an abstract sort of way, that he would be my whole life. But actually living it is a different story. In the same way that I knew he would be a lot of work, and that I’d be tired — but actually doing the work and feeling that tiredness is so much different.
Baby Boy is crying now to be fed, so I have to run. But I have SO much to tell you, and I promise to sneak to the computer whenever I can to share the birth story (teaser: HOLYCRAPTHEPAIN), my recovery from my emergency C-section (teaser: OW) what it’s been like breastfeeding (teaser: scabs galore), and every detail of my angelic little boy (teaser: perfection).
On productivity and maternity leave
Saturday, June 5, 2010
39 weeks, 6 days pregnant
TWO DAYS TO GO!
Still here, still pregnant.
Moving right along …
Since being off on maternity leave, I’ve been adjusting to the lack of PURPOSE in my life. It’s not like I love my job beyond belief — because, as you know, it has its bad parts. But I am good at my job, and I work hard at it, and it does fill me with a sense of pride and accomplishment.
I know that I will put the same time and energy (more, actually) into taking care of my baby (if he ever decides to arrive). Even though it’s not a 9-5 job with a paycheque, it will be my PURPOSE, and one that I plan to take very seriously. It’s like the most important job on earth!
These few weeks of waiting, however, have left me with no real purpose. The days are LONG and EMPTY and full of WAITING. It’s like being in a holding pattern, just waiting to get to the next step. It’s sort of like the (horrible) way I have felt in the past, when unemployed, except I know this is temporary.
People try to tell me that my “purpose” for now is to “rest” and “get ready for the baby.” Well, the baby stuff has been ready for months, and I’m getting an atrocious amount of rest. For someone like me, who is used to a fast-paced, busy schedule, it does not feel RIGHT to lie on the couch watching TV all day. I need something to doooooo!
Sure, I have accomplished stuff. Everyday, I add a bunch of “to-do” items into my BlackBerry, no matter how mundane they are. Stuff like “Drive Darling Husband to work,” and “Get groceries,” and “Fold laundry.” Because then, I get to check them off, and get a little burst of satisfaction. I’m doing something.
In case you are also on maternity leave and looking for ways to fill the days, here’s some of the things I’ve done over the last four weeks:
- Read 30-something library books, plus re-read a bunch of my own books
- Organized all of the photos on my computer
- Scanned non-digital photos from around the condo
- Uploaded all photos onto Wal-Mart’s site for printing
- Scrapbooked my entire life (and Darling Husband’s) up to this point
- Downloaded countless TV shows and movies
- Caught up on latest “popular” movies (New Moon, Valentine’s Day, Leap Year, The Blind Side, The September Issue, etc.)
- Watched episodes of random but awesome TV shows (Family Ties, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, Secret Life of the American Teenager, Sex and the City, Make it or Break it, Yes Dear)
- Sewed baby-sized versions of Darling Husband’s work uniform
- Bought presents and cards for an out-of-town baby shower and a wedding that I will not be able to attend this summer (because of the baby)
- Went on a massive frozen-food shopping trip, and loaded up the deep freeze with meatloaves, stuffed chicken breasts, etc.
- Baked bran muffins and cooked pancakes and frozen them in individual serving baggies
- Opened up my been-packed-for-two-months hospital bags, and re-organized them so it’s easier to find things
- Gotten a pregnancy massage
- Gotten a pedicure
- Gotten a haircut
- Gotten an eyebrow wax
- Made instructions for washing our clothes, the baby’s clothes, and the cloth diapers (complete with photos of our machines’ dials), and affixed them to the dryer with magnets
- Cleaned out all of the kitchen cupboards
- Bought birth announcement kit and designed the announcement
- Addressed all of the birth announcement envelopes
- Wrote letters to the baby
- Went on endless walks around the neighbourhood with Little Dog
- Went to two malls with C
- Went to a Mommy/Baby movie
- Went to a Mommy/Baby swimming session
- Made labels for all of the storage baskets in Little Baby’s room
- Made labels for storage bins in the laundry closet
- Mended Darling Husband’s torn uniforms
- Bought tons of cleaning supplies, and stocked each bathroom with its own supplies (no more dragging stuff from room to room when I clean)
- Bought a lifetime supply of toilet paper and paper towels
- Painted a canvas for the en suite bathroom (an abstract pattern that matches the shower curtain)
- Cleaned out my armoire (moving clothes that “won’t fit for a while” to the bottom shelf)
- Downloaded hundreds of baby- and kid-friendly songs, and loaded up an iPod for the baby
- Downloaded more songs for my iPod, and made a labour playlist
Looking at this list makes me feel pretty good about how I’ve spent these last four weeks. I’ve done things around the house, I’ve done things to prepare for the baby, I’ve done things that are just for fun, and I’ve definitely done things that I know I won’t have time for once the baby is here (like snacking on chips and pop and watching a movie at 2 p.m. in my pajamas).
However, let’s hope it’s VERY SOON that this baby is here, and taking up all of my time. I am so eager to meet him that I feel like I’m constantly ready to burst — ah, from excitement, and from the fact that I also literally feel like my body is going to burst.
Five paradoxes about being nine months pregnant
- You have time to shop, but no shopping budget (since maternity leave benefits don’t kick in for freaking ages)
- You have time to cook, but no stamina/patience to stand in a hot kitchen all day
- You have time to do a proper deep clean, but your husband prohibits you from pulling out the stove and the refrigerator to clean behind them
- Walking can induce labour, but your aching back prevents you from walking far
- People tell you how small your belly looks — but back when you were 28 weeks, you apparently looked ready to pop???
Counting woes
Friday, June 4, 2010
39 weeks, 5 days pregnant
As I get closer to the end, I am realizing that somehow my little sidebar counter must be wrong.
I’m due Monday, not Sunday, so technically I have three days left — not two. Does that mean I am actually 39 weeks, 4 days pregnant? FML!
I’m really too tired to figure it out. But at this point, it is depressing to GO BACKWARD in this lovely countdown. So I’m going to stick with my count, and just be 40 weeks, 1 day on my actual due date.
Screw the system.
I need chicken fingers.
Five reasons I will hopefully have the baby very soon
Thursday, June 3, 2010
39 weeks, 4 days pregnant
3 DAYS TO GO!
- My cervix is soft
- Even horrific birth stories involving tearing are not grossing me out, because I am SO EAGER to get this party started
- I’ve had not one, but two major episodes of false labour with real-but-irregular contractions. My body is clearly rehearsing for the big performance
- Hopefully the false labour has helped to dilate me … a little … maybe?
- I am almost out of pregnancy staples like stretch mark oil and heartburn pills
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