Dr’s appointment yesterday didn’t offer a lot of great news – my blood pressure is elevated (140/90, up from 140/76 two weeks ago) so they want me to come back in Monday for another blood pressure check just to make sure it’s not continuing to go up.

I don’t seem to be spilling any protein in my urine or having any hand/face swelling or dizziness, so I don’t think I have preeclampsia, but they want to err on the safe side. Right now, I’m hoping for two things:

1. Blood pressure either stays the same or goes down. I really, really don’t want it to go up. This also contributes quite a bit (I think, anyway) to the foot swelling so any improvement here would be welcome.
2. I continue to not have protein in my urine. The midwife mentioned something about maybe doing a 24-hour sample collect, where you have to keep all your urine for 24 hours in a jug and then bring it in so they can test it. DO NOT WANT.

I keep joking with Daniel that he’s going to start feeding me only salads and gruel to try to keep my BP down. Somehow I get the impression that he is considering it.

They also wheeled in a terrifically ancient-looking ultrasound machine to verify Baby’s position, because at this point, they really should be head-down to prepare for labor. Just to be difficult, Baby was transverse. Argh.

Daniel gave him a pep talk to try to get him to turn, and I’ve been hanging out in Cat Cow to try to give him a bit more room. I have basically no torso so I don’t blame him for stretching out sideways across my tummy, but HEY. BABY. There is this thing called “birth” we have to go through, and best to not make it more difficult than necessary for the both of us. Head: down. Now.

Breastfeeding Class

This went well. I was surprised to discover that I knew several of the points the instructor made just from reading so many parenting blogs over the years. Internet win! We got a book to refer to and lots of handouts, and we practiced some nursing positions with plastic baby dolls.

I made the class giggle during introductions because we were supposed to mention a concern or fear we had regarding breastfeeding and I said I was afraid my boobs would suffocate my baby. And then I turned bright pink, because HELLO, the only person in this room I know is my husband and now I have basically just said hi! My name is Meggan and I have ridiculously large boobs, nice to meet you.

Sleep

I actually haven’t been doing too poorly in the sleep department, but apparently poor Daniel is being woken up by my outrageously loud breathing and/or snoring. Whoops. My nose gets kind of snuffly in the evenings so by the time I go to bed I can’t breathe through my nose very well and I guess I make a lot of noise? Occasionally I’ll wake up to him elbowing me but that’s about all I remember.

Lucky

I just wanted to mention how much I lucked out with Daniel as my husband. He will volunteer to squish my feet if they are painful, he does all our laundry and dishes, handles a lot of the grocery shopping, makes me dinner, and is great about cleaning the apartment.

He is excited about preparing for Baby and wasn’t a bum about going to classes or participating once we were there. This past weekend he told me he’s looking forward to carrying Baby around in a sling, and if I hadn’t already been sitting I would have keeled over from the cuteness.

OMG SO ADORABLE.

He turns 25 on Sunday and I am so pleased that I’ve gotten to share the last 9-ish years with him. Love you, Danbob!

We had our maternity photoshoot on Saturday and it went splendidly. Ashley is so fun to work with and was great about giving us directions so we didn’t look stupid. I’m really bad at finding places to put my hands and don’t always notice if my bangs are doing something kooky so I really appreciated the gentle direction.

The shoot was out on Sauvie Island (about a 20 minute drive) and involved a pleasant nature walk, in which Daniel and Ashley each saw a frog and I saw some duckies. I wanted to see the frogs really bad but they hid from me. And apparently it’s weird that I’ve only ever seen frogs as big as a quarter – Ashley said she’s seen giant ones in Hawaii that got run over in the street and turned into frog roadkill leather in the sun. Crazy! I’ve always wanted to see a huge frog or toad but have never had the opportunity.

And this is just the sneak peek! We will be getting a CD in the mail with all the photos so we can get them printed or have the files to post on Facebook or Flickr. Thanks, Ashley!

Massage

My massage was WONDERFUL. It didn’t cure me of all my ailments (woe!) but it was so lovely! The massage therapist was super sweet and helped prop me up with 800 pillows (okay, maybe six) and it was a great way to end the weekend.

Reality Check

I think Daniel and I are both kind of realizing that HEY, we will have a baby soon! It’s very exciting but also kind of scary. We’re both kind of worried that we’ll miss each other a lot or not be able to do things like see bands play anymore. I mentioned that I’ve heard we should institute “date nights” to make sure we get some together time even when Baby is here and we agreed that that sounded like a good idea.

This whole thing is pretty freaky though; there won’t just be the two of us! And I will have to take care of a tiny helpless thing! And I will only get maybe two weeks with Daniel before he has to go back to work! And I will only have 12 weeks with Baby before I have to go back to work! Eeek!

Preparing

In terms of preparing for Baby, I feel like we have the essentials but ONLY the essentials. We have a crib, a carseat, and our cloth diapers. Beyond that… it’s kind of sparse. I did buy some pacifiers and a set of muslin swaddling blankets and we do have some small onesies, but we don’t have a diaper pail, cloth diaper detergent, any kind of medical supplies like infant Tylenol or a thermometer, etc. The list goes on.

I was trying not to to stock up on stuff before the baby shower just in case we are blessed with particularly generous friends and family members, but it also makes me nervous to have next to nothing for Baby this late in the game. Deep breaths! I’m sure it will all work out but it makes me nervous just the same.

We have a couple more classes coming up next week – a breastfeeding prep class and a newborn care class. I think they’ll both help us feel more comfortable handling Baby once he’s here. Not that we’re afraid of breaking him, exactly, just… I don’t really know what to do with a newborn and I think this will give us a small boost of confidence.

My feet and ankles retain fluid so easily and I get really frustrated with my chubby feet. It often hurts to circle my ankles or flex my calves because the skin is so tight – it feels like an indian rugburn.

Elevating still helps slightly, and Daniel has been wonderful about giving me footrubs (“foot squishins” in our household) but I’m finding that depending on how I sit afterward it can come back almost instantly. Anytime my leg bends at the knee, especially sitting cross-legged, is DOOOOM for my feet. Plus, they’re super tender! The outside of the tops of my feet feel like they’re bruised.

Several of Baby’s movements are painful now – I often find myself pushing a limb of some sort back at him because whatever he’s doing hurts! It’s not even the kicking, it’s the weird body part lumps that poke out. It’s like having a cat in a pillowcase!

The fatigue-during-walking thing is nearly constant – I gave up trying to take my normal route to work and hop on the bus instead because it’s MUCH less walking. My muscles get really exhausted after about three blocks, it’s sad.

Fortunately, I still feel like I can take in a full breath but I hear that will go away soon too.

(ALL THAT SAID, I really do feel like I am getting off easy in terms of pregnancy woes. I don’t pee myself, I haven’t had any bottom-system problems, and aside from the muscle fatigue and the fatty piggy feet, I usually feel pretty good.)

Trimet win!

This week, someone FINALLY got up for me on the bus. I stepped on and it became immediately clear that I was going to have to stand, so I made my way toward one of the poles to hang on, and then a very nice girl offered me her seat. She was a sweet-looking, 20-something lady and I was so, so grateful.

Then later, this ancient little Asian man got on the bus after grocery shopping, and had clearly misplaced his wallet somewhere. He kept patting all his pants pockets, and then jacket pockets, and then looking through his grocery bags trying to find it. After a few minutes, a kind of skeezy-looking guy handed him a fistful of dollars so he could pay his bus fare. The Asian guy was SO thankful and I just felt so happy that there were two very nice people riding the bus that day.

Other stuffs

Daniel installed the carseat base this week and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. Yay! We are keeping the actual carseat in the house for now but the base is in the car still.

Baby’s heartbeat sounded great at my appointment yesterday. My appointments are always hilariously short because I don’t really have anything wrong with me, so there’s not a lot to talk about. I complain about my feet every time and they just give me the symptoms of preeclampsia to be on the lookout for and send me on my merry way. Meanwhile, I have difficulty GOING DOWN STAIRS because my ankles and the tops of my feet are so fat that they have a hard time bending and it hurts. I’m good about drinking water but perhaps I should go on a salt-avoidance mission?

I have my maternity portraits scheduled for tomorrow and Daniel totally wins the Expectant Father of the Year Award for getting me a pregnancy massage for Valentine’s Day. I scheduled that for this Sunday and I’m hoping it’ll help with the foot problem. Hurrah!

Because, no, we still don’t really have any names. We’re not revealing them beforehand anyway, but the plan is to have a shortlist to bring into the hospital so we can meet him before we name him. Problem is, we don’t really even have a shortlist. And now one of the names I liked (that Daniel was lukewarm on) just got axed because the nickname sounds terrible and singsong-y with Riley, which makes me sad but lets Daniel off the hook.

Sometimes I hate the news

Sorry, Baby. As if I didn’t have enough things to worry about. My baby may have Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, type 2 diabetes, stroke and/or heart disease because I couldn’t limit myself to only gaining 10lbs while pregnant!

Even better:

“If there ever was a maternal hex, obesity might be it,” said Dr. Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of the journal, “and as it turns out, even after the weight comes off, the biggest loser isn’t a mother, but her child.”

MATERNAL HEX. Could they BE any more sensationalist? Good grief. And then ending it by saying the damage is already done, so even if you DO lose the weight your baby is already at risk.

*sigh*

Hospital Prep

I think I found a going-home outfit for Baby! It’s a white onesie with gray, blue, and green rocketships and UFOs on it, plus a little green and white striped zip-up hoodie with a blue rocketship embroidery on the front, and then little gray sweatpants. I got it in “newborn” size so I’m hoping it fits and I’m planning on bringing a similarly-colored 0-3 size onesie just in case he’s huge.

I haven’t started a hospital bag yet but I’m thinking about it. I can’t stand packing early because I feel like in the meantime, I need the stuff that the bag is supposed to contain, but I’m making a mental list of things I should include. This is, of course, based mostly off lists I’ve found on the internet.

Maternity Leave

I’ve started to get things in motion for when I’m on maternity leave from work. If everything goes according to plan, my last day should be April 9 and I will return July 6 (which is a four day week!). I get six weeks disability pay (60% of my salary, pre-tax), two weeks PTO from the company (THANK YOU), two weeks of my own PTO, and then the rest is unpaid time off.

This leaves me with two more weeks of PTO (luckily, I rolled over one from last year) to use throughout the rest of the year for daycare emergencies/closures, sick time, vacations, and anything else that comes up. I was really leery of using all my PTO in one go so I think this plan works out nicely for me.

Baby and Me

The internet tells me Baby should be about 16 inches tall and around three and a half pounds. I’d estimate him at closer to four, mostly based on the ultrasound a couple of weeks ago saying he was already 3.5lbs. He’s having loads of fun stretching, rolling over, and occasionally kicking me in a rib. I can sometimes tell when he’s about to kick, because he’ll stre-e-e-tch, pause for a moment, and then BAM! I had a dream the other day that I knew where his feet were and I was tickling his toes – I woke up smiling.

Baby’s lungs are maturing and apparently he often has his eyes open when he’s awake. Creepy!

As for me, I’ve had a couple of Braxton-Hicks contractions (I think?) and walking tends to fatigue me pretty easily. I think my belly pokes out far enough that my back/legs are having a hard time adjusting to the shift in my center of gravity, and they have to work extra-hard to keep me upright and mobile. I’m still doing yoga once a week which helps, and I’m usually pretty conscious of my posture and know not to overly arch my back to make up for it. Still sucks though.

I’ve also had a bit of sciatic pain on my right-side top-of-butt which is unpleasant. It’s not debilitating, thank goodness, but it is uncomfortable. I’m getting better at remembering to pee before I leave work instead of realizing I need to go on my way home when I can’t do anything about it. Progress!

Also, chocolate basically sounds good all the time.

I am an aunt.

My younger brother and his live-in girlfriend had a baby in JANUARY and kept it a secret for not only the entire pregnancy, but for A MONTH after the baby was born. My parents found out last night.

Here’s what my mom posted on Facebook today:

So sometimes your kids can drop a bombshell on ya….Carson came home yesterday….followed by girlfriend Nellie…carrying a baby. THEIR baby. They had a baby a month ago and told no one…..NO ONE!!! ……SURPRISE!!
Meet Riley Alexander born 1-5-10 7:41 am 5 # 13 oz 19 1/2 ”
Our precious first Grandson!!

I am still reeling from the shock. I’m obviously super happy for them and very excited about my nephew – it means that Baby will have a cousin close in age (4mos apart) to play with, but I’m pissed they didn’t tell anyone. And I feel a little bit like my thunder has been stolen, since now Baby isn’t the first grandbaby OR the first boy. (I’m sure I’ll get over this, but right now I am still in rug-pulled-out-from-under-me mode.)

So yes – very excited, confused, happy, upset, and so many other things this morning. Congratulations to Carson and Nellie and baby Riley!