Too much time on their hands

I actually had a comment on my post from yesterday that was someone hawking some crapola heartburn remedy. Seriously?!?!

Now with a side of heartburn

The fun just keeps mounting here in the final countdown. Now I have some pretty fiendish heartburn almost every time I eat, but especially when I eat chocolate.

In some ways, cutting out chocolate is good. After all, I'm at the point where I know that every ounce put on now will have to start coming off in the next couple of weeks. But still, I'm huge, uncomfortable, exhausted and I can't even have a brownie??? C'mon!

Kate is taking a very rare nap at the moment, so I'm off to get stuff done. I've gotten so much done around here the last few days and am starting to feel good and ready for whenever this baby may come. Just a bit more to go...

Besides, I have a date with a Tums bottle.

iTunes 101

A couple of years ago I got an iPod Nano. Hardly had anything on it, used it seldom.

Pete bought me an iPod Touch for Christmas. It is pretty much the coolest gadget ever, and inspired me to start really getting on board with it. With that, though, I've still been lax in terms of getting music loaded, and definitely in terms of getting my music organized through iTunes.

I feel like I'm just finally learning the very basics about iTunes, even though I've used it for a couple of years, because I'm just now really getting organized. Until today, I probably had a GB of classical music all in one playlist titled "orchestra". I haven't really taken the time to think through what I want to do. The complete flexibility and control is almost too much to wrap my brain around - it's such a huge mental change from CDs. I finally realized that it's essentially a relational data warehouse, upon which I can build all sorts of views to access the data in different ways. Once I started conceptualizing it that way (my IT nerd background coming in really handy) it all started making sense.

So the light bulb has finally turned on regarding how this will revolutionize my classical music collection. Classical music is different. Very rarely do I feel like listening to "something Brahms", like I would feel like listening to something by Barenaked Ladies, but don't really care what. Generally, I want to listen to the Brahms double, or the B Major Trio, etc. The sucky thing is that classical CDs almost always have many different compositions on them - sometimes by many different composers. So in our 400 disc changer, I not only have to figure out which CD it was, but which track, etc. All that is gone, now. I can have playlists by composer, by music type (symphony, concerto, etc.), by artist... it goes on and on. I could spend months and months slicing and dicing it so many different ways (well, after spending months trying to get everything loaded).

Now I just need to figure out all this compression/bit rate stuff, so I can make sure I'm not totally destroying my classical music. Although, frankly, most of the time my iPod will be used in situations where it's not an ideal listening experience anyway, so some quality loss is probably not the end of the world. I have no plans of ditching my CDs as of yet, and I suppose that when I get to that point, memory will be so cheap that to store everything in a lossless data format will be much more feasible than it ever could be now with my 8GB Touch.

Ah... I love technology.

Braxton *#&$% Hicks

I've had far fewer BH contractions with this pregnancy overall. My doc says it's probably because I get more rest, have more access to the bathroom and am better hydrated since I'm not working. Completely valid.

However, all of a sudden it seems my body has realized it needs to squeeze this giant baby out (the average guess right now is around 9 lbs. - I'm huge) in the coming weeks, and is practicing with a vengeance.

They are definitely BH, not the real thing. But MAN are they annoying. They were actually waking me up last night because they are strong enough to squeeze all the air out of my lungs. I can only hope it will pay off when D-Day arrives.

Leave it to my uterus to function just like I do - wait until the last minute and then cram like crazy.

Getting There

Thank you for the encouragement last week on the bag. I actually got a good deal of it done that day. I got smart this time and just bought travel-sizes of several things, so I can just get them in the bag. Other than needing to load some music on my iPod and toss in a few things, I'm pretty much set.

One question - a lot of books recommend packing food for the husbands. We didn't do this last time in part because we had no time and in part because we had a doula who had told us she was willing to do food runs when needed. Did any of you do this? It's pretty easy to throw in a granola bar or some nuts, but at our refresher childbirth class they practically suggested a picnic. That seems excessive to me, but perhaps it is a good idea...

Last night I went to get a "big sister gift" for Kate. I got her something from us and something from the baby. Last week we bought something for her to give the baby, so that's all ready. I'm feeling SO much better having this done. That was the one huge thing on my list I was concerned about not having done. At this point, if I went into labor tomorrow I would be in decent shape *huge sigh of relief*.

However, given my appointment today, going into labor tomorrow is a long shot. There's pretty much nothing going on. Of course, it was the same way with Kate and she came out eventually, so I'm not too concerned. I still don't feel quite ready yet. I just have the mindset that she'll come within a few days of the due date, like Kate did. Of course, if I keep retaining fluids like I have this week, I'm going to be hoping that comes fast. I put on 5+ lbs. this week... no wonder I can hardly bend my fingers!!

Speaking of which, I've reached my laptop limit for my hands (they get numb in about 15 minutes) so I'm off. Have a great sunshiny day!!

Big Girl Sleeping

This weekend we finally got Kate's big girl room put together. The bed is in and made. The dresser, lamp, bookshelf all ready to go. Books and little girly things moved. The only big thing we're missing are the curtains (and some stuff on the walls, but I suck at that). I bought the curtains at Pottery Barn Kids and I discovered after ironing them that one was about 2 inches shorter than the other. ARGH. I'll have to take them back this week and just have them open packages there until I find two the same length. (and then I can post pictures) I also still have to move her clothes over this week.

Anyway, Kate wanted to sleep in there tonight. My brave girl. I had to snuggle with her for a long time, and even after that it took her FOREVER to fall asleep - so much new to look at, I suppose. But she's asleep right now in her twin bed (no bed rails!) and so far, so good. She looks so little in that great big bed.

After I tucked her in, I went into the nursery to get some more wee baby things to wash and prepare. The room smells like Kate, yet looks so bare now with all her things gone that I let myself just weep for a few minutes.

My big girl. I'm so proud of her.

Not packing

I have reached the point of pregnancy where I no longer want to do anything but sit around. This is problematic, since I still have a lot of things to do to get ready for having this baby.

For one, I have not yet even started packing a bag. I did the same darn thing last time - thinking, oh, I have a list, it'll just take a minute to throw stuff together. Well, it took us FOREVER to get everything pulled together when we had Kate, to the point where we then wound up stuck in traffic on the way to the hospital. And this time, I will have to focus that pre-hospital time on making sure I've got everything lined up for Kate. I need to get this done.

Why do I find it so intimidating? It just sounds like a lot of work.

I guess that makes me the nursemaid

Was outside with Kate this afternoon and had to come in to go to the bathroom (what else is new). I was holding her hand when I told her, and in a tizzy she went boneless and collapsed to the ground. When the intense crying/screaming started, I assumed it was just 2-year-old in action and slung her in my arm like a sandbag and hefted her in. She stood in the bathroom door, holding her hand and saying "Arm hurts! Arm hurts! Kiss it, Mama!"

I still thought it was just drama, but when we went back outside and she wanted to snuggle instead of run around like a crazed weasel, I started realizing something was up. Pete came home and within a few minutes we realized she wasn't using her arm at all and if we touched or moved it she sobbed anew. We knew we had to act when she wouldn't lift that arm to take the wrapper off her Dum Dum sucker (desperate measure to cheer her up).

Apparently, hand-holding+boneless toddler = nursemaid's elbow. Poor girl had a pulled elbow. After about a 40 minute wait, it took them about a minute to fix it. Within 5 minutes she was totally back to normal, and very happy that her arm felt better. And I felt like the world's worst mother. Although, as Pete kindly pointed out, it really was more of a "joint effort."

Har dee har har.

Irrational Fears

My latest: that for some reason (intruder, fire) I will need to use the escape ladder to get out of an upstairs bedroom with both kids by myself. How will I manage it? How would I carry them? What will I do if one of them starts slipping? Or both?

Just another joyful scenario added to my ongoing fear about what to do if the truck somehow wound up in deep water and I had to get both girls out of their carseats and swim to shore.

It's like I rehearse these scenarios in my head - and always end up inconsolable with fear. I thought I was through this stuff, but it's come back again lately with force. Here's hoping it's all part and parcel of the hormones and will go away...

...and that I never, ever happen to see Sophie's Choice.

The Home Stretch

4 weeks, 3 days until my due date. Please, please, please God, don't let me go over. I can make it to then - I'm prepared for that. If I go late, I may go crazy.

In general, I'm doing much better than I did with Kate. Not sitting in meetings all day definitely helps. Back pain is almost nonexistant. Pelvic pain has been sporadic, but is starting to settle in. The swelling and carpal tunnel have taken off admirably in the last week. At least this time I know it will go away. Last time I think I reached the point where I was convinced I would be like that forever.

April 27th was my last orchestra concert until September. Ahhhh. It had gotten really impossible to play. I'm carrying more out in front this time so trying to get comfortable with this big belly was a losing proposition. I'm very glad to be done for awhile.

We have yet to do much of anything on fixing the house. It was supposed to be my "job" to get bids lined up, but the energy ran out right at the crucial moment. I really need to lie down during Kate's naps to help the swelling, and by the time she goes to bed, I'm worn out.

Kate's room is also taking WAY longer than expected. We did two colors of pink on her wall (Pete did a beautiful chair rail on the wall). The bottom pink is perfect, but the top pink wound up too blue. It was a true challenge to our marriage when I insisted we redo the top part. But it is done now and the bed is painted and all at no thanks whatsoever to me. My dear husband has really come through on this. We should be able to get the bed set up this week and then start moving everything in. Hopefully the dresser will arrive in the next week or two (over a month late!) and we can get Kate in there.

Kate is a doll. She's excited for her new room, and seemed to figure out all on her own that her baby sister will sleep in her crib, since we certainly never said that. She keeps talking about her baby sister using her baby room when she moves. Smart, sweet kid. She's big into pretending these days, and when she doesn't insist on wearing a dress so she can be a "pretty, pretty princess" (what happened to my tomboy??) she is busy pretending she's a baby wolf or kitty or some other animal. At this moment, I am mama bird, feeding her a snack as she sits on her "nest" of blankets. It's just amazing to me.

I've been busy doing fun things with her the last couple of months. While I finally believe that this baby will be something for us to experience together and Kate will love her, it does sadden me a bit that it won't just be us anymore. Lately, she's wanted me to snuggle with her until she falls asleep at nap time. I know that conventional sleep wisdom says that's a horrible idea, but for me it's this precious time where I can hold her closely and talk and sing and enjoy her with no distraction. My ability to do that will be greatly reduced if not gone so soon - I'll take every moment I can get. She's growing up so fast.

I remember when Kate was born, someone asked Pete and I what our biggest surprises were. I couldn't really come up with one - I had felt pretty prepared for having an infant. I think I know what my surprise is, now. I never understood that as much as parenthood can fill your heart more than you ever thought possible, it also breaks it just a little bit at the same time.