Well its been 3 weeks now since we started thinking we could have a baby at any minute and still no baby! :) I am 3cm dilated, fully effaced and having lots of pre-labour signs including non-stop braxton hicks contractions which I don't remember having at all with Violet. Unless baby decides she wants to be born this weekend, we are scheduled to meet her at 9:30 on monday morning.
I think its a very good thing for all of us that we have had this time for me to nest, for Jon to get all the major projects off his list and for Violet to have some bonding time with mommy and daddy before her life turns upside down. I think we now have everything in order for the baby and many, many other projects have been ticked off the household list so we are ready to receive.
I am so ready to meet this baby. I have started aching a little to have her in my arms, not to mention the aches that makes me feel 'finished' with being this large and heavy and ok with the thought of not be pregnant anymore. I will be sad not to have baby all to myself anymore but I am guessing she and I will have quite a lot of togetherness after her arrival too.
We have generally been managing to get some sleep around here but it is certainly not a sound night of sleep for all of us every night. Between multiple trips to the bathroom, middle of the night worries and a sometimes busy baby, I have been losing a bit of sleep, but I think I'm doing better than average. I even managed to sleep well during the recent heat wave with the exception of one night - thanks to Jon. Jon, of course is disrupted by all my activity and likes to get some middle of the night worry/anticipation in there too. Violet is doing well but has had a few disrupted nights for no reason other than the likely one that she knows she is about to deal with a lot of change. She thankfully is a heavy sleeper.
Other than kicking the soother habit, Violet has also had her guard rail removed from her bed - there is no question that the 'baby' in that girl is rapidly disappearing. Something has changed in her little head in the past couple of weeks and she is just more grown up in her language, her humour, her ability to pick up complex ideas and her ability to give us attitude like she is a teenager. V is also becoming a bit of an organizer, she likes to make statements like "ok let's get to work" when we ask her to help tidy etc. and she revels in doing a good job. She has started tidying her room and making her bed - and doing a fine job of it I have to say!
V is anticipating baby with excitement but we are starting to wonder if we have over prepared her for the role of big sister. Sometimes we get the sense that she thinks she has to become an adult overnight, like when she says (repeatedly) "Daddy/Mommy, make sure you don't give me beer or wine or soda water or coffee after the baby comes!" She has also started focusing a large amount of energy on her babies, playing a mommy that just had a baby and taking her role very seriously. It is truly adorable. It's also very funny, hearing my own voice/words coming at me as she soothes her little one.
One of our biggest gripes lately has been the dog. Oh that George! He has been using the house as a bathroom on and off for a couple of months now. We aren't even sure what makes him do it, it is not need, he's pissed about something. It may be connected to this pregnancy because it seems to be getting to him. He has been trailing me more closely than ever since I became pregnant but the closer I get to the end, the more trailing time I get from George. He follows me everywhere and whines at me to stop moving around because, I guess he finds it tiring, go figure. When I finally settle to bed he is right beside me on the floor, snorting, scratching, snuffing and eventually snoring which has reached a point of disruption that I can no longer take (for some reason I am not my usual patient self...). He eventually leaves to sleep elsewhere in the house but likes to take a lengthy tour first to check things out as he clicks his nails all around. This tour can and usually is repeated several times in the early morning hours to see who he can manage to rouse to hang out with him. If he was a younger dog, we would be exercising him to the point of complete exhaustion, but alas, even though the old boy is holding up pretty well, he can't take on too much physical activity any more.
My darling husband is now confined George to the basement at night which would normally mean that George would whine at the gate but he has been tricked into thinking that Jon is also sleeping downstairs so it has worked so far. We have now dropped him off at the doggie place for a couple of weeks so we can focus on baby and Violet for a while. Hopefully he will adjust well to baby.
It's been a wonderful summer so far, hard to believe it is coming to an end but what a way for summer to end with the birth of our new family member! Check out our summer 2010 album for some new pictures from the last few weeks. We have had some wonderful times, especially swimming at the lake and chilling out in the cooled down hot tub or the kiddie pool during the heat wave of last week. Now we are planning a quiet weekend to get rested up as much as we can and enjoy this time before baby arrives.
Next post - baby!
No comments:
Post a Comment