Pho, cravings, rain and toys.

Midwife Appointment


Today's appointment was with Karen, but Lisa happened instead, neither of whom are actually on the practice's website. Lisa was interesting, and nice, and seemed pleased by my choices. She said to me, "I'm so glad you're enamoured of this... a lot of women who come in here are scared." I told her that I am scared, very scared, and she said she didn't believe me.


She felt my belly and said she thinks the baby is petite. And she liked the sound of his heartbeat.


The only concern at the moment is that I tested positive for a strep infection, and that will require IV antibiotics every four hours during labour and delivery. This isn't a big deal, and will be administered via a Heperin lock rather than requiring me to be confined to a bed, which is definitely a good thing. I demand to be allowed to walk around... and stand in the shower if that's what I want to do.




Today


Aside from the midwife appointment, which happened after I slept all day, Brian and I spent a glorious hour and a half at the apartment complex's pool, swimming and floating and playing. It was wonderful, and needs to happen more often.


We also went grocery shopping, very briefly (I got chocolate cake, it's tasty), and then to a pho place not far away for pho and Vietnamese coffee. Vietnamese coffee is wonderful, and I was good and didn't drink very much ;p And I made six pages of notes on the restaurant... I really should start a food blog.


When we got home and walked into the apartment, rain started pouring down outside. As soon as we closed the door. I thought that was awesome.


It also rained in the pool, and the lifeguards did not make us get out of the pool. That made me so very happy.




Paraphernalia


I ordered a Moses basket yesterday. I hope to be able to hang it from the ceiling, but that may not be possible. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for my dad to start work on a cradle ;p


I'm pondering a subscription to Wondertime, but that can probably wait for a while.


We're looking at the Fisher Price Rainforest Melodies & Lights Deluxe Gym for a little later on. I saw it in a store and love it; it makes noise but they're not the kind of noise that bothers me, and the noises can of course be turned off while the mat remains a fun toy. And it's got a giraffe!


The Baby Einstein series was recommended to me by a friend; I'm looking into that. And I've found that some of it has been released in Italian, which is just wonderful...


And just so it's known, ALL Taggies toys will be well-received and loved by Mama Coyote, whether Baby Coyote likes them or not ;)




Feelings


Physical: The weirdest thing right now is that there's a sort of joint in my pelvis that is separating from itself (to make the opening wide enough for the baby's head), and that hurts constantly. If I sit in certain positions and don't move, I don't feel it, but as soon as I move, in any way, it hurts. And it hurts when I walk.


I still have heartburn, but it's usually not so bad anymore.


Emotional: Done. I'm done being pregnant, I'm done not being able to lie on my belly or my back, or indeed breathe if I lie down at all (I have to sleep on an incline). I'm done with random aches and having to sleep all day. But I'm scared of what comes next, too...


However, I haven't had a migraine in three weeks. That's the first time since I was twelve that I can remember going more than three days without a migraine. It's incredible, and incredibly liberating. There's got to be an answer here. If the doctors can replicate my body/brain chemistry now without my being pregnant, it would improve my quality of life (and thus that of my family) tenfold.




Cravings


I used to crave grapefruit, raw beef, hummus (which I would eat with a spoon), vinegar, and salt.


These days, I crave: fruit juices, pho with lots of rare beef, hot ham sandwiches with cheddar cheese, very cold water, icecream if it isn't very sweet, Italian dressing, vinegar, cucumbers, and Vietnamese coffee.




Baby Weight/Length


Current guesses:
Me: 8lbs, 20"-24"
Dani: 8lbs 3oz, 18"
Nicole: 7.3lb, 18"
Beth: 7.6lbs, 20"
Marcy: 7lbs, 19"
Grandmere Lyn: 7lbs 7oz, 19"
Chris W: 8lbs, 1 oz, 23"
Kacy: Between 8lbs 3oz and 8lbs 6 oz, 20"
Sharaya: Around 6lbs


Midwife Lisa said she thinks he'll be "petite", "not really big", and "he'll be just right". So we'll see :)




Baby Book Update


Your ideas are all great, and I'll probably be incorporating them all. What I need right now is a large Moleskine notebook and a professionally-done baby album/memory book type thing to copy from, so that I can copy from it. I just hate to pay $15-$20 for something I'm not actually goign to fill out, but I guess I'll just do it. Maybe this one. I think that's the one I've seen in stores that had guidelines and information that I liked.