I found out today that two of my friends had their babies today and yesterday. Both of them were early, one by a few days and one by a few weeks, and aside from the happiness and excitement of it all, one thing kept running through my mind: I have no control about when this baby will arrive. Having a baby will be the biggest thing to ever happen to us, and we have absolutely no control. Weddings, moving, school, studying abroad, all large and life changing events that can be planned (for the most part) down to the most minute detail. Babies? Not at all. You can THINK you have a plan, you can try to have it all figured out, but in the end? This baby has his own agenda and he won't bother to check with me to see if it's alright to make his debut. How about today? Is today good? Do you have everything ready? No plans? Great! Today it is!
Unfortunately we won't be that lucky.
On the getting-ready-vein, we purchased a dresser and armoire this weekend from Ikea, having decided to go cheaper on that furniture so that we could...splurge a bit...on the crib. Which I also just ordered tonight, holy crap, I just bought a crib. For myself. Or the baby. My baby. From an online website, having never seen it in person. I can't dwell on it any longer, or I might freak out. We set up the dresser last night (or, Caleb did) mostly because I wanted to get an idea of what this room will look like. Start the mental picture. Also? I wanted a place to set my first baby purchase.
Can you imagine trying to explain to your husband that you're about to buy glass measuring cups to display in your son's room? Thankfully Caleb is fabulous and trusts me (I think) enough to agree and go along with my wild ideas. I like them.
This week the baby is somewhere between 2.5 and 3 lbs. Each site quoted something different, so that's what I'm going with. Somewhere in that vicinity. Each site talked about the crazy rapid weight gain that would take place from here on out, so that should be fun. I have noticed a...heaviness that's crept in, especially when I stand up after sitting down for a while, suddenly my stomach feels like a huge sandbag. I can only imagine how much worse it will get toward the end. Maybe I'll invest in one of those bump holder-uppers. (That's their technical name, I'm sure of it.) Where was I? Oh yeah. Measurements. Somewhere around 3 lbs. and nearly 17 inches. The official food comparison is a butternut squash, which I love. For some reason I'm super excited for Fall this year, and will post my favorite Butternut Squash soup recipe for ya'll. It's delicious. (Seriously, what is up with the odd tangents?) Other than growing, mah baby's brain is developing all sorts of neurons and myelin sheaths. He'll come out ready to challenge anyone to a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit, I'm sure of it. Also? Peeing a good half liter a day, which is slightly frightening. What is that? Like, 10 diapers?! I better start stocking up.
I'm continuing with the kick count stuff, which isn't taking long these days, he seems to be quite the active baby. Besides the nice strong kicks, I've started noticing bigger movements, and it's the strangest thing to watch your skin move and stretch. Honestly, I'm half expecting some alien to rip it's way through like some horror movie scene. Made possible by all that delicious calcium he is sucking from my body to strengthen his bones. I'm quite happy to help him with that, except that truth be told, I probably don't have that much to spare. I'm not a milk drinker at all, and I'm thinking that my occasional little cup of Ciao Bella gelatto isn't going to cut it. I've got to get some sort of supplement and add it to my daily regimen of prenatal and iron pills. Maybe I'll get one of those fancy pill separators. Maybe my grandma has an extra.
I was all set to be done with the swimsuit, I brought in some regular old pajama pants and shirt, and Caleb made me turn around and grab the suit. I tried to argue, I really did, but I was still half asleep. I only argued for a few minutes, talking about how I'm getting bigger and it's not going to fit soon...but he marched me back to the bedroom to change. Something about being able to put them all together at the end, I don't know, like I said I was still half asleep. I've never been a morning person, but these days Caleb is having to nearly drag me out.
Speaking of which. It's late. Again. And I have cankles. Again. So I'm heading to bed, and dangit, this baby better be as well. It's getting more and more difficult to ignore the jabs and punches all night long.
Kim, you've already jumped over a major hurdle, and it won't be so hard next time! What I'm refering to is realizing that babies are beyond your control... and they remain that way as they grow into toddlers, and kids! It took me a lot longer past pregnancy to learn that lesson, your already a step ahead!
Posted by: Heather | August 28, 2008 at 03:31 PM
What no link to the crib purchased? We'll have to wait until it is fully assembled? I'm sure it is lovely. I am interested to see how these cups play into the room. I trust that it will be fabulous.
Posted by: Heather | August 30, 2008 at 08:52 PM