Presenting Baby Skeletor

First, the question everyone asks: No change, still pregnant.

Second, the promised new ultrasound picture of Baby Skeletor. It's a closeup of the big, jowly, melon-headed face (the face is horizontal and almost fills the screen). The forehead is to the right in the picture; the two dark spots are the eyes, and the whitish spot in the middle is the nosebone, I believe.

Told you it's not pretty. I hope Baby looks a little less demonic in real-life form! I'm starting to doubt we'll ever find out.... Sigh.

Martin and I May Be Stressed ...

... but Baby is not. Had our non-stress test and "placenta juice" check today to make sure that Baby is holding up OK in post-due conditions. Everything looked great! Baby was shy, but we did finally get a nice look at his/her face during the ultrasound. I'll scan the picture in later and post it. Baby's got a big ole melon, that's for sure (what a shock looking at big-noggined Martin and I). Everything else just had that ultrasound Skeletor look -- big, black eye sockets, etc. What's not for a mother to love?

Passing the Time

So ... what does a mother-to-be do to pass the time while waiting for a past-due baby? Well, the answer, it turns out, is pretty much anything to keep herself busy. Today, for example, I mostly spent the time muttering "Not fun anymore ... grumble, grumble. ... So tired of this ... grumble, grumble." I also was lucky enough to visit Hot Doug's with Kelly and her beautiful girls. It was an oasis of fun in the middle of my crabbing.


As for other days, I've made a little illustration of some of my favorite things to do:

* watching TV (my blessed Martin found me Season 1 of "X-Files," and I'm almost done)

* talking on the phone -- my million daily calls always go like this:
Caller: "Anything?"
Me: "Nope."

* doing freelance work (you've hit rock-bottom when freelance work is your "treat" of the day)

* going on a walk (to try to shake the baby loose)

* knitting (I started this scarf for Martin three years ago if that shows how often I usually do it)

* reading (I've been tearing through the books, trying to "stock up" for when Baby takes up my reading energy and time)

* cleaning (see note about freelance work)

* taking Maalox (usually while cursing and grimacing)

* sleeping (see note about reading)

* aimlessly searching the Web (soooooo not interesting, by the way)

* wondering why I didn't just go ahead and start the school year after all (Who cares if the students would have only had me for a month or so before I left for the year? At least I'd have been busy.)

Have any suggestions on Web sites to entertain me? Other sources of diversion? Post a comment!

A Boy...but when?

So, with 56% of the vote, "boy" is the winner on the "guess the sex" contest. But when the heck is the little bugger going to arrive? New polls up to the left. Feel free to justify your response in the comments here.

sigh...

...oh well. I've updated the coutdown to my new guess: Thursday at 11pm.

Due Date With Nothing to Do

Just came from the doctor and despite my getting my (and Martin's and Mom's and ...) hopes up with talks of cramping and possible contractions, she says I still don't look close. Darn that cervix anyway!

I have an appointment to see her a week from Wednesday, and we'll talk inducing then (if need be). In the meantime, at least I'm still feeling good, and the baby's heartbeat sounds wonderful (we'll do a test at the end of the week to make sure Baby's still holding up well).

Baby has taken to banging against my hipbone, which is a strange sensation indeed. (S)He seems to have mostly abandoned the previous favorite plaything: my bladder. I told Martin my million-dollar idea is to create a newborn toy that's shaped and feels like a bladder. All babies would ADORE it, I feel certain.

There's another new belly picture posted over in the Recent Pictures. Doesn't look much different to me. Of course, the picture's taken from farther away, so maybe it's an optical illusion....

We'll keep you posted. If possible, we'll blog before we leave for the hospital -- whenever that might be.

Just 'cause there are no posts...

...doesn't me there is a baby. We're just in a holding pattern now. We'll likely post more before the baby's born, but the only sure sign he/she's here is when we post "Welcome, baby X!" So don't read too much into the gaps between posts.

I made a small change to the countdown to the left. It now counts down to 11am on Monday, which is my guess of when the baby will appear.

Ahhhhhh

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I slept last night for almost NINE hours (minus a few pee breaks). What you don't understand is it has been at least a month since I've slept continuously through the night. I woke up this morning feeling like a new woman.

I like to think of it as a gift from Baby, who knows I won't be sleeping much when (s)he gets here. Thanks, Baby! And now your second gift can be to get here ASAP.

The worst part of pregnancy...

...has got to be these (hopefully) last few days. Everything's ready but we've got no baby and nothing to do but wait and wonder when the baby's going to get here. Could be today, could be tomorrow, could be two weeks from now. Sigh.

No baby now, either

Title says it all.

Still no baby

That is all.

Our Three ... Sons?

Isn't this picture of my three children beautiful? I suspect our human child will be slightly less hairy than his/her siblings, but if Martin's online poll is correct -- Baby will be of the male persuasion just like his feline brothers. I can't wait to see what kind of big brothers Nub and Seven are to the new kitten--if they notice the new critter at all.

If you haven' t taken the poll yet, it's on the lefthand side of the screen; just scroll down a little if you don't see it. So far, boy is in the lead. No surprise, since most everyone seems to guess boy after a look at how I'm carrying.

And while I wish I had more news, there's not much to tell. I just came from my weekly checkup, and things haven't progressed at all past last visit (which was only last Thursday, after all). The doctor said the baby's head is positioned beautifully and that Baby's growing nicely. Baby has also done a big ole flippity-flop since last visit and is now visiting the other side of my belly (but still head-down and all good to go).

Next visit is my due date: Monday, Sept. 25. Let's hope I won't need that appointment at all!

When in doubt, turn to statistics

So, clearly, Kerri and I are dying for the baby to be born. But the doctor's hinting that the babies not coming anytime soon. And yet...modern science said that the due date is September 25th. That means we'll have a baby by the 25th at the latest, right?

Wrong, According to an article in Seminars in Perinatology. Kerri's about dead center in the 38th week of pregnancy now. According to the article, even at the end of the 39th week, there's still about a 37% chance the baby won't be here. And there's a six percent chance he/she won't be here well into October. Now, anyone who knows me knows I tend to discount the "genes cause x behavior" arguments that are so popular these days. But I tend to be early for events, Kerri late. So just in case genes do play a role, let's hope baby gets my "early/late" gene.

Won't You Come Home, Baby Barron?

Just came from the doctor, and while she threw me a little bone ("Well, you might be about a half-centimeter," she said in a doubtful tone), it doesn't look like Baby Barron is coming home to roost any day soon (although as we all know -- who can say?). So we'll just sit back and enjoy this lovely cold that my husband so kindly passed along to me and hope I feel better when the big day hits.

And while I know it's not nearly as cute as a picture of a wrinkly, mucousy newborn baby, you can check out my most recent belly pic. Holy Hosanna, that's a belly! Scroll down on the Recent Pictures area to make a comparison to the last photo. Yowza.

Speaking of Stephon Hendrix Louis-Jean

Speaking of oddball names, I'm curious if people have ideas for what we will or should name our baby? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

"We" can beat that...

Seen around the web today:

Michels gave birth to a 14-pound, 13-ounce boy Tuesday at William W. Backus Hospital.

Backus officials said the newborn -- Stephon Hendrix Louis-Jean -- broke the 18-year record for the biggest baby ever born at the hospital by 1 pound, 13 ounces. He was nearly 23 inches long.

I think we can do better.

Suggestions for Music to Labor By

Still no baby news--aside from the fact that the little cuss is kicking up a storm and moving here, there, everywhere. Yesterday was a particularly active day. Baby even wiggled his/her toes at one point, which was the first time I'd felt that. It was like a little butterfly tickling my tummy.

So Martin and I are mostly prepped and ready to go. We finished packing the bag this morning and are ready to start burning CDs to listen to whilst producing life. I'd like some suggestions for any good songs; we need high-energy music as well as more mellow tunes. They don't need to be birth-themed (like Salt-n-Pepa's "Push It"), but you can go that direction if you'd like.

Any help?

T-minus 18days, 11 hours...

I made a few small changes to the site yesterday, adding a countdown and separating the pictures slideshows from the recent photos because we'd discovered some people didn't realize there were different pictures under the slideshow link. While making those changes, I happened to open the site in Internet Explorer (I use Firefox, as should you) and realized that the site looked awful in IE. IE has some quirks in how it renders pages written in CSS and I apparently hit them all. Needless to say, I now understand some of the comments I'd gotten about the site a little better. "Yeah, Martin, the site looks greaaaaat...".

Oh well, Just another in entry to my long list of "never trust Microsoft" life-lessons.

Oh, and no baby yet.

Getting Ready for Y2Baby

Recently, bunker mentality has overtaken me and so I spent this labor day stocking the pantry as if tomorrow I would wake up to find the streets overflowing with zombies (though I left screwdrivers--the zombie killers best friend--off the shopping list).

But what was on the shopping list included the ingredients to make a couple gallons of a super soup (ironically called "Super Soup"), spinach lasagna, and enough Diet Coke to sink a battleship. And next weekend we make more freezer-ready dishes. Basically, I'm assuming that once baby gets here, Kerri and I will become shut-in's, incapable of doing more than staggering to the freezer and popping pre-portioned containers of soup or lasagna into the microwave.

Now, of course, this is a bit over-the-top. But, my reasoning is, there are a myriad of things that I think I'm probably prepared for but am really not (you have to change baby's diaper what, twice a day?) and another myriad of things I no doubt haven't anticipated at all. So, those things that I can anticipate (e.g. our need to eat) we might as well take care of now. Hence, by the time baby gets here, I plan on having provisioned enough grub so that Kerri, I, and the baby can easily survive alone for at least a year (or however long it takes a scrappy band of misfits to overthrow the zombie hoards and rescue us.)

And It Burns, Burns, Burns...

"Ring of Fire" has been going through my head a lot lately--and not just because the song really kicks butt. No, it's been endlessly circling in my mind because this @#$%# heartburn is never-freaking-ending. And it burns, baby, it burns.

So now, in addition to really, really, REALLY looking forward to meeting Baby, I have the added bonus of looking forward to the (hopeful) end of my own personal Ring of Fire. Outside of meeting the little Booger, I thought the thing I was looking forward to the most post-pregnancy was sleeping on my back again. Now I'm torn between looking forward to that and to not have a trail of lava blazing up my throat every second of the day.

So if you have any suggestions, I'm ready to listen. Only I'm not a very good patient. For example, I still go ahead and eat stuff I know I shouldn't. But--honestly--I got heartburn yesterday after drinking a glass of water. Seriously. Good ole H2O. So I could try eating boiled chicken every day for the next month, or I could go ahead and eat that piece of pizza. Can you blame me?