carrying on

Still here, still pregnant. Not sure for how much longer, but for now, we're ok.

Since I'm unlikely to be pregnant for a lot longer, here's another picture of the bump, as it looked last night.





I swear, I had just cleaned the mirror before this picture.  I have no idea why it actually looks worse than before.

I actually look smaller because baby has dropped rather significantly.  Can't get much lower until I'm actually in labour, though, so it'll be interesting to see if or how the shape changes as the next days pass.

I'm still eating fun food.  Check my breakfast from this morning:






Plain organic yogurt, chopped nuts (I usually use walnuts because I prefer them, but there's an e.coli scare on walnuts in Canada at the moment, so here I used pecans), currants and a drizzle of Canadian maple syrup.  If the bowl looks big, it's because it is big: that's an asian noodle bowl.  I really like this for breakfast.

And we're still having fun. Peanut's been doing puzzles.  Here she is, having proudly finished putting together her pig.






I'm going to keep gestating for a few more days, doing some deep self hypnosis to relax and keep the bp in check, and try to get everything else ready in between.  Have a great weekend!

Tempting fate? Yeah, I think so.

Dude.  I have got to learn.

I spent hours and hours crawling around on the floor painting that bed. It looks great. I'm thrilled. All is well, right?

We-e-ell.  I had an appointment with our midwife yesterday morning.  I took out the new car seat for the baby.  I got it pseudo-installed (not safe to be used, but safe in the sense that it won't hurtle around in the cabin of the car) despite the pouring rain.  Peanut and I got to the midwifery office on time, nay, early.  Our midwife and I had a great chat: we're ready, all we need to do now is wait and see when this baby will decide to be born. All is well.

Then we do the clinical stuff, checking my blood pressure, measuring fundal height and auscultation.  Blood pressure is first and...yeesh. 140/94.  Ho. ly. crap.  My midwife looks at me: "How are you feeling?"

I feel fine. Seriously. I feel fine. A little foot and ankle swelling, but I'm 36 weeks pregnant so whatever, right? We wait a few minutes while I do some deep, slow breaths.  We try again.  I can't remember the number but it wasn't any better (actually, I think it was worse because now I'm flipping out about high bp).

Here's where it's really good to be as informed as I am.  My midwife knows that I'm studying to be a doula, that I read research and educational blogs by different midwives and that I really care about prenatal health.  So when she said what she said next, I had a sinking feeling in my chest, but I didn't actually freak out or fall apart:

"At this point I need to recommend you go to the hospital for blood work and if it comes back concerning, we need to talk about inducing."

Oy.

A far cry from the peaceful, Peanut-inclusive water homebirth that we had planned. But we weren't there yet: we just needed to be careful.

A non-stress test, much phoning of various family members to find someone to hang out with Peanut, a trip back to the apartment to get her settled and a little lunch and to get a hospital bag (I felt much better knowing that if things turned out crazy and we ended up birthing right then, we'd have everything we wanted and needed) as well as pick up The Recruiter, and then off to the hospital.  And then the waiting.  I think we waited for at least two hours just to have my blood drawn.  It was insane.  But the nurse was very nice and knew my midwife personally and didn't throw a fit when my bp was shockingly high again in triage.

And then more waiting, this time for the lab results to see if there was anything hinky going on with my liver (a sign of pre-eclampsia).  And more waiting.  And then I realized I was absolutely starving and sent The Recruiter to find some food.  Which we devoured.  And then waited some more.  Finally we got to speak to a doctor and get my lab results.  The labs were all clear - phew! - but she wanted another NST and to do an u/s on my leg because I have asymmetrical edema.  Oy again.

After just over four and a half hours in the hospital we learned that...I have very high blood pressure at the moment.  Which we knew. And that baby and I are otherwise totally fine. Which we were already pretty certain about. We also confirmed that a) the hospital isn't the most evil place on Earth and that b) we would really, really rather not birth there.  We also learned that I'm having contractions which are surprisingly strong but I'm not noticing.  Everyone said I shouldn't pay it any mind since I'm not noticing them, but I'm reminded that I slept through early labour with Peanut and only woke up when active labour began, so I'm not  making any assumptions either way.  And I've dropped: this kid is now sitting lower and way heavier.

But I'm still pregnant!  So hooray for that.  36 weeks 2 days, which puts me at least two days further along than I got with Peanut.  Hopefully I can make it to May.

our new bed: part II(a)*

I promised, didn't I?  I declared that I would have the bed painted before this baby was born.  And lo and behold:





I'm not sure which is crazier: building a king sized bed when you're six and a half to seven months pregnant or waiting until you're over eight months pregnant, practically term and potentially going into labour at any minute to paint it. I'm really not certain.  But it's done!**  And I'm still pregnant and still not imminently birthing, so all is good.

*I called this Part II(a) because it obviously doesn't yet have the baskets for the storage cubbies and the mattress is still our old queen size.

**It's not exactly completely done.  I had to prop the mattress up on the far side of the bed with only about six inches between the bed and the mattress so I couldn't paint that side.***

***And that side of the bed may sort of kind of a little bit still need all the trim applied.  Maybe.  Kinda sorta.

I did it

Despite my lack of planning.





Despite my entirely disastrous-looking sewing room.





Despite my lack of time.

I got it finished.





And she loves it.

There was a lot of dancing in her dress this morning, twirling in her gathered skirt, holding it out to enjoy it.  And The Recruiter and I were particularly glad to have her beautifully decked out without resorting to pink.  Don't get me wrong: I like pink a lot, but why not embrace chartreuse and turquoise with beautiful rich brown?

The details:

• fabrics: a chartreuse tree-print quilting cotton and a brown with turquoise polka dot quilting cotton
• made from The Party Dress tutorial with the following adaptations:
  - I skipped the sash
  - instead of the contrast band at the hem, I knife pleated the polka-dot print fabric and top-stitched it to a 2" deep hem around the skirt

I also sewed a matching fascinator, because who doesn't love a fascinator, right? Here's how:

1. Cut out approximately 20 circles (I used the chartreuse cotton used for the dress). I used a shot glass for a toddler-sized headband. I used all the same fabric, but complimentary or contrasting fabrics, or using various sizes of circles would be cool, too.
   
2. Using your circle fabric, cut out two ovals approximately 5 inches long. Sew them, right sides together, along the two long edges, leaving the ends open. Notch, turn, tuck in the open ends and press.
   
3. Take an elastic headband (I used one from the drugstore, but using a piece of heavy round elastic from the fabric store would be just the same) and cut it. Insert it into one end of the fabric oval base and stitch back and forth to anchor it well. Wrap it around the head that will be wearing it, trim the elastic to length and repeat on the other end of the oval.
   
4. Take your circles and make five stacks. Make sure the circles aren’t perfectly lined up as you stack them: you want to see the circles poking out from beneath one another. Stitch your stacks to the oval base using a mid-width zigzag set to a length of almost zero (you’re creating satin stitch dots in the centre of each circle). Arrange the stacks so that they crowd one another and won’t lay flat: this creates a flowery, three-dimensional effect. Add the stacks one at a time, arranging them in such a way that they cover as much – or all – of the oval as possible.
   

Getting there

It's Good Friday, so we've already been to church (where the readings were moving, the music made me cry - as per usual - and Peanut had a fit halfway through the first hymn) and had lunch and now The Recruiter and Peanut are hanging out together while I finish my lunch and start getting stuff done.

Like this.  I really want to have a new Easter dress for Peanut for Sunday morning.  I have a sizeable fabric stash, so even though the stores are all closed today, I have no issue putting together enough fabric for a 3T dress for her.  Since before Christmas, when I first saw this tute on One Pretty Thing, I've wanted to make it for her.  Do you remember this?




I posted that very picture waaaay back in the spring of 2008 and very little has become of that fabric since then. I made a few little applique's for a tunic dress for Peanut back at Christmas using the green fabric, as well as my little birds, and the brown with polka dots turned into the cover for a dirty diaper bag and a teeny newborn dress for a friend's little girl, but there are still metres left of both.  So here we go: an Easter dress with nary a pink or purple anything in sight.  Awesome!

In other news, yesterday I looked like this:




You can't tell, but I was actually feeling fairly well crippled in that picture.  I woke up feeling particularly motivated and spent the entire day sorting through boxes of mostly crap and trashing stuff, boxing things for donation, doing laundry and tidying and vaccuuming the apartment.  By 3:30 I realized that I had totally overdone it and my back was killing me, but I still had to make the place liveable, so I continued on. Ouch. Despite overtaxing myself, though, I'm feeling good and feeling fairly confident that I'm going to make it to term this time.  Come on, May 1st!!  Actually, May 2nd: we're having belly pictures taken on May 1st. Better yet, May 8th: my Blessingway is on the 7th.  So here's hoping!

And about that dress, the one I need to start right now if it's going to be finished for Sunday morning?  Have a look at my sewing room as it looks at this very minute:




I'd better get to work.

What a few days sickness brings

A rather unpleasant - but not really serious - cold made its way through our home over the past week. First Peanut had it, leaving her nose raw and sore and a week later, she still has a bit of a cough. Then I got it. On Friday night, after Peanut was in bed, I looked at The Recruiter and said, "My throat feels funny. I think I might be getting sick." The next morning I woke up and I was positively miserable. Exhausted, congested, coughing and feeling entirely run down and wrung out. So The Recruiter hung out with Peanut all day while I stayed in bed. He brought me food, made an emergency bagel run for me, made me my iced tea just the way I like it (4 decaf Earl Grey tea bags to 3 qts water, 4 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp lemon juice) and was generally awesome. I napped, I read some Ina May, and I knit while watching an inordinate amount of Buffy. Because that's what I do when I'm sick. Sue me. :)

Sunday wasn't much better. Initially, I actually felt worse, though things improved as the day went on. Another day in bed, another day of knitting. And this is what I have to show for it:





Yes, that's the same Katharine Hepburn cardi that I cast on waaaaay back in April of last year. I hadn't even finished the first piece - the back piece - before this weekend. Yeesh. But it's done now and it looks good! Then I did this:





At first I despaired: I have no idea where the size of needles I need for the ribbing is, and my crafting room is an utter disaster and I'm just too sick to find them! But I poked through one box for about 30 seconds and found them. Serendipity, I tell you. So I've cast on the front right section and I'm already into the armscye. Nice.

Every time I come back to this knit I remember why I'm enjoying it so much. I really look forward to wearing it - and I'm hoping that it will fit fairly soon post-partum, at least hanging open - but I'm quite enjoying the process, too. The pattern is interesting and challenging enough that I'm not bored, but also predictable enough that when I can concentrate on it, it sails along. And knitting with Louet Gems is just...ah! It's blissful. That is some great yarn.

And what does an almost 8 months pregnant woman with a bad cold look like, you might ask? She looks like this:





Not exactly my best, but tolerable. My dreads are looking pretty dready these days, which is nice, and as round as I am, I'm not actually wearing any maternity clothes in that picture at all. Size M t-shirt, size S sweatpants and a size XS cardi that hasn't zipped up in many, many weeks. I love stretchy clothes!

And lest my darling husband post some snark in the comments about neglecting to include Peanut in a post - since it's all about her, ya know, as any almost-three-year-old will tell you with surety - I offer you a picture of her "plane". It's an airplane. And it flies. Or so I was told many times as it zoomed around our apartment. Then she insisted that I take a picture of her plane. Now I share the plane with you.





34 weeks this week: it could be as few as three weeks before we meet this person and I see my toes again!