Video - Just under 40 weeks

July 21st.

While watching Matt Damon in the original Bourne Identity.
Or as more relevant to this video: (about to be) Born Identity. 

Due Date: July 23rd, 2013

Someone told me to make this a "do date": get out and conquer everyday things that have nothing to do with a baby so I could keep my mind off of not ever going into labor. Made some sort of sense to me so I went to get a haircut, do a tiny bit of window shopping, and meander over to the eastside to take Jamie to a work meeting at the office.

That's when we got stuck in bridge traffic:

That'd be the longest floating bridge on Earth.
There's a drawbridge portion that lifts when tall boats need to get through.
This halts traffic for an unknown amount of time - we got there as soon as it went up and they were quoting ~30min.

Cracking up at Jamie pleading,
"hey, don't go into labor NOW, ok?"
We were stuck about 2/3rd of the way across the flat part on the left in the photo above.

 Don't worry, I didn't. 

Remember? Because I'm going to be pregnant for the rest of my life. 

People who are pregnant for the rest of their lives do NOT go into labor. Like, ever.

But speaking of things that could make you panic, don't read this wikipedia page on the bridge.

A regular ole Tuesday lunchtime event at work.

I do have to say that casually responding, "today," when people asked when I was due was all sorts of amusing. Mostly because of their reactions. Nobody mentioned being "health inclined" like devon's eyebrow lady when she was pregnant with piper, but my hair lady did ask if I was wearing a pair of Depends in case my water broke in her chair. She thought she was sooooo hilarious. On a side note about my hair lady, she had just flown in from working on a music video shooting in LA for Seattle's own Macklemore. There were all sorts of fun stories about her celeb-filled weekend accompanied with v.entertaining photos/videos. Between the crazy stories and the flowy hair-cutting cape, I forgot about my belly until I stood up again. That was a little weird.

Ok, back to the rest of the day:

Free lunch?
Score!

Thanks, T-mobile, for the t-mobile-pink cupcake.
And don't worry, I've eaten nothing but kale for every meal this week, so this caffeine-free Diet Coke and cupcake = totally fine.
:)

Jamie went to his meeting, I cruised around enjoying the warm weather and people watching. We took our time in the late afternoon meandering through some unexplored neighborhoods on our way back home. Post dinner, Jamie headed out to the driving range and I curled up on the couch to do a little bit of reading (ended up chatting with Amy for awhile instead - she sounds like she's loving her summer in New York). A little bit of casual planning for the rest of the week (business as usual is how we decided to approach it), taking the dog out, heading to bed early....and that, my friends, is how we handled the due date that came and went. 

Window shopping in a Barney's.
Figured I'd try putting myself in hilarious places for dramatic movie-like water breaking.
Should've brought a water bottle with me to act it out.
Just for my own amusement. And devon's. She keeps offering $$ to have me prank Jamie. 

Week by Week: 39th, etc. (part 2)

As soon as Kate Middleton went into labor this morning, I started getting messages along these lines:

For the record, I'm not minding the check-in messages! I guess there might be a day/time when it'll frazzle me, but as of right now, they're affectionate and from so many people I love and coming from really good places. So check-in away! 

Trying to keep busy:

Made chocolate frosting using greek yogurt, melted chocolate, and powdered sugar.
Probably could have used more sugar, but no butter?
Interesting! Tangy! Fun!

Out of towners = good times:

Met up with Alicia (T'12) & her husband, Aman, visiting from San Francisco.
They're about to move back to NYC after one year on the west coast.

We had a fantastic brunch then headed out to a touristy location:

Hmmm..this isn't pretty, but it's where the salmon run!
In the background, where the ramps are, there's a salmon ladder where they come back upstream to hatch.
The new guys come back down the pipes in the foreground.
And seals sit in the water at the bottom with their mouths open, just waiting for new fish.

Shannon (T'12) was also visiting from San Francisco so we were able to hang out with her and Boom for a little while:

Paseo is a caribbean-style sandwich place that is AMAZING.
We sat outside in the sun and soaked in the glorious Seattle afternoon.

On Sunday, we went berry picking on a farm:

raspberries

with the Carrihills.
Colin served on ski patrol back in the day and promised to help me out if I went into labor on the farm.

I made whipped cream in a jar!
Just add a bit and shake for 2-3 min before checking to see if it's whipped enough.
Awesome.

I had an appointment last Thursday (39weeks, 2days) and in spite of my aforementioned lack of need to be checked for progress and the doctor's practice of not checking, I was more than curious. Maybe because others were asking and I wanted to be able to report something? Maybe because I still feel like it's never going to happen? Anyway, I was checked on Thursday and checked again this morning and I've progressed 0.5cm in 4 days. Whatever that means.

My next appt will be in a week (next monday) at which point, we'll evaluate a date for induction before I hit the 42 week mark. 

FORTY TWO WEEKS?! Oh my goodness. 

p.s. happy birthday to piper (yesterday). really tried to get your cousin outta here so you could share bdays, I promise!

Week by Week: 39th, etc.

Ok, now that we're in the last week until the due date, maybe I can try to update more frequently. Not that there's really anything to update about, but I'll make some form of attempt! 

Started getting messages of this nature:





I've had some time to chat with Jen Green, Dev, and the entire Rosenbaum fam.

Have been going on a lot of walks:

swinging by the ole neighborhood farmers' market

Other anecdotal wives' tales haven't been convincing enough to make full attempts to I'm not sitting over here downing castor oil or cooking up eggplant parmesan. These things work for a lot of people or at least everyone has a someone it's worked on, but many of the methods are aggravating to the digestive system and I don't need any more provocation in that department. In fact, here's a gross story to totally skip if you're weak stomached or reading this while dining (full disclaimer! don't read if you get grossed out! skip to the photo below - not gross).

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I think I've mentioned difficulty managing my indigestion aka heartburn aka feeling like my insides were coming up and out through my throat on a daily basis. Nighttime is the worst just like non-pregnancy-hormone-related GERD. But Wednesday was an all-time ridiculous evening. Jamie had just left to meet up with a friend for some evening ice cream (I could have said for drinks or something more adult-sounding, but they really met up for ice cream cones) after we had enjoyed a grilled out dinner (did i use "grill" correctly this time, trish & lauren?). I was handling some email and had just put my laptop on the coffee table to take a sip of water before busting into the name book for a few minutes. So glad I had put my laptop down and away. I took a sip of water, it tickled my throat and I coughed lightly before, get ready for it, totally and completely and spontaneously vomiting all over myself. Like all over my front, down my shirt, on my lap, EVERYWHERE. It was in my shirt. On my legs. EVERYWHERE. And definitely took my by surprise. I had zero anticipation of it. I sat there in total shock before recognizing that I was sitting in my own vomit and I needed to get up to do something about it. I mean, can you imagine if I just waited there for Jamie to come home to help deal with it? SO GROSS. 

Once I felt sure that it wasn't going to happen again and while Hudson looked at me like I was going crazy, I was able to get up. At my appointment this morning, I told my OB what had happened and she just said, "yup." 

Yup?! That's what you're going with? Yup?! 

 And it was a yup with a grin. Like a silly, knowing grin. Sigh.

Anyway, I managed the mess, took a ridiculously hot shower (not dangerously hot), did a stupid load of laundry, and sent Jamie a text to tell him to not come home for it, but to explain what had happened. Mostly because I thought it was such a bizarre thing to happen and I wanted to share. I think that's why I'm bothering to type this up now. To share and to remember.

If you weren't sufficiently grossed out, there were PUDDLES OF VOMIT IN MY BRA. 

PUDDLES.

Thanks for reading. And sorry for grossing you out. 
Sorry to my in-laws.

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Back to our regularly scheduled programming....

Loving the organizing of all of the gear:

laura from high school sent a cute package.
so nice!!

And:


Some quotes:

• this is never going to end 
• i'm going to be one of those ladies who stays pregnant for the rest of their lives
• i'm going to be like michelle duggar but instead of having 19kids to show for it, i'm just going to be perpetually pregnant until I'm 49 years old. 
• i signed up for this??
• and WHYYY isn't so you think you can dance on this week. 

Week by Week: 38th

(Real Time = 39 weeks and 2, almost 3, days)

Nothing too exciting this week. I spent an afternoon with Nimisha who had just returned from a work trip to Dubai; we went to get our nails done (I love/love/love this) and explored the neighborhood before meeting up with some friends downtown. We helped Boom move his couch from one building to another. I watched many old episodes of the West Wing (holy cow, do you remember how good this show was?); we're super into watching it as we fall asleep, but in my moments of insomnia, I cheat and skip ahead. And overall, tried to channel my inner patience. 

took in Oliver for a few days while his mom healed from a bad fall.

Our neighborhood does a Running with the Bulls thing?
That's a shopping cart dressed as a bull. It had smoke coming out of its nose.

I decided that a peanut butter malted milkshake was a good idea.

hudson looks drugged.
but he's sleeping with his eyes open on my belly.

coping: still trying to get a handle on this maddening indigestion, most of the dresses I had allocated to this time are now a little too short to walk around in public, Maggie and family are in Corsica for two weeks so I don't have little Alice to keep me focused on the goal, and when I sit on the couch, the top of my lap pushes too hard on the bottom of my belly so I either sit wide-legged like a dude or give up and fall over pathetically.

surprising to me: I can still shave my legs easily (but haven't been able to see my belly button in a month), I didn't have to get more than one new size of undergarments since this began, we still don't have a name for either gender, and somehow I feel like we're ready for this. 

people: overall, everyone in the public world has been overwhelmingly kind. a girlfriend of a friend touched my stomach and told me it felt like a butt. That's right, A BUTT. I'm assuming it's because she thought I have diastasis recti, where the abdominal wall can split (painlessly), but even if I do, I thought it was an odd thing to tell someone. a close friend reacted to a couple weeks of not seeing each other with a, "woah! you are SO MUCH BIGGER than when I saw you last," but I punched her so we're cool now. ok, I didn't punch her, but I didn't let it slide.  :)  Other than those two incidents, however, I feel like people have been incredibly kind, very sensitive, and appropriate. Phew!

Week by Week: 37th

(Real Time = 38 weeks today)

Started off this week with a mini self-celebration. Made it to full-term!! Then quickly came to the realization that the 40 week due date was probably more statistically probable for delivery time. What a punch to the gut for a few days.

Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. 

But after a few days, I actually started to feel like I was going to miss the rumbling and rolling and fluttering around in the belly. Even the shoving up into my right ribs that somehow manages to push up and outwards at the same time, making it feel like it could snap a lower rib while simultaneously breaking open my upper belly. Am I going to remember how pleasantly surprising the independent movement can be? Hmmm.

Jamie was able to work from home on the 3rd so we made the most of the early evening. Went to a doc appointment where, by the way, the ob informed me that she wouldn't be checking dilation progress (unless I really wanted it) because it's often not an indication of how far along the pregnancy is or how soon labor will begin. It was surprising to me, but I guess makes sense because someone can rock a 2cm dilation for weeks with very little progress and that report could be discouraging. I'm ok with not knowing...for now. We're down to weekly appointments.

After the appointment, we headed over to talk a walk around Green Lake - a freshwater lake in the middle of the city -  which was packed to the gills with people who must have also either taken the day off or who had ended their work day early. Runners, walkers, dogs, strollers, people generally working out, speed-walkers on their way to the library for some last minute holiday reading material. It really felt like the place to be on the before the 4th. And then we saw this:

A beach?! In seattle?

Ok, only sort of.
Those are cement steps into the lake.
But check out all of the crazy people in the water - note: it wasn't that warm out.

The next morning, we finally made our way over to a local breakfast joint called the 5 Spot Cafe only to find ourselves smack dab in the middle of...San Francisco?

A HUGE cardboard golden gate bridge.

This restaurant changes its theme QUARTERLY and does a total overhaul of their menu, their decor, and even the waitstaff's uniform. The San Francisco theme was obviously perfect for us & we had a fantastic brunch after a very short weekend wait. Sourdough flapjacks topped with strawberries? Done. 

A hilarious text from Amy:

Colin and Anne got a new BBQ (trish, do I say "grill" here instead?) so we went and picked up their old one - huzzah! Lounged about the rest of the day before rushing to get a peach/blueberry pie in the oven for an evening back at their house to celebrate the 4th. We conveniently were able to see about 5 different fireworks shows from their balcony (a surprise as they had just moved in this time last year and hadn't seen it before). I don't have a photo of the pie, but here's a shot of an icebox cake I took over when we had dinner there the previous weekend:

fantastic dessert when, with zero air conditioning, it was 90 degrees in their home!

Saturday was just lovely with lazy housework (ok, lazy on my part, jamie was buzzing around like a madman on a mission) and an evening on Parul's rooftop patio. We grilled, drank frosty beverages,  and made s'mores. Geoff and Rebecca were in town from Chicago, Lara was in town from the bay area, so we had a mini little tuck reunion (although I had just seen G&R when in Chicago last and Lara was at my baby shower!).

I don't know why I looked so scared of the fire.
Maybe I was just appalled that I took up as much space on a chair as BOTH anne and colin next to me. 

Anne, Parul, Me, Rebecca.
Geoff in the back.

she was amazed at how much rounder i had gotten.

For the record, my fundal height is measuring right on track; where the doc takes a tape measure to the belly to identify uterine size and it matches the gestational age in weeks within 1-3cm. I think they started this at week 24 and it's been growing right on track since. At this week's appointment, I almost asked her to measure it again because it feels and looks to be growing more aggressively than 1cm a week ("do you mean feet? it's growing a foot a week? because that feels more accurate.")

6 weeks ago.

And Sunday entailed heading over to Mercer Island, the most populated island in a lake in the United States. In the map below, you can see where we live (queen anne, a neighborhood in Seattle) and Bellevue where Jamie works. That 90 bridge goes from Seattle across Mercer Island over a floating road (I think it's the 2nd longest floating bridge in the world) and over to what people call "the eastside". 

Jamie's stepmom, Terri, has a sister who lives on Mercer Island with her husband and after connecting at the baby shower here last month, invited us over for a lovely Sunday evening dinner with her daughter (who lives down the street from us), her daughter's roommate, and two of their friends. Their home was warm, inviting, and had a fantastic view of the city in which we live:

the view.

their pup, guinness or guinny.

the spread.
Fontine, their friend, hovers over the delicious salads.

the flowers we took over there.
from pike place = best deal on the freshest flowers!

 I tried taking better photos, but was also trying to play it cool while at their place. Next time, I'm going gangbusters for y'all.

And just because this is still cracking me up:

Leson sighting in Seattle.

Week by Week: 36th

(Real Time = I hit 38 weeks tomorrow.)

Jamie practicing bathing on a table:

This was the night before the 36th week.
Probably should be in the 35th week post, but I forgot I had it. 

creeeepy!!

I had a prenatal massage this week, gift from Maggie, and it was amazing. Kind of wish I could go back on a daily basis. 

On my way to meet up with people for Parul's birthday happy hour at a local bar, I got a text from Jamie that said there was someone from my elementary school that knew me there. Huh? Not a typical occurrence as I went to an international elementary school in Tokyo with 20-30 people per grade. They're all scattered around the world and it's rare for us to cross paths, but lo and behold, Rana June was hanging out with our Tuckie friends in the middle of this bar:

had been 20 years since we last saw each other.

She finished her MBA a year earlier than Jamie and has been in Seattle working for Amazon so I'm guessing it'll be less than 20 more years before I get to see her again. Yay for old new friends!

thanks for leaving all of these supplies, dev.
i was able to gift a little bday something!

This is Dean on the same night.
He's constantly talking to my stomach and trying to feel it kick. 

Over the weekend, we took a mini road trip out to Snoqualmie Falls and its surrounding cities. I think the waterfall was featured in Twin Peaks? All I know is that it made me miss my Vermont waterfall and one of my favorite restaurants in the Upper Valley.

Fallin' Fallin'.

There are car seat inspection sites all over the place so we stopped by one at Seattle Children's Hospital and found out we had been doing it right all along. Phew. Jamie installed the base for when all the gals brought all their babies to our place and I've since left it in to drive Maggie and Alice about the city. Really glad to know that we had it in correctly in the first place.

this poor lady was sweatin' it. 

It is seriously SO GREEN in our area:

 Random stranger at the dog park in your clothes sighting:

this gal was 2 weeks ahead of me & more than ready for it to be over as well.
:)

Have I mentioned how great the fruit/veggies are here? It took awhile for them to come in, but summer in Seattle means so many fantastic things, including an abundance of fabulous fruit. Makes dessert making super easy.

macerated local plums, nectarines, and blacberries
over homemade vanilla whipped cream.

Really hot temps this week with no air conditioning meant that my feet and ankles got super swollen by the end of each day. My already-too-wide-to-be-considered-feminine feet looked like ogre limbs; soaking them and using ice packs didn't bring much relief, but once the weather cooled a bit, everything went back to normal. 

cheesy grin.

random seattle sighting.