12.16.11 ~ Eight Weeks to Go!

We are officially 32 weeks along with this pregnancy. So, roughly eight more to go. Those eight weeks will probably fly by since Christmas and New Years are packed into them. I’m getting really excited to meet this little girl. I wonder what she looks like and if she’ll be like Liam or totally different. She is still moving and kicking pretty much around the clock– but the movements are less grand than they used to be. I think her living quarters are starting to get tight. She better get used to it, since she isn’t going to have much space in our apartment either. So far we haven’t set anything up for her. But the planning has started (at least it has in my head). We’ll be getting a cosleeper from Kaya and maybe a basinet from Heiko. We’ll set up a spot for her to sleep in our bedroom for the first few months. We still have Liam’s old dresser which we’ll fill with her things and will also serve as the changing table again. We’ve received a double stroller as an early Christmas gift, which we already took for a spin when Sydney was here. And we still have plenty of blankets and things from when Liam was born. Also, a large pile of bags has started accumulating in the corner of Jason’s and my bedroom. Three families from Liam’s school have generously given us hand-me-downs from their girls. Those combined with the shopping that I know certain grandmothers have been doing and the fancy hand-me-downs promised from Sydney, should be more than enough in the sartorial category.

As for a birth plan – well, this time we’ll be approaching the big event a little differently. Plan A is a VBAC with an epidural. But plan B is whatever happens, happens. So far everything is on track and healthy. My blood pressure looks good, her head is down, and we haven’t had any more complications since our visit to the hospital in August. But there’s always a chance that this one will find herself in the same jam that Liam was in. If that happens, we’ll throw in the towel a little sooner this time, I imagine, and head in for another c-section. Barbara, our midwife, has asked one specific doctor to be on call for me when I go in to labor. I had a little meet and greet appointment with him last week and he seems very nice and competent. If we do find ourselves in the operating room once again, at least I’ll have met the surgeon and have access to some follow up care with him. This was not the case last time.

This little one has definitely been part of a wild ride so far. I wonder if/how the events of this pregnancy will shape her personality: The weeks and weeks of horrible nausea and vomiting at the beginning of the pregnancy, the dissertating and defending, the bleeding and the mystery of the migrating placenta, our big move back to Manhattan, and participating in the daily care of Liam. I know it’s been rough on me – but has she noticed? Will she be a high anxiety, overly organized, list making freak like her mother? Only time will tell, I suppose. In the mean time, we’ll keep working on picking a name for her. And I’ll be counting down the days until I have another sweet newborn to snuggle in my arms. 

Now, for your viewing pleasure... Pictures from November in the Toddler Room: