34 weeks 4 days
Drat.
I was really hoping that cold would just pass quickly without incident. No such luck. So, I was much less active and excited about life than I usually am this week.
I was still feeling pretty crappy on Thursday, which is when I thought I’d start feeling better. On the upside, my friend Jennifer had a cold, also. Ok, so not an upside for Jennifer, but since we both had the same cold, we decided to hang out and sniffle
together. So, we popped When Harry Met Sally in the DVD player and recited lines along with it. (Last week, when the ladies and I went to brunch, several of us had high-maintenance ordering styles. When Stephanie referred to herself as being such a Sally, the waitress totally missed it. When we asked her if she’d ever seen WHMS, she had no idea what we were
talking about. Either she was really young, or we’re getting old!)
Despite feeling under the weather, I still opted to have Jen from my HypnoBirthing class over for dinner (lots of Jennifers in my cohort). Of course, with being not quite up to par, I got waaaay behind on dinner. We had a fun time hanging out, though. I’m appreciating the social time with other mommies.
Well, I probably should have taken it easier Thursday, because Friday I still wasn’t recuperating the way I wanted to. Of course, Friday I had the good sense to lay low. When I woke Saturday, I felt a little bit better but was still struggling. Matt needed to go in to work for awhile, so I rested in the morning, then ran errands in the afternoon. His mom, Penny, was coming
up from Florida for Sunday’s baby shower, so we had planned to go to the Melting Pot for dinner with her.
When Penny arrived at our house to go to dinner, she came bearing a big surprise – Aunt Robin! Robin is Penny’s older sister, and she also lives in Florida. We don’t get to see her very often, so this was a really nice treat. Dinners at the Melting Pot are
always leisurely (if you don’t know the chain, The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant). Our dinner was more leisurely than usual due to somewhat slower service. Slow enough that our bouillon had pretty much boiled away by the time the waiter brought our
meat, and so we had to wait for another pot of bouillon to boil. However, that gave us plenty of time to relax and catch up.
Sunday was a big day! I was up early to do a final follow up HypnoBirthing class with Kylene and Dave before heading back for the baby shower. Kye and Dave had their moms and Dave’s dad there, too, so that the family could get a better understanding of HypnoBirthing. That was fun! Their folks were really engaged and excited about it, and even eagerly participated in the hypnosis exercises.
Once I was done teaching, I raced home to change clothes and head over to Jennifer’s for the baby shower. Our shower was co-ed and kid-friendly, so some of our friends with kids brought their families with them. We had a really great bunch of people in attendance, including Matt’s dad and his wife, and Matt’s mom and her sister. That’s a combination of family we don’t often seen in one place, and it seemed much more peaceful than usual. I think the presence of so many other people, including the children, provided enough distraction for old differences to be set aside for a bit. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t see them socializing with one another, but nobody seemed too uncomfortable. In fact, I think Nina was having so much fun playing with Hedra’s twins, she barely noticed anyone else there at all.
My dad came to the shower, too, as did my cousin Kristen. Eight years older than I am, she is the youngest of my Uncle Richard’s three children. Kristen and I have not had a conversation of substance since I was about 8 years old, and that consisted of conversation about a kids’ magazine. A few days prior to the shower we spoke on the phone and found that we have a lot more in common than I would have previously thought. I know Dad enjoyed catching up with her at the shower, and I feel like I have a nice connection in the family that I would never have known about before. (To be honest, I had called her because I realized I’d forgotten to give her a wedding gift back in January!)
I’ll admit, there is something oddly stressful about opening all those gifts while people stare at you! However, since Matt and I both are the only children in our families, we’re both used to it. The shower definitely got us quite a way towards being prepared, stuff-wise, for baby. We’ll still have to go to Babies R Us with the gift cards to flesh things out, but I think we have the basics pretty well covered. That’s a relief!
Immediately after the shower, we had a “doula meeting” with Beth and Hedra (in case you forgot, friends of ours who will be acting as our doulas). We figured that since we were all going to be in the same place at the same time already, it made sense to make good use of that time to talk about how we envisioned the birthing. Hedra’s husband Will sat in on the meeting
and offered what I felt was a valuable perspective as a dad who’d been through birth a few times! The meeting left me feeling a bit more secure about how things might flow for the birthing. I hope Matt felt better, too!
While we were meeting with Beth and Hedra, our dads patiently watched a movie in Jennifer’s den with Hedra’s boys (ages 8 and 4), and Nina sat and chatted with Jennifer. We had asked them about going to dinner afterwards, so they waited around for us to be done meeting. With a quick stop at home to unload the loot into the family room, we headed off to a local Italian place for a bite to eat. I think I must have already been crashing out halfway through dinner, because by the time we got home, I sat on the couch and promptly zonked. Unfortunately, when I woke up, I had a pretty sleepless night.
Why a sleepless night? At the shower, our friend Joe asked me how much time I had left, NOT how far along I was. This was the first time anyone had put it in those terms, and I freaked out big time. Not at the moment. In that moment, I did the quick calculation of weeks (4-8). Once home, though, I was suddenly confronted with the pressure of time. That had me panicky to the point of insomnia. Not very productive, but that’s where I went with it! Of course, the sleeplessness was not helped by my
escalating cough, either.
By the time Monday morning arrived, I was so, so, so very tired! The cough that had started Sunday was getting worse, and with my history of asthma, that became another thing to add to the worry list. I tried to put it in the back of my mind, drink lots of fluids, and relax. Eventually, I ended up at Jennifer’s house in the late afternoon for baby shower leftovers (which included an absolutely delicious raspberry cream cake. Mmmmmmmm!) and a nice chat. On the way home, I stopped at the store to get supplies to make a favorite black-eyed pea salsa (Texas Caviar) to take to our HypnoBirthing class’ potluck supper. It seemed everyone there was wiped out from their weekend, and one couple was so tired, they weren’t even there! I was still quietly freaking out about passage of time, which wasn’t helping my cough, and ultimately I ended up pulling a muscle in my belly
from coughing so hard overnight.
That cough was starting to feel asthmatic by Tuesday morning – NOT what I wanted! But, I know that of all the things mom and baby need, ample oxygen is tops on the list, so asthma is nothing to mess around with. I started things in motion by taking my inhaler to see what kind of benefit that would give. I was really hoping not to require additional medication. Then, I headed to the office for a marathon session with a client from out of town. That really pushed the limits of my stamina.
Well, after I’d set aside my personal panic to deal with my client, I moved on to Rachel’s for an energetic attunement. I was hoping the attunement process would help shift some of this stuff, especially the cough! Well, I had already had a full day, so even though my part of the deal is pretty passive, I was well out on the skinny branches. Matt and I were supposed to have a date night (usually Monday, but rescheduled because of the potluck), but I think I was too tapped out to be up to it, and it
really tanked! Not one of our prouder moments. * sigh * One of these days we’ll get another good date night in before baby!
Today is Wednesday, and I finally threw up the white flag and called doctors’ offices for asthma medicine prescriptions and clarification on safety in pregnancy – all before I went to breakfast with Jennifer. I pretty much spent the whole day feeling weepy and defeated for no clear reason. When Suzanne called later in the day, I bit her head off for interrupting me and cried even harder. I guess I’ve just been feeling like people want to share their excitement/worry/advice about the baby with me, but nobody (aforementioned wonderful women excepted) was listening to ME. I dragged my tired, cried-out butt to yoga in this evening, but I was too droopy even to manage and spent a good bit of time sitting down in between postures. That made me feel a little, well, pathetic.
I’m not used to getting my butt kicked, and certainly not with beginner’s yoga. Oh well. I’m going to hit the hay and cross my fingers that next week is healthier AND more energetic. Do me a favor? Cross your fingers for me, too.
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