Disclaimer: Below is the story of my perception of Calvin’s birth. Labor is a very confusing time so what I remember and what actually happened may not be the same thing. In addition, you may learn more than you ever really wanted to know about me in which case you probably shouldn’t continue reading

Calvin was born on March 26, 2009 at 10:02 PM. He was 8 lbs 15 oz and measured 21 inches long. Those facts are very easy to relate. However, getting to this point was more complicated than I expected.

Originally, both Jaeger and I were astonished by how my pregnancy proceeded right on schedule. However, my by-the-book pregnancy abruptly changed on January 31 when I went into preterm labor. Since then it has been a roller coaster ride alternating between active terror and expectant boredom.

Much to the medical staff’s surprise, Calvin was not born the instant I was taken off my preterm labor medications. However, they assured me he would be born any day since at that point I was dilated 5 cm. A couple of weeks later, my obstetrician started making noises about inducing me. After some compromises, we decided that I would go in for an induction on March 26, Calvin’s official due date.

On March 25, Jaeger and I ran last minute errands and made sure that we were as prepared as we could be for Calvin’s arrival. As previously instructed, I called the hospital an hour before I was scheduled to be admitted to make sure they still had time for the induction that day. Everything was still on scheduled so Jaeger and I arrived at the hospital around 7:45 AM and went up to the labor and delivery floor. Our first labor and delivery nurse introduced herself and helped us get oriented. I had to sign a bunch of paperwork and then they administered my penicillin IV.

Since I was GBS positive, one reason the doctors had pushed for the induction in the first place was because they wanted me to be able to get a full 4 hours of penicillin before Calvin was born (one of the Denver doctors predicted I’d have a 2 hour labor and thus wouldn’t have time for the full dose). Penicillin is delivered via an IV every 4 hours while in labor. However, once the dose has been delivered, it is okay to remove the IV. The previous day, I had started panicking about the IV because I was concerned they might put it in and leave it instead of giving me a heplock to make it easy to take off and on. However, Jaeger reminded me that we had already discussed this with my doctor and learned it shouldn’t be a problem to go off the IV at the hospital once each dose had been delivered. While I was on the IV, they monitored my contractions and the baby’s heart rate. I had my normal amount of contractions and Calvin was as happy as ever.

Our doula arrived an hour before we expected my water to be broken. This freed Jaeger up to run out and grab some lunch before all the excitement was scheduled to begin. While waiting for the doctor, we chatted with her a bit about how we met and our families.

Around 1:00 PM, Dr. B showed up to break my water. She started with a cervical exam which is never very pleasant. I was 5 cm dilated, 50% effaced and at -1 station. Then nurse then passed her the little crotchet needle-like wand. Somewhere I had heard it hurt when ones water was broken so I was very surprised to all of a sudden feel a warm gush of liquid. Dr. B seemed surprised by the amount of water. After the doctor left, we settled in to wait and see if anything happened. To pass the time, we paced the room and wandered around the halls. I was attempting to stay active in order to help promote labor. A little bit later, my contractions started to get more intense and actually started to be a little uncomfortable.

At 3:00 PM, the nurse checked me again. At this point, I was still 5 cm dilated but effaced 80% and Calvin had moved to station 0. The nurse reported the results back to the doctor who suggested that just a bit of pitocin might send me over the edge into full blown labor. Neither Jaeger nor I was very fond of the idea, especially since not much time had passed. We asked to put off getting pitocin for a little while and I got up and walked around a bit. A couple of minutes later our first nurse told us that she was leaving (she was a sub) and introduced us to her replacement. Her replacement stuck around and said that she heard we were reluctant to use pitocin. We told her she was correct. She then looked at us for just a moment and said something like, “should I be bold? I’ll be bold. I’ll be back in just a moment.” Jaeger, the doula, and I all just stared at her departing in bemusement. A moment later she was back with a very warm folded blanket. She told me to put it up against my breasts as it acted like mild nipple stipulation. I’d never heard of this method before but it didn’t seem like it’d hurt anything. I’m not sure if it was the warm blanket or just coincidence but it did appear that my contractions picked up after that.

At 5:00 PM, I started really feeling the contractions. At this point, they were noticeable and uncomfortable even when I was standing up. I told Jaeger that he needed to go get supper immediately if he wanted something for the rest of the night. He wandered off and our doula stayed with me. Not too long after he was gone they got even worse and I started feeling nauseated. Jaeger arrived back from picking up supper just as I threw up. Once I really started labor, I think I went straight to the transition stage. The labor nurse suggested that the Jacuzzi tub might be soothing and it seemed like a good idea since I’ve always liked warm baths. However, I got in and couldn’t get comfortable. The tubs were quite big which originally seemed like a good idea but there wasn’t a way for me to prop myself off (they might have been designed with the idea of accommodating the husbands too). I ended up sitting cross legged in the tub which wasn’t as relaxing as I had hoped. About this time I was deep enough into labor that I had lost all my inhibitions and was completely naked. Our birthing instructor had told us that this might happen but I didn’t believe her. As a side note, when I was in labor I really didn’t care about any of my surroundings. My world shrunk to be just big enough to accommodate Calvin and I. During birthing classes you learn about all sorts of embarrassing things you or your body might do during labor. Trust me, when the time comes, you really don’t care.

I remember thinking that the contractions really hurt but they were survivable. Our doula was great. She helped massage me and also gave suggestions to Jaeger on what I might like to try. We tried a couple of positions. I don’t remember much of this time period except I was on the birthing ball a bit and I really liked it when they would rub my lower back really hard. The next time I was checked, I had dilated to 8-9 cm. Fairly quickly after the nurse had checked me, I mentioned that I wanted to go to the bathroom. I didn’t think I wanted to push but the nurse said that I really shouldn’t go to the bathroom as dilated as I was as I probably wanted to push without realizing it.

Just a little bit after 6:30 PM I started pushing. I don’t actually remember anyone telling me I could. I’m pretty sure they never double checked to make sure I was at 10 cm which confused me at the time. I started out on my hands and knees which was one of the most comfortable positions for me. However, over the next 2 ½ hrs we tried a lot of positions. I remember hands and knees, on my side, classic C, and squatting. There might have been other positions but those are the ones I remember. Without a doubt, this stage was the hardest part for me and I quickly lost coherent thought. I could no longer really feel my contractions as contractions. It felt more like constant discomfort that occasionally peaked. I kept telling them that I couldn’t really feel my contractions but they said that I must feel them because I always breathed heavier when the monitor said I was starting to have one. (They had put me back on the monitor once I started having the contractions but I don’t know how that all worked because by then I was completely out of it. I have a vague recollection of our doula holder the monitor onto me so I would still have enough freedom to keep moving around.) All I know is when I was pushing, I was never entirely sure I was pushing at the right time. I also never felt that my contractions were rhythmic. To me, they felt like they were completely random. Sometimes it felt like I had a couple of minutes between contractions and sometimes they seemed to come one after another. I did learn that I pushed much more effectively when the nurse put her fingers inside of me and gave me something to aim for (it sounds really weird but it worked for me). Also, I remember that at one point when I was in the squatting position our doula and Jaeger were on opposite sides of me applying pressure as hard as they could. That felt as good as pretty much anything could at that point.

I think they had called Dr. B when I first started pushing. Periodically she would pop in and take a look. At some point, they realized that Calvin’s head was rotated 45 degrees from where it should have been. His head kept banging up against my pubic bone and we couldn’t get him over it. I remember both the nurse and Dr. B trying to turn him without success. Their attempts didn’t feel good. I started losing energy. I could feel my pushing getting weaker. Jaeger tried giving me honey sticks which our birthing instructor had recommended as a good source of quick energy. However, I couldn’t stand them. They were way too sweet. The next thing he tried was giving me Gatorade. To my surprise, because generally I loathe Gatorade, I was able to tolerate that much better than the honey. At one point, I remember asking the labor nurse what all my options were. She started listing options but none of them sounded good to me. One of the things she mentioned was augmenting with pictocin in hopes of strengthening the contractions. To me at the time, that sounded like an awful idea. However, looking back with my head clear, I can see how stronger contractions might have made it easier for me to distinguish what was going on. As a side note, I was surprised that I never asked for an epidural. I had given Jaeger elaborate instructions on how he was to determine if I really meant it when I asked for an epidural. I seriously thought about it several times but never actually opened my mouth to say I wanted one.

About 2 ½ hours after I started pushing Dr. B came in to check up on how I was doing. Apparently when I pushed they could see his head but he wasn’t even close to crowning. I think she said something to the nurse about him not having moved much since she last looked in but I could have been wrong. I don’t know exactly how the conversation came to be, but she did offer that a cesarean might be an option at this point. (I don’t remember her exact phrasing. It was very vague, something like we can go in and get him or something like that.) He wasn’t close enough that they could try any other type of intervention. By this point, I had completely lost hope that he was ever going to come out. We had tried several different pushing positions in hopes of shifting him and neither that nor the medical staff trying to turn him appeared to be working. I suppose it’s possible that if I’d continued longer he might have come out vaginally but even looking back now, I doubt that would have happened. When I talked to Dr. B about it later, she seemed to think that there was no way he would have come out vaginally.

As soon as Dr. B offered the cesarean option, I jumped on it. As incoherent as I was, that was really what I had in mind back when I asked the nurse for all my options. I just couldn’t bring myself to ask for it. I must confess, I didn’t even double check with Jaeger to see what he thought about it. I feel bad about that now. Given the state I was in, I probably should have first consulted my more coherent half. Once I indicated I wanted a cesarean, the medical staff jumped into action. There was a consent form that I had to sign (I have to wonder, would it really have been binding if I contested it later? I can’t imagine any woman on a jury who had been through childbirth would have said I was in my right mind at the time.) and staff to hunt down. Unfortunately, this was all in the middle of a snow storm so the hospital was a little shorter staffed than usual. At this point, there wasn’t any sense in me pushing but little pushes felt better than nothing.

Eventually, everything was ready and they wheeled me into the labor and delivery operating room. Jaeger and the doula were instructed to wait outside while they prepped me. The anesthesiologist apologized that numbing the area before giving the spinal would sting and be pretty uncomfortable. If I would have been in a condition to laugh, I would have. I’ve had IVs that feel worse than the numbing for the spinal. The spinal took effect almost immediately. It was amazing. Up until that point, I hadn’t realized how much pain my body had been in. I spent the rest of the operation near giddy with relief.

Naturally, my view of the caesarean was almost nonexistent. The anesthesiologist was to the left behind my head the entire time. He spent a lot of time talking to me telling me what was happening. Jaeger and the doula were to my right. It seemed to me that they were removed Calvin quickly. Once he had been removed, he was whisked over to a table to my right. I could kind of see what was happening but it was a little bleary because I didn’t have my glasses. However, I remember thinking he looked really big and his head was strange (very conical on top). Previously we had discussed the remote possibility of a cesarean and Jaeger and I had agreed that he would stay with Calvin to make sure at least one parent was with him as soon as possible. Jaeger went over to the table where they were taking care of Calvin. Once their initial assessment of Calvin was done, they let Jaeger carry him over to me so I could take a look. Then Calvin and Jaeger went to the recover room. The doula stayed with me as they put me back together. For some reason I was surprised by how much longer it took compared to getting Calvin out. However, eventually they finished and I was wheeled into the recovery room.

In the recovery room, they finished working on Calvin and brought him over to me so I could hold him and try breastfeeding. He seemed alert and very interested in trying to feed. Breastfeeding felt uncomfortable but having never experienced breastfeeding before, I couldn’t tell whether or not it was normal. I think they kept me in the recovery room for about an hour to make sure I didn’t have any unexpected side effects. I was very fortunate in that I seemed to have skipped all the side effects, even nausea which the anesthesiologist had told me about 50% of women get. From recovery, Calvin and I were wheeled into our postpartum room. Jaeger was there when we arrived.

I don’t remember much of the night after that point. Jaeger attempted to sleep on the dreadful sleeper sofa in the room. It was exceptionally noisy every time he turned over. Nurses kept popping in and out taking Calvin and my vitals to make sure we both survived the experience.

It wasn’t the birth story I expected but I was really happy with the outcome. Our goal had been healthy baby, mother, and father and that’s what we got.

I already mentioned that I have an induction scheduled for March 26. As the time gets closer, I haven’t managed to completely resolve my conflicting feelings.

Originally, Dr. L suggested induction at 39 weeks. At the time, it seemed like one of the major considerations was that she would be on vacation at 40 weeks and wanted to make sure she was around so I wouldn’t have to be delivered by a stranger. This wasn’t a sufficient enough reason for Jaeger and I to feel comfortable with an induction. We talked about it further at our next appointment and the two main medical reasons Doctors L & B gave were: 1) I’ve been dilated 4+ cm since January 31 and even though my water hasn’t broken, they are concerned about infection and 2) I’m GBS positive and they are concerned that since I’m already so dilated they might not have time to give me the full antibiotic course before Calvin comes. 3) After 41 weeks there is a high risk of fetal demise.

While I love the advances western medicine has given us, I also usually prefer to do as much preventive care as possible to avoid needing medical interventions. Thus, a part of me wants to wait for labor to start “naturally.” There are risks to inducing labor. In my case, they probably aren’t as significant because we are past the 39 week mark and I have a “favorable” cervix.

Being a librarian, I tried to find research on inductions for situations similar to mine. I couldn’t find anything. Of course, the research might exist somewhere but if it does, I’m using the incorrect terms to find it. Because I can’t find any research for or specifically against induction in my situation, I felt a compromise between my preferences and my doctors’ preferences was reasonable to take into account anecdotal evidence they have gathered over the years. After talking with the doctors, we compromised by pushing the induction to 40 weeks (assuming normal blood test result which I did have).

Jaeger and I have been trying some gentle “natural” methods of inducing labor. For instance, I’ve been making sure to exercise at least an hour each day and then often will go on additional walks. You might wonder why I’m trying even natural induction options if I’m dubious about inductions. Most natural labor inductions have very little research supporting their effectiveness (nipple stimulation is one we haven’t explicitly tried due concerns about its safety). In addition, I’m not going to try any of the “herbal” remedies. I feel much less comfortable with herbal remedies than I do using western medicine for a variety of reason (mainly because I feel in many cases, herbs are just very poorly regulated/researched versions of standard drugs). As such, I don’t think it’s likely any of the natural induction methods I’m willing to try will start labor unless my body is already ready to go into labor.

Ironically, even though I’d like to go into spontaneous labor, for several reasons I really hope it doesn’t happen at night. First, even when I went into preterm labor, I never had painful contractions. As a result, I think it’s very possible I could start having regular contractions while sleeping and not wake up until an hour or two after it starts. Considering that one doctor in Denver thinks I could have a 2 hr labor, this doesn’t seem ideal. (Note, I am fully expecting contractions to hurt at some point, it just obviously hasn’t so far). Second, if I go to the hospital in the middle of the night, I’ll be even less coherent than I would under normal labor circumstances and as such, may not be able to make my wishes fully understood.

Now that I’ve got most of that out of my system, I think it’s time I go grocery shopping to stock up on essentials we’ll need for the next several weeks.

As an aside, I was induced and I turned out mostly normal

The last couple of weeks have been uneventful. I’ve been working about 20 hrs/week and then running little errands most days. During the day, I usually feel pretty good. However, at night I’ll often start getting cramps (like menstrual cramps) and my legs are getting tired of me lying on my side the entire night.

Thursday Night/Friday
Thursday night around 1:30 I woke up with a fair amount of nausea. I tried to ignore it but it wouldn’t go away. Eventually I went downstairs and drank some juice thinking that the nausea might be hunger induced. However, that didn’t seem to help. The nausea started coming in waves which made me wonder if it was a sign of going into labor. I’d read a couple of chapters and then the nausea would get bad enough I’d have to put the book down and wait it out before I could start reading again. For a while I contemplated seeing if I could time it like contractions but eventually decided that would be pointless Since I had created a Twitter account recently, I decided it was as good a time as any to start complaining to the world.

After a while, the nausea subsided but I started getting pretty bad cramps. They were bad enough that I wasn’t able to concentrate on my book. I decided the best way to soothe them would be to take a warm bath. Unfortunately, this would mean running water in the bathtub which I was fairly certain would wake up Jaeger. However, I was getting desperate and decided to hope that he’d sleep through it. No such luck. A while later Jaeger popped into the bathroom and said that he noticed on my twitter feed I had mentioned feeling nauseous and should he be preparing to go to the hospital. I found it very amusing he had read my twitter feed before coming into the bathroom. In his defense, running the bathtub water had woken him up but he just happened to glance at the twitter feed before coming in to see what was happening.

Around 5ish I felt good enough to try sleeping again. The cramping didn’t go completely away till around 6 but it was better than it had been. Since I had gotten very little sleep, I decided to sleep in later than I usually do. Eventually hunger drove me to get up so I went downstairs and emailed my boss telling her I probably wouldn’t be working much that day. Jaeger requested I call my doctor to make sure this wasn’t some sort of Gem-only labor progression. Dr. B thought it was unlikely the symptoms I described would have caused me to dilate further but she also felt it was worthwhile to come in and make sure. I got an appointment for 11 that day which was good but messed up plans I had to go back to sleep. At my appointment, they put me on the contraction monitor for about 15 minutes and I had one significant contraction (which is about what I currently average). Like always, Calvin’s heartbeat looked really good. Dr B also checked my cervix and nothing had changed so she sent me home and I took a 3 hr nap.

Sunday
Sunday, I had great plans for many errands.

I successfully managed 1 hour of fairly strenuous exercise. I felt pretty good about it as I hadn’t exercised that much at one time since coming off bed rest. I was getting ready to start working when Jaeger side-tracked me with tax related questions. It started off innocently enough, we were missing the 1098 form for our 2nd mortgage from our credit union. However, after spending almost an hour going through every folder I could think of, I headed to the credit union website hoping to find a way to either download the form or re-request it. After looked at the FAQs, I learned that they weren’t required to send us a 1098 form since we paid under $600 in interest. We had paid the 2nd mortgage off earlier in 2008 and it turns out we were just under the the limit. After going to a couple of other sites to verify we could still use it as a tax deduction, I forwarded Jaeger the appropriate amount The next tax hurdle was a couple of charities I had given to. One of them hadn’t given us any tax documentation while another claimed I had given them half of what I had recorded. I’m still waiting for information back on those two mysteries.

By the time Jaeger finished taxes, I decided it was too later to work after all. Jaeger inquired if I would be interested in hiking Rabbit Hill. I was a little dubious but decided it would be worth trying. We drove separate cars to the trail so I could leave early if it was too much for me. Somewhat to my surprise, I made it up to the bench at the end of the Little Thompson Overlook Trail. Pre-pregnancy I would have scoffed at considering this little trail a victory but my outlook has changed quite a bit since being on bed rest.

After getting back to the car, I took off and headed to the library. It was after closing but since it was one I had worked at fairly frequently, I had the code to get in. I think my favorite time in a library is when it’s completely deserted. It seems to get a mysterious vibe when everyone else is gone. It’s a place and time when I expect impossible things to happen I picked up my holds and then contentedly wandered through the stacks until I decided I really did need to return to the real world.

Monday (today)
I had another doctors appointment and nothing had changed. Several weeks ago Dr L wanted to schedule an induction when I was at 39 weeks (this Thursday). Both she and Dr B are concerned about the risk of infection since I’ve been dilated so long. I’m a little dubious about inducing since other than being dilated, I’m perfectly healthy. We talked about it and at that point decided it could be pushed to week 40 if my CBC came back normal.

We hadn’t heard anything about the blood test results so I had assumed it came back normal which Dr. B confirmed. So, I’m now on schedule to be induced March 26 if he doesn’t decide to come before then. During the conversation Dr B mentioned I would come in and get put on antibiotics for 4 hours after which they would induce me if labor hadn’t started by itself. I was confused as I had never heard that antibiotics could induce labor so I queried why labor might start by itself if it hadn’t already. She clarified that the IV wouldn’t start labor but that walking around might. I didn’t bother to tell her I had been on a fairly decent hike the previous day and sincerely doubted walking around a hospital hallway would help if that hadn’t.

While I am still a little uncomfortable with being induced, I feel that 40 weeks is a good compromise between my reservations and my doctors’ concerns. It’s also nice to finally have an end in sight. Much of my pregnancy was fairly routine but the roller coaster during February combined with the expectant boredom in March makes me ready to be done.

I have been officially cleared by my doctor to go back to my “normal” life, assuming my normal life doesn’t take me very far from Longmont. The problem is figuring out what a normal life is at this point. My doctor believes that Calvin might show up anytime now (she was surprised he didn’t decide to make an appearance this last weekend) which makes it difficult to do anything that requires planning.

Yesterday, I talked to my boss about returning to work. I’ve been working 10 hrs a week since I’ve been in the hospital. We decided to up that to 20 hrs this week and see how it goes. At this point, I’m having a hard time sitting up for more than a couple of hours at a time so it’s nice to have the flexibility to work from home so I can take breaks whenever I need to.

I’ve also slowly started exercising again. Before going on bed rest I was a fairly vigorous exerciser, usually doing some combination of aerobic and weight lifting for 70 minutes a day (though broken up into morning and lunch exercises). However, being 36 weeks pregnant and on bed rest for 4 weeks has taken its toil. I don’t get out of breath but I start getting cramping in my side if I try doing too much too fast. I’ve started doing some strength/pregnancy exercises and a limited amount of walking. Last night Jaeger and I took a short (0.3 mile) walk around our neighborhood which was about as much as I could handle. This morning I walked the little loop twice and I just finished another 2 loops which puts me up to 1.2 miles today. I feel really pathetic since I use to walk 2+ miles during my 1/2 hr lunch but I know I need to give myself some slack.

The rest of my week has consisted of running little errands and relaxing whenever I start getting too tired. My doctor has made a big deal about making sure I’m well-rested so I’m trying to be good and not overdo it. I’m mainly limiting myself to one excursion a day. Today, I got my hair cut and eyebrows waxed since I figured this might be my last chance for a long time I keep meaning to try to stop by Costco as I need to restock my frozen fruit supply but I haven’t been ambitious enough for that yet.

At this point, we have all the basic necessities we need for Calvin, at least the ones we know about. In addition to basic necessities, I’ve been researching 529 plans and child care options.

The 529 options seem pretty straightforward. I’m waffling between Utah’s or Colorado’s plan. With Colorado we get a tax break but their expense ratio is around 0.75% whereas with Utah we don’t have a tax break but the expense ratio is 0.34%. Colorado is more expensive because they are partnered with Upromise which allegedly allows you to earn 529 money by buying from various merchants, etc. Personally, I feel it’s a bit scam-like and I’d much prefer a cheaper option without any sort of reward program. Jaeger and I need to sit down and discuss what options we like the best. Because of the difference in expense ratios, choosing either Colorado’s or Utah’s plan is more of a toss-up than I expected even after calculating the state tax benefit. Thus, it’ll probably come down to which investment options we like best.

Child care options are no where near as straightforward as choosing a 529 plan I’m planning to work around 20 hrs a week and needing daycare around 16 of those hours. At this point, it appears I have two options: pay for someone to come to our house to take care of Calvin, or pay for full-time daycare even though I only need part-time. It turns out that most daycare facilities will not take infants part-time. However, after calculating all the taxes we would need to pay for a part-time in-home babysitter/nanny, paying for full-time daycare is only a little more expensive and would provide a lot more flexibility. There are a lot of pros and cons to each that Jaeger and I need to look at. Unfortunately, if we want to put Calvin in a good daycare, we need to reserve our spot several months in advance. Both options are depressing as they will consume 55-60% of my take home pay.

With all the projects I’ve been working on I have less free time than one might expect. However, I have managed to get through several amusing books in February (and started a couple that weren’t worth finishing). I’ve mainly been sticking to historical romances or cozy mysteries but made a quick excursion this week into contemporary romance. Yesterday, I finished reading Bet Me by Jennifer Cruise. Previously, I had read a book she co-authored with Bob Mayer that I found quite amusing called Agnes and the Hitman. It was a nice blend of romance and cozy mystery. However, I was dubious about trying out one of Cruise’s straight romances. Somewhat to my surprise, I really enjoyed Bet Me. Sometimes the characters were a little silly but they never devolved into the complete idiots that characterize many chick-lit heroines. The only downside to the book was I ended up craving donuts due to several near-pornographic descriptions of food. Unfortunately, that craving still hasn’t left me. A couple of weeks ago my doctor was berating me for not gaining enough weight but since I gained 4 pounds last week, I’m not sure I can justify a donut excursion.

I’m now official on week 36 of my pregnancy. Back around four weeks ago, it seemed unlikely that I’d make it this far. As I mentioned before, I was in the hospital the first two weeks after which I released to bed rest until this week. I’m going off my medicine tonight so it’ll be interesting to see if anything happens. My doctor implied she has had cases of preterm labor before where they managed to stop the labor and then later had to induce labor because the baby decided it didn’t want to come out after all.

Other than the constant stress of uncertainty, nothing particularly interesting has happened recently. My normal routine is to work a couple of hours each day (I can do much of my work remotely). Then I work on whatever other projects need to be done such as trying to help our local academy pick out their own library system, shopping online for stuff we still need for Calvin, and other small projects. Somehow this manages to fill up most the day until Jaeger gets home from work.

Just this week, I handed in my summary of the library software options our academy has and have finished buying almost everything I “need” for Calvin. This has left me with a little more free time than normal which I’ve used reading, watching TV online, and napping. I’m getting big enough now that it has become tricky to sleep at night. I think one of my problems is I haven’t quite figured out the knack to using multiple pillows. Most nights, I’m still down to one for my head. Jaeger can work very well as a pregnancy pillow but has the annoying habit of moving around too much at night (On the other hand, I’m afraid my tossing and turning is reducing his sleep as he’s waking up by himself at bizarrely early hours these days.)

Last night, I went to the second infant care class I had signed Jaeger and I up for. Last week was the first session and I had been unable to attend due to bed rest. However, I figured last night was close enough to 36 weeks that I could probably risk it. I don’t think I really learned much new that I hadn’t already learned from either books or videos. I found this pretty comforting as perhaps it means I’m not quite as clueless as I feel.

Today, I ventured out by myself to the store to pick up some baking supplies. It’s been driving me nuts being unable to bake for so long. Come to think of it, that might be why I wasn’t gaining enough weight (a little over a week ago my doctor was very distressed to learn that I hadn’t gained any weight for about 6 weeks). Since coming home, I’ve been trying to eat more (Jaeger went out of his way to buy me high calorie food including dark chocolate covered almonds ) and I am once more gaining a good amount of weight each week. I have plans to make Almond Toffee today and possibly Sweet Rolls for Saturday morning if I manage to avoid labor for that long.

My plan for this coming week is to continue taking it pretty easy. My doctor told me I shouldn’t attempt to go back to work and instead should make sure I stay well rested. If Calvin has decided to avoid making an appearance by next Thursday, I think I’ll start up my normal exercise routine again. The weather is so nice right now I really want to go out walking but I have been on bed rest so long I doubt I could get very far.

I haven’t yet decided what my plan is if Calvin hasn’t shown up after week 37. It would be ironic yet somehow appropriate if Calvin has changed his mind and decided he doesn’t want to venture out into the world after all.