The Days in Between

Well, the milestones I set up for myself have come and gone:

I had my strep B test on Monday and am expecting the results any day now. As I mentioned before, it'd be nice to get a negative result, and I probably will because only about 15-20% of women test positive, but I guess it isn't the end of the world if I need antibiotics during labor. I'd just prefer to avoid it.

Then, yesterday, I had a very nice prenatal massage, complete with uterine acupressure points to help get labor going. I had two somewhat uncomfortable contractions while I was on the massage table, and an increase in the little Braxton-Hicks throughout the day. And while that's encouraging, I seem to feel pretty normal today, so I'm not getting my hopes up. Speaking of... I'm having a Braxton-Hicks right now. Interesting. But I'm still not getting my hopes up.

The Stats: I'm 38 - 38 1/2 weeks along. 1 1/2 - 2 weeks until my due date. The doc said the latest they'd let me go past my later 3/29 due date is 10 days, so I guess the absolute last day I could still be preggo would be 4/8. Let's hope I don't go that long, because then I'd have to be induced, and I really don't want to be induced. So yeah... stay tuned...

Nested and Ready

Ready for a play-by-play on the last few days? I've been checking things off my list like crazy, and I think it's pretty safe to say I'm ready for this little munchkin to make his debut.

There are only two events that it might be nice to get to before he comes. But, they definitely aren't a must. The first is hopefully a negative on the Strep B test. That's on Monday. I'd like to avoid antibiotics during labor if at all possible. The second thing is my prenatal massage. I mean, who wants to miss a massage? That's on the 13th, and as I've mentioned before, my massage therapist is going to hit specific pressure points to help get labor started. I don't know how effective it will be, but I think a massage is a pretty stinkin' nice way to get the ball rolling!

Okay, now for the last few days... Saturday was my family/local baby shower. It was fun to get so many people together, and our friends and family spoiled Wyatt rotten, ha ha. Good stuff. The day after the shower, once we knew where we stood in the gear department, we went to Babies R Us and pretty much bought out the rest of our registry. We left the stuff for older babies, but made sure we had everything we'd need for a newborn. It feels really good to know we're prepared. I also did a bunch of laundry and put away all the cute (and a couple not so cute, haha) outfits away in his drawers and closet. Feathering the nest, I suppose.

Yesterday, I made my last little pre-baby road trip. I drove down to LA to spend the day with Talitha (and baby Riley!) and have lunch with Andrea. It was great to spend time with my friends and enjoy a day of independence, knowing that the next time I go down to see them, I'll have a little one in tow. Talitha will be my doula for the birth, so the next time I see her will probably be when Wyatt comes! And it'll depend on Andrea's work schedule if that's when I see her, or if it's later. It's kind of surreal to think about.

The stats: I'm 36 1/2 - 37 weeks pregnant. That leaves 3 - 3 1/2 weeks until my due date. We're in the realm of "full term" now, so we're ready. Wyatt William Kuhns, come on down!

Changing Formats

Guess what I found out. When you try to compartmentalize your life into two separate blogs, and you've already had issues getting motivated to write, you end up giving up on the harder blog. (In case there's any question, this was the harder one. It requires effort to ignore a pregnancy and admit failure when the professional side of things takes a bit of a tumble.) And so, I'm merging the blogs. My apologies to anyone who was hoping to avoid talk of pregnancy and babies! But alas, it grows into a bigger piece of my pie all the time. I can no longer avoid it. I'll try really hard to at least maintain some balance. We'll see... :)

I'm going to post my last three Myspace blogs below, just so you're caught up (if you want to be). After that, the two blogs will probably mirror each other. The only difference is that I think I'm planning to post more pictures on this one. We'll see how that goes... So, here's the review of past musings, from oldest to newest. (So you don't have to read backwards.)

Friday, Feb 1, 2008

Childbirth Class 2, Massage and Music

Well, last night was our second childbirth class. It was much more of what I was expecting (and hoping for) in a childbirth class. So I guess the first one was just a soft intro. Last night we learned all about the childbirth process, watched the standard videos (much to Ryan's chagrin) and practiced different techniques for dealing with labor. It also made me realize that despite the pain, I want to try to go as long as I can without getting an epidural. I'm not going to beat myself up if I decide to get one, but I do want to hold off as long as humanly possible. Mainly, because I don't want it to slow down my labor, and I want to be able to stay mobile for as long as possible for the sake of gravity and all that. So I've kind of come full circle even from where I stood on it a week ago! I also found it interesting that according to our instructor (who's employed by our hospital), only about half of their labor and delivery patients get epidurals. That's really low by most hospital's standards, so they must really support natural labor there. (That or her numbers are wrong.) Anyway, food for thought.

On another topic (kind of), I got my first prenatal massage today. Heaven. Pure heaven. And Lorre, my massage therapist, told me she knows the right pressure points for getting labor started. So I scheduled another massage for 2 weeks before my due date. :) I have every intention of requesting that she hit those pressure points! By 38 weeks, I'll be ready, and so will Wyatt.

Lastly, Ryan and I are going to a George Strait concert up in Fresno tonight. I think it'll be fun. He's just one of those musicians who can put on a great show. I know a lot of you aren't country fans, but even then, you'd probably enjoy it. He's kind of a cultural icon, ya know?
Well, I guess that's all for now. I'm also going to my great aunt Joan's memorial service tomorrow morning. But that's more of a sad topic, so I don't think I'll say much about that.

I'll be 32 weeks pregnant tomorrow. Wow.

Wednesday, Feb 6, 2008

A Passing, Among Other Things...

My grandma passed away yesterday. She's the first of my grandparents to pass, and I just wasn't expecting it. I knew her health had been declining, but somehow it just didn't occur to me that it would happen this soon. I don't really have a lot to say, but it's kind of a surreal time in life to be going to funerals. I guess the whole 'circle of life' concept comes into play here, but it's never really that simple, is it?

We're expecting Wyatt to make his appearance in around 7 1/2 weeks, give or take. Needless to say, the method of his exit has been running around, knocking things over in my head lately. I still have an ideal in mind, of course. I vote that he comes about 2 weeks early, weighs in the 6lb. range, and comes quickly, easily, and without incident. Which is, of course, totally typical for a first baby... ha. Yeah, well... a girl can dream.

Ryan is going to be out of town this weekend. He's meeting up with his friend Josh (who lives in Redding) up in Carmel. It's going to be a mix of your basic guy time, plus some accountability and motivation for both life and business. They're planning to get together on a somewhat regular basis, which I think is great. And of course, I'm calling in reinforcements for my time alone. Andrea is coming to visit Friday night through Sunday morning, and Talitha and baby Riley might be coming Saturday night through Sunday. I'm looking forward to some quality girl time, either way.

Friday, Feb 8, 2008

Childbirth Class 3 and Weekend Plans

Three down. Two to go. We have a break next week because our class would have landed on Valentine's Day. I guess the assumption is, if you're knocked up, odds are you either have a Valentine to celebrate with or you'll be too busy making a voodoo doll of whoever formerly played that role to be bothered with a childbirth class that day. But anyway, it was another pretty useful class last night. We went over the stages of labor, specifically early labor and when to go to the hospital. We also went over different forms of breathing (questionable...I'll let you know when I'm actually in labor and don't just have a clothes pin on my ear) and some massage stuff. So yeah... it's starting to get real. I'm excited, but I'm also getting nervous...

I'll be 33 weeks tomorrow. 7 weeks to go, give or take.

In other news, Andrea is coming to Bakersfield to hang out with me this weekend! Ryan is on his way up to Carmel Valley even as we speak to meet up with his buddy Josh, who lives in Redding. So it'll be nice to have a friend in town, for sure. I'm taking Andrea with me up to Fresno, where we're having sort of a "celebration of life" get together with my family to remember my grandma. She didn't want a funeral or memorial service, so we decided just getting the family together to honor her and for a certain level of closure would probably be a good idea. It should be pretty casual, but I'm happy Andrea will be with me. I told Ryan not to cancel his trip. He only met Nonna twice, and he's been planning this trip for months. It would be different if it was an official funeral or memorial service, but since this is kind of an impromptu get-together, it's different.

But anyway, other than that, I'm just really looking forward to a girl weekend. :) Maybe we'll catch a chick flick or get pedicures or go shopping. All of the above? Perhaps. Complete veg-fest? Perhaps.