1.31.2010

 

Hanging out, waiting

Both last Friday and this past Friday at the midwife's office, I was 1 cm, 50% effaced. So it goes.

I'm having a lot of contractions when I've been on my feet, and since I've had some serious bursts of energy this week, there's been a lot of activity. I really thought my cervix would have changed somewhat, but it hasn't, so I'm still. Just. Waiting. Rather than being painless like the contractions I had during my labor scare of a month ago, they've started to hurt just a tad, leading me to think that they probably are somewhat productive and might still mean my actual labor will be shorter. But I have zero intuition about this sort of thing.

While I wait, I'm trying to strike a balance between making a lot of plans (which have the potential to just fall through) and being on a state of high-alert all the time. Another couple of weeks of this might make me crazy, though. My due date is 6 days away, and if it comes and goes with a whole lotta nuthin' going on, I may not be a pleasant person to be around.

There's a flurry of upcoming celebrations, not even counting our impending progeny: Jack's birthday is the 12th, then Valentine's Day is two days later, and then Mardi Gras is two days after that (which really means that Mardi Gras is ongoing for several weeks and will be *over* on the 16th). I know I'm not expected to do much of anything for these celebrations, but it would be nice if I had some clue what to do for Jack's birthday, at least. He is the love of my life, and I enjoy celebrating his existence. The only thing I've decided is that I want chocolate-covered strawberries for Valentine's Day, and I'd even be happy to make them myself with some fresh berries from the market. Yes, I'll say it again: I LOVE Louisiana's growing season. My mom will be in town that week, during all three aforementioned celebrations, so I'll make her some chocolate-covered pretzels or something similar since she doesn't like fruit. Or maybe we'll have fondue that day. Or maybe I'll be in the hospital, or home but barely walking, and I should just stop trying to make plans. See, this is my problem.

Kent and I started most of our garden plants from seed this week, so they'll just get to sit in the window and germinate in their little cardboard trays while we wait for Dean. I may run out of space in the garden, but so far, we've planted three hybrid varieties of tomatoes — Beefmaster (huge and red), Jubilee (medium and yellow), and Juliet (grape-like and red) — plus sweet peppers, basil, parsley, and Kent's various seeds (sunflowers from last year, plus whatever we get from his watermelon and pumpkin cups). I'll also be starting okra and green bean seeds in the ground sometime in late February or early March. I cannot WAIT to have okra. That's the one I'm really pinning my hopes and dreams on this year.

I've just made a batch of meatballs for Kent and me, most of which have gone into the freezer for future spaghettis and meatball subs. I love homemade meatballs, especially since I get to make them nice and moist (a little ketchup and sour cream, yum), and I add carrots, onions, and spinach to up Kent's veggie intake. A sweet friend of ours is bringing by a couple of freezer meals today for us to have around after Dean arrives, and I think some of my mom friends in town are going to organize meal drop-offs as well. This is all very helpful, because not only did we LOVE having food brought to us last time, when our church stepped in to help with that, but also I have done very little food planning in all my nesting efforts. The extent of my food planning has been to make more room in the freezer. Winging it. I'm counting on a quicker recovery this time, based on the advice/experience of friends.

And now, more photos.

Series: Kent and the tomato cages







Biggest. Tower. EVER.


Kent sitting on a package of toilet paper, eating a strawberry. Note the nice haircut.


Sharing some Dean kicks

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Comments:

you can freeze chocolate covered pretzels, can't you? hang in there with the waiting. hardest.thing.ever.
 
Hey! If you're incapacitated during my visit, *I* might even cook! You never know!

I'm remembering the longest week of my life, between the day you were due to arrive and the day you actually made your appearance. But you were just waiting so Mimi could have her May Baby!

(My word is "banter" -- one of my specialties.)
 
the last picture is too sweet! and you even have your toenails painted, something I have not managed for the last year.
 
Well, if you're still a pleasant person to be around now, then you're doing better than I was with Gavin!! I know I was unbearable! Once I was past my date and had my induction scheduled, I was so much nicer:)
And I understand the planning frustration - I felt the same way about my birthday and Thanksgiving.
Good luck!
 
Thinking of you!
 
Sending you happy labor thoughts, Erica!
 
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