Baby ramblings

I have lots of contractions. This could get me excited until I remember that I had up to 60 a day with the twins for 6 weeks and it obviously meant nothing. And when I sometimes let myself think - hmm, maybe I'll go early like at 37 weeks or something, and then I realize - I didn't even go that early with twins,  so yeah, I better gear up to be in this for the long haul.

Although I did go into my doctor this week and at the end he said, "I want you to rest as much as possible the rest of the time."  I blinked my eyes a few times and sat in confused silence for a minute before I said, "What?" As if trying to confirm that he just told a mother of three little boys who has had a totally normal pregnancy that she should seriously try to rest the duration of her pregnancy. He said, "Why? Are you doing anything that's not restful?"  (Like living my every day life?)  "Um, I went to spin yesterday," I finally said. To which I was given a strict injunction not to spin anymore and not to exercise anymore for that matter. I was a little bugged. I'm all about doing what's healthy for the baby, but there's nothing unhealthy about exercising while you're pregnant and I have no complications. And I've been doing it the whole time and actually attribute my feeling pretty good during this pregnancy to it. When I asked why, he said it was because my cervix was starting to soften and since I'm already having contractions he didn't want me delivering for at least another week or two. I told him I've been having these contractions for 6 weeks and I had them for like 2 months with the twins and still went to almost 38 weeks with them.  He said, "Well, I bet you were doing spin when you were pregnant with them."  Point taken.  I was laying on the couch like a beached whale for months with them. Anyhow, whatever. I decided to swim today rather than go to my usual Friday step class.

So last week I was given last minute notice that we were once again invited to the fancy gala in West Palm Beach this year - when I will be about 38 weeks pregnant.  Lovely. Last year I both had a dress and was skinny when I found out we weren't invited. Seriously? So here I am thinking - I'm going to have to buy an evening gown that can be worn nine months pregnant? Bet I'm going to get a lot of mileage out of that one in the future....
    Besides, where on earth do I find a dress?  When I was complaining about having to be seen out in public that big and pregnant while trying to look composed next to all these other swanky (and skinny) people, I loved my friend's advice - "just go, have a great time....and don't take any pictures."

* Well, since I started writing this post a few days ago, I have found out that we are actually not invited anymore, and believe it or not I was slightly disappointed.  Who knew I would find a cool British designer that actually had some decent maternity gowns?  So just imagine me all dolled up in this (waddling around some swanky event in West Palm Beach).







I also really like this dress, although it maybe wouldn't have been dressy enough for the event and too bad there's no sense in buying it now.

So alas, no importing a cool British dress to drape my largely pregnant self in to wear to a fancy ball.


In other news, I did manage to see the, er, lovely inner city hospital where I will be delivering (the one upon first seeing where Ryan was working I immediately said, "We are never having children here."  Then I followed that statement with - "and when you come home at night you drop your clothes at the door and head straight for the shower.") But I actually don't think it will be so bad.  I asked the nurse about it while we were there and she said if I was a resident's wife I would get a private room.  Well, that's better than my first delivery.  And she said I might even get a suite.  And hey, I figure if you're the only white baby in the hospital it's probably pretty hard for someone to steal off with your baby, right? Anyway, I have heard though that it's a very skilled facility, so if there's something wrong with your baby, that's where you want to be.  If you want a glass of water though, get it yourself.

And now I'm just getting a bit anxious about the disposition of this child.  I would say I hope for an easy baby, but I've never had one of those, so I don't plan on it. And my life never works along those "should happen" lines, so I will plan on another colicky child since at least it's not twins.  For a while I was thinking this baby wasn't as active in the womb as my others and was taking that to hopefully mean he would be a mellow child. I was basing that on the fact that I knew even before the twins were born that Phoenix was going to be my trouble maker. He was always more crazy and active in the womb and I've pretty much been one step behind him since then. But since Christmas this child has proven me wrong and now seems to be the craziest child I've had in the womb yet.  I'm surprised people don't worry that I'm having epileptic fits with how much my body shakes while I'm just sitting there.

Having watched my neighbor's baby a couple of times now, I realize our house is a bit hazardous for babies. Objects fly, bodies fling, and really, I'm going to have to have lots of safety zones to keep this child from getting clobbered. I'm not even sure a play yard would do the trick since I have no doubt numerous dangerous objects would manage to make their way in.  So I'm also back to accumulating baby restraining devices since we gave everything away last time for the sake of my sanity since we have no space here so I would have been living on top of two swings, two bouncy seats, etc.

Enough random and disconnected thoughts for now. Time for a nap before the crazies all wake up.