Gametes In Love

How far along: 37w
Weight: 155.6lb
Measuring: 41″ around
Doctor updates: 0cm dilated, but 25% effaced. Since she’s not my regular OB (I’m doing the office rotation thing right now), she doesn’t know if this implies progress, or this is just the norm for my body so far. Dr. M hadn’t mentioned anything about the thinning of my cervix, or feeling “different” this pregnancy, so I have no idea. Either way, I NEED S2 to hold out another 2 weeks… at least for me. Oh, and he’s also facing into my hip. Just like G. If he’s got his cord wrapped around his neck, then it will be JUST like G’s delivery. I’m already ready for a c/s, so this isn’t a problem. I just don’t want to go through another 10 hours of labor, dedicated for a VBAC only to end up in the OR again. Arg!
Contractions: Thankfully, none yet. I didn’t have Braxton Hicks with G, and I don’t seem to be having any with S2, either. But, of course, we’ve got time 🙂
Sleep: Fine. I just wish I had more of it. I’m definitely approaching a hibernation stage here.
Gender: Team Destructor!
Movement: A lot less these days, but he’s happy to tell me he’s in there
Feeling: Sleeeeeepy. I’m hoping to take advantage of daytime naps starting next week. Did I mention only 5 more work days left? 5, baby!!!
Food cravings: Nothing significant this week
Fetal development:
Your baby is now considered “full term,” even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. (Some babies need a bit more time, though.)
Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don’t be surprised if your baby’s hair isn’t the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

Mommy quilt is a wonderous thing… even when you’re not the one in the wrong.

Remember when I said that G’s favorite word these days is “No!”? Well, he’s pushing boundaries as much as possible. Today, P and I needed to go to the grocery store. I asked G if he would like to go with me, and he ignored me. I took this as a “no”, and P and I started getting dressed to leave. As he saw this, he started to whine about coming with us. I offered again to take him, and asked him to put on his shoes.

G: “No!”

Me: “Ok, then you can’t come. Are you sure?” [get purse]

G: [whines, and runs to me]

Me: “Here are your shoes. Let’s put them on, and you can come with us”

G: “No!” [and runs away]

Me: “Ok! Bye!”

G: [whines, and runs to me]

Here is where we repeated the shoe dance several times. I even put his shoes IN my purse and offered to take him to the car and we can put his shoes there. He kept running away. Finally I walk out the door. He runs over and starts crying. I open the door, offer to take him with me (again), and he (again) runs off to the living room. S at this point just pleaded with me to go. So I did.

Aaaand about 15 min later, I get the following text from S:

“G’s been at the door crying… holding his shoes saying ‘Momma Open the door. Fiffin come too'”

Tear my heart out why don’t you, kid? I gave you plenty of chances, you turned me down, and I STILL feel like the bad guy.

Luckily it was a quick store trip and we came back home. AND I had decided to cut out the BRU and Home Depot part of our shopping program out, since we were already running late for dinner. When we drove up to the house, S and G were outside, waiting for us… G holding his shoes.

Does this make YOU want to cry too?

From our trip to Lemos Farm. Last year we brought G here to for his first pumpkin overload, and if you remember, he surprised us by standing up on his own for the first time during our adventure there. Well, kind of hard to believe that in one year we’ve gone from this:

to this:

Yeah, getting him to sit still for more than 2 seconds was just about impossible.

G’s 2nd birthday party was supposed to be at Lemos Farm too, but alas, an ear infection decided to crash the party instead. We decided to wait another month until they set up for pumpkin season, and I’m glad we did. It was a fun trip, and G enjoyed spending time with R and Special K (who brought her brand new baby brother out too). G rode the ponies (by himself might I add), got on a hay ride, and also did the train ride around ghost town.

Wow, has it really been THAT long since I posted one of these?

08.2010

08.2010

08.2010

09.03.2010

09.03.2010

09.13.2010

09.20.2010

10.05.2010

10.05.2010

10.13.2010

10.20.2010

10.2010

When I first started Gametes In Love my purpose was to share my thoughts and experiences on the way to parenthood with family and friends. Mostly so that I didn’t have to repeat myself 10 times over. It turned into me sharing my thoughts. Later it became a record of stories: some funny, some sad. But I’m also realizing that this blog has another purpose: a way for our sons to get to know ME (and S), my internal voice, my sense of humor, and what I believe.

So in honor of this upcoming election season, I thought that I’ll dedicate this post to my political beliefs. I’m not asking anyone to agree with me, or debate me here. I’m just sharing what I think and what guides my voting decisions.

1. I believe that every person should have access to the best education possible. If they so desire, an undergraduate degree should be accessible to anyone who wants it, for free. Education should not be a for-profit business.

2. I believe that love is blind. Whether one finds their soul-mate within the same or opposite gender shouldn’t matter. Their love and respect towards each other should be celebrated and encouraged. We should support any union where two consenting individuals are willing to put each other ahead of themselves and their personal needs.

3. I believe that access to health-care is a basic right and not a privilege. Every person: infant, student, senior citizen should have access to affordable (or free), dignified, and satisfactory treatment for preventative, prescriptive and emergency care. One should not have to decide between life-improving medication and paying for food. On that note, like education, health-care should not be a for-profit business.

4. I believe that guns have no place in the possession of anyone outside of law enforcement. If you want to hunt, fine. Get a bow, arrow, knife, and/or a big rock and go nuts.

5. I believe that reproductive rights should be a personal choice. I am wholeheartedly pro-choice, and pro-affordable contraception. However, since being assigned an “infertility” label, I’m not so sure how pro-abortion I fall any more.

6. I believe in equal rights to access to employment, pay, education, social services, and ethical and judicial treatment for any person. This is blind to gender, age, religious preference, or immigration status.

7. I don’t know how I feel about the death penalty. I’m very schizophrenic when it comes to this topic.

8. I believe that we should look at the long term environmental impacts of our actions. Choosing the easy way now in terms of convenience and personal & corporate profit, while leaving the ecological bill for the next generation is irresponsible.

9. I believe that taxes kind of suck. No, I don’t like only seeing 1/2 of what I make come home. But I do like seeing my hospital staffed, police officers responding to cries for help, and my kid well educated. I also believe in proportional taxation based on income, with exclusions at the lowest levels, and caps at the highest.

That’s all I will share for now. I have a lot more opinions than this on various topics, but I’ll stop here for now. Anyway, off to do more research on candidates/propositions for next week.

All right, you slackers. The Storm Predictors game is up one week from today. If you “forgot” to enter in your guesses, you have a little bit of time left.

Get to it!

We ran errands yesterday afternoon with G. While at Whole Foods, S spotted the following post-card and decided to quiz G on what sort of animal was illustrated at the front.

S: G, what is this?

G: [pause] A pig.

Yeah, he told US!

How far along: 36w. (Almost full term)
Weight: 153.8lb. Arg!
Measuring: 40.5″
Sleep: Decent. 2 wake-ups per night. I feel rested in the morning, but by early afternoon I need my nap
Gender: Team Blue!
Movement: Still a wiggle. And a strong one at that.
Feeling: Just fine, but I tire really easily now. I can’t be on my feet for more than 15-20 minutes at a time.
Food cravings: Nothing in particular, but I feel like I’m starving. All.the.time. Maybe that would explain the 2 lb gain this week 🙁
Fetal development:
Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He’s shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of his first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.)

G found some change on my bed-side table after I had emptied my pockets, and consequently decided it was his. He held it in his hands, while I changed his diapers, continuously referring to it as “Ma Money!”

I don’t think he has any idea what he was really saying, or what the value of the petty change was. But I’m amused it starts now.

Eh, maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll be good with money management.

Better than me, at least, I hope.

A lot of our interaction with G of late has been around the word “No!”

“No shower!”

“No diaper!”

“No bed!”

“No dinner!”

Paired with some unreasonable requests

“More George!” (after already having seen 2 episodes of Curious George)

“Now HAT!” (referring to Cat in the Hat, when Curious George gets rejected)

“MYYYYYYYY $insert-item-of-choice here”

And then of course there are the schizophrenic requests we get while driving.

“Milk”

“You want milk buddy? Ok, here’s some milk!” (while hanging him a sippy)

“NO milk!”

“Ok, you don’t want milk” (while we take it away)

“Milk!”

And this is what has inspired my (normally) sane husband to flat out say:

“Geez, kid! You’re like a bad girlfriend”