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Because I would love to be able to send each and every one of you a personal thank you for your well wishes. We are so lucky to have so many people care about us. Including those of you whom we have never met. Really incredible.
I also need more hours in the day to catch up on sleep and on this blog. But sleep is taking priority right now. :)
In the meantime, read Lewis' humorous account of the delivery...
Good night!
Born Jan. 25 at 9:20pm -- 3495 grams, 50cm long. We're all tired but doing great. Full report soon.
Contractions. Mega pain. Wow... yeah, there's no mistaking that this is the real deal. Called the hospital and they said to wait until they are 3-4 minutes apart. So we're going to try to go to bed and see how this progresses. More soon!!!
Well, not really. But today it is.
On p. 29 of The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy it states, "The last, and perhaps most important, rule about hair during pregnancy is this: DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR OFF WHEN YOU ARE PREGNANT."
Something about your fat face looking even fatter...
Well, I did it anyway. And with a hairdresser that spoke about 8 words of English. (Hand gestures go far.)
Oh yeah, I'm a daredevil.
Lewis will freak out as usual when he gets home. But now I will look presentable to the baby. I mean, first impressions are everything!
It's official. I'm past my due date. Like a bulging box of bad tofu. (Ever see that? Just let your tofu go past its expiration date and that sucker will blow up like a balloon. And look kinda like me right now.)
The midwife took a look under the hood today and said I probably have a bit more waiting to do. I'm only 1 cm dilated and my cervix is still pretty thick. She felt the baby's head while she was down there and could tell there was plenty of water around it too. I thought that part was really cool. I wonder what Tito thought when he/she felt someone tapping on his/her head. I must say Tito was a bit squirmy for 10 minutes after that.
Sooo... I woke up this morning with the great idea that I should pamper myself before it's too late. Gonna get a haircut today and maybe a pedicure later in the week if Tito's still stubborn.
Physically I feel really good... it's in the mental arena where I'm starting to lose it. Stay tuned...
This is it. The last time you'll see my bare belly. Woo-hoo! I wanted to wait until we were heading out the door to the hospital. But Lewis didn't think that was such a good idea. He might be right. I'd probably have a much different expression on my face.
Tito was showing signs last week that he/she wanted out. But nothing for days now. I start the 40th and final week today. After the end of this week, the baby will officially be late. Which means he or she will be taking after me in that department. I tend to be the tardy one. Let's hope the baby gets the timeliness gene from daddy and arrives even a bit early.
If that happens, I am extremely lucky to have Lewis' uncle Dick here to rush me to the hospital if Lewis can't make it home from Lund in time. Since Lewis is at the mercy of the train schedule (which is every hour or two hours) I may need to meet him at the hospital. A bit stressful, but much better than Tilly delivering the baby here at home!
And hello 4 a.m. to midnight...
Yesterday was my last day of work, and today starts my 1-year maternity leave. A few people said they were really jealous that I won't have to work for a year. Though I expect the work I'll be doing is actually quite a bit harder than the work I've been doing. Of course, the reward will be huge.
I thought that I would be more sad to leave the office yesterday. But I think I am so excited about the things that are about to happen that I am completely distracted.
The only thing that bums me out about leaving work is not being able to see my friends every day. I work with an amazing group of people, and they are a big reason why I love my job so much. After 2+ years of working there, I feel like I really belong. And that's hard to give up. Even if it's only temporary. The good thing is that I live right across from the office, so I know that I will see everyone really often once the baby and I are able to get out of the house. I'm looking forward to making trips over to the studio to see the kitchens and dining rooms I worked on get built.
It isn't common in Sweden to have a baby shower. I think they see it as bad luck and prefer to give gifts after the baby is born. Which sort of defeats the purpose of the shower in my opinion, because once the baby is born you usually have everything you need. A very unpractical choice for such practical people.
Anyway, my American copywriter friends gave me a really sweet send-off. A fika baby shower. Complete with a really yummy chocolate cake and ice cream. (I am totally getting in all the chocolate I can now before the baby comes because chocolate causes colic in babies when breastfeeding. The sacrifices we moms make!) They also gave me an adorable Danish-designed onesie from Småfolk, and a relaxation candle made of figs!
My sister and mom also threw me an across-the-pond shower. So I have been completely overwhelmed by everyone's generosity. Because of all the gifts we've received, we've been able to get everything we need for the baby's arrival. All the cloth diapering stuff... clothes... bouncy seat... car seat... health items... sling... and completely furnish the baby's room (see it all in an upcoming post). At this point all we need is the baby.
10 days to go, but I hope he or she makes an early escape!
(If the video doesn't load, click here)
Yippee... we have a new toy! A video camera that successfully made it through Swedish customs. Even better. We decided on the Flip Video Ultra because it's really small and doesn't look like a video camera. It's the size of a PalmPilot, so it's pretty easy to throw in my purse or pocket. It was $150, so a good price too. The super cool thing is that the USB connector flips from the camera, plugs into the computer and then you can instantly download the files. Easy, inexpensive and small. Perfect.
We bought it for the baby. To document the delivery and then all the little things that happen as he or she develops. Right now we're playing with it to test it out. This video was from the 1-hour walk we took in the woods after our first real snowstorm of the winter.
Lewis has also been using it to document my snoring... apparently a recent pregnancy phenomenon.
