Ninja by day, student by night

My little pumpkin is getting so grown up!  She’s been learning all sorts of new games and now she is laughing!  I admit, you have to kinda laugh or fake laugh as you go but she’ll do it!

She started wearing 6 month sleepers at 3 months, she is growing length-wise, but not really getting chubby, except for her limbs and face.  I noticed the other day that her face got rounder somehow, thank goodness I’m getting better at taking videos of her now, although that means I have been lax about taking photos!

I am also trying out some patterns to make her some soft cotton pants.  Ideally I would love to make her pajamas in cotton, such as a kimono top and some matching pants.  I was really interested in making her dresses though.  Old-school fluffy dresses are my secret love.  Still not a fan of pink.

I went through her clothes and pulled all the 6 month sleepers.  As a FTM (first-time mom), I learned a secret about baby clothes.  The first clothing items that she grew out of was her sleepers, the ones with the long legs and sometimes have little footies attached them.  Then she grew out of her pants, then her jackets and then finally she grew out of her onesies.   I think it is because she is growing longer, and hasn’t gotten chunky.  It’s funny how she’s turning out to look like Gus, physically.  She has the same body type as him, which is good, she should have a healthy body shape through-out her life if I teach her good eating habits.

I keep forgetting to get her ears pierced, mostly because we need to make an appointment with her pediatrician.  We have two pairs of earrings for her, one from her grandparents and the other pair from Raju-virji and family.  Raju-virji’s family also got her some party dresses and a high chair, which I put together (practically no installation).  She likes the high chair so far, it’s nice to put her there when I make breakfast. She likes it better than lying on the floor.

Anyway, let’s hope this week will go better.  She’s been on a weird sleep cycle, where she hardly naps during the day and by evening she’s so dead that she’ll sleep for 5-6 hours (until I wake her).  I am not sure what to do to make her more amenable to naps.  It’s a mom-dilemma.

I also found out that my mom isn’t coming for Thanksgiving.  She is determined not to come because she said that Snoqualmie Pass will be snowy and that she doesn’t want to deal with it, even if it is clear.  I don’t know why she’s being like that, but she seems to want to be alone for Thanksgiving, she already bought a turkey.  I don’t get it honestly, I asked to consider keeping an eye on the pass and coming whenever it is clear, so she can come but she got really grouchy and said she wasn’t going to do it, period.  I don’t know what to do with her sometimes.

This past week we have been staying at the Grapevine Inn in Sunnyside, WA, and today is our last day here.  I’m waiting for Gus to show up so we can pack up and get out of here, because the checkout time is 11 a.m. and even with late check-out, it is getting a little bit too late.  The people who work there are actually very accomodating to Gus’ schedule, but I hate to put them out, or at least not do it so often that they might resent it.

Still, it helps a lot since Gus has the car and I can’t really leave the little one alone.  She’s sleeping right now, which is nice because it gave me time to corral all our luggage and worldly goods into the front room.  Sometimes I wonder how long I will be able to swaddle her for her naps and bedtime.  It works very well but I know at some point she will need to learn how to sleep without it.  If she’s not too fussy I try to swaddle her loosely so she can break out of it at some point, and then she ends up sleeping like a biology frog, it’s really cute.  But for now, it’s swaddling and her sherpa blankie on her legs or she’ll keep waking up and fussing.

Last night she was really fussy after her bath.  We figured out that the hotel towels were too scratchy so I brought her duck-patterned towel and that was much better, no screeching or wailing.  Still, she had a fit as I rubbed in the heavy cream we have to use to keep her skin somewhat hydrated.   She kept letting out these ear-piercing shrieks and Gus was wondering why she was making such a ruckus, as opposed to crying.  I read on babycenter that other moms were having similar issues right around this time because the babies got their 2-month shots and learned how to shriek, so now they were using their new skills.  Ugh.

I also learned that Selina would be losing some of her baby hair, so I got all worried because even though she has some wacky cowlicks on her head, she has a nice full head of hair.  Then I learned it was mostly focused in the areas that get rubbed when she sleeps.  Most babies have it on the back of their heads, but Selina likes to sleep with her head turned to my right, so she has a thin spot there.  Luckily she has a ton of hair so it’s easy to hide with some strategic combing.  Now if I could only figure out how to deal with her hair on the crown of her head.  It has a natural poof so it sticks up and makes her head look cone-shaped, and the back likes to stick up as well.  I think I need to invest in some baby elastics so I can put the offending hair in a baby ponytail on top, similar to Pebbles from the Flintstones.

Speaking of hair, I need a haircut, especially since my hair has hit that point where it is shedding regularly again (which for me is a lot).  I hate getting my hair cut though, they always cut too much off and it’s pretty long for me, so I kinda want to keep it that way.  Still, it’s time to bite the bullet, it’s getting dry on the ends and that never feels nice.

So what I want to know, is how to keep a stylist from cutting too much off?  They always cut too much, and it pisses me off.

Enough about my hair.  Makes me feel grumpy just writing about it.   I think today I will consider my to-do list for the coming weekend/week.

• Laundry
• Unemployment paperwork
• Make appointment for ear piercing
• Select photos for printing (India)
• Select photos for album (Selina)
• Select photos for baby room
• print
• put into frames
• Put away winter clothes
• Pack up summer clothing
• Pack up maternity clothing

I’ve been dying to share my thoughts about Selina’s birth, and how the passage of my impending labor was so different than what I expected.  I think in hindsight, there was some things I could have done better, and things that other people could have done better, but overall, I came home with a brand new baby girl.

The day of my induction was a series of errors and misunderstandings.  My doctor, a resident, told me the day before that I could show up for my induction anytime after 7:30 a.m.  So in my brain, I figured I could come in around noonish, which gave Gus time to go to work, and his family time to prepare for the wait.  At 7:00 a.m., the induction receptionist called and wanted to know why I wasn’t there yet.  I was still half-asleep, and said, “I’m sleeping!” and to my surprise, she said, “GET UP!”.  I was awake by then, and I already got stressed thinking that we were late and the nurse was very adamant that we get there by 8:30 a.m., which is impossible if you are working on Indian Standard Time.

Gus was a lot more calm than me, which made me feel better, I was already nervous about the induction and being late made me feel worse.  He told me to relax, and we got ready at our own pace, but that meant that we didn’t get there until 10:30 a.m. We ended up taking two cars, the van with my Mom, Gus and I, while Gus’ parents took their car and we met at Swedish First Hill.

I have been terrible about posting to this blog, mostly because being a mom has been such a life-changing experience for me.  I would have never said that being a mom was the best thing that has happened to me, but it is true in almost every respect.

I won’t lie, it isn’t easy for me, and sometimes I miss going to work, looking cute and having the freedom to come and go as I please.  But now I have a little companion that is always with me, wants me around and thinks I’m the best thing ever.  I hope that I will live up to her expectations, at least at this point I am.

Right now my little Sweet Pea is 10 weeks, I think…I’m really not good at keeping track of her lifespan, especially since it is so small.  So she’s over two months old, and she’s really starting to show her personality.  She is not a sweet child, but she has so much energy and alertness that I don’t mind.  She isn’t laid back at all, at least not in comparison to the children I have met that are near or at the same age as her.

Every day she wakes up with a big smile for me, and she can’t wait to be unswaddled so she can do one of her long, back-arching stretches.  I’d keep her unswaddled but she just can’t sleep without it, she ends up wiggling around and keeping herself awake.  A typical day includes waking up around 5 a.m. for her breakfast, then going straight back to bed for another hour or two if I’m lucky.  Ideally she wakes up after I get done making breakfast for Gus, and then he is able to see her before he leaves for work, but sometimes she wakes up early and that is always troublesome because once she’s up, she doesn’t like staying in her bed.  Sometimes I put her in the swing while I cook breakfast.  She doesn’t like being confined into carseat-styled devices, but she will stay in there longer now that she has discovered the toys hanging from the top of the swing’s arch.

Her next activity is usually feeding, getting her diaper changed, applying cream to her dry skin, changing her outfit and then if she’s still good, we’ll either listen to music, or do some leg bicycles to Mariachi Loco or El Baile Del Mono.  I’ve always liked these songs because they are cheerful and now she recognizes them as time to have some fun!

After that, another nap, then feeding, and depending on her mood, I’ll give to the in-laws, or if I’m in Sunnyside, we’ll play with her toys, go for a walk and look at colorful things.  We basically repeat  feeding-diaper-activity-nap over and over again.

At this point she is learning to see stuff hanging above her, and she can whack at them on accident.  She is also drooling a lot and nomming on her hand.  Tummy-time is limited, she hates it now, but she has excellent head control, I can hold her in my lap and she’s only a little bit wobbly.  She is nervous about rolling over even though she tries to do it when she’s propped up on her tummy.  She will cry and fuss until I roll her her over.  She’s being a little nervous about strangers, and even gets a little fussy if someone other than me carries her for longer than a few minutes.  However, she does recognize her daddy, her grandparents, my brother and my niece.  She really likes my niece too, must be her experience with her own siblings.

Sleep is a premium, and I’m learning to value it.  I’m trying really hard to get more sleep instead of staying awake, which has been my habit for the past 2 months.  I stopped doing it though because Gus said I was getting forgetful and really impatient, not to mention that I felt like I wasn’t giving Selina my best, and in the end, getting laundry done is nice, but not as important as being a good wife and mother to my family.

They put me on the Pitocin drip, it’s been HOURS, but it’s because they are giving me a slow dose, and ramping things up a little at a time.  The contractions are painful, but not so bad that I can’t stand it, which is good.  They remind me of my cramps when it was time for my period, but I can’t imagine what it will be like once they really kick in.

So far I have gone walking around the “loop” while it kicks in.

Update:

So it’s been months later, but I wanted to add what happened while I was on Las Drogas.  I ended up walking around the loop for what felt like a million years, and people would stare at me because I had the IV attached and I’m wearing a doofy gown.  My mom walked with me for a while and that helped, and it was funny because every time I walked by, Gus’ parents would check in on me.  I did have a few problems because an alarm went off while I was walking, evidently the battery was dead and the instruments were freaking out.

The baby kept moving so after a while, my nurse Kathy had me sit in the room because the baby wasn’t cooperating, she kept moving around and wouldn’t let the monitor, well, monitor her.  Already a troublemaker!  Kathy was very patient, but she ended up spending her whole shift chasing after the baby, moving the equipment on me so they could make sure she was doing okay.  In the end, when the next nurse came on shift, they didn’t want to deal with her so they popped in a monitor through my cervix and stuck it on her.  I imagined it as one of those suction darts with a lead on it, attached to her head, which is really funny mental image to have when you are in the middle of contractions.

I know, I have an overactive imagination.

All weekend we have been trying to see if we can naturally induce the little one.  Nothing was really working.  We tried raspberry leaf tea, walking, stairs, sexy times, acupuncture massage, even took some milk of magnesia to get things going.  I’d get contractions every 1/2 hour or so, then they’d fade away.  Eventually I started losing my mucus plug, which was on Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday was pretty slow because I was tired from taking a hugely long walk, so I didn’t have any contractions, practically.  Then Monday came and I was starting to get them again, probably because I rested.  So this morning they called and let me know it was time to get induced, but we weren’t ready and didn’t get there until 10:30 a.m.  They hooked me up and then monitored the baby for what felt like a million years.

There was drama though, we found out we could have an OB do the delivery instead of the resident that I was working with (and didn’t particularly care for).  So Gus had to handle that mess, but we got it sorted out.  It was a little stressful because we didn’t want to screw over the resident, but at the same time, we wanted to have a kickass experience if possible.

Gus is bugging me to go walk, so we’ll go for now.  I’ll update later.

Dayum, my feet are killing me lately.  Today has been the worst, it’s gotten to the point that my feet are burning because they are so swollen.  I guess it’s a summer thing.  In any case, I’m sitting on my bed, fan a’whirring, right foot up on a pile of pillows with an ice pack and half-watching Harry Potter Part I.

Anyway, my big obsession lately has been baking, I keep wanting to make stuff even though I probably should be working or resting.  I started making a sourdough starter, which I will use to make some pizza dough and maybe a loaf of something good.  It was bubbling away last I checked, way more than I expected, but it has been really warm in the house.  I also made some pizza dough for tomorrow, it is resting in the fridge at this point, should be ready for a test run on the grill.  I made chocolate chip cookies yesterday for the ladies at Darigold who sent our lil girl some gifts, and they turned out so well, kinda got me rolling.

I’m supposed to be resting so that nothing will happen while Gus is gone, but honestly I don’t think that doing stuff around the house will make the baby come any sooner.  So here I am now.  :)  Baby has been kicking all day, which is great.  I am hoping that she won’t come at least for another week, still not ready for her to show up.

I wish things have been less stressful lately, it’s hard to be patient, to be understanding and above all, to be patient with other people.  I wanted to have my mom come visit when I go into labor, but I wonder if it will be more trouble than it is worth.  I remember when I first got pregnant, I thought I wouldn’t want my mom around because she can stress me out, but now that I’m close, I guess a girl really does want her mom when it’s time.  Still, I know how hard it is to stay here at my in-law’s place, it is so different here, especially the rules.  It’s hard for me, and I’ve been here for a while, but I’m hoping that she will still want to stay because I know I’ll need her, at least to keep my morale up and help me with stuff like food.

On another aside, yikes, I keep getting Braxton-Hicks at weird times, I know it is my body preparing for having this baby, but sheesh, enough already.  I get them mostly when I need to use the bathroom and sometimes afterwards.  Or if I am in one position for too long.  Sitting seems to aggravate them too.  At least they aren’t painful, but they are uncomfortable. I wanted to give Gus an example of how they feel but there isn’t any comparison that I can think of in my personal experience.

Also, I’m really happy I made it to 38 weeks, we only have two more weeks to go, technically.  This baby is baking up nicely, I’m glad I made it to full term, so if I can make it a few more weeks, I will feel very accomplished by making sure that she had the maximum amount of time to grow and be completely ready for this world.  Of course I don’t really have a choice, it’s up to her to figure out when she’s ready, but I am grateful that we made it this far, Gus, me, and baby.

Just a quickie, because I didn’t want to spam my facebook page, but dayum! Today I am 37 weeks along, with only 3 more weeks to go. I am amazed at my progress (or lack of) and I’m actually starting to feel all the weird aches and pains that the end of pregnancy brings to the body.

It isn’t that I’m in all this pain, because I’m not, my list of woes are small and that makes me happy.

So here’s the list:

• swollen right foot
• painful toe (only the one next to my pinky toe – weird, yes yes?)
• occasional lightning crotch
• backache when I am working for long periods of time
• heartburn (still)
• tired (I get worn out so easily!)
• alien baby
• Braxton-Hicks (when I overdo things and now lately, at random when I’m lying down)

And that’s it! I think that’s pretty good really. The getting swollen part sucks the most out of all of them, so I’m trying to drink more water and stay off my feet because it feels like it makes it worse.

After reading my BabyCenter group’s posts yesterday, I realized that I need to pack a bag for the hospital and get the baby’s things ready. I’ve been procrastinating on this because of work, and because I didn’t really feel I was going to have a baby soon.

Most of the women on the forums are dying to be done already, but I’m doing everything I can to make sure she STAYS IN. Not that I have that much of a say in things, but I’m being careful not to lift anything heavy, been staying home, getting sleep when I need it, and trying to stay stress-free.  I want her to reach full-term, especially since I’m relatively comfortable and don’t feel like there is any need to hurry things along.

I guess I’m getting a little worried because I’m starting to get more Braxton-Hicks (BH) at random, and I reallllly want her to be a Leo so I’m hoping she’ll stick until the 23rd. Overall though, even though she’s starting to really go nuts with her kicking, I think she’s comfy in there and hasn’t given me any signs that she’s ready to go.

My OB has been reminding me every time of the signs of labor, and I also read up on what to expect. I know that at some point I will lose my mucus plug, and that will be one of the first indications that somewhere in the near future I will go into labor.

I am seriously behind on my Hypnobabies, and I need to remind myself to get all those mp3′s set up so I can listen to them on the player. We also need to set up the pack ‘n play, it has a bassinet feature in it that I want to use in the beginning. The car seat also needs to be set up in the van and we need to practice using it.

Other than that, I think we are good, except we need diapers and some things for me that will help with the postpartum issues that come with having a baby. I also want to buy a robe at some point, but tbh, we are tight on money this month because of all the purchases and also because Gus went to Lupe’s bachelor party in Las Vegas. I also would like to buy a baby carrier but I am going to wait until she is born to buy that item, so I can try it out with her in it.

I better get back to work now, I think I rested long enough. I have so much laundry to do because Gus is back from his work and fun related trips, not to mention that I want to relax the rest of my hair.  I also need to write out my thank-you notes for my 2nd baby shower.

If you are reading this, send me some “stay baking” wishes to the little one so she will be good and let me have some time to myself before she shows up.