Induction and Labor Cookies

Anticipating my 41 week appointment today and the dreaded word induction coming up, I did a little online research on kick starting labor from home (yes I have read your very helpful comments and what Spencer and I can do to get things going). I found what is actually an awesome recipe for what is like a ginger snap but has cayenne pepper in it so it leaves you with little heat in our mouth. They are called Jump Start Your Labor Cookies and they are Spencer's new favorites. I imagine one of the reasons they help is you end up drinking a lot of water.

I have mixed feelings about my appointment today. I am 5cm and 100% effaced, with baby at -1 (though I totally feel like she has dropped more than that). While she checked me she also stripped my membranes; which was a bit uncomfortable.

My doctor is totally induction happy and wanted to schedule an induction by the end of the week. but we agreed that if everything is fine, then we can wait until 42 weeks. I have to go in Friday for a Non-Stress Test and an Ultrasound (to check the amniotic fluid levels and make sure baby still has a happy healthy home) and assuming those go well, I will have a few more days for labor to kick in naturally. We went ahead and scheduled an induction for 10/7 (which will be week 42). I have mixed feelings about this, but it is more likely that we will have the baby before then....so I am going to try and focus on that.

Great Weekend!

Spencer and I (and baby in the belly) had a great weekend. We did so much!

We spent some time in the baby's room Friday night finishing up a few things and it is pretty much ready for her. There are just a few things I want to hang up on the wall.

Milton made it to his grooming appointment- poor kitty had to hang out there for 4 hours and came home with his bottom and hind legs wet (I told them it was okay to not push drying him completely because he seems to not like it). Milton must have gone to his happy place because he was like a little zombie on the ride home and when we got home walked out of his carrier looking a little shell shocked. We probably won't do this again...if anyone knows a groomer that only services cats in the area, or a mobile groomer that isn't too expensive- or a pro at clipping nails, let us know. We are torturing Milton because we want him to have short nails for the first few months of baby.

Spencer and I went to the new Sunnyvale Heritage Park on Saturday- they just happened to be having their grand opening of their new museum in the new replica of the Murphy House. We did the self guided tour, Spencer got some history books on Sunnyvale and the Murphy family in the book shop, and we bought two tickets to the Victorian Tea they are hosting at Christmas which should be fun (maybe first outing without baby).

We did a bunch of gardening and work in the back yard yesterday... this was the 3rd time that I thought this is my last time working in the garden for a long time (we do a harvest of the garden every weekend). I brought my exercise ball outside and sat on it and picked and pruned- Spencer has some photos of me loading up the yard waste can that I am sure are not flattering, but we may post later.

We thought this weekend would be it....but no baby. We have our 41 week appointment tomorrow and they will likely want to schedule an induction, but I would like to put that off until necessary, and not even schedule it until our week 42 appointment. I think baby might be holding out for October....Spencer totally regrets that he was thinking it would be October 1st, all weekend he was talking to the belly trying to convince baby to come out (super sweet!). Whenever is fine with me, I just want baby to come out on her own terms (and I don't wnat to be rushed).

Canning update: Spencer and I made salsa last night and I am going to make relish today out of our lemon cucumbers :-)

No Baby Yet

I think I might blame this on Milton. I wanted to get him in to the Groomers for a bath and nail trim, but they can't get him in until this Saturday at 2:30pm. Well, I think baby might hold out until after that!

I felt kinda different last night, and couldn't eat much dinner because everything I ate seemed to upset my stomach; and since my stomach was all gurgly, baby was super active. I had some decent cramping and thought maybe we were gearing up for something and spent some time working on the baby book- there is a section on Preparing for You all about names and the nurseery and baby shower. I also filled out the Family Tree Section (which was a pain- if anyone has my Grandma Elizabeth's Middle name and her parent's names handy, let me know). Still putting off the letter to baby (so much presure on making htat a good one).

At like 10:30pm I decided I was so tired because I hadn't eaten much, so I had a bowl of Campbelles Vegetarian Vegetable soup (mmmm). We then went to bed at 11pm; I did some stretches; Spencer rubbed my feet, I read my Birthing From Within Book. I made the mistake of telling Spencer I felt better, and he was like let's go on a walk then (I had been telling him I couldn't walk). So we went on a midnight stroll around the block, which was nice.

Today I think I will make rice krispy treats (the 4 half empty bags of marshmallows in the cupboard were the inspiration); and get some little things done around the house....this is getting kinda old.

Come out, come out and play!

Come out, come out and play! Today is baby's due date....but no sign she is coming out yet. I have tried to tempt her with her basket of toys and books, and assure her she can sleep as much as she wants in her cradle her Grandpa Mike made her (we finally made room in our bedroom next to my side of the bed for the cradle). The green thing in there is her little sleep sack with a swaddle attachment if she is the kind of baby that likes swaddling.

It seemed like she was getting very restless in the belly, but maybe she is having second thoughts, or just putting off the inevitable. Or, like me, enjoying a few more moments of her gestation. Maybe I will make more cookies :-)

My Belly Cast

I finally finished painting my belly cast. Spencer is going to drill some holes in the sides so I can hang it up in the baby's room, but before that he is also going to paint a coat of shellac on it.

It was a lot of fun to capture my belly (37 weeks) and this will be a really special souvenir, though not as special as the baby inside :-) Once she is born, I plan on capturing her hand prints and footprints on the inside of the belly cast.

This belly cast was a kit I got at Lullaby Lane in San Mateo, but it can also be purchased online - this would be a great baby shower gift.

Update on canning and baking

This weekend Malia, Farkas, Spencer and I made a batch of salsa to can; the boys made some habanero jelly, and fatalii pepper jelly (Adam supervised); and Malia and I baked 6 loaves of zucchini bread, 2 batches of zucchini muffins, and froze over 2 dozen zucchini chocolate chip granola cookies. The zucchini came out of Malia and Farkas' garden- they were monstrous! We also bbq'd some and they left us with a quarter of one in our fridge, which if I had time I would make Zucchini Parmesean, but I would rather make cookies. I have been on this cookie kick, just making the dough, freezing it in small balls, and portioning them out a dozen to a freezer bag so they are ready to bake (so Spencer can hook us up). I bought some Halloween m&ms yesterday and hopefully I will have time to make some m&m chocolate chip cookies!

Making Progress

No Baby yet, but she is literally just around the corner. I had my 40 week appointment today (my due date is tomorrow) and I am dilated 4 centimeters, 50% effaced, and her little head is at -1 station. See diagrams for some idea of what this all means. I made an appointment for next week, but my doctor thinks we will likely have a baby before then (like in the next few days), and we shouldn't have to induce (which is great because I really didn't want to). I am really excited that my body is kicking in and doing what it needs to do to get the baby out in a natural, but timely manner. My goal is for a natural birth, doing the early labor at home and heading in to the hospital for active labor and of course birthing the baby.

Spencer took the day off so after our appointment we went out to lunch at Whole Foods (I really wanted what I considered a little bit of everything for lunch). And after chilling on the couch for a bit watching the View from the Bay and Suze Orman on Oprah, I think we are going to start cleaning the house :-)

Hurry Up and Wait

No baby yet...no sign of pending baby except my growing belly.

Did a bunch of canning yesterday...if anyone is interested in pickles, we have a lifetime supply of pickles. Also canned some tomato sauce, salsa, and beets (beets were from the farmers market, not our garden).

Our oven broke Wednesday night, and I am stuck here at home waiting for the repairman who will come sometime between 8am and 5pm (kinda ridiculous window). I got up with Spencer at 7:30am (haven't been up that early in a long time (like 2 1/2 weeks since I went on maternity leave). I camped out on the couch for a few hours napping and am now ready to take on the day!

I have a belly cast I think I will start painting, and some other projects...I seem to have no problem keeping busy.

Welcome to our Blog

I thought I would start one of these things to share about our Little Studley we are expecting in the next few weeks.

Due date is 9.24....there are no signs that she will arrive any sooner than that (that's right, it's a girl!). But you never know!

I am doing really well, besides the aches and pains of pregnancy, the fact that I often feel like a beached whale, or like I am a 110 years old shuffling around. Spencer assures me I look great...which is sweet.

We had our 38 week appointment on Wednesday and all is well- baby is head down, has a strong heartbeat and measures about 37 weeks- thank goodness! Makes me think she will take after me (7lb baby) and not Spencer (10lb baby) in the size department.

Well off to organize the storage under the coffee table and the magnets on the fridge, and if I have time before Spencer gets home, the dreaded linen closet (no I am not officially nesting, just trying to get stuff done!).