Hello All my Lovely Friends and Family....

As you are wondering....no babe yet.
Funny little story though! Last night I got a call from one of our midwives as she was heading out the door to go to another clients birth! Yes, last night around 6:30 our midwives were going to attend a birth....but I had no signs of labor myself, and I made it through the night without any. So, we should be in the clear now.....I hope! We do have a backup midwife that our midwives work with, so if I had gone into labor we would be fine. =)





My Momma and little Macy...so cute!

No baby!

Not yet.....=)

UPDATE.

For all you anxious family and friends...NO BABY YET!

The simple fact is that baby and my body are not ready yet. =)
This is simply fine....and totally normal, especially for a first
pregnancy.

Today my belly measured 42cm, and the baby is perfectly aligned
in the middle of my belly. So, things are as they should be
naturally.

We will be sure to let you know as soon as something BIG starts!
Until then we are trying to keep our anxiousness to a minimum.
We want to remain on the even keel day-to-day good feelings
that we have had all along.

Mama Erin

So we've had Indian food, we've done some acupressure to the ankle area, we went for a long walk today (like to the top of a Mountain) and we ate at Joes in northampton tonight (local legend has it that if your overdue and you eat at Joes you'll soon go into labor) and YET STILL no action, BUT we're just taking it one day at a time still......... uhhh ummmm . But we look forward to meeting little birdy... any time now... BUT take your time little one, we'll see you when your fully percalated ok, talk soon!

this message brought to you by papa

DUE DATE DAY.

No, no baby yet.

I guess baby is super comfy in my belly still!

40 Weeks and 1 day....and tomarrow Feb 23rd is my "due date"...

Hmmmmmm.......we shall see if my "due date" is the actual date of arrival! Really "due dates" are just a number, well unless you are a momma who has to be induced or chooses to be. Me, no thank you to to induction...I am lucky to be in a position to let nature take it's course. To allow baby to come when baby is ready. I am getting a bit anxious I must admit at this point, I am really REALLY excited! We are really ready now that our diaper service has started! The apartment is clean, the co-sleeper is assembled and made, babies clothes have been washed numerous times (in all natural gentle on the skin detergent) we have the birth tub here (it has been for a few weeks now), we have our grape juice ice cubes made, we are stocked with energy replenishing drinks & spring water jugs, snacks, frozen foods, my labor music is all entered into itunes, my camera batteries are charged and my camera's are ready to go etc etc......so bring it on!

Here is the latest photo comparison, 38/39 weeks to 40 weeks (taken today)


And here are some mitts I knitted for baby w/mathcing hat!

Today I am 40 weeks!

I can't believe it! I went to our weekly midwife appointment by myself today, Matty had to be at work this morning so he could leave early to teach his afternoon class at 3 (he drives 45 minutes to get there). It was really ok though.
Today I measured 39cm, friday I was 41cm! Baby is dropping oh yeah! Kirsten (one of our midwives) said that baby's head had moved a little further into my pelvis since friday, and baby's back is even more turned and come to the middle of my belly. All good things =). I still feel so good, and today is beautiful outside so I took Macy for a long walk/hike at a local mountain...she has fun and so did I. Its kind of spring like weather here today, almost 50 degrees outside. Well I haven't had a chance to work much more yet on the pregnancy photo colages that I spoke of in my last post, so here are the 2 that I am pretty much done with. I would love critiques!

I can't believe that there are only 2 days till my "due" date.....

However, a "due" date does not exactly mean all that much. It's just a number really. I had started to think that I might deliver early, but now I am not so sure! We found out at our friday midwife appointment that the baby's head is now very far down into my pelvis, and the baby's back which was sort of nested into my right side has moved more to the middle of my belly getting into position for birth! I had suspected that there was a signifigant change, because there were a few days last week that the baby was moving around SO MUCH! It was incredible to feel those movements and see some of them! Again on Saturday night the baby was moving even more, and I was feeling lots of movement in my pelvis...little hands pushing on my bladder! We had some spicey Indian food that night, so Matt was joking that "this could be it". Honestly I was not so unsure about that myself....but nothing happened and we went to sleep and woke up--no baby yet.

The good thing is that we are "ready" for my going into labor....my parents came again on Saturday to help us clean the apartment. I went and got a haircut, a fairly easy to maintain cut.....but also one that doesn't really allow me to keep my hair in pony tail holders all the time. I needed this simple change, as I have started to feel like a rolly polly slob! I spend most days in a tank top and comfy pants! I will have Matty take a photo of my awesome funky hair soon! Also, I have begun to work on some photo collages...finally I have found the motivation to make some work based around my pregnancy. I have been taking photos of course of myself, but I had not felt the motivation to work with them. I will post some of these collages when I have a more complete set of them.

Well darlings....I need to get to work.
Luv, Erin

Today is 38 weeks and 6 days....(early 38 weeks photo below)

We are pretty much ready for anything at this point. We have the birth tub here, though the non-toxic, lead free hose doesn't get here till thursday. Our apartment got a good cleaning this past weekend, thank you Mom & Dad for being such troopers in helping us with that! Most of our laundry is done. The co-sleeper is together, baby's new clothes are all washed, dried and put away in baby's dresser. I do have to make a few more meals to freeze, and we are fortunate enough to have our mothers making and freezing food for us as well. On thursday I will call the diaper service to request to start next week. We do still have some reading to do in "The Baby Book" by William and Martha Sears (an awesome book!). As of my last midwife appointment the baby's head was not engaged...but I suspect that at tomarrows appointment we might find out that it is. I have been having some cramping in my lower mid belly, its nothing that comes in patterns or stays around. This morning I woke up with a stronger cramp though and I was like UH OH for a few minutes. Then I did some practice contraction breathing that we have been learning in our Hypnobirth class, and it dissapated.....and I was like oh thank goodness. We need to make it to thursday atleast so that we have our hose to fill the birth tub!

All in all things are still great, and I feel great....a bit more tired, but I feel great!
I do feel bad for Macy (our boxer girl). I just cannot walk her 3 times a day anymore, 1 walk is about all I can do, and should do at this point. Hopefully she will get to hang out with her uncle Ron soon (when we have 2 cars again and I can deliver her to him)....and get some of her energy out!




Here is a 3 week comparison: 35-38 weeks...do you think my belly is dropping?

Oh.....

Hello readers of thy blog. Another week has passed by and I am still feeling fine. I am still in day-by-day mode and in no hurry to not be pregnant, I am enjoying this time growing baby and being completely awkward and round. While I am a bit anxious to meet baby, Matt and I both are...baby will come when baby is ready. =)

We had our home visit with our midwives this past week, and both of our parents were there too. They got to meet Tanya & Kirsten and ask any questions they had etc. The best part was that both our mom's got to feel the babies head and hear the heartbeat, that was very special for both our moms. =)

I measured in at 41cm this week....and all is well! I also had another blood test for my iron levels this week through our backup midwives lab. I haven't heard anything so I am assuming that I am good, though I am going to call and make sure. My levels were slightly low last month, and so I have been taking Floridix and eating kale and lots of spinach, and taking chlorophyll.
I am slightly green from all this extra iron intake. JUST KIDDING!

Here is an end of 36 weeks....beginning of 37 weeks photos: