The End Is Near

Starting this Friday, if I haven't already gone into labor, I will be getting the stitches removed and will also officially be off bedrest.  SOUND THE HEAVENLY FREAKING CHORUS.   Mike and I are in full-on countdown mode.  Mike has started repeatedly singing that "One Day More" song from Les Miserables with a few substitute lyrics: "Three more days 'til revolution, they will nip you in the bud..."  It's lovely.  I already have a long To-Do list of things I want done post-bedrest and pre-giving-birth, (depending on our luck that may be a very small window of time, so we'll see how this goes) including Christmas shopping, goody making, Hobbit seeing, closet organizing, Christmas lights viewing, and hiking Ensign Peak.  I refuse to have this baby until I have had at least a day or two to enjoy my new freedom.

What?  I've been a little cooped up lately.

Anyway.

On Bedrest I Have:
-Read 23 books
-Done a fair amount of writing
-Consumed an unknown quantity of Tums
-Watched three seasons of Community
-Had Harry Potter and Star Wars movie marathons
-Had people come visit me from 7 different states
-Sworn off doctors, even while scheduling follow-up appointments
-Watched Mike make an entire Thanksgiving feast for just the two of us, and then gorged down that food like nobody's business.  Seriously, I knew that man could make a killer turkey, but every single dish was heavenly.  I bet you didn't have eleven pounds of turkey per person at your Thanksgiving feast.

Mike and my madre making pie crusts the day before the feast

Cutting into the turkey

After the binge 

-Got a new niece!  Welcome little Ada!
-Played over a thousand games of FreeCell
-Done hours and hours worth of research on cervical incompetence, pregnancy, labor, delivery, recovery, and infant care
-Considered hundreds of potential names for our little squishy
-Failed to find a name that Mike and I can agree on.  Do not be surprised if she ends up being named "kid."
-Never got the hang of swallowing whole cantaloupes prenatal vitamins
-Had a nice no-fuss birthday
-Developed an insatiable appetite for apples and peanut butter
-Threatened to throw all sharp objects within arms reach at the next person who tells me "how nice bedrest must be."


I cannot wait to be done with bedrest.  It's been a loooong and very painful and excessively boring and extremely stressful three months.  I'm so glad that we were able to stay pregnant this long, but I am just as glad that it's almost over.  I am not one of those women who enjoy pregnancy, so it's been kind of an odd experience to severely dislike being pregnant all while dreading the thought of going into labor too soon and not being pregnant.  It's nice to feel like labor is not the enemy anymore.  I realize that giving birth will only mean switching one set of worries and concerns for another, but I'm ready.  Bring it on, fetus.

SPEAKING OF... We are having a kid soon.  How's that for freaky?  It's time for the Birth Guessing Game.

The Birth Guessing Game
Okay, folks.  Please submit your guesses for the following:
1) What day she will be born
2) Her birth height and weight
3) What her name will be (we really could use some input here)

Here are some things to assist you in your guesses:
- The circlage is being removed on Friday 12/14 at 10:15am.
- The average time from removing the circlage to giving birth is 11 days.
- That average includes women who probably never needed the circlage, but had it done as a precautionary measure.  (After all my ultrasounds, we are left with no doubt that I am not one of those women.  I absolutely needed this circlage to keep my baby alive.)
- My doctor thinks it will be only a matter of a few days after the stitches are cut before I go into labor.
- I only have less than 1 centimeter of functional cervix remaining as it is, and for several months now the stitches have been the only thing that has separated her from the outside world.  She will likely be born very soon after the stitches are cut, since there will be nothing left preventing her from being born.
- As previously stated, I refuse to have this baby until I've had a few days of freedom.  You will not win many Mel points if you guess that she will be born immediately after cutting the stitches.
- Mike's goal is to make it to Tuesday 12/18 because on that day she will officially be 37 weeks, making her a full-term baby instead of premature.
-The actual due date isn't until January 8th.

Okay, GO!