"Then I smile into my palms."
Mwahahaha! Best line of the day!
Pubic bone separation! Oh how I hate thee!
My sympathies - I've been there, repeatedly. 
The soup story totally cracked me up.
As for the countdown, well, you'll get there. And your high heels impress the hell out of me.
Is this neighbor with the new baby the one you had the girl-crush on?
Either way, how nice to have two baby boys in the neigborhood, come February!
OK, went back and actually read your post about that neighbor, and it wasn't so much a girl-crush as a desire to coordinate pregnancies. Or something.
I'm at 36 weeks now, and I've been having the whole "pubic bone separation" issue since about 30 weeks. Good lord does it hurt! BUT, I've found a maternity support belt ($15 at Motherhood Maternity) to be surprisingly helpful in dealing with it ...
Definitely impressed that you're still wearing heels. With my cankles, I just can't hack it anymore .
you make me miss my wife being pregnant.
I've been printing things off the internet lately for my husband MD to read at night about this last trimester...homework, if you will.
And I'm secretly a little more than happy that the progression (from month 7-9) goes something like this in almost everything I read....
month 7 - she's been through alot, be nice to her, hire a cleaning service, if you can
month 8 - she's doing most of the hard work, you really need to pick up the slack, consider doing the laundry as well as the dishes.
month 9 - she's exhausted, say YES to all of her requests and for god's sake go out and buy her jewellery!
PS - no jewellery yet...but for the first time in a decade...we have a dryer AND a dishwasher...I swear I can hear the angels sing sometimes.
Please to be sending me the carrot soup, kthxbai!
I love your posts! Your descriptions are so perfect I know exactly how you feel.
On top of living just 20 minutes outside of Detroit, I've actually left my house keys in the doorknob outside all night long. I was just begging my house to be robbed!
As long as you're not smiling into your psalms, you and Bossy are going to get along just fine.
Oh, how I can sympathize! Had severe SPD start at around 20 weeks and was terrified that it wouldn't go away after birth. Tried yoga, acupunture, physio... anything during the pregnancy to aid with the SPD. Heels? Ouch!
As for the car thing... well, I scraped up the side of our new car pretty nicely by inadvertently driving too close to the concrete pillar beside our parking spot. I was able to blame it on the fact that I had just found out I was pregnant. There is something highly entertaining about watching your hubby simmer and fume while trying to be outwardly nice so that he doesn't "stress the baby"!
oh, the perks of pregnancy...
for some reason i'm not getting the same slack i did with the pnut yet, like when i want chips and dip at 11:30pm and he looks at me and says "really? really." last time he would have been out the door lickety-split. wtf?
i think bringing food is the absolute smartest and wisest thing anyone can bring a new set of parents. who cares if it looks like poop, i'm sure it tastes heavenly and is so very, very appreciated.
maybe jim could get you some isotoners for this stage of the game, then some jewelry later...
Perhaps by leaving the keys in the car lock, the thieves will simply move on to the next vehicle, thinking that perhaps it must be a ploy, a trick, an entrapment? That surely, it can't be as simple as that.
Having just given birth to my first baby on the 12th I can understand your desire to want to meet your son so badly. Once I hit about 32 weeks all I could think about was the day I would soon meet daughter.
The day after I gave birth I was taking a shower at the hospital and I felt a little rumble in my stomach and I reached down to touch my belly searching for the movement. It was then that I realized my baby was no longer inside me. I was overcome with an incredible sadness that I was no longer carrying my daughter inside of me. True I now could hold her in my arms and nuzzle her and kiss her but I somehow felt a little loss at the bond we had before she was born. Don't forget to try to enjoy the closeness only you feel right now.
At 29 weeks my feet were so swollen that the only high heels that would have fit me were the ones they make for crossdressers. I wore flip flops for the last 2 months of being pregnant. Glamorous.
I had high blood pressure from about 5 months on and gained mostly fluid weight. Who would have thought you could fit 20 pounds of fluid in your hands, feet, and face? I had so much pressure on my nerves that I had carpal tunnel in both hands.
Some women, like you Wood, are even prettier while pregnant. Some of us, not so much!
Ugh. I had the whole shooting pains/separation as well. I'd yelp at work and everyone would jump. I's say, "no.. you'll KNOW..." Now I am waiting for everything to go back to it's original place. Not much fun either. hang in there!
I can sympathize the whole comment section through.
1. I wore my husbands Nike sandals the last trimester...with socks...quite the fashionista.
2. my son spent the entire pregnancy w/ his face pressed into my symphysis pubis. Yes he was born 'sunny side up' and his nose was flattened from the 9 months of pressure. it took a week for it to pop out to its normal shape.
3. I felt him kick his way out of me w/ one last push of his legs against my uterus. I've never felt so empty. Almost like we had this secret relationship and now it was gone.
I'm 31 weeks pregnant and scared to death about how my life will be with 2 kids! I admire your impatience and bravery.
Oh, and I left our van door open for 4 or 5 hours this weekend when I meant to shut it with the remote as soon as I got inside the house (I didn't have the keys with me outside and didn't much feel like walking around to close it). I'm glad my husband didn't find out about that!
omg, bensmom, me too! i couldn't wear my rings after like month 6 and would lose all feeling in my arms- besides pain. i used to sleep sitting up in a recliner and cried when people would tell me i looked "puffy"- who does that to a pregnant woman? jerks.
the best part about all that water weight gain was peeing for 3 days straight postpartum and losing all that weight! that part was awesome! i was like, who's puffy now, biotch?
sorry to hijack your thread, wood.
I'm 34 weeks pregnant and I left the garage door open all day yesterday. Please don't tell my husband...
When I was pregnant with my first daughter I ran over a curb and broke my wheel. Stupid preganacy brain.
Wood, you wear those heels for as long as you want! I missed mine so much when I finally had to give in to the swelling feet and wear comfortable, lace-up shoes.
FTR, I was so glad to be not pregnant once the Pumpkin was born. I have never missed it once.
The two lines that made me almost spit out my sip of water:
Wood: Then I smile into my palms.
pnuts mama: i was like, who's puffy now, biotch?
Thanks. I needed that.
I'm almost at 31 weeks and also in a place that's very cold: -12C today, but apparently feels like-27C with the windchill. I say apparently because I haven't been outside in days. (I'm a SAHM and we don't have a car.)
I'm also huffing and puffing and aching and moaning and groaning. I feel bigger than I did last time and can't imagine lasting the next two months.
I love it when you write about your pregnancy, Wood. I hope you get a few more in before Junior joins you.
Pnutsmom - Yes I too had to abandon the rings early. I also cringed at the puffy face comments and people cringing when they looked at my feet. I had to sleep (ha!) with these splint things on my wrists and everytime I got comfortable my whole arm would go numb. I gave up sleeping well at about 5 months. And yes, it was nice to pee for 3 days and lose 20+ pounds (also a little scary!). Are you having the same problems this go around?
And again, sorry to hijack the post Wood. Guess you struck a pregnancy chord.
not yet- i have been eating salt with abandon as i am terrified of the day when i'll have to give it up again...that sucked last time. but i've noticed i'm not *so* stringent as i was the 1st time with other parts of my diet, either. hmm. i guess that slacking off is normal with #2?
i'm only in the wee wee stages of this so far, we haven't even told anyone (besides the internet, of course) yet! i'll maintain hope that this time i won't resemble a macy*s thanksgiving day balloon come spring. a girl can dream.
i too am so happy when you talk about your pregnancy, wood. FWIW, when people would talk about my "condition" back when i was pg w/ pnut, i used to pretend to be really confused and ask "what are you talking about?" nothing embarrasses someone faster than assuming a woman is pregnant and then having that be denied. heh.
Ah, Wood, awesome. At 38 weeks I'm ready to meet the little one, and I'm grumping around the house just like, apparently, every pregnant woman is supposed to do. And while my husband is lovely and is doing all the nesting for me during my confinement, I still haven't convinced him either to get me the bagels I want nor to sit on the belly to pop the amniotic sac. At this point, both are fervently desired.
OTOH, carrot-ginger soup sounds wonderful, too. Cheers to you and your poop soup tradition.
That is the funniest thing I've read and I can so relate. I leave my keys in the front door all the time because my 2 children think that it's ask mom 100 million questions. I can't remember unlocking the door and taking the keys out, while trying to have a conversation. Trying to say no candy is not for dinner and no we can't tape a costume to the cat.
Well if you're lucky like I was I didn't know I was walking around 5-6cm dilated because of my pains. I just got used to it. Made for a quick labor too!
Craniosacral therapy may help with the pain. I see a wonderful woman in Royal Oak -- $65/session. Email me if you want the info ...
Can't even count the number of careless and thoughtless things I do when I'm pregnant, sigh. I still have 22+ weeks of stupidity ahead of me. And if I recall correctly, "New Mom Brain" isn't much of an improvement over "Pregnancy Brain".
I would love the carrot ginger soup recipe- sounds good.
What is pubic bone separation--and will knowing about this it scare me into not wanting to get pregnant?
Thanks for another beautiful post, Wood!
haha. wood, you rock.
that is all.
Here's my carrot ginger soup recipe. It doesn't need to be vegetarian -- I usually use chicken broth. I also use more than a pound of carrots so that the consistency is good and thick.
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/r...s/8587?
section=
Pubic bone separation pain doesn't happen to everyone, Charlotte. Lots of my friends never experienced it. If you get it with one pregnancy, though, it seems clear that it's worse and starts earlier with each subsequent pregnancy. I had it with Juniper, but not nearly so bad as this time.
Thanks for the pregnancy stories, everyone! You all make me laugh.
Maybe they don't notice that is similar to baby poop in color and texture? Besides, I bet it tastes awesome. I think I'll make carrot-ginger soup sometime soon.
I love that last line - the two of you are both such amazing writers, I'm jealous!!
I've had that same shock at the passing of the seasons (And it was hot when I found out and I tested early and am only a week behind you! You must have found on that ONE DAY in this beastly summer). It seems like this pregnancy is speeding by, until I remember nearly passing out at the Festival of the Arts because it was so hot and wondering, Wow, what if? and telling my dad there was a baby on the way during our brutally hot Father's day picnic at the zoo a week later. Now I have to wrap up to go outside (a condition I much prefer).
We both have also left the keys in the house door lock --most frequently during the early days of parenthood, now that I think about it. I think the universe looks out for pregnant women and dazed new parents, personally.
And I love how you write about your anticipation to meet your boy. I remember that nearly physical longing when I was pregnant with Maggie.This time, I think I am trying to enjoy the pregnancy more because it's quite likely my last one, and it's going so fast. Ironic, because I hate being pregnant, but I am trying to focus on what my body looks and feels like and how amazing it is to feel this little guy kick and wriggle inside me. Soon he'll be here, and life will change in ways I can't imagine now, so I am trying to focus on enjoying these last few months with just the three of us. (I can state this is much easier because I have easy pregnancies, so if you are reading this and rolling your eyes I would be doing the same if I wasn't feeling so damn good--and I STILL prefer parenthood to pregnancy by a mile).
Wood, so sorry about the pubic bone pain. That stuff sucks. When I was pregnant with my daughter, the last six weeks were torture because of an old tailbone injury (I broke it while sledding). The lower the baby got, the more pressure on the badly-healed bones and the more it hurt. Eventually I couldn't walk, I spent two weeks crawling around our apartment and four more only able to shuffle. My husband would come home from work and find me on hands and knees, pushing a basket of laundry from room to room and sobbing because I was so tired of being a biology experiment. He would always pick me up, plunk me on the couch with some DVD's, go after Thai carry-out, and spend the rest of the night cuddling me and making sure I rested. Tell Jim to take it easy on you - soon you'll BOTH be sleep-deprived, distracted and forgetful. Your little boy will be here before you know it.
In this, my third pregnancy, I have found a whole new sense of entitlement, having happily played the I-can-still-do-don't-worry-about-me-card for the first two, I am enjoying the privilege of sporadic petulance and round the clock destructive ditziness.
I admire your soup making and plot the same high heel wearing in my next trimester.
I have to sheepishly admit that with this second one the near-physical longing isn't nearly so much about meeting him as it is having my self back. Though sometimes when I see a newly minted one out in public I get a little gushy.
Tennis balls on walkers always make me miss my Gram but the picture of a pregnant lady in high heels using one made me smile. Also, I haven't been pregnant in almost three years and I still leave my keys in the door overnight in the Southestern part of SF. Not good, and no good excuse.
High heels and OB stirrups = a shiny, happy couple of mofos.
As miserable as this stage is, the NICU experience might be worse. I wish you strength to get through the next two months safely and all the joy you want when you get to hold your little boy for the first time. This waiting, too, shall pass. Before you know it you'll be ankle deep in dirty laundry and up all night with the newborn.
Ah, the pelvic pain. I'm 36 weeks pregnant and it has been with me more or less since week 25. In fact a couple of weeks after I attended a 'well being in pregnancy' class and thought to myself smugly 'well, I'm glad I don't have any of those symptoms'.
Ah, hubris.
The maternity belt did help with walking, as did my husband taking over all the housework and giving up my bold ideas of doing adventurous things like walking more than about 20 minutes per day. (This year people are getting for presents only things which can be ordered over the internet. Which it turns out are marvellous things anyway. Like radios in the shape of pigs).
I went on maternity leave early so I could rest more (because the bit where I lurched around the office like the undead lost its comic effect pretty quickly) because I think a few more days and I would have been on crutches.
Hang in there, consult all the physios about the ways to minimise the pain (in my case it amounted to sitting/standing/rolling in bed like a mummy).
Also now that I'm at home, walking around while clutching my crotch and moaning is so much more socially acceptable.
But yes, completely impatient to at long last meet my son also.
Hang in there. NOt so long to go really.
I also meant to add, it's worth checking out your work's policy with regards to paid sick leave if your pain increases to the point where a medical professional is willing to write a letter saying you are unfit for work.
In my case unfortunately such a letter entitled me to only unpaid leave (because I work in the public sector, and it laughs in the faces of its employees) so I gritted my teeth and hung in there a while more.
Best wishes for the rest of your pregnancy.
Ha! I have a similar new-baby-in-the-house-must-send-food recipe, though it's for roasted vegetable soup. Until I had Dash I had no clue it was so poop-like.
p.s. you're making me miss being pregnant, pubic pain and all.
Hey there, just came upon your Blog, i love it. We are due on Christmas day and so it is really nice finding someone else writing a Blog like mine for parents to be. Look forward to reading more.
PS: my Mrs had had a really smooth ride these last few months, all our dramas were first trimester.
Commenting by HaloScan
