Watch Out Kingsland- There's A New Massage Therapist In Town!

Well, actually I'm not new. I've been here for 13 months. But, I'm BACK! I'll be sneaking away from my newborn weekday evenings and the occasional weekend to return to my passion- massage therapy!

I just ordered a spiffy new massage table, which should be arriving between November 2nd and November 9th. My previous table is being used by the lovely woman who is subleasing my office space in Austin. It is still undecided if I will return to my Austin clinic come January, but in the mean time, I will be available for massage appointments in Kingsland, TX as soon as this table arrives!

Here's the sneak peek:
She's a pretty one! Pretty comfy! She comes equipped with 2 inches of high-density, luxury padding. Complete with adjustable face cradle, add-on arm extensions, and hanging arm rest. Oh, the accessories! There is even a cut out face rest in the table itself, which is a feature I have yet to fiddle with on other tables. I look forward to fiddling! And, she has a 500lb weight limit, so clients of every shape and size are welcome to board!

Now, to name her. . . Black Beauty seems too obvious. Maybe Odyssey after the black van commercial with the rock music, fire, and jaguar that flashes over the screen to make you think this van is somehow the coolest thing on the road. Hmmm. . . "the massage table beckons like never before."

Be one of the first Kingslandites to test out the Odyssey (I kinda like the sound of that!). Massages available Monday-Friday 6-8pm, Saturday-Sunday 10am-6pm. Call (757) 619-5291 or schedule online to reserve your appointment. I will only be taking a few appointments a week at first, so appointments are limited.

More information is available at my recently updated website www.KneadedAtWork.com.

The Birth Story! Part Three: Saturday

Saturday: October 2nd. Oh, I love you Nubain. I love you so much I may name my next kid Nubain. Okay, maybe not. Contractions continue to come every ten minutes after the Nubain was shot into my hip. There was always the possibility the Nubain would make the contractions stop or slow the progress of labor, but thankfully that did not happen. Some contractions I can sleep through, most I am aware of but can breathe through and remain relaxed, and every now and then I'd get a strong one and let out a "Whoooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaa" moan right into sleeping Jay's ear. Jay would have to wake up to help me to the bathroom. Every time I changed position I would have a contraction. A few times I was able to sneak to the bathroom by myself and let Jay sleep, but not many because he would hear the crinkle of the pads on the bed as I moved. On one of my solo trips to the bathroom I had a conversation with myself, like a crazy person. This was not going to go on for a third day. I had had enough of being scared of how much the post water breaking contractions were going to hurt. I wanted them to hurt. They have to hurt for the baby to come out. Once the baby is out, it will immediately stop hurting. These contractions are pissing me off. I will do whatever I can to make them stop. Another hour of rest and then I am going to own this pain.

It would have been so great to reach this point, I dunno, a day ago! But I was finally here. I was ready to get this baby out! It's 3:45AM and Roswitha comes in with her big plastic hook in it's sterile packaging. She gives me another internal and while she's in there my water breaks! I felt the pop and the gush, it did not feel like pee as I've heard it described before. Maybe it didn't feel like pee because I had a woman's hand wrist deep up my vagina and that is not a usual sensation that accompanies pee. I thought she would remove her hand quickly but she stayed in there and said she could feel the baby slipping down very quickly now. It's show time people! Let's do this! Get that tub warmed up!

As I squatted in the tub and waited for these monstrous contractions to hit me, I listened to Roswitha explain what would happen next. We have to dilate to 10cms before I am allowed to push. Pushing prematurely can cause the cervix to swell. She says to let her know if I feel pressure in my bottom. Okay, that's straight forward enough. Off she goes to update my chart when with the next contraction I feel like I am going to poop in this tub. I am in denial this is the pressure in my bottom she literally just mentioned a minute ago. I really think I have to poop. 3 minutes later, with the next contraction, I tell Jay to go get her I'm pushing without trying to. I'm 100% convinced my body is pushing prematurely and my cervix is going to swell and explode. She does an internal in the tub and I am fully dilated. I was 8 cms like 10 minutes ago. That's crazy! Our kid practically fell out once the water was broken. She hurried to alert her assistant to come in. Then Roswitha said something that really kicked me into overdrive. She said, "It's up to you how soon your baby is born."

I started pushing in a standing squat in the tub until she could feel his head an inch from the surface. She told me to push right there, focus all my energy right there. With that push he started to crown. Yea right. She told me to feel. Holy crap! She wasn't lying. He is right there! She had me switch to laying on my back in the tub for the last few pushes. The tub had these sets of hand rails that worked perfectly for you to put your feet up against. Someone put a lot of thought into that tub. The contractions were now the least of my worries. In fact, I had very little to worry about because I was no longer in control. My body pushed with every contraction, popping me out of the water like a demon possessed animal. Initially, I was an ineffective pusher because I was screaming "Ahhhhh" so loud our neighbors back in Kingsland probably heard me. Roswitha corrected me and told me to use that energy in pushing, hold my breath if I have to, but use the energy to push. Chin down, breath held, push with everything you got. Okay now STOP PUSHING!! STOP PUSHING!!! DONNA, STOP PUSHING!! Easier said than done at this point. I was about to tear. I had to focus on not pushing for a few seconds while Roswitha worked her magic down there. Okay, we're good to go. With the next few contractions she said his head was out. I reached down and felt his head and had 2 thoughts. 1) Wow, that's alot of hair! 2) Oh, that's a small head. Good! I got a small baby! Maybe he won't rip me apart in the next few pushes. (Forgot about molding, the tip of his head was small, the rest was not).

With his head sticking out, Roswitha said the next push to push as hard as I could and we would have our baby! Okay, where the hell did all of my contractions go? Come on, come on, come on, come on. Okay PUSH PUSH PUSH! And with me pushing and Roswitha guiding him out he sprung from the water arms and legs flailing. It took a moment to untangle the cord that was around his neck but then she flopped him down on my chest. He was so grey and big! OMG this was not the small baby I had just imagined. Where was all of this hiding? This was a huge baby. This was a huge, grey baby. Why is my baby grey? Monica, the midwife assistant, rubbed him with a towel and he pinked right up. I waited for the big dramatic cry, but he only softly cried at first, saving his first big cry for his Daddy. We all just stared at him for awhile while we waiting for the cord to stop pulsing. Then Jay cut the cord and they gave Corbin to him to hold. Jay said right away he reached out and grabbed his shirt. I picture this tiny, minutes old newborn, grabbing his Dad by the collar, pulling him towards his face to get a good look. Once the placenta was out, we got into bed to snuggle. No more pain! No more contractions! We counted fingers and toes and called the family to tell them the good news.

Corbin Jose was born at 5:09AM to 'Cold Shower Tuesdays' by Bowling for Soup on 10/2/10 (his original due date). 7 lbs 15 ozs 20 3/4 inches long.
Roswitha said I had a tiny tiny tear, that didn't need stitches as long as I promised to keep my legs together, meaning don't sit Indian style for a week or two. I was up walking around within two hours. We were discharged at 12:45pm later that same day and have had a smooth recovery. I can not thank our team of midwives enough for giving me the strength to keep the birth plan I wanted. I had an amazing coach in Jay and our son is more perfect than we ever could have imagined. And it is true what they say about the endorphins making your forget all the pain. In the moment, I told Jay I was going to comment on every serene natural birth youtube video I had watched with a big "F-U That's Not What It's Like!!!" comment, but now that it's over I have happy, fuzzy memories about the whole experience. I also was quoted as saying "I would rather get punched in the face over and over again than have these contractions. If I could give birth by getting punched in the face, I would definitely choose that."

It took awhile to remember all the details to fill these 3 posts. I'm glad Corbin let me work on the computer a few hours here and there before the experience faded too much. So there you have it! 44 hours from start to finish. My advice to my future self for next time: Eat, even if you're not hungry and sleep when you can in the early stages, and for God's sake if they want to break your water- do it! It probably would have saved us 7 hours of misery.

Thanks for reading!

The Birth Story! Part Two: Friday

Friday: October 1st. They want $10 a plate for the breakfast buffet??? We paid how much to sleep in their hotel for 6 hours and they want $10 a plate for their crappy buffet???? Eff that. We're going to McDonald's.

Jean, worried since she didn't hear from us all night, gave us a call in the morning. Although I was tired from not sleeping for more than 20 minutes here and there all night, I felt pretty good. Which I knew was not good. She asked us to come in for a check. I'm convinced nothing has changed because I'm still able to joke around and talk and have yet to hit that serious stage of labor, but I hold out hope that I am wrong. We find a McDonald's and all I can force myself to eat is a bite or two of a hash brown and some orange juice. I know that I need to eat but I'm just not hungry. As luck would have it there was a burglary/shooting on the road we needed to exit on to get to the birth center and they were looking for a suspect in the area and several blocks were shut down. Fantastic. We only know one way to get to the birth center and it's not an option. Eventually, we make it to the birth center where Jean checks us out again. At 9:30AM (after a full 24 hours of contractions) we were only 3cms dilated, but she noted that the baby had dropped 2 inches since midnight. I lost it. I cried and cried. How the hell was I going to do this? I'm only 3 cms? I can't sleep and I'm not hungry and I'm really only 3 cms??

Jean, another midwife, and Jay all talk in the hall while I went to the bathroom and had some of my mucous plug come out. They decide to offer me a muscle relaxant shot called Nubain. It would let me get some sleep so I could deal with the stronger contractions that were on their way. There was the possibility that the Nubain would slow or stall the contractions, but they felt it was worth the risk because I was already exhausted and hyper-emotional. They got us set up in the Austin Music Scene room (pictured below, click the picture for a virtual tour of all the birthing rooms at Austin Area Birthing Center South). At 10:00AM Midwife Vicki gave me a nice shot in the butt and I asked how long it would take to kick in. By the end of my question I was feeling better.
I slept goooooooooood! I still had contractions every 10 minutes, some of which I would wake up for and have to moan through, but some I just slept right through. I got a few hours of rest and was able to handle the contractions much more effectively. After I woke up and walked around, the contractions came right back to that steady 6 minute pace. Around 5:30PM I was checked again. 5cms dilated 100% effaced, bloody show, not going home without a baby!

Every hour or so they check your vitals and the baby's heartbeat. One of these checks happened to come moments after I had back to back super-duper contractions which led to a mini panic attack and my second freak out. When they checked my pulse it was almost 190 beats per minute. They prefer it to be under 100. Vicki told me we had an hour to get my pulse under control or she would have no choice but to take us to the hospital. My blood pressure was fine, I was feeling fine, but my pulse was ridiculously high. Unfortunately, that meant 2 of the worst possible things for me. 1) I may end up in the hospital with no health insurance and no mental preparation for that kind of birth. 2) I was to work this labor on land until my pulse was stable. No hot water for me. No calming bath. No soothing shower. Water was a big part of how I planned on handling this birth. This news was very upsetting. But what could you do?

So we continue to work through each contraction with that end in sight! Jay was an amazing coach. Whatever I needed, he was right there. We slow danced through many of them. I tried our new birth ball we brought for a few. I sat on the ball and Jay applied counter pressure on my low back. We put the ball on the bed and I leaned on that while Jay massaged my back. I had a real hard time sitting into the contractions. Seemingly every time, I would pop up and away from them, clenching my shoulders, and pretty much the opposite of what you're supposed to do. Every time Vicki came in to check on us I would ask if I could get in the tub yet. Pulse check, 120. No tub for Donna. My pulse stayed between 100 and 120 and with no other signs of distress to me or Corbin, we were able to avoid the hospital route for now. She eventually agreed to a very tepid bath and squatting in the tub was my new favorite position, even though it made my feet fall asleep.

Around 8:00PM it was time for a shift change and our new midwife Roswitha came to see how we were progressing. Internals suck by the way. As soon as I changed position to lay on the bed, I would get hit with a new contraction and once laying down all I could do was suffer through it. I did not like having contractions on the bed. Roswitha does the internal and wouldn't you know- 6cms?!?!? Really??? 3 hours of nothing but pain and only one stinking cm?? After all that?? I thought by the amount of pain I was in I was around the corner from transition at this point. Only 6cms??? Roswitha assures us 6 cms is great progress and we are doing great! Baby is doing great, Mommy is doing great. This is where I start the doubting. Mommy is not doing great. Mommy is now thinking this can go on for another day and a half.

Everything I learned about childbirth said to only focus on one contraction at a time. Think about each step and eventually you'll climb the whole mountain. If you look at the whole mountain you'll freak yourself out. Well, guess what I did. I took a big old mental picture of this whole freaking mountain of the labor we had left. Terrible idea. Very, very bad. If you're pregnant and reading this- don't do that! Or at least if you are going to freak yourself out, have the decency to let everyone around you know what you are doing so they can correct you. I, on the other hand, kept this all to myself and allowed it to build over the next few hours.

And so it went, contraction, rest, contraction, rest, for hour after hour. Early on I had asked Jay to play my ipod. We listened to a John Legend album, then Norah Jones, then the same Jason Mraz playlist for 5 hours. When I finally asked him to put it on shuffle, the second song that played was a Jason Mraz song. Enough with the Jason Mraz already! After the birth we laughed about how much crap we brought with us that we didn't use. I asked Jay to bring his laptop so we could watch dvds, we brought several seasons of the Office, puzzle books, and a journal to keep track of the milestones. We touched none of it. I didn't want to do anything but breathe and rock in a circle.

As my pulse steadied itself around 100 I was allowed to start using warmer and warmer water. Which was fantastic news! Fantastic until they have to pull you out to do an internal and you can't regulate your body temperature and you are shaking so uncontrollably you look like you're having a seizure. But, in my mind I had no choice. I could not cope with the pain on the bed. I did not like Jay seeing me sit on a toilet. I wanted that tub.

As the memories fade, I can't be sure of the time but sometime late in the night Roswitha did another internal at said I was still 6-7cms, but that my water bag was bulging and if we wanted she could break it and that would surely speed things up. She was very confident the water bag was keeping the baby from descending. Well, what has two thumbs, is exhausted again, and has been quietly staring at a mental labor mountain for the last 4 hours? That would be me. You want me to agree to make these worse?? I am barely dealing with them as they are now. I'm stuck at 6-7cms?? I can't do this. I'm done. Call the hospital. It's just going to get worse when my water breaks. I want an epidural. I don't care if I'm in labor for another week as long as I don't feel another ****ing contraction. And for the third time in this labor, I lost it. I lost it bigger and louder than the 2 freak outs before. I knew all about transition and the self-doubt phase, but this was serious. I didn't think I could not do this- I knew I could not do this. Not with what I was working with at the moment.

This is about Jay's breaking point, too. He is just as exhausted as I am, maybe more so having worked all day Thursday and he didn't get any Nubain to help him sleep. Jay and Roswitha talk. She listens to me freak out, takes it all in, and makes one small suggestion. How about that Nubain? "We give you another little shot of Nubain, pop the water, and it will take the edge off of the contractions enough to get you through." Jay asks if I can get the Nubain, try and take a nap, and then pop the water when I wake up. Maybe the rest will give me enough strength to deal with the stronger contractions on my own. She says that's perfectly fine. And if we give the Nubain a chance and it doesn't help, we can always go to the hospital then. I was really trying to avoid the hospital setting so I said okay. It would have been one thing if my water had popped on it's own. I think I would have faced the contractions that followed just as well as the ones before. But knowing that if I had Roswitha pop it with a hook prematurely, that I was the one responsible for however bad the following contractions were, that was too much pressure. I'll take the Nubain induced nap please.

The Birth Story! Part One: Thursday

Well here we are! I am finally writing my own birth story! 44 hours start to finish is going to make for a long story, so I've decided to post it in a 3 part blog, one post for each glorious day of the event.

So let me first start with some of the details that happened before last Thursday that I'm sure I will want to recall later. At my 36 week appointment, midwife Roswitha swabbed for the Group B Strep test and while she was in there she did my first internal exam. I was 0 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Having read a bookshelf full of pregnancy books, hundreds of birth stories online, and having paid close attention in our 8-week Bradley Method childbirth classes I knew that these numbers meant absolutely nothing. I could be pregnant for another day or another 6 weeks. That being said, when I got home I prepared as if I was going into labor tomorrow. And everyday after that I waited for that first contraction. I had a few random pains in the weeks that followed. I would feel something, make a face, then look up to find Jay watching me very closely. He would look at my growing belly and say "No! Not yet! Stay in there!". He really wanted to have a finished house to bring a newborn home to.

And so it went for 4 more weeks. Jay would work on the house after work and I would bounce on my birth ball and keep him company. I loved that birth ball. It was the best piece of advice we picked up from the Bradley classes (well it was all great advice, but that birth ball idea is hard to beat). And after countless hours bouncing on a rubber ball in a construction area, over screws, and rocks, and the occasional jagged piece of plaster, it finally sprung a leak. RIP yellow birth ball.

Tuesday: September 28th. I have another prenatal appointment. They are weekly at this point. Midwife Vicki offers to do another internal if I would like to see if there has been progress. I had been so hung up on the numbers from 3 weeks earlier I questioned whether or not it was a good idea to know the status of my cervix. But my curiosity got the best of me and I did want to know. So after 3 weeks of bouncing on my birth ball, going for walks, visualizations, and half-hearted attempts at progressing dilation naturally I was a whopping 0 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Fantastic. I was going to be pregnant forever. I stopped at the farmer's market on the way home and bought some primrose oil pills and red raspberry leaf tea to try and get the party started. When I told Jay there had been no change in 3 weeks he couldn't have been happier. "Keep that baby in! I need another week!". I could care less what living arrangement we brought our son home to at this point. The uncertainty of when labor would start was starting to bother me.

Wednesday: September 29th. I take the 3 doses of primrose oil throughout the day, but I skip the red raspberry leaf tea because the instructions say to "steep" something and rather than google what that meant, I just decided to wait. I don't know why I bought that stuff anyway. Since when do I drink tea? This kid isn't going to come a second before he wants to and I have officially given up on trying to "make" or "help" him come any sooner than that.

Thursday: September 30th. I wake up around 9:00AM with my first contraction (hindsight). It's the same feeling I have had an random intervals over the past few weeks. I don't get my hopes up. Rather than stay in bed and watch tv, which had become my routine, I decide I want to go to Wal-Mart this very instant to go buy a new birth ball and a wristwatch with a second hand to time contractions if and when they ever show up. I note more of these sensations as I'm getting ready, but I don't bother to time them because they don't hurt enough and I'm not going to get my hopes up until I'm in pain. I text Jay and let him know to check his phone often today because it could be the start of something, but I'm pretty sure it's false labor. Off to Wal-Mart I go.

The Wal-Mart is in the town over. It's about a half hour drive. The drive there was a breeze and I casually, half-heartedly time these sensations using the radio in the car. Was that 10 minutes or 8? What time did the last one start? Ugh! Forget it! I'll just wait till I get home and use the bump contraction timer online. Once I get to Wal-Mart I remember that I hate this Wal-Mart. They are re-organizing the entire store for no purpose and it takes forever to find the 2 things you came for. Luckily, I find the birth ball fairly quickly. I spend the next hour or so looking at all of the watches scattered in 4 different sections of the store. UGH!! Why are the women's watches so small? I like this watch face, but I just know that strap is going to pull out all the hair on my wrist. I really don't want to waste more than $5 on a stupid crappy wal-mart watch I will only use to time contractions. This is stupid. Why have I spent an hour on this already? I am really uncomfortable. Ugh! So at this point I am irritable. It's not even 11:00AM yet. I buy my birth ball and hit the road. I stop at Wendy's and get lunch, but from the time I order it to the time it's in my car I'm no longer as hungry. (That should have tipped me off right there). The ride home was miserable. I should not have been behind the wheel of a car. These sensations are no longer dull, or mild, or easy to ignore, and I'm pretty sure I'm timing them at 6 minutes apart on my radio.

I get home and get on the bump (message board for pregnant women/moms) and try and get myself good and distracted. I'm completely convinced this is still false labor, if for no other reason than I hadn't progressed at all at my last prenatal appointment, 2 days ago. Again, that goes against all logic seeing as how the numbers mean nothing, but that was my illogical thought process. And besides, these don't hurt. They are uncomfortable, but I should be in some serious pain before it's showtime. I pull up the bump contraction timer and start clicking away. Start. Stop. Lasted 45 seconds. Start. Stop. 6 minutes apart. Start. Stop. I do this for an hour or more waiting to see a pattern form. Jay comes home early to work on the house and sees the screen. "Uh oh.", he says. I tell him I'm not worried about it and I really think it's false labor. He asks what the midwives said. I tell him I haven't called them yet. He reminds me we are supposed to call at 8 minutes apart because we live so far away. Ugh! I don't want to call, they might make me come in (hour drive each way) to get checked out and then get sent home when they agree that it is false. I just put it together that I do not like being in the car right now. Nope, no sir. Not going anywhere until I know it's the real deal. To make him feel better I call the birth center to tell them that I was in false labor.

After a little bit of phone tag, Jean, the owner of the birth center, gives me a call back. We talk for awhile and I describe what I'm feeling. They are like low menstrual cramps that start above my pubic bone and radiate out to my sides. She hears me have a few contractions over the phone and announces I am in fact in early labor! She asks me to take a shower and see if they slow down or subside in intensity. If we lived closer she would invite us to come get checked out for progress, it was up to us if we wanted to make the drive. Other than that, give them a call if something changes (contractions get stronger/quicker together, bloody show, mucous plug comes out, water breaks, etc).

Jay is staining our floors when I go out and tell him what Jean said. We are both pretty shocked that this might actually be the start of the big day. I stop timing to go and take a shower, which does nothing to change the contractions. So these are contractions. I was waiting for something much more painful. I spend the next few hours waiting for something to change. But like clockwork, every 6 minutes- cramp/contraction would roll in and hang out for 45-60 seconds. The minutes in between contractions were so normal I would almost forget what the previous contraction felt like.

Jay and I discussed the possibility of going into the city and getting a hotel to be closer in case labor really kicks in in the middle of the night. We call Jean back and let her know that's what we're going to do and she offers for us to stop by and get checked whenever we want. So with our plans made we just hang out. Our hospital bag has been packed for weeks. Jay inflated my new birth ball when he got home. There was nothing to do but wait for something to change. We watch the Thursday NBC line up and by 10:00PM decide it's time to drive into Austin and find a hotel. Better to labor in the car now than in the morning when they could be much stronger and closer together.

It's not until we are sitting in the hotel parking lot that we decide to call the birth center and see if we can get checked. I mean, I had been having contractions for 13 hours. They weren't as strong as I thought they should be to do something to my cervix, but maybe we had progressed enough to be admitted to the birth center and save some money on an unnecessary hotel stay. We find out there is a women in labor at the birth center and a midwife is available to check us out whenever we want. Once we get there Jean helps me out of the car and ushers us back to an exam room. 1cm dilated, 95% effaced. Jean encouraged that to about 1.5cm dilated. Still early in the game, folks. Go get that hotel room and come back for a check in the morning. It was 12 to midnight, looks like we won't be having a September baby.

As we pull into a nearby hotel parking lot I am having a contraction that is hard to talk through but manage to get out "first floor!" to Jay. I don't want to waste time dilly-dallying with ancient hotel elevators when it becomes go-time. Well, he couldn't get first floor, but he got a room with a tub and that's really all I cared about. In the hotel room I lay out my puppy house breaking pads on the bed and the floor for when my water breaks and sends us shooting into active labor. As I wait for that to happen, I take comfort in a nice warm bath. Ah, that felt good. Now time for bed. The contractions keep me from sleeping for more than 10 minutes in the bed. Okay, maybe another bath will help. This time I bring my crossword puzzle book. When the water turned cold, I added more warm water. In the tub my contractions were 10 minutes apart but super easy to deal with. As soon as I dried off and got into bed the next contraction would be a gut buster that I'd have to focus on and breathe through it. Not cool. So I eventually took my pillow into the bathtub, folded it in half over the edge and slept sitting up in the tub for as long as I could. I lost all sense of time. Apparently it was morning because it was bright outside and Jay was talking about the hotel breakfast buffet.

39 Weeks 5 days

How far along? 39 Weeks 5 days

Countdown? 2 days until the infamous Due Date. They'll give him 2 more weeks on the other side of that to make his appearance.

Stretch Marks: Whoa mama! I hope that stretch mark cream I see commercials for on tv works. Otherwise I'm going to start spray tanning. It's a good thing I can't see most of them. My inner and outer thighs have those lovely deep dark purple stripes. Under my belly, I've been told, is quite the disaster area. And of course, the tatas grew at an alarming rate so they were not spared either. Oy vey.

Sleep: Ha! I pee every other hour. In an attempt to make my path to the commode easier, Jay has started pulling Mugsy onto his side of the bed, which puts him in the middle of the bed, so I end up tripping over his feet instead of the dog. If we haven't worked this out by now, I doubt we ever will. A comedy of errors. Jay and I have also been getting our share of strange dreams about the baby. I continue to dream that he will come out a toddler. Jay has been reassured in his sleep that our son is indeed all male.

Best Moment of the Week: We (or rather Jay) mudded, primed, painted, and re-painted the entire downstairs of our soon to be house! We pulled up the plastic that was protecting the concrete floors, and Jay mopped and scrubbed in some muriatic acid wash to prep for the concrete stain! Hopefully, we will stain tonight and we (again, meaning Jay) can install the shower this weekend! Then, all we need is trim, doors, outlets and switches, a toilet, a vanity, and some furniture and we are ready to move in!!! Still a race to the finish and we may have to spend a week or two with the newborn in the airstream, but man oh man I'm I impressed with my guy! He really busted his butt to get it to this point.

Worst Moment of the Week: I must have rolled over a screw or a rock in the house while I was keeping Jay company this week. My birth ball has a hole in it. :( It's a sad little deflated ball now. Probably make a trip to walmart today to buy a new one.

Movement: I hardly notice his jabs and kicks anymore. When I'm eating he likes to stretch out and I can always tell which end is his feet because when I push back slightly he moves away. I'm not so much worried about his movement anymore. Sensations coming from my stomach are 10% him, 90% braxton hicks contractions. And they are getting intense! I always wanted rock hard abs, but good Lord.

Food Craving: ice cream and chocolate.

Food Aversions: I'm up for anything.

Gender: Boy

Belly Button: Pretty sure it will stay the lop-sided skin volcano. Not popping out all the way.

What I miss: being the slightest bit comfortable. Bending forward.

What I look forward to: Sweet, glorious relief.

Paper Mache Mobile!

Corbin's name has been finished for awhile. I had a lot of fun working with the paper mache to create it. It got me thinking. What else can I make with paper mache for the nursery?

How about a mobile for above the crib or above the changing area?!

Typical mobiles are 4 or 5 stuffed characters on a motorized hanger that spins and plays music. I wanted something a bit more artsy.

The inspiration:
The blog I found this baby on (click image for link) detailed how to recreate the look with various sized, wooden sewing circles, fishing line, and a few small weights.

Well, I want to do this project for as little moolah as possible. So I decided I would paper mache the pieces instead!

The letter in the center was made the same as the letters in Corbin's Name and the rings were created using a compass and cardboard.

So here's the progress so far:
Next comes paint and finishing touches. I'll add a finished picture when it is indeed finished. :)

37 Weeks

How far along? 37 Weeks 1 day

Countdown: 20 days to go!!

Exercise: Yea right. It takes me 4 tries to get out of bed.

Stretch marks: Inner thighs have gotten it the worst, followed by boobs, and the belly undercarriage.

Sleep: I sleep like a rock in between bathroom breaks. Averaging 5 pee breaks and the occasional heartburn coming out of my nose/choking on vomit trip a night.

Best Moment of the Week: Our prenatal appointment was at the new South Location! It is a half hour closer to us. We were very nervous it would not be completed in time and the drive into the birth center on delivery day would be excruciating. Half hour less excruciating sounds good to me! Also decided to have an internal exam at that appointment and I'm 0 cm dilated but 80% effaced!! Progress!!

Worst Moment of the Week: Spotted a scorpion in the living room of our house to be and decided I don't want to move out of the airstream. The airstream is up 2 feet off of the ground. Nothing slithers or crawls it's way into my living room up here. Jay says he will treat around the house and it shouldn't be an issue once we have doors and such. I have my reservations.

Movement: I keep hoping he'll flip from right to left and assume the position for birth. His head is waaaay down in the pelvis already so we know he's not going to flip breech, thank God! I thought he finally made it over to the left yesterday because I was feeling consistent pressure under my left ribs (which would indicate his butt sticking out) and short jabs on the right side (indicating feet). As I jostle by belly today, I can't be sure. He seems to be right in the middle, kicking my laptop straight up.

Food Craving: When hurricane Hermine hit, all I could think about was a bean burrito from Taco Bell and a brownie earthquake from Dairy Queen. This is not an easy combination to go about here in Kingsland. Taco Bell is in Marble Falls a half hour away from our Kingsland Dairy Queen. Well it rained and rained all day. Jay wouldn't let me drive. The next day it had stopped raining and I was still craving. Jay wouldn't let me drive. We had seen reports of how bad the flooding was so I was forced to wait a third day. By now, Jay was sure my craving had passed but it had only gotten stronger. I finally got my Taco Bell. I had built it up in my head so much that it was a severe let down. I didn't even want the Dairy Queen afterward. So disappointing.

Food Aversions: Nothing. If it's not moving, I'll eat it.

Gender: Oh who knows. We are 75% sure it's a boy, but surprises are always a possibility. We have names picked out for either.

Belly Button: It's not a full outie, but it has worked it's way into protruding the outside edges. It looks like a tiny, flesh colored volcano.

What I miss: the ignorant bliss of never knowing heartburn.

What I'm looking forward to: meeting our little guy!! Won't be long now!

Becoming a Lactation Consultant

There are several ways to go about becoming a Lactation Consultant. To sit for the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners you have 3 pathway options. The first option is to use on-the-job experience working with breastfeeding moms and providing lactation support. The second option is to pay for a human lactation and breastfeeding training course. And the third option is to work directly with a certified lactation consultant to acquire clinical experience.

WIC has breastfeeding counselors and from what I could tell, the only prerequisite was successfully breastfeeding a baby. So I inquired about becoming a breastfeeding counselor with WIC to rack up some clinical experience and get me closer to taking that exam. Apparently WIC's breastfeeding counselors are peer counselors and you must have been on WIC in order to work for WIC.

Strike one.

It was then recommended to me to shoot for pathway 3 and work directly for a certified lactation consultant close to home. The only problem is the closest LC to Kingsland is in Austin. Hour and a half drive each way to work for free until I rack up 500-1000 clinical hours, sounds like a great option. In that case, it may be cheaper to pay $800 for the online training and take pathway 2!

Strike two.

The up side of that revelation being, once I become an LC, I will have zero competition in Marble Falls, Kingsland, Granite Shoals, Horseshoe Bay, Llano, Burnet, and Fredericksburg. Another up side of the current situation is I subleased my clinic and started my "Maternity Leave" waaaay too early. I have plenty of time to do some self-study of Human Lactation text books and exam reviews. Many of these books I've found online, for free. And a third upside is I may qualify for federal grants or at least financial aid for the course work should I decide to go pathway 2.

In any event, I still have a lot of research to do. Less blogging more reading.

35/35 Milestone!!

This is seemingly our last big milestone before the BIGGEST of milestones. 35 weeks pregnant - 35 days left!

I'm feeling a bit off today, so I will be celebrating in bed, working on Corbin's t-shirt rug. Jay's dad and step mom are throwing a shin dig tonight. Hopefully I will be feeling more social by then.

33/34 Week Appointment

At my last appointment there was protein in my urine, which is an indicator of preeclampsia. The midwife, Michelle, wasn't alarmed. She suspected I cross contaminated the test. So this week I was careful to only get pee on the stick and sure enough only trace amounts of protein now!

Another indicator of pre-e is high blood pressure. I thought for sure I would have high blood pressure today. I was 20 minutes late to my appointment. There was an accident on Mopac 1 and everyone and their mom had to stop and stare, which made the usual 70 mph highway a parking lot. I was so stressed about losing my appointment and having to reschedule after already investing an hour and a half into the drive only to turn around. I called the birth center and the angel, Erin, who answered the phone told me to come on in and they would still see me today! Whew! (Note to self: make Erin cupcakes). But Roswitha took my blood pressure and it was only 112/64!

We gained a pound since last time, up to 168 pounds of fun. Corbin's heart rate is measuring 140 bpm! He's still head down, Roswitha said his head is nice and settled already! According to the October 8th due date, I'm 33 weeks 5 days. According to my guess of October 2nd, I'm 34 weeks 4 days. According to my fundal height, I'm 36 weeks!

I've been told by the midwives if I go into labor in 2 weeks they will not stop it and we can meet our baby! But he's still got some time to cook. Could be two weeks, could be four weeks, probably be six or eight weeks just to spite me.

I got my hospital bag checklist this week and will now go home and start packing "just in case". The hangar is coming along nicely. We have insulation in about half of the downstairs living portion. It will be a race to see if we move into the hangar before Corbin moves to the outside!