POP!

I am so ready to just burst right open. Only 12 more days till D-day! Yahoo! The 15th is the full moon, so it's possible I'll go a little early, in order to be inline with the lunar schedule. My body has been known to follow the moon cycle.
Well, some people have actually asked me what they should get the little bugger for Christmas. He's not even born yet, calm down. He won't remember, take advantage! In 3 years he'll be asking everyone he knows for remote control cars and shit. Anyway, I went ahead and registered for some organic cloth diapers and a couple of other things at Kidbean.com. It's an all vegan online family store. There's lots of cool stuff (toys without batteries are nice) on there that I didn't register for, if you like to pick stuff out for yourself. Diapers aren't lots of fun, but certainly practical. If you do want to get him something, type in shipfree1205 in the coupon code box for free shipping in December. I only registered for 4 terry cloth diapers, but we really need about 12, so you can go over the limit on those things. I just thought that would get us started.
Well, I'm outta here. I have to go get busy at some more laying around. I'm at the point where I'd prefer to be standing or lying. Sitting is getting a little cramped.
Later,
Big huge momma

rain rain go away

Momma is going stir crazy, couped up inside during all this nasty weather. I feel cramped and gross. I need my dog walks. I had a bunch of 'practice contractions' last night. we got a little ansy for a little while. Dan started packing my hospital bags that i never finished. then i just went to sleep instead. no baby. i had a midwife appointment this morning and she said that they are going to be coming stronger and more regularly all the way up until they're the real deal and I can set my watch by them. Let's hope that day comes soon. Well, as much as I want to have him, I also want to wait for my aunt and she doesn't get here till the 14th. Then, it's on, baby having time!

quack quack!

I'm detecting a slight waddle in my walk and it's getting harder and harder to fight it as the day goes on.

Done

Well, today is the day. I'm 37 weeks, a.k.a TERM! That means that our little biscuit is all done, he's just hanging out in the warming drawer till he's good and ready to come out and grace us with his presence. Get your bets in to Lisa, cause the time is now baby, the time is now! Oh, and I'd appreciate it if the guesses are 9 pounds or less! Don't encourage him. Momma's going about this au naturale. Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend

We've had a good ole Thanksgiving weekend so far. We had some excellent grub at Lisa's mom's for 'don't kill that turkey' day. All that good food got us ready for our big hike. We left Friday morning to go to Providence Canyon State Park. It took a little longer to get there than expected, due to my inability to pay attention to details like highway splits. We got there nonetheless and set out on our trip. The hike starts out behind the ranger station/interpretive center, going down to a creek bed. Then you actually hike for about 2 miles in the creek bed. It was just a trickle of water, that actually didn't smell too good. After that, we climbed a hill, slowly for pregnant mommas, and found our campsite. We set up our fancy schmancy tent that we hadn't used yet and built a fire. It got chilly, but it felt great next to the fire and later in our sleeping bags. We then got to use our fancy schmancy stove, that we haven't used yet, to cook up some Katmandu Kurry by 'backpackers pantry'. For freeze-dried camp food, it was pretty durn good, with lentils, rice, potatos, and other veggies. Bruce dined on some of the local nuts and the food that he carried in himself in his own new backpack. We told a couple of stories by the fire and then went to bed. We all seemed to take turns sleeping and snoring. Bruce was on guard constantly listening for critters outside, which was usually just the wind. After a full night of semi-restful intermittent sleep, it was nice to get up with the sun and cook some backcountry oatmeal. That stuff was GREAT. Dan, being a man, had to get the fire burning again. You can't spend any waking time at a camp site without a fire going. duh! It's true though, even I, who has never been a man, agrees. We then packed up camp and where on the trail again by 9am. We had between 3-4 miles of trail to go today to get back around the loop to the interpretive center. Bruce led the way. There where some beautiful canyons on the latter part of the trail, with crazy colors. The fall leaves on the trees added to all the beauty. It felt so good to get out of the city and walk in the woods for a couple of days. It's been too long. We're determined to go more often, especially when we have our little munchkin. Now we're all home and just chillin. I think Bruce is going to sleep for at least 2 days. I might just join him.

9 Days Until Term

YAY!

Sleepy

I am 12 days away from being "term." The due date is always set at 40 weeks, but they say that the baby is fully developed and ready to come out any time after 37! I'm all the sudden frantic about getting stuff done. I am reading 'anything related to baby' books, researching pediatricians, scheduling hospital tours, buying baby stuff, buying nursing bras, cuddling Bruce to death, and not sleeping at all. I'm pretty exhausted these days. I just want to lay around and have my feet rubbed. All the swelling that was happening in my ankles and feet is gone. I think my body was still recouperating (sp?) from all that dehydration of being sick.
So, are we gona do this betting pool or what? I think it would be fun. Who wants to keep track of the bets? Is there going to be a fee and the winner wins the money, or a prize bought with the money? What do you guys want to do? I think there should just be bets on how long he is and what he'll weigh. Everything else gets too complicated, like if we do hair color and then he's completely bald. I get guesses all the time from strangers on how big he'll be. The bigger I get, the more people want to talk to me about it. They're usually crazy too. Yesterday, I got accosted by a crazy toothless woman who has 11 children! Her oldest is 20, her youngest is 1. She also has a grandchild by the 20 year old, who is 1. So, she's still making babies when hers are having them! Somebody stop her! The guesses people make range from 5 lbs. to 10 lbs., so no one seems to have a real clue. I'm going to get a guess from my midwife next Monday, but I'm keeping it to myself. I figure she'd have the best guess of anyone.
Well, I just wanted to say hi. No pictures today. I'll get some more up soon.
Later,
Momma

Oh no!

Well, I just found out that my little baby boy should be around 20 inches long and 5 lbs. heavy. The scary thing is that his testicles are making their way down to his scrotum around now. My uncle just sent me an email saying that he's going to protest all that vegan food and take him to Hooters for some wings. I informed him of the beating they would both be getting if that ever happens! We're gona have our hands full, that's for sure.
I've gathered everything that I think I will need to bring with me to the hospital for me and baby. I'll be packing those bags in the next couple of days. Lots of people have been volunteering help now and when the baby comes, but I really don't need anything yet. Well, I finally figured out something that people can do. After the baby is born, I'm not going to want to be up and about in the kitchen, nor am I going to be able to go out to eat. If anyone wants to make us some yummy vegan casseroles to freeze and heat up in those first few weeks, that would be awesome. Me and baby will need lots of healthy veggies and protein. I don't want to sound snooty, but we're trying to be mostly organic with the little bugger too, so that means that momma's gotta eat mostly organic. So, if this sounds like fun to anyone, we'd be much obliged.
I can't believe my baby has testicles! Oh dear.

oh dear!

Well, we had a bit of a scare yesterday. Friday night, I started puking my brains out. I continued puking and pooping yucky stuff (I could go into some nasty details here, but I'll spare you) all night long. I wasn't able to drink water or anything, because I would just have to go right back into the bathroom. I was so thirsty and so dehydrated by Saturday morning that I had a 100.5 fever and was having contractions. Dehydration can bring on early labor and I was DEHYDRATED, with a capital d-e-h-y-d-r-a-t-e-d! So we went to the hospital. They hooked me up the monitors and my contractions where only 4 minutes apart and pretty durn strong! That's right about where I should be when I'm starting active labor. Oh, and by the way, those buggers hurt. My stomach muscles are still sore. So they started an IV to hydrate me and gave me some anti-nausea stuff, which made me act a little loopy for awhile, but then put me to sleep. Poor Dan didn't know what to do when I was freaking out. They kept having to re-adjust the monitors because I couldn't stay still. I would just have to flail my arms and legs a bit every couple of minutes. 2 IV bags of fluid later, mine and the babies blood pressure where still up and the fever wouldn't break, but the contractions had slowed down. Oh, and I was done with the puking part, which was nice. They where going to let me go home, but changed their minds. More IV fluid, tylenol, and sleep finally broke the fever and the blood pressure. After about 10 hours, we got to go. I continued to have a few more randomly spaced contractions after we left, but they're gone now. I slept really good last night and I'm about to get back in that bed and sleep some more. I had to get up and eat and drink a little bit. It's nice to be able to eat again. It all happened so fast, we didn't really have time to tell anyone what was going on. So, I thought I'd fill everyone in here before you hear it somewhere else and don't know what was wrong. We're all fine, no premature baby, and he's moving around like normal. He was going a little crazy during all those contractions.
Well, I hope no one else catches this bug. It was terrible. I got it from my niece and nephew. I knew I shouldn't be hanging out with them cleaning up their puke, but that's my job. Okay, back to bed.
Christy

Haha. This picture is funny. My belly looks crazy! We had fun hiking. The dogs are pooped! So are we.

33 weeks

It's November 1st! That means that NEXT MONTH!!, I'll be a mommy and Dan will be a daddy. Whoopi. I may have trouble bending over to tie my shoes (Dan did it for me this morning), but I can still get my big butt over my head into a handstand. It's a totally different balancing game with that belly, but it's actually kinda easier.
I have poison ivy. I think the dogs brought it in and rubbed it on everything cause Cassie has it too. It really sucks. It's not harmful for the baby unless it gets in my bloodstream, so I'm washing like crazy and no scratching!
My dad sent us a stethoscope so we could listen to the baby better. It's pretty fun. It's easy to hear him swishing around in there, but takes a bit of searching to get that little heartbeat.
I recently spent $100 on a new pair of fancy orthopedically correct shoes and it has done wonders for my sore back. Now if that little guy would quit playing with my bladder, ribs, and liver, i'd be totally comfortable. Ha, I wish! Dan and I are about to go hiking today, so I guess I really do feel all right. It could be worse. I could have swollen balloon legs and arms.
Later,
Momma

32 weeks

Only 8 more weeks till my due date! I had a midwife appointment this morning and heard the little heart beat. He's still going strong. When she asked me if I've been feeling him move, he gave two good knocks on my belly that she could see, to answer for himself. Oh boy, he's already independent. I weighed in this morning at a whopping 175! Holy Moly, I never thought I'd weigh that much. That's 25 pounds heavier than I've ever weighed and 35 pounds more than when I got started with this special little project. I hopefully won't catch up to Dan's 185. I'm getting pretty close though! I did some prenatal pilates with my niece today, to get the blood pumping a little. It's pretty fun to do prenatal pilates with a 4 year old. of course, she was doing everything better than me and made sure to let me know.
Daddy's getting a new tattoo right now. Mommy can't get them while pregnant, but I plan on getting his name on my arm once he's born. Halen is still the top name in the running, but not definete.
I'll post another picture soon. We recently ordered a new computer which should be arriving shortly. After that, I probably won't be able to get a word out of Dan as he zombies out in front of his new toy. Maybe it'll be good for the blog though, because he'll want to post something finally!
Till next time,
Momma

Shower

Well Christy had her baby shower yesterday and we got tons of very cool very cute and soon to be very useful stuff. I haven't posted in a while and I'm sorry. Christy has been doing great although I think the weight of the baby is starting to really pull on her back so I get to do lots of back rubs. Probably not enough though. The day is rapidly approaching when the little monster is due and I really cant wait. So many things to think about and so much wonder. You should ask me about it sometime.

week 30

well, i don't know if that picture worked or not. we'll see. it's a few weeks old and already my belly has grown more. between my last two appointments, 4 weeks time, i gained 10 whole pounds. whoe momma! the babe and I have completed and passed all of our tests determining whether he's gona be a healthy baby or not. now we just wait. the shower is this weekend. i'm excited. i've got some house cleaning to do though. there will be yummy snacks and even two kinds of cake. mmmm mmmm good. the baby likes cake!
the little monster is moving like crazy. he should be weighing in around 3 pounds by now. i think he's more. he's got my entire belly wobbling around and poking out in weird angles when he moves. sometimes i think he grabs my ribs and shakes them. it's a strange feeling.
like always, i'll try to post more frequently, but probably won't. i think ole daddy needs to get on here and post something about how he's feeling about all this. get to it daddy!
later.
christy

eyes wide open

Well, our little baby boy is supposed to be opening his eyes about now. He should weigh close to 2 pounds, which is not good news to me since I've already put on 20lbs. Dan can now hear his heart beating by just putting his ear up to my beachball of a belly. I'm growing so fast that my belly button is almost gone. It's getting harder and harder to get up off the couch. Grunting seems to help. Sorry it's been so long since we've posted anything. We'll put another picture of my belly on here soon and I'll try to be better about posting the weird fetus facts.

Lord help me!

Now I have Dan, Bruce, and mini Dan to take care of. HELP! I'm being overrun by testosterone. I think I'll paint all the walls in the new house different shades of pink to try to counteract the takeover.
Just Kidding. I'm excited. I won't be trading the little booger in. It was pretty amazing to watch him move around in there. He even kicked the ultrasound thingy 3 times right in a row. He wanted to know what the heck that thing was that was interupting his beauty sleep. Silly boy.
gotta go. I'm at work and I have a couple of rowdy kids who need tending to.
Christy

Here She Is

4.5belly
Originally uploaded by dandretti.

In all her four and a half month glory. I sure do love her and that little booger.

Here He Is

it_s-a-boy!
Originally uploaded by dandretti.

All 13 ounces of him. This is really exciting news. I can't even describe to you how it felt when i saw his little heart beating at 145 bpm. Now we have to come up with a name.

It's A Boy!

Pictures soon, having some trouble with the scanner.