Oops, sorry!

I completely forgot to update you all. Der.

Joshua James was born at 7:27pm on August 20, 2008. He was born at home, in the water, directly into his father's hands. I ended up with a third degree tear and a bit of bleeding, so I had to take an ambulance ride to the hospital, but everything worked out well in the end. I guess it turns out I'm a bleeder. Oh well.

Wondering why I tore? Here's a few reasons:

Josh was 10lbs. even, 21.5" long, with a 15" head. Big guy! Gabe was only 8lbs. 5oz., and he was 1/4" longer.

I will post pictures of Joshua and my project when I get time -- with the two guys finding time is kind of hard. Go figure. :-P

Adios, Ticker!

Today's the day! I'm far enough along that I'm cleared for homebirth. Woooo! That means, if I go into labor right now I don't have to go anywhere. Not that I want to go in labor right now, no way. Uh-uh. We still have way too much to do. Most of our supplies are gathered and we're picking up the Aquadoula on Saturday, but we're just not.ready.

That also means I'm removing the ticker from this blog. The baby will come when he's ready, so don't worry about how many weeks I am. I'll have the baby by mid-September. That's all you need to know. :-)

Everything is still going great. I'm measuring right on target, my blood pressure is great, and I have virtually no swelling. My GBS test came back negative (!!!) and my bloodwork was good. The only problem is I'm achy, crampy, and SORE. Ugh. None of it's a bad sign or anything, it just sucks.


I also have a project update for you. I haven't done a lot on it lately. We all had a stomach flu and then Matt was gone on his annual fishing trip for a week. I'm tired! Here's what it looks like now:


And here's the latest update (it's all Amy's clan!):


26. AmyLou -- Amy is awesome. She's a wonderful friend. She's also throwing me a mother's blessing party in a week. It's going to be so great. So, so great. :-)

27. Schenley

28. Jacob

29. Nicol

30. Shari

Thanks guys! Your block makes me smile.

Also, if there are any of you out there who still want to contribute yarn, now is the time. There's not much more time before the baby comes! If you want your section to be at least one complete circle, you should probably send 7-8 yards or meters rather than 3-5. It's getting pretty wide around.

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed so far. It warms my heart to see all the different yarns working together. Love it!

An Updated Picture!

Here you go, the Matchbox van is for scale. :-) If I were to take it off the needles, it would be a big circle with a diameter of about 30". Still too small to be anything, but much bigger than it used to be. Right now I'm all out of contributor yarn, so I think I'll just go around and around with the main yarn until I get any more (if I get any more, that is). I haven't been to the Post Office since Monday, so if you sent something in very recently it may be waiting for me in the box.

Here's a close-up with the labels:

(click for a bigger picture in a new window)

17. Pam of teh interwebz :-)

18. Mona & Sara. Mona's one of my 76-er cousins, there were four of us born in 1976. Mona and Sara have a brand new baby girl, so everyone send out huge congrats to them. Rumor has it I'm going to get to squish her next week. I.can't.wait. Oh, and a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mona today, too.

19. Shosh. Shosh is planning a VBAC very soon so she need some GO SHOSH!'s GO SHOSH!

20. Kathy. Matt's aunt and a wonderful woman. We love Kathy.

21. Rhea. Another mom of a Gabriel. :-)

22. Jos. Jos's yarn is all crazy and colorful, just like Jos. This yarn was really fun to knit in.

23. Gina & Michelle. Gina's also a 76-er, and it's also her birthday today. Happy birthday Gina!

24. Christina. I miss Christina. Move back!

25. Angela. Another great interwebz friend. Angela, you're a sweetheart.


So there it is. That's everyone. If you're still thinking about sending in yarn I would suggest you do it SOON. I'm 33 weeks today, which means time is ticking away. This Sunday we have a "get organized" home visit with the entire birth team and our home birth supply box is getting filled with all the necessities. We only have a few things left to get, including getting all the baby stuff out of the attic.

Time flies man, time flies.

Belly Picture at 32 weeks

I've been busy being exhausted and cranky, so I haven't updated in a while. I took a little break on my project while I rushed to finish some baby gifts for friends, but hope to have an update for you this week with a new picture.

While you're waiting, here's my huge belly at 32 weeks. This was right before Matt and I went out to celebrate our anniversary a little early:

What a bargain!

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1779338,00.html

For only an extra $15,000 out of pocket, you can now get a doctor to act like a midwife. All of the "special treatment" practices (save the massage) are part of what you normally expect from a homebirth midwife -- at a fraction of the cost.

The world is CRAZY.

Speaking of great care, we had a prenatal yesterday morning. Yes, that would be a visit on Sunday morning. Everything looks great. All tests on me (urine, bp, etc.) are fantastic. We've turned in our Aquadoula contract and have ordered the kit of supplies for the birth.

Baby boy is doing fantastic. He's still measuring big, he's going to be tall like his brother -- maybe taller. He's happy and active, even putting on a nice kicking show for everyone. We have our next visit in two weeks. The third trimester is in full-effect and we're racing toward the finish line.

I hope to have an updated project picture tomorrow night. :-)

A Picture!

It's the end of the term for my students so I've been really busy tutoring. Working most nights of the week means when I get home, I want to sleep. That means I've made slower progress on my project. BUT, I do have an update for you:

(As always, click to get a bigger version)

Here's the list of wonderful people in this update:

13. Pam (Gabe's Nana Pam). Pam also has two boys, so she's a good resource about what's to come. . . .

14. Dan, Rosey, and Cameron. There are three different colorways here, though I'm not exactly sure which belongs to who. I guess I could ask. :-P

14. Fred (aka, Capt. Tuna). Matt's dad did something really special. He found some yarn that belonged to Matt's mom. This was a rough section for me, it took a while because there were a lot of tears. Thank you Fred, you really made this part special.

15. Amazing Rhonda. Rhonda was an incredible source of comfort and support after Gabe was born. She went out of her way to help me, and she's someone I love dearly.

16. Lindsey and Eva. Sorry this is kind of curly. I need to switch to a bigger cable needle, so everything is getting pulled funny. I love the green ribbon that Eva picked out. You'll get a better view of their section after I get some more rows knitted.

I still have a bit of yarn to work in. Pam, Mona, Kathy, Shosh, and Rhea are in line next. Hopefully things will settle a bit so I'm not so beat at the end of the day and can get more done.

The pregnancy is coming along fine. I'm feeling the 3rd trimester slow-down. I catch myself getting frustrated for being so tired and slow, but then I have to remind myself that this is par for the course. There's not much pregnancy left, which is so hard to believe. This Sunday will be our first "every other week" prenatal visit. :-O

Belly Pictures, sorta

Gabe and I made banana nut bread this afternoon and Matt got a couple pictures. You can kind of see my belly, so we'll call these 27ish week pictures. ;-)

Oh, and Gabe is going to be an excellent cook. Most definitely.

My Brave Little Guy

Gabe slipped and fell at the playground yesterday morning and got a nasty gash on his forehead. He and Matt were giving me some time to myself on Mother's Day, so Matt was there all by himself at the time. Poor guys. Matt jumped into action and took excellent care of little Gabe. I met them at the urgent care center and they rejected us and our son with a cut on his forehead down to the bone because of our insurance. Grrr! [insert rant #37 about the heath care system in this country]

We ended up driving all the way down to Children's Hospital, where Gabe got excellent care. They really are wonderful there. Gabe was in great spirits and handled everything like a champ. He's all sewn up now and barely notices it at all, though Matt and I are severely traumatized!

So, thank you to the wonderful staff at the Children's Hospital ER. I know it probably wasn't the most exciting part of your day, but your attentive care and kindness made a horrible situation for US a lot more bearable. Not quite enjoyable, but as close as possible.

Oh, and we have not stopped thinking about how with another boy on the way this is not likely our last experience of this sort.

In other news, we had a midwife visit yesterday afternoon and everything looks blissfully boring and great. The pregnancy is chugging along, moving faster every day. We got our contract for the Aquadoula rental, which is making things seem more real. Our next visit is in three weeks and then we switch to every two weeks after that. Can you believe it??

I haven't done much on my project this week. Matt was on travel for business most of the week and I was just too worn out at the end of the day to do much more than brush my teeth and wash my face (though I skipped the face washing most days :-P). I hope that after all the drama of yesterday, things calm down and we can get back into a more regular routine. Until the summer, that is. Hey, I'm going to enjoy our regular routine for as LONG as possible!

24 WeeksToday!

Time keeps marching on, doesn't it? I haven't updated in a while because Gabe had a cold and then I had it. Now Matt's home early from work with it. Good times.

Things are moving along fine. I'm no longer in so much pain I'm in tears, my hips and pelvis seem to be working better now. I'm so relieved, I was panicking about things just getting worse and worse as I got further along. A breather is very nice. I just have to remember to wear some shoes while I'm cooking and doing dishes on the hard floor of the kitchen. *grumble*

The blanket is coming along great. I have been thrilled to get more yarn from all around. The notes and messages that have been included have been wonderful. I can't ever tell you how much it means to me.

Here's what it looks like so far:
I'm out of yarn again so I'm stalking the post office. Here's who's been worked in since my last update:

8. Yve (who sent the most sparkly yarn all the way from England!)

9. Kathy (the one from Colorado :D )

10. Aunt Marilyn

11. My mom

12. Yuling

(Click for full-sized photo)

Every contribution is deeply special, but I have to mention Yuling. When I pulled her package out of the box I squealed right there in the post office. Yuling and I spent countless hours together in graduate school. She was my mentor and my friend. She finished her doctorate (so she's one WAY up on me!) and moved to northern California. I haven't seen her in years, and we haven't talked in ages. Seeing her package warmed my heart and made my day. Here's a lesson to you all: if there's someone you really love out there, don't be an idiot like me. Keep in touch with them!

Progress!

(click for larger photo)

It took me a while to get this thing going. I had so many problems getting this on the needles. You'd think it'd be easy, especially since I've done this type of thing many times. It wasn't. It kept slipping off, I messed up the (embarrassingly simple) pattern, I dropped needles. It took me three days to finally get it going!

Once I got it going, however, it really started moving. This is my progress up through Sunday night. That was when I ran out of contributors. I have been working in the yarn I've received in the order that they have arrived, once I got past my three guys here at home. So far this is who is worked in:

1. Matt (He actually picked out his own yarn at the store! Have I mentioned how much my husband rocks?)
2. Gabe (I picked one of my stash yarns that he always wants to carry around, close enough)
3. Rocky (Yarn that's basically the same color as his fur, again: close enough)
4. Jenny
5. Fran
6. Michele
7. Tabitha

Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. I am really, really touched and am THRILLED at how it is coming out. True, it looks like a really ugly puffy hat right now, but that's because it's big enough that I need to swap out the cable for something longer. Trust me, it looks good.

I have to give a quick plug to the knitters out there. When I ordered my yarn I got a set of size 8 Harmony wood needles for my Options interchangeable set from Knit Picks. I am in LOVE with these needles. They are super pointy-sharp and smooth while still giving you the grip you'd want from wood needles. I couldn't be happier. Plus, they're really gorgeous. Now I need them in all the sizes! Plus the DPN's!