I finally made it to my last day of work! Everyone keeps asking, "you're still here??" What most people don't realize is that you don't really get that much time off and you have to use all of it for after the baby is born. I was lucky enough to get a seat on the bus and the metro on my last day. There was only one seat left on the bus and a gentleman stood for me on the metro, which was nice.
I am really looking forward to staying home the four days and getting ready for our little one. I've been trying to think of all the good things about getting induced since it looks like it's going to go that way anyway. I have time to clean the house, do the laundry, go grocery shopping, cook, and re-pack my bag without any contractions. I can also sleep pain free although I'm not sure how well I'll sleep Sunday night thinking about having my baby the next day. I'm also thinking about getting my hair cut either Thursday or Friday, but I haven't found a cut that I really like yet so we'll see if I actually do it.
If all goes well, I'll be leaving the hospital Wednesday morning and my mom is coming that afternoon so it should work out perfectly. Plus the apartment should still be clean when she gets here :)
Even though I'm super ready to "get my body back" and start feeling like myself, I'm getting a little sappy thinking about how I won't be feeling the baby move around anymore. I have this idea of what I think he's like. He always buries himself in my ribs when his dad is driving and lately his favorite thing to do is to press his little butt up against the top of my stomach while simultaneously elbowing me in the side.
I'm pretty sure he's ready to come out because he's been doing a lot of stretching. He seems pretty cramped in there. I keep telling him that if he dropped down then he'd have more room and could come out faster, but maybe he's just not ready for that yet. He always kicks a lot when I drink orange juice or eat ice cream. He's like his dad that way, he loves ice cream too. Sometimes we play a game where I press down a little on my belly and then he kicks my hand. He really hates it if I rest anything on my belly and immediately presses up on it. If he's this much fun in the womb, imagine what fun we'll have once he comes out!
My coworkers have been really sweet. They threw me a surprise baby shower on Monday. I was SUPER surprised. I thought I was going to a meeting with just two other people and when I opened the door there were all these people in there. I thought I had the wrong room and was interrupting a big meeting and started backing out of the room when the girl I was with pushed me in and I saw the present on the table. It was then I understood what was going on. I wish I had a picture of my face.
We ate cake and I received an Ergo Baby Carrier and money from my coworkers. It was really nice of them. Nothing as organized as what Albert's coworkers put together, but since they didn't even throw a party for a guy who retired from the company, it was a pretty big deal. This Valentine's Day was definitely the best yet.
I've been browsing The Contented Little Baby, The Baby Whisperer, and Caring for Your Baby and Young Child, 5th Edition: Birth to Age 5. They all are so different. I have actually really enjoyed the Caring for Your Baby book. I really bought it just to have it on hand in case of emergency, but it has lots of practical advice and explains how to do everything and why. Plus it's easy to read.
The Contented Little Baby is VERY specific. By 7 AM the baby should have ate for x min on each side. The Baby Whisper is more of a routine - Eat, Activity, Sleep, You (EASY). Just an order that you can do things in, instead of a very specific schedule. Caring for Your Baby just says that the baby needs to eat every 2-4 hours for about 20 minutes. I think it's good to use ideas from all three. I don't anticipate needing such a specific schedule as is in the Contented Little Baby, but I guess we'll see how it goes.
Only five more days to go (or less)!
Comments
As for the baby's schedule, my little one nursed for like 40 minutes each side sometimes. Perhaps some of it for pacification (oh well...at least it wasn't a pacifier) and not all the time. Other times, she wanted just a small drink and would be done after 10 minutes on each side. Having nursed for a year, my advice is to listen to your baby's needs (cues) and don't go in with too much assumption that YOU know what he needs. While we know some of what they need, they're also better at letting us know than we sometimes give them credit for - we just have to "listen".
I've been checking Facebook for news. I hope everything is going well and I can't wait to hear the news.