Now you're REALLY hurting Mommy

I'm in labor. We're still at home trying to get the contractions to about 5 minutes apart. I've been at around 6-7 mins apart since 7am (been contracting since 7am yesterday-- we did think that they were just braxton hicks for quite a while though). This is really no fun (no fun at all) but we can't wait until Stinky's here. I guess the name mystery will be solved soon (will be stuck with it once they write it on that piece of paper in the hospital. We're still not sure what it'll be). We'll update when there's more news.

Contractions for everyone!

Mommy, Daddy and Stinky

Really though, Baby?

We don't have much to report yet. We're due and tired. We want Stinky to come already so that we can worry about him in all new and interesting ways. We haven't had any real labor signs and other than the fact that he's engaged (which we've known for 2 weeks now) there's really nothing to indicate that he is coming soon. We'll be induced soon if he decides not to come on his own (we were told that 12 days is standard waiting time). We have an appointment with the midwife tomorrow and we'll be sure to update everyone as to what is happening once we know.

Nothing else has been going on really. We went for a lovely walk today and found a bunch of almost adult baby swans in the stream near the house. We had a good time feeding them bread and taking photos. We'll post pictures of us and the town soon (I know, we keep promising to post pics and haven't. I will someday!). Daddy still doesn't love school and Mommy is super ready for Stinky to come out. Will post again tomorrow after our appointment. For now, we're going to watch the second half of the Saints game. We wish that we were in New Orleans to watch it with all of our friends! Daddy really, really wishes that he had an Amber in his hand.

Amber for everyone!

Mommy, Daddy and Stinky

You ready, Baby?

We're sorry that it's been so long since we've updated but it's been a relatively slow news week over here. We had our 38 week appointment on Monday. We are well and Stinky is engaged. We know that this doesn't actually mean that he's coming right away but we're opting to see it as a good sign. He's still head down and all of that good stuff (and his heart sounds good and our blood pressure isn't going crazy...). Mommy is a ball of out of control symptoms though. We haven't had any swelling all this time but now Mommy's hands are holding onto so much water that she can't grip things and they hurt all of the time. We're still not sleeping so well but we make up for that by trying to sleep for as much of the day as is possible. 'Resting' all day also helps Mommy (almost) forget that Daddy is at work all day (Mommy and Stinky really miss Daddy while he's gone).

On Sunday we did our practice run to the hospital in Edinburgh. It was even easier than we could have hoped. It took an hour and 5 minutes door to door and was super easy to find. Mommy is a lot less stressed about it now that she knows that it's not going to be difficult to get there. We're all packed and ready to go for the hospital. Mommy never feels as if we're totally ready for the Stinky but Daddy suspects that she never will. We have the essentials and everything is clean and folded and neat (ready to be utterly messed up by a crazy Stinky baby). Now we just wait...

The weather has been really nice here in Scotland. It's been sunny most days but it's progressing strongly towards winter. The air feels clean and crisp and it makes us think of beautiful October/November days in Nola. Mommy and Daddy both wish that we could be sitting at the Fly with some friends and this cool breeze (we're sure that there are a lot of people in Nola who would love it if we could bring this breeze to them!).

Daddy isn't loving work so much but he loves being home with Mommy and we're both looking so forward to Stinky coming that it makes up for work being yucky or being lonely through the day.

That's about all we have for today but we'll write again soon. Hopefully the next post will read something like, 'we're in labor' and will be posted very soon (Mommy can dream!). We hope that the weather is nice no matter where you are and that you're all sitting outside in a nice breeze right under a sunbeam.

Cool breezes and sunbeams for everyone!

Mommy, Daddy and Stinky

Time to come out now, Baby!

It's official-- we're full term. This last Sunday we were 37 weeks. If Stinky wants to come out now it would be fine with us. We can't wait to meet him and Mommy feels like she is about to burst. We're almost all ready for his debut. We have a few odds and ends left to get and Mommy still has a few things that she needs to pack in her hospital bag (she would also like to spend some more time practicing getting that car seat in and out of the car) but for the most part we're ready. Mommy's been doing what she can to encourage Stinky to get on out of there. There's raspberry leaf tea and walks and spicy food (nothing crazy spicy, Mommy doesn't want to chance worse heartburn than she's been having). Other than running around planning and packing and cleaning there hasn't been all that much happening. Daddy is busy working and Mommy is busy trying to get 3 consecutive hours of sleep. We didn't end up going to Glasgow last weekend. Daddy's parents came in town instead. They're coming in again this Saturday so we might not get there before the Stinky comes. We'll see... we'll work bubble tea into our future somehow (also, Mommy would love to see her friend Eileen). On Sunday we're going to do a practice run to the hospital. It's fairly far away (should be about 45 minutes, we'll see...) so we want to know the very best route in case Stinky is in a hurry. We have a checkup this coming Monday and hopefully everything is on track (he's still in a good position, etc). We will, of course, let everyone know how it goes. We hope that everyone had a good labor day and that everyone is well. We also hope that everyone is getting more sleep than Mommy (which she is about to go attempt again).

Sleep for everyone!

Mommy, Daddy and Stinky

One month to go, Baby!

We don't have too much to report today. We've had a pretty mellow week. We're now officially 36 weeks and we're very excited about the fact that Stinky is going to be making his appearance in a month or so. We're hoping that he waits until at least this coming Sunday (when we'll be 37 weeks and he'll officially be full term) but that he comes out very soon after that.

Mommy and Stinky are feeling well enough. Mommy is very tired and doesn't like that Daddy is off at work all of the time. Mommy and Stinky get a little lonely during the day. Mommy's been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing (we're not sure how she keeps finding more that needs to be done) to get ready for Stinky's impending arrival.

Mommy's birthday was Saturday. We all had a nice, relaxing day. Mommy slept for most of the day (well, she was in bed anyway) and then we went to St. Andrews to get Japanese food. It was very yummy. We all love good Japanese food but haven't had much of it since we moved to Scotland. Mommy was very happy with the tofu steak and the rolls. Daddy loved his tuna sashimi. We got a supermarket cake and Daddy sang happy birthday. We got the one that had purple, green and gold sprinkles. Mommy felt that it was fate that those colors were on the cake and insisted that we get it even though it was a cheap marshmallow one. We were going to go to Glasgow to get bubble tea on Sunday but we decided that it would be better to go next Saturday so that we could make a whole day of it. We'll take pictures and post them (along with ones from Mommy's birthday). Yey for bubble tea!

Bubble tea for everyone!!

Mommy, Daddy and Stinky

Put down that bladder, Baby. It's not a toy.

We had an appointment with the midwife today. All went well. Stinky is in the correct position for his big debut (and hanging out very low, apparently. We're hoping this means that he means to make a break for it in two weeks-- but NOT before! It could mean nothing and he could stay in there for ages longer. Mommy's hoping for the former). We're 35 weeks now (as of yesterday). Mommy is particularly uncomfortable and is ready for Stinky to come out. Daddy is ready for Stinky to come out, too. He's just not particularly uncomfortable. We want him to finish cooking though so he has to stay in until 37 weeks. We know that it's not very likely that he'll make an early appearance but Mommy can dream.

Mommy thinks that she might have officially kicked into the nesting phase. She realized this one day when she found herself on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor. Those of you who know Mommy well will know that that's a bit unusual. We're trying to sort out all of the rest of it in the next couple of weeks so that there's nothing to deal with in the last couple of weeks. Daddy's Mommy brought us an overnight case that we're packing for the hospital (it's mostly done but Mommy's still not finished with her birth music and things like that. Also, her favorite nightshirt isn't going in until the last possible moment).

Daddy's officially in the swing of teaching now. He's doing well but Mommy and Stinky don't love being alone during the day. Good thing there's always eating, sleeping and cleaning to be done to help distract her (somewhat).

Saturday is Mommy's birthday. Daddy is taking her out for Japanese food in St Andrew's. Mommy is already dreaming of tofu and enoki mushrooms.

Tofu and enoki mushrooms for everyone!

Mommy, Daddy and Stinky

What do you want for your birthday, Baby?

As per requests from family and some friends here is the wish list that Mommy has been making on Amazon.co.uk. Because it's on the UK website there won't be any customs tax and the shipping costs are all reasonable. Admittedly, some of the things on the list are things that Mommy wants (like the changing bags and the breastfeeding tops) but they're all Stinky related (and Mommy has a birthday coming, too!)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/wishlist/2FKSR96SP8HH9

Mommy and Daddy went to a giant car boot sale (yard sale sort of thing) today and got a TON of clothes for Stinky. We had some already (some that we bought new, some from Daddy's Mum and some that Desiree and Chris sent) but now we're all kitted out in terms of clothes for at least a couple of months (unless Stinky decides to grow ridiculously fast or be huge when he comes out).

Other than that, we don't really have any big news. Daddy starts teaching next week and Mommy will be hanging out alone Monday through Friday 8-4:30 ish. Mommy isn't looking forward to it (not that Daddy's jumping for joy about the end of his summer holiday). We're looking forward to Mommy's birthday and maybe going out for a nice meal. After that it'll be all eyes on the calendar as we'll be 36 weeks the day after Mommy's 34th (Mommy can't believe that she's that old and sort of doesn't want to talk about it).

We're 34 weeks tomorrow. It's all very exciting and Mommy is a bit frenzied getting her last minute things done. Our music for labor list is almost finished, our hospital bag still needs packing but mostly everything is laid out and ready, our birth plan is written and typed up, our emergency numbers are next to the phone and we have almost all of the essentials that we'll need for Stinky's first days.

Here are some pictures (not terribly new but only a bit more than a week old).

Here is Daddy and the cottage that will be Stinky's first home (and a neighborhood cat that Daddy made friends with).

Here is Mommy, her big fat Stinky belly and their ice cream in St. Andrew's. Yes, the ice cream was yummy.

We're going to try our very best to have a lovely last holiday weekend. We hope that all of you have lovely weekends, too.

Lovely weekends for everyone!

Mommy, Daddy and Stinky