Happy Holidays

We had a lovely Thanksgiving day dinner with the Mapes clan. We really have so much to be thankful for: our families, our friends, our home, the absence of want. Life is so good...

Yesterday we celebrated Buy Nothing Day by, well, buying nothing. We've been celebrating Buy Nothing Day on November 28th for many years now. Although it certainly isn't the enitre solution, in a small way it represents hope for a change from our consumeristic society. I don't want to live (or raise a child) in a world where shoppers trample store employees to death trying to beat each other to "deals" on cheap material crap. Beyond the lack of humanity evidenced by unfortunate incidences like that one, consumerism is not sustainable, and indeed will kill all of us and our planet if we don't start thinking CLEARLY about what we really need and recognizing what is truly important.

On that note, I reccommend watching this video, "The Story of Stuff":
I hope that by being concious of the impacts of our actions we can eventually build a better world. That would really be something to be thankful for.

Done Working!

Yesterday was my last day of work, now I'm officially on maternity leave! Woooooo!

It feels really good to be done, although it's a little wierd - I've been working my entire adult life, and now I've had this job for nearly 11 years. (whoa!) It's really strange to think I will not be working for 3 whole months, I've never had that much time off before. Even durring the time I was "unemployed" between graduating from college and landing my current job (which took about 8 months) I was actually working quite a bit, as a temp. While I didn't work full-time while I was in school (either college or high school) since I was about 14 I've always had at least a part-time job working evenings & weekends, holidays & breaks. This whole "on leave" thing is going to be a strange experience for me in many ways. I bet I can handle it tho! :)

I'm really looking forward to having some time to finish some baby related projects, not to mention nesting. I'm getting some crazy urges to clean things that I'd never considered cleaning before. I cleaned the inside of the dishwasher already, and the washing machine door has some serious hard water deposits that need to be scrubbed off. And cobwebs, OMG. And I'd never really noticed before, but there's dust and cat hair on the top edge of the baseboard trim, all over the house! Also the pantry and all the closets need to be organized. Something clearly must be done about all this, and soon... because obviously I can't have a baby in a house with dusty baseboards and a disorganized pantry! It's wierd - I know it's totally irrational, but I am powerless to fight the urge to clean these things. [shrug]

Here's one baby project that I did finish recently which turned out really nicely, I made a mobile out of the blessing dolls which people made for baby Conan at the baby shower: It's hanging over the changing table in the nursery. It's really neat to look at. Each of the dolls is so unique, and they all carry a little paper scroll with a blessing written on it. Here are a couple of the individual dolls:

They are made from clothespins, yarn, fabric scraps, feathers, and love.

Birthday Numerology

Today was my 33rd birthday! We've been having some fun with numbers, since I'm turning 33 on the 22nd day of the 11th month - and just came home from a birthday party held in apartment #44. So far the number 55 hasn't turned up (except as the speed limit, but I think that's pushing it) but we'll see...

37 Weeks - Full Term!

Today is a special milestone - baby Conan is now officially considered Full Term. He probably won't be born for at least another two weeks (possibly up to five) but whenever he does decide he's ready it will be OK. Medically, his lungs & other organs are fully developed now and he wouldn't require any special care to survive "outside". He might be a tad on the skinny side at this point, as these last few weeks are all about accumulating baby fat, but otherwise he'd be just like any other newborn.

Besides Conan himself being ready, we've finished getting & organizing all the supplies we'll need for the homebirth, so we're ready too. Most everything we'll need is packed in this laundry basket, ready & waiting to be deployed whenever labor starts.

If you are curious, here's what is in the basket:

2 dozen extra large blue medical underpads

1 dozen 4x4 sterile gauze pads

1 digital thermometer

1 sterile rubber 2 oz bulb syringe

1 8 oz. peri squeeze bottle

1 bottle hydrogen peroxide

1 bottle witch hazel

1 bottle olive oil

2 dozen regular sanitary napkins

1 pkg maximum absorbtion maxi pads

2 sets of sheets

1 12x12 painters' drop plastic

1 12x12 blue plastic tarp

2 plastic garbage bags

2 ziploc freezer bags, 1 gallon size

drinking straws

heating pad

large plastic bowl

hand mirror

clean wash cloths

receiving blankets

diapers

sleepers for baby

cotton baby hat

nursing nightgown

And in the freezer there are a couple soft-gel ice packs, frozen juice concentrate, and several boxes of popsicles. :)

The plan is to set up the birthing tub right in the living room (on top of the blue plastic tarp) and make up the futon/couch as a bed (sheets, painters plastic, second set of sheets). It's the biggest room in the house, and the kitchen and one bathroom are right adjacent to it. Also, the wood stove is available if we want (or need) to have a fire going. You never know, we do get some big winter storms around the time we're expecting Conan to make his appearance. I actually think that would be pretty neat, to have a big storm going on outside while we were snug and warm laboring inside.

The only thing we don't have at home yet is the birth tub itself, which we are renting. We are supposed to pick it up on Saturday, so that shouldn't be a problem. We even have a special medical-grade hot water hose (regular garden hose is a no-no for this sort of thing) and a special adapter so we can attach it to the bathtub faucet for filling the birth tub.

I can't believe it's so close! I'm so ready to be done with pregnancy. It really hasn't been very pleasant, and although I will always treasure the special feeling of having felt this little life grow inside me, I'm ready to have my body to myself again.

I'm an Auntie!

Baby Chloe, just 5 hours old:
Awwww.

Born 7:45 am on Friday November 14th, 6 lbs 4 oz, 19.5 inches long. A very quick natural birth at the Wenatchee birth center, no complications whatsoever. The whole family was home by noon on Friday, resting and getting to know each other.

Belly Pictures

Aimee came out an took some more pictures of me & my belly a few weeks ago, and as always her photos are truly excellent. This is my absolute favorite, it's like we're holding little Conan already.

I was about 8 months pregnant at the time - my belly is considerably bigger than this now, if you can believe it:

This is just such a nice picture of us on our front porch. Somehow it just captures that happy expectant life-is-so-good feeling that I have.
We really are blessed with a good life.

Receiving Blankets

I took a break from sewing diapers (15 completed) and did up a few simple receiving blankets out of some really cute flannel. I think the elephants are my favorite:
I've also made a gazillion cloth wipes and all the absorbant inserts we're likely to need for the diapers. Things are coming together in the baby room but there still seem to be a lot of things left to get ready, and not very much time... Eeek!