(Almost) 40 Weeks!... and 2 1/2 Years Old

40 cm belly in all its glory!

Technically I'll be 40 weeks by the midwife's little wheel tomorrow, with an "estimated due date" (EDD) on Saturday.  But my visit was today, so I figured I'd go ahead and post the stats... for all those wondering. :)  Feel free to skip!

The feeding frenzy that has been my nights was clearly evident, both in measurement and on the scale.  I gained a good 5 1/2 lbs since last week (164.5), and expanded 2 cm (40 cm).  My heart rate was a bit high for me (90), but Liam's was steady and sleepy at 127.  My b/p is great, but my blood sugar was all wonky... I was clearly sleepy when making my oatmeal and forgot to add the butter.  Those 2 T of fat make all the difference between having wildly high and crashing blood sugar and a steady, satisfied full tummy.  Oops.  William's in a great position to come, though I have NOT appreciated feeling his head very very very clearly.  Those who've experienced the "ring of fire" while pushing will know what I mean.  Enough about that.  As far as "signs of impending labor" go, I've had pretty much all of them on and off for the past week, including LOTS of regular contractions, nausea, etc.  So... I have no idea when the little man will make his appearance.  I guess he likes surprises. :)

Update: 40 weeks today!

The hardest thing the past week has been sleep.  Usually I have to stretch, do inversions, soak in a bath, etc., for 1-2 hours each night, usually eating intermittently, before I can finally go to sleep (due to restless legs), usually around midnight.  Then I've often jolted awake around 4 am with the jittery feeling of low blood sugar, sometimes occasionally with a deep gnawing hunger.  I then eat whatever I can think of and usually finally go back to sleep around 6... thankfully Ryan's new work out schedule has him up at 5:30 4 mornings a week, so by the time Eowyn wakes up around 7:15, he's home and able to take care of her until I am rested enough to stumble downstairs.  She's a pretty low-maintenance kid in the mornings:  give her a cup of milk, a saucer full of soaked nuts & raisins, and she'll play quietly and happily by herself until at least 9.  I just have to supervise clean up when I wake up. :)

Since not much is going on in the pregnancy department, well, not that we can SEE anyway, I will give a little Eowyn-at-two-and-a-half update:

Playing at the chiro's office in one of my
FAVORITE of her outfits (thanks, Grams!)

Some things I've noticed about her this week have been her adorable tendency to substitute a compound word ending in one word with another beginning with the same word.  Two examples:  lollypop & popsicles, or rubber band and band-aids.  It's pretty cute.  She's sitting beside me in a fairy costume right now- occasionally giving me instructions on my lines ("Say "bye" to the fairy, Mom-- I'm leaving for a while.  But don't cry very much, ok?").  She has mastered Daddy's Nook, loving the few children's books we have on there-- either read aloud by a narrator or recorded by Mommy-- or the puzzle games.  When she gets stuck in a game, she calls me over with an "I'm in trouble, Mommy!  Help, please!"  Story Time at our local library (followed by lunch at Nina's!) is a weekly highlight, with the hand stamps at the end possibly being the best part.  Getting to go "work" on the computers (like Daddy) afterwards is a close second.  Of course the books and puzzles and movies we check out are great, too.  :)  (check out our guest performer for our story-time today: Sarah Dippety!)

She's showing more empathy than ever.  When I bemoaned the fact that I no longer had a favorite food in stock, she rubbed my arm and looked right into my face, the picture of compassion, saying "You can get more at the store, Mommy!  Don' worry!"  Other new favorites are "kipping" (skipping), walking on tiptoe, and saying the "sad questions" in the children's catechism (#20-25 that deal with sin).  She continues to be very excited about having a baby brother, and just the other morning discovered that I have a heart-beat too, just like William.  She was cuddled on my chest and sat up, asking me "What's dat?  It's like a hammer!"

Showing new independence on
the swings (wearing her "work-out shorts")

Speaking of heart-beats, Eowyn was SO excited to have her very own check-up at our family doctor's earlier this week.  She comes with me to all my midwife appointments and my one check-up, so she knew EXACTLY what our doctor needed to do, and told him so. :)  He checked her nose, and found a cow in there, just like he used to do in mine when I was little!  He let her listen to her own heart beat, which was priceless.  (My favorite moment was when the nurse asked if she was speaking in two-word sentences, to which I said "definitely."  Right on cue, Eowyn burst in "When Doctor Taylor comes in, he's gonna listen to my heart-beat!" The nurse laughed and said "I think that was about a ten-word phrase!")  She has everyone in our doctor's office swooning over her, from the nurse to the lab tech who did her finger prick.  E just held out her finger bravely and barely whimpered.  She's a healthy, strong little girl with everything looking great.  She's jumped percentiles weight, at 28 lbs she's now in the 40th % ile (as opposed to the 20th), and at 37" tall, she's in the 95th % ile for height!  The reason we even did a check-up in the first place is that we are looking to enroll her in a little 2-morning a week preK program at a local church.  Eowyn is such a social little creature that we know she will LOVE the interaction with other folks, especially while Mommy is taking a lot of time with her new brother.  Mom & Dad welcome the chance for E to learn to obey someone besides us, and to learn to function in a classroom setting.  We got her first classroom supply list and everything... Eowyn cannot wait to start buying things for 'cool, and asks regularly if she can go yet.

Today's Library Story Time featured an EXCELLENT magician!

She generally still takes a 2 hour nap from 2-4ish, and we put her to bed at 8, and usually hear her chipper little voice around 7:30 each morning.  While eating is NOT a struggle with her, sleeping is more challenging. She wakes up in the night fairly frequently, hungry, scared or needing to go to the bath room.  We have to be militant about our "no-fussing-at-bedtime" rule, or else she'd be keeping herself awake 'til all hours asking for this or that or the other thing (like a two-handed hand squeeze, or a kiss precisely in the center of her right cheek...).  We seem to have settled on a good routine now, though:  a book or two, a Bible story read by Daddy, potty, teeth-brushing & hand washing, 1 or 2 songs, family prayers, kisses, hugs, squeezed hands, and then blown kisses, with the door left open a crack, the "frogbert" night-light turned on, and a few songs playing off one of her lullaby CDs.  We're working a lot on politeness/respect (manners!), ASKING v. demanding or commanding, and obeying right away without asking "why" first.  Also trying to train her to be less picky and more flexible... or at least to request help if something isn't "just right" without dissolving into tears!  She's growing up so much and we love our little Eowyn Grace!!