almost 6 months ago

Six months ago was August 25, 2010. I was 39 wks 3 days pregnant and out for my evening walk. Chad was out getting his run in. That evening I decided to run again. I hadn't really run in weeks/months, though I tried a few times in the last month at the gym and just ended up in a lot of pain. Something told me that night to run.

When we were showering and going to bed for the evening, I was remarking at how low my belly was and showed Chad how I could fit my entire palm between my breasts and the big belly. I swept my hand down hard over my skin and swear I heard and felt the 'pop' that I think was the rupture of my membranes.

Not 5 hours later, at 1am on August 26, I awoke to the feeling of water gushing out of me while laying in the bed. I thought I had wet myself with urine, but quickly realized otherwise. It was go time. My water had indeed broken.

Throughout the day on the 26th, labor progressed and we took our final pregnant picture in the nursery. Now six months later, I have finally rediscovered these pics and finished putting together the final belly progression picture from the header of my pregnancy blog. You can click to enlarge if you want. Pictured are the following weeks - 12, 14, 16, 18, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, and 39wk4days (in labor, likely 3-4 cm at that point).

I should probably take a picture in the nursery now with Brody. I think I'm about the size of the first pic of me in week 12.

Valentines Date

I did my makeup and hair.

I wore a real bra instead of a nursing tank.

In fact, I wore nothing that would suggest 'mom'...dark non-maternity jeans, red shoes, a top with a neckline that showed a hint of cleavage.

I wore my engagement ring, something that I don't wear these days because the setting ends up scratching Brody's legs when I change his diapers.

I carried a real purse instead of a diaper bag.

I purposely did not wear a watch so that I wouldn't look at the time and wonder what Brody was doing.

My favorite restaurant these days, The Steeping Room, offered a Prix Fixe menu for Valentine's Weekend with at least one item in each course that fit my dietary restrictions (no gluten, no dairy, no eggs). I guarantee no other restaurant in Austin is offering such (even Mother's). It also was reasonably priced and did not have the 'amateur hour' feel in its clientele compared to other dining establishments Valentine's weekend.

We drove Chad's truck, which does not have a car seat base in it.

It was a real date night, folks, and I'm the luckiest gal in the world right now :).

Big Week!

Well, really more than a week...a big 10 days! Hope you enjoy seeing everything that has happened!

First trip forward facing in the stroller! (Jan 29)

First time sitting in a high chair (Jan 29)

Getting the DOC Band wrapped thanks to Evolution Graphics (Feb 1)

First time tasting solids - it was much more appealing to Brody :) (Feb 1)

First time making snow angels (Feb 3)

Not the first time petting the cat, but during this week he really started to recognize and smile at Miko. (Feb 5)

First time in a swing! (Feb 6)

Loving the swings in our neighborhood! (Feb 7)

We also have run several times (walk/running) forward facing in the BOB. Brody has had a few nights of 11 hours of sleep with only one wake-up each night < insert chorus of angels singing loudly from the heavens!!>. Brody's head has made a lot of progress in his DOC band. He actually has a bit of a...wait for it....round head in the back. I swear he has grown a foot and put on 10 pounds. Well, not really, but he does seem longer and his hair has definitely grown.

Good times!

Power Outage with a Baby - The Learning Curve

Things I learned during this morning's power outages -

• You do not need to worry about an alarm clock during a power outage if you have a baby. He/She will wake you up at the regular time. Oh wait, you were already up praying that he/she would gift you some extra time to prepare the house ?? Not a chance.
• As soon as the power goes out, that dang battery back-up surge protector you own is going to start beeping loudly to announce that you have a limited amount of time before your precious electronics will go out, so you better power down. Screw that! Let the electronics go out immediately, just stop beeping so the baby doesn't wake up.
• The sound machine in your baby's room was set to "Rain". Now that it is off, you must tiptoe around the house or he/she will wake up. This goes for overnight sleeping as well as nap time. Oh, and when the power inevitably comes back on during the middle of sleepy time, it will not go back to the gentle rain that you had it set to. No, it will go back to the default "Rain forest" which involves loudly tweeting birds that will wake your baby up. Better just to leave the sound machine off during rolling blackouts. I hate that thing.
• That battery-powered Sleep Sheep that you weren't sure you would use much because it only made the sound machine noises for 40 minutes?? Well, that will come to your rescue now that your dumb plug-in sound machine insists on reverting back to the squawking rain forest birds. Yay for Sleep Sheep. Not that your baby is going to nap at all today.
• Another thing that runs on batteries that will save you? The swing!! If your baby has somewhat outgrown the swing, but is refusing to nap because "something just isn't right in the house" during the power outage, the swing will work! I at least got 20 minutes of no crying because of the swing. Note - the swing will not work on any other day anymore.
• You will become hyper-aware of the status of the freezer. Why? Not because the frozen dinners or smoothie fruit in there might thaw. No, it is because you have 4-6 weeks of stored milk (and in my case it is treasured dairy- and egg-free stored milk) that you would cry for days over if it were to thaw. So, prepare a cooler by putting it outside in the 20 degree weather and then put all of your liquid gold breast milk on the shaded back porch away from the warm house. Thanks Dad for the suggestion. I can't believe I have at least a half gallon of my own milk sitting on our back porch in Texas.
• Feeling cold? Wrap your baby in a cuddly blanket and let him/her nurse and then cuddle with you asleep in your lap. Ahh...instant heater.

I'm sure there is more that I learned, but those are the items I will take away most from. What an interesting morning.