Still No Deliveries, III

Thad has still not made his appearance nor has he made any real attempt to do so. *sigh* Latest news: after a two mile walk last night I experienced two contractions I didn't want to talk through and now, at 3:30 in the morning, I can't keep my right hand awake when I go to bed. I did get the apple pie made though!

Still No Deliveries, II

Two days away from the due date and counting. Contractions have started pretty early today; I'm not getting my hopes up yet, but I did think about walking up and down our stairs. Three flights of stairs, 30 steps in all...we'll see.

We went on a walking tour of the city last night, but ended up doing more standing and listening than walking. The ice cream at the end of the evening made up for it. Yes, I'm eating ice cream again, but in moderation. I think I've gotten over my addiction for the stuff.

We have apple and pear trees in our yard. We've had apple pudding, apple cake and if I get one more burst of energy before going into labor maybe Ava and I will make an apple pie. I'm not sure what kind of apples they are. They're green, but not Granny Smith or Golden Delicious. I'll have to examine the apples in the grocery store again to see what they are. The pears are just getting ripe so I'm anxious to see how they'll turn out. The neighbor behind us has purple plums behind his house. I never see him out there so I wonder if he'd mind if I took some. Aiko has yellow plums at her house that are delicious. I can't wait till her trees are ready! I've found garlic and field onions in the garden beside a big plant that looks like rhubarb, but it's not rhubarb. There are also Dahlias and Gladiola in there as well. We may plant some "winter vegetables" if someone around here feels up to it.

Full moon tonight!

Still No Deliveries

Thad still seems to be content where he is. I went with Ava and April for a two mile walk yesterday, but he still wasn't convinced. I am anything but content at the moment. I'm having a lot of trouble with carpal tunnel and have to spend the first half hour of every morning waking up my right hand.

He is dropped and I believe engaged, now we just have to get the real process started. Every evening I'm having harder and harder contractions so every evening we're setting out clothes in case Timothy and I have to hurry to the hospital in the middle of the night. Every morning I get out of bed almost in tears b/c of aches, pains and frustrations.

Clay spent last evening with the Gilson kids. He had gone there with Ivana and April to pick up Timothy, but then he didn't want to leave! That's progress. He's moving out of that "Mommy/Daddy" dependency just in time! He's been doing the same thing at other people's houses also. Timothy let him stay since Ivana had gone there to do yard work for Aiko (who is 4 months pregnant) and Kevin brought the two of them home when she was done. Clay smelled of fish having had a proper Japanese dinner!

Last night I slept on the twin bed that was in Clay's room that's been moved to the family room. The bed in our room is so low to the floor I have to reach out and grab on to the radiator to pull myself out. Today I'm going to have Ivana and April move it, along with the bassinet, to the living room on the main floor. It makes the most sense for me to be in the most central location when I get home from the hospital. The bathtub and other necessities are on this floor as well.

My friend Erin in Walsall, England and I have been in a race to see who would have their baby first. She was due 20 of August and I'm due on the 21. She won. Her new son Judah was born the evening of the 12. I was hoping that I would deliver on the 13 to keep the pattern going. I can't wait for her to tell me what her twin sons have to say about it all! Their logic provides much entertainment.

Ava and I looked around the house yesterday and she commented that no one would guess we just moved in last Thursday! Yesterday I got the office organized so I feel comfortable working in here now. Now I'll enter our bills and receipts and other things that are my responsibility! Yes, I might even blog again! I can't work in a cluttered environment. It drives me crazy. Hopefully I'll have a washing machine by the end of the day. I personally don't have any energy or desire to lift a finger around the house, but I might just try being a little bossy for once and ask everyone else here to do things! Since they're here they might as well do something!

I do feel bad for April. With the baby situation and car situation she's not able to go out and see as many things as we'd hoped. That's another reason I want Thadeus to come now. I don't want her to go home feeling like she'd wasted her time in coming.

First Night in the New House

We've woke up to our first morning at the new house. We are definitely out in the country! I like it. We converted Clay's bed to the toddler phase before turning in last night. He woke up around 2:30 very upset. After an hour of trying to help him figure this new world out I sat him on the bed, closed his door and turned out the lights. He didn't cry long and he's sleeping in this morning. We have a night light, but it was left at the other house.

Ava and April arrived from North Carolina yesterday afternoon. They were very tired and were so thankful to go to bed last night. They got to sleep on brand new mattresses. The mattresses on our bed, we discovered at bed time, were anything but new. OUCH!

My kitchen is pretty much put together and functioning and by the end of the day I hope to have our bedrooms and bathrooms in the same situation.

Clay has become fascinated with the Veggie Tales theme song. Actually, I'm wondering if it's the constant staccato sounds that the song begins with. He still will not enunciate his words, but sometimes the noises he makes really do sound correct and he is able to follow the rhythm almost perfectly.

Thadeus is still showing no signs of hurry. It would be nice to have things settled here a bit more before he arrives. Timothy has pretty much decided on a second vehicle, but I'll wait to announce that until we're 100%. We've got furniture to buy, curtains and pillows to make, and things to figure out what to do with! It was really nice to unpack pictures and other items I haven't been able to display in years and not be sure which room to put them in. I have options!

8 August 2005

We're on baby watch! Last night Thad dropped about as low as he can go without starting labor. Now it's just a matter of getting him to come out and see us! I was really hoping it would happen while Karen was here, but he's only got a few hours left. She leaves Tuesday morning.

We went and visited the hospital and met the head midwife, Anita, this morning. It was wonderful! It's all very hands off and Anita was great. She's got a very athletic build, but was friendly and tender; kinda touchy. I liked her immediately and all my questions have been answered. She gave me her phone number so that if we should have any more questions she can answer them. She made it sound like I would be in charge of the process, not the other way around like in the U.S. Oh! She said there are no laws in Slovenia to keep me in the hospital any length of time. I could even leave 3 hours after giving birth! If I should stay the full 3 days, and if we have to pay cash, it would only cost around $1200! That's incredible!

We had a good baby shower yesterday. The husbands ended up sticking around after all. We got another highchair which is a good thing since these chairs grow with the child. We'll end up needing two anyway. We also received diapers, a new outfit and some toys. Aiko said she and Margery would have another shower with the QSI ladies. I don't need a lot of things since we're having another boy, but as Jen Torres says, "Any excuse for a party!"

We've been having a good time with Grandma here. She and Clay have made up new games that just the two of them know about. We were in Piran at the Teen Challenge coffee house meeting Friday night and Karen was praying for one of the guys that was saved recently. While she was praying a jolt of pain hit her that was almost unbearable. I don't think she wanted us to know just how much pain she was in that night. There's still some lingering pain that's been moving around her head, but it's better than it was.

We've moved about half of our things over to the new house, but noticed the painter hadn't finished yet. "Um...what happened to Wednesday?" We're waiting for the landlords to get back from holiday so we can call them and ask when we can finish moving. Everything is sitting there in the garage. Two or three times a day we're having the conversation about whether a certain item is packed and at which house it is. Ah well. Claudia, the daughter, put her old desk and office chair in the new office and Timothy and I are fighting over it. I would have liked it in the family room where I'll be more often. I haven't confessed this to Timothy yet, but I am going to like the desks the way they are better. We seldom have these disagreements and when we do I like to keep them going. It's kind of fun.

He found a car over the internet that I'm disagreeing with him on. It's a 2000 BMW roadster in Germany for about $7000. We don't really fight, we just find any little thing we can to pick on the other about. It's our way of having fun.

Those Little Instances We Call Life

Another praise report, we asked our landlord the other day where the best place was to find a highchair like the one that's here. He then informed us that this highchair is a gift for us and that it will go with us when we move! Mega thank-yous! The chairs like this that I have seen are expensive.

The girls in church are planning a baby shower for me. Karen and I keep cracking up b/c they're totally winging it and have no idea how it's normally done. They were originally inviting the husbands (Timothy put a stop to that), asking me to help pay for food, etc. It was funny.

Timothy has started looking for a second car. He would really like a convertible, and almost talked himself out of that because he thought he was being selfish. I told him that was ridiculous. We looked at one last night, but he's not totally happy with it. He has two more to look at this weekend. We'll see what happens.

We've moved a few boxes to the new house and will probably start taking more over tomorrow evening. Karen has been a huge help this week, making sure there's food on the table, boxes get packed and taking care of Clay. I'm more than happy to have her here. As of last night everything had been primed and he'd put at least one coat of paint on in the living room. Timothy chose the color of the living room and we're all loving it. We called and made another change today, but said if there were any extra costs we'd pay for it.

I keep wondering if this delivery will happen like Clay's. The day I went into labor with him I was very emotional and moody. Today, I'm feeling much the same.