Q & A time

To answer some questions that I'm sure many of you have but Kelsey was beautifully tactful about actually asking (and without making me mad - good job, Kelsey!), here is a short Q & A session for you.

Q: Do you plan on being induced at any point?
A: No, unless there is some medical reason (meaning my life or the baby's is in danger). In my opinion, inductions are for the parents' convenience (most of the time), and if the baby is not done baking, I'm not going to hurry it out because I'm inconvenienced. Again, this is my opinion and my choices are based on that and I care not what other people choose to do with their childbirth choices - just don't judge mine.

Q: What happens if you go into labor while the movers are supposed to be at your house?
A: My dad will be here the whole time the movers are here, and he will oversee the paperwork and packing.

Q: What happens if you go into labor on the closing date?
A: If I'm in labor, then the closing date will move. Simple as that. If I'm recovering from delivery, Kevin will drive up to Montgomery with a Power of Attorney, sign all the documents, and then come back here and get me. And my mom will be here the day after my dad leaves so she'll help, too.

Q: Where will you go to labor while your house is being packed up if you're in labor while the movers are there?
A: Kevin and I will go to my friend's house. She and her family have graciously said they'd let us labor there are as long as we need (in fact, she told me her kids are secretly hoping we have to use their house so they can help us). I will not be going to the hospital until my contractions are close enough that our doula deems we need to hit the road pronto.

Q: Are you having any labor signs?
A: As of my visit with my midwife on Friday morning, I am 1cm dilated and 60% effaced and the baby's head is engaged. Other than that, no.

Q: Are you really going to have a natural labor - no drugs or anything?
A: Yes. My body is made to do this. God and Kevin and our doula will give me the support I need. No Pitocin, no Epidural, no episiotomies. The only way drugs will get into my body is if my midwife determines that my life or our baby's life is in danger.

Q: Really?
A: Yes, really.

The following is said in a nice, sweet, Cameron voice: This is the last time I am officially explaining and defending our childbirth choices. If I have to do this again, the next post you read will be written from my jail cell because I will have killed the person who asked.

Big smile!
Love, Cameron

Cameronland Conditions: Saturday

My crankiness and frustration must be at an all time high. Kevin actually asked me this morning if I wanted to go buy make-up at Ulta to feel better. Kevin hates when I buy make-up. Poor Kevin. I must be driving him crazy.

T-minus 11 days
Stress level: still slightly elevated from impatience
Baby Preparation: 99% complete
Moving Preparation: 20% complete and ongoing
General outlook: sunny with a strong chance of isolated thunder-mood-storms throughout the day

Yes, I'm still pregnant.

Warning: bitch mode ensuing...

Why do people who know you are due feel the need to call you on your due date and ask if you're in labor?

People, if I were, number one I would not be answering my phone and number two, I've been pregnant for 40 weeks. Believe me, I will let the world know when I've given birth.

*exasperated sigh*

Since I assumed the due date would probably arrive without Winky, I figured I should look forward to something else: a brownie sundae from Chili's. So Kevin and I are going to enjoy one this evening. Screw you, wrong due date.

(Wow, I'm cranky.)

T-minus 13 days
Stress level: slightly elevated from impatience
Baby Preparation: 99% complete
Moving Preparation: 15% complete and ongoing
General outlook: Overcast due to impatience, clearing this evening due to brownie eating

Cameronland conditions: Wednesday

Kevin and I have been working in the backyard the past 2 days doing moving prep stuff. I mowed and weed-whacked and pruned my veggie plants (don't worry, I didn't overexert myself - I was hoping the energy exertion would spur on Winky but to no avail) and Kevin leveled the backyard to fix all the Ruby holes and destructed a portion of the fence and cleaned up the side yard. He attached the changing table topper to the baby dresser. Then we took Ruby to Mexico Beach for a walk and ate some dinner at a local restaurant there. Yesterday was a great day: half productive and half relaxing. Today we did 3 hours of yard work and I did some insurance/banking paperwork. Kevin is currently packing his work stuff that is in various places around our house. After I finish this post, I'm going to pack up my craft stuff. Tomorrow we may attack the stuff hanging on the walls (curtain rods, picture frames, shelves, etc.). So far it's working out very well: we do a little bit at a time without feeling overwhelmed. So far so good.

T-minus 14 days
Stress level: low and healthy
Baby Preparation: 98% complete
Moving Preparation: 10% complete and ongoing
General outlook: Sunny, positive, and confident

Current conditions of Cameronland

Today officially begins our 17 Days of Crazy. I think when I wrote the last post I was feeling slightly overwhelmed (ya think??). But I've decided to nip that in the bud and go back to my previous state of minimal stress and worry about it all. We have contingency plans out the wahzoo, and we are as prepared as we can be. God will take care of the rest. I even gave in and mostly packed our hospital bag.

T-minus 16 days
Stress level: low and healthy
Baby Preparation: 95% complete
Moving Preparation: 5% complete and ongoing
General outlook: Sunny and positive

Raise your hand if you think we're crazy

Kevin and I both acknowledge that the end of May is a little...booked...for us. Winky's due, Kevin's captain promotion, packing up one house, buying our first home, moving 4 hours away. Yes, yes, we know that a lot is happening. Until yesterday at around 10:00am, I was not worried about everything working out. I had faith that everything will be okay and we'll get through the last week of May and first week of June just fine.

Then we attended the TMO briefing (for those who don't know, it's a meeting that military families attend to schedule their permanent change of station move - meaning their move to their next duty station). The actual official dates were laid out before us, and I believe that's when I recognized that we may have lost our minds trying to schedule everything at the end of May.

I will now prove that we are crazy and may need psychological help (if not immediately, then at least after all this is over):

May 17: Kevin's promotion ceremony to captain and last day at work
May 20: Winky's due - probably will happen after this day and definitely before June 3
May 26: Movers pack up our house in Panama City (we must first prepack and prepare for the movers to come; this will probably take 2-3 days. You already see the potential overlap of birthing a child and packing a house.)
May 27: Movers continue packing up our house
May 28: Movers load their van with our stuff
May 29: My mom comes to be our slave - I mean, visit us
May 28-31: We're basically camping in our empty house with HOPEFULLY our newborn and its grandmother. Oh, and we'll be cleaning out our rental house to be cleared from our lease.
May 31: Memorial Day, holiday - What holiday?? We're driving to Prattville to do our walk-through on our new house. At this point, we'll go from camping in our empty old house to staying in a hotel, with our newborn and its grandmother.
June 1: We close on our new house and hopefully move into our new house - this time, camping in our new house with our newborn and its grandmother.
June 2: Movers deliver our stuff to our new house and unload everything.

Count the days. They're 17 days from start to finish, and we have about 2 months worth of stuff to do in those 17 days.

I know we'll survive. But we are crazy. I recognize that now. Not in my previously laugh-it-off, flippant, oh-whatever, subconscious denial kind of way, but in a manic-eyed, half-grinning, slightly drooling psychotic kind of way.

My name is Cameron. And I am crazy. And still pregnant.

Locked and Loaded

Kevin and I met with our doula (birth helper lady) today for the last time before I actually go into labor. She gave us last minute advice about preparations and labor stuff. She asked if we've tried installing the car seat and if we have our bags semi-packed. We said no to both (I believe I've explained why in a previous post), and she suggested that we at least try to put the car seat in once just to make sure we know how to do it so we aren't forced to do it when our adrenaline may be high during early labor. So we gave in. We installed the car seat base (I refuse to put the car seat in there though) in my car. It took about 2 minutes and was very easy. Why do people freak out about this? I haven't a clue. And just to feel more prepared, we ran a mental checklist of where the major things are in our house that we will need to pack for the hospital. So we're all set. Cloth diapers and baby layette crap are washed. Car seat base is installed (eye roll and heavy sigh). Casseroles are cooked and ready to be frozen for meals after baby comes. Video camera and regular camera batteries are charged. Kevin's leave is all set up (his last day going to work is next Monday). Our utilities are all scheduled to be turned off and on at this house and our next house. Ruby's babysitter is all set. The movers are scheduled to come pack up our house.

We are locked and loaded, full speed ahead, ready for lift-off, let's get this show on the road, all systems go.

It's the final countdown.

Calling All Readers!!!

I have an official assignment for all my blog readers:

Kevin will be home tonight at 8:48pm from his TDY trip to Texas. So at approximately 8:49pm, I would like everyone out there to start sending me go-into-labor vibes. Very strong, urgent, immediate go-into-labor vibes. Since Kevin will be home, I will now be free to go into labor and I am 100% ready (I think) to do so. It's time for Winky to make his/her debut. So if you will please pause in your daily to-do's, and send fervent wishes my way for me to go into labor, I will love you all dearly (even more than I do now).

So please, go forth and pray, wish, concentrate, meditate, or whatever you feel comfortable doing to help get this baby birthing business going.

Thank you!

I'm so bored

Kevin is out of town in Texas till next Thursday evening and he's been gone since last Sunday morning (I know I've already told you this, I think), and I'm sooooo bored. I don't actually remember feeling this bored since I was a kid and would annoy my mom by whining "I'm boorrrreeed." I feel like all I'm doing is waiting - waiting for Kevin to get home, waiting for the baby to come, waiting to move to Alabama.

In a concerted effort to "un-bore" myself, I did some random things online this evening. I paid some bills, read about vegetable gardening in Alabama, bought the rest of the stuff from Target for Winky (we are now completely 100% ready as far as having all the necessary baby crap we need), ordered Mothers' and Fathers' Day gifts, and did some random Amazon.com surfing because who can pass that up?

Also, I washed all the cloth diapers and inserts and wipes. We have 24 diapers all ready to go. I must confess, I think they are quite cute hanging up drying in our laundry room. I can't wait to actually put one on our kid. I'm sure the novelty will run out quickly, but I still think it'll be fun to use them at first.

I also set up the pack n' play in our bedroom. Now, I'm not one to be overly prepared - meaning I haven't packed our hospital bag (I figure I'll do this once I start feeling real labor; it can't take more than 30 minutes to pack for a 2-night stay) and I haven't installed the carseat (again, this'll take, what, 20 minutes to figure out, maybe?). But dammit, I'm not disassembling the pack 'n' play even though I hate it taking up room in our bedroom (and not being used, I mean) because it was a pain in the backside to set up and I refuse to have to do it again unless I have to. Every time I look at it, though, it feel like it's taunting me, saying "Ha, ha. You're still pregnant and probably will be for a while, but I've successfully intimidated you into not disassembling me so I get to sit here empty and make your bedroom look cluttery because you're too stubborn to take me apart and put me back together again."

Sorry, had to vent. And apparently now furniture is talking to me in my head. Wow, how pathetic.

Anyway, so you can clearly tell how bored (and slightly crazy?) I am because this is a long post. Sorry. Maybe I'm feeling preggers-cranky. Probably.