{SQT} The Crazy Nesting Edition

Watching the clock . . . I will be 37 weeks tomorrow! (Four of the five babies came at 37 weeks.) If you don't know what 9-month Pregnancy Dejection looks like, read ahead for a wild ride of compulsive cleaning, obsession, and alternating hope and tears! If you've had a bunch of babies, this will be all too familiar.

WHINING ALERT!

1. Saturday

My body had been doing a lot of "warming up" starting on Friday. I'm very, very uncomfortable, and let's leave it at that. (Last pregnancy, my body acted like it was in early labor for 18 miserable days before the real thing. Still this time, I let myself be consumed by hope, fool that I am.)

Saturday = major nesting.

I sent Chris to IKEA to buy a new bed and various storage supplies.

I stayed home and majorly overhauled the boys' walk-in closet and bureau to accommodate four boys' clothing being stored there instead of three.

2. Sunday

I had been feeling too ill to attend Mass the last two Sundays. I'd already been at the point of pregnancy that many nights I'd get only two to three hours of sleep, which would trash me for the next day. A "good night" meant getting five very broken hours of sleep.

Joseph napping during Mass

This Saturday, I had gotten a "good" night's sleep, so I was all geared up to attend Mass . . . when the contractions, yet again, began beforehand. I decided to ignore them, which sure made Mass difficult. Afterward, I went home right away to rest.

I cleaned the infant car seat and Chris installed it in the van . . . after the last baby tried it out for size!

Thomas trying out the infant car seat

Our new bed and new sofa sleeper were delivered and put into place.

Sunday's contractions continued through my resting, through my taking a warm bath to try to stop them, and overnight, so I got little sleep.

3. Monday

My blood pressure had spiked very high on Sunday and Monday, which I'd been watching for, given my history. This is exactly why I risked myself out of home birth, and have dealt with the irritations and less-than-pleasantries of being in a hospital system. I called my hospital midwife and got the next available appointment (Tuesday) and called my home birth midwife for consultation. At 36+2, I was advised to pack my hospital bag because nobody was going to let me keep gestating this baby past 37 weeks with those kind of hypertension numbers (nor would I want that).

Nesting continues, now with the practical reality that we really would likely have a baby by the end of this week:

• I picked up a large order of groceries plus sent Chris to Costco. 
• I caught up on laundry. 
• I arranged for who would send our my meals request website, and who would give my children a ride to musical rehearsal if Chris could not. 
• I sent Chris to the dump, as we had a huge load of cardboard and detritus to take in, since I've been in the pregnancy mode of: "If it's broken, it's outta here!"
• I packed my hospital bag.
• I taped up little signs around the house with instructions for babysitters.

4. Tuesday

• Visited the OBGYN about my hypertension and formulated a plan of induction within a few days.
• Talked to babysitters about being ready in case I went into labor.
• Wrote out the children's routine for babysitters.
• Did all the laundry I can find.

5. Wednesday

• New IKEA bed delivered: a reprisal (the first one being crushed inside the box by a fork lift) . . . Chris assembled it for me
• Vacuumed the bedrooms
• Changed the sheets
• Cleaned the Bonus Room (such a wreck--it took me two hours . . . and guess what? it was trashed again by the next day!)
• Chris hung up my All About Reading white board . . . women who are 9 months pregnant are C-R-A-Z-Y. Chris has been in this zone five times before, so he now quietly and sweetly embraces my requests, such as my need to have a white board hung in order for me to have a baby.

6. Thursday

• Had early AM appointments with both my hospital-based midwife and my doula
• Now the OBGYN practice is saying that because I don't have pre-eclampsia (yay for that) it's fine for me to have this hypertension till 38-39 weeks . . . why on earth did I do the "responsible thing" by risking myself out of home birth? I could have had the beautiful relationship of home birth prenatal care this whole time--instead of rotating strangers weekly who have no idea who I am and give me all of 5 minutes of their time--and still had the ending hypertension and lack of induction!
• Hired a babysitter all day.
• Went on a one-mile walk outdoors, where I ran into this little guy crossing the street. I am not exaggerating that he was walking faster than I was able!
• Also went to the air conditioned mall to walk in the afternoon. Please, baby, come out.

This little guy won the race against me.

Friday

• I give up. 
• Baby Boy has no intention of exiting the premises any time soon.
• What he'll do is wait till Chris is busy working; maybe that it's next week when, instead of a wide open schedule, the children have four dress rehearsals and two musical performances; I have no babysitter availability; we are out of groceries; and my house is trashed.
• Or, I will be pregnant forever. One of the two.

For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.