Laundry at 3:30 in the morning.

Is it still nesting if I wake up at 3:30 in the morning and feel compelled to get up and start washing the baby's clothes, sheets, and blankets, or have I crossed over into panic mode?

I was 37 weeks 4 hours ago, and anxiety has hit. Shawn and I got in a stupid fight on the way to our hypnobirthing class because I am freaking out about the things that still need to get done/purchased to be ready for the baby, and Shawn is having parental anxiety on top of some serious professional issues. Usually one of us is fairly sane during an argument and we can rationally talk the other down to find the real problem before it escalates, but last night we were both pretty fragile. I predict a good number of those kinds of fights in the next few months. Luckily we are pretty good at talking things out and are fine, but blech.

For the last few nights I have been waking up to pee and then having a hard time going back to sleep because I start thinking about all the things I still need to do. Two nights ago I couldn't sleep because I realized we only have a single pair of socks for the baby! Are socks really that important? Probably not, but regardless, I couldn't sleep. When I woke up a little bit ago and realized I was heading down the same path I went ahead and got up to sort the laundry. I started to try to clean the car seat and stroller that my cousin gave me, but it's on the sunporch and it's 27 degrees outside. I think that can wait till the morning :) I feel better for starting the laundry, and Shawn and I are going shopping on Saturday to fill in the major blanks. I'm glad I'm not working in the morning :)

Baby Shower

I had my baby shower yesterday and it was great. I was surprised at how many people came, and overwhelmed with the presents for my little one. Everything is just so cute! We got tons of onesies, and the little sheep are too cute. Shawn has pictures on his zenfolio site (smseifert.zenfolio.com). Leah did a fantastic job organizing it. We had yummy food, fun games, and cute prizes. One of my midwife friends knitted the cutest little booties, and another got me a bib that says, "I'm special...a midwife helped me out." There was a great mix of people there, my cousin Leah, my sister-in-law Desiree, her daughter Ella, some friends from the teen clinic I work at, 2 former classmates, a current co-worker, a future co-worker, a former patient now friend, my neighbors, and an ER resident and her husband, a hand fellow (who stayed in the kitchen and helped Shawn.)


This is Roxann having guessed how big around my belly was within about 3 millimeters!

My friend Kathy is hopefully going to come over sometime next week and do a belly cast for me. Next Saturday Shawn has a spa day scheduled for a prenatal massage, a facial, and a pedicure. I can't wait!

I am in full blown nesting mode now. You should have seen the frenzied house cleaning that went on yesterday. I had the sudden urge to wash all the blankets, including my down comforter. I was also on hands and knees swifiting under the beds, and organizing all the closets in the house. It's a little bit crazy. Now that we actually have baby clothes, we need to wash them and find them homes in the nursery. That's on my to do list today, but I did so much yesterday that I have just been resting all day. I will muster up some energy to go to prenatal yoga tonight though. Gotta try to stay somewhat fit. I can't wait to be able to climb again.

36 weeks on Thursday!

I am truly feeling "great with child."




Our baby is now big enough that we can hear the heartbeat with a stethoscope! Shawn heard it first and then when he passed the ears to me, it sounded like the heartbeat was in the 180s or so, which is pretty fast. Then as I listened a little longer, it went back down into the 150s and I knew I had just heard an accel. It's one of the things we look for to assess for fetal well-being so it was an exciting moment for the midwife in me. Being able to hear it this easily was also nice after I slipped down the back stairs after an ice storm a couple of weeks ago so I could hear that baby was still doing well. (In my defense, the ice was gone from the front of the house and I forgot that the back of the house does not get as much sun.)

Shawn and I are doing a childbirth prep method called hypnobirthing, which puts mom in a deep relaxation for labor and birth to help cope with and facilitate labor. It's a lot of guided imagery and self/partner induced hypnosis. We have had 2 classes now and are practicing as much as we can at home. In class last week the instructor led us through a session that was 30 minutes long but we all perceived it as about 10. I think it's going to go well for us. Last night Shawn led me through a practice and I was able to get pretty deeply relaxed fairly quickly. I attended a number of hypnobirthing births when I was a midwife at the Maternity Center, and the families were pretty successful. I am hopeful that it will go well for us.

I am getting anxious about the baby actually coming home now. We still don't have too much prepared. We have gotten a number of blankets for presents, but we have no clothes or much of anything else yet. My shower is on Sunday so I am sure we will do lots of shopping after that to fill in the gaps. The nursery is almost done. There are a few more wall hangings to go up, and we need some shelves above the changing table and closet organizers, but then we are good.

We have been reading parenting/baby books and have a parenting class on Wed night. I feel at a little disadvantage because I never did much in the way of babysitting and my siblings are so much younger than me, I am worried about my mothering ability. Shawn took care of his brother a lot, so he has a little more confidence, but I am looking forward to Wed night! I know how to do the basics, like diaper changing and I am a darn good swaddler, but I am used to handing babies back to their parents when they start to fuss! Now I will be the parent!