38 weeks, 5 days, 6 hours, and dear lord....

My belly measured at 36 cm this week, so even though I thought the baby might be through with all of the growing, I was wrong. The baby has been hiccuping regularly, for about 10 minutes at nearly the same time every day. I think this is a funny and strange thing for a baby to do, but both the internet and the midwives guarantee that it's just fine. The baby is practicing breathing, and sometimes that means hiccups.

Our lovely midwives think that the baby has turned in the last week, moving from ROA to LOA (definitions here). I'm delighted by this, and hope that the baby sticks around on that left side. We weren't sure that the baby would be able to turn over that way, but I've been doing yoga and inversions regularly, and I will continue to do so. I hope to loosen up some ligaments and keep the baby in ideal position. Either right or left is fine for the beginning of labor, but from the reading I've done, it seems like LOA is definitely the preferred position for a quick and easier labor.

Dave and I are planning a fun weekend ahead of us, with a trip down to the antique malls and dollar theater in Hopkins, a birthday party for a friend, breakfast out at Al's and much much more. Though I've been exhausted at the end of the work day recently, I still have pretty decent energy if I get going right away in the morning. I'm much better off not going to work (as you would imagine) and I'm hoping to do a few afternoons or maybe full days from home next week. I feel a lot more productive working from home, plus the added bonus of feeling really comfortable.

I've finally heeded the warnings and said goodbye to my beloved Nalgene bottle. I've switched to Sigg, and I love it so far. Mine looks like this, both stylish and safe - can't beat that! Though I've heard rumors for many years that Nalgene bottles leach plastic into the water, I've always thought that I was better off with Nalgene than I was with disposable plastic, so things were fine. It was the most recent headlines finding that BPA has been found in human breast milk that made me suddenly change my mind. I guess I don't mind putting myself in danger, but when something threatens my unborn child and I can take action, I will.

pupper of the week

I have an 8x10 print of this on my wall at work. I think this photo is adorable. I love the way the dog is looking at Dave, as if she wants to help with whatever is making him put his face on his hand. The great thing about the dog is that usually, she can help. Just by virtue of being the pupper.

size matters

I forgot to mention yesterday that the baby vegetable this week is the leek. The baby's length is comparable to a leek. That's about 19 and 1/2 inches, though the ones we have in the fridge are a little shorter. It's not exactly leek season in Minnesota.

A relative regularly asks me how big the baby is. I dodge this question, but I wonder about it. Is this something you're told if you go to an OB doctor? Do they try to estimate the size and weight of the baby while still in utero? I picture that going sort of like, "Well ma'am, everything looks good, you're coming along nicely. The baby is roughly 20 pounds and 4 feet long. But that's just a guess." Honestly, I have no interest in how big or long the baby is. If it's safe and still inside of me, I'm happy. While I will later marvel at the size, be it 6 pounds or 10, right now I have no interest in getting all worked up about something I can't control. Measurements seem like they're all just competition, and you can often hear parents of toddlers speaking of percentiles as if they were SAT scores. It's easy to get caught up in it, and I know I've repeated the percentile scores of my nephew more than once. As if the size of the little boy's head will later determine his lot in life.

For now, I don't know the size, don't know the sex, and don't know when the baby will be born. In this day and age, I feel like a pioneer - people are shocked that I don't know the sex, and more than once I've been asked how far past my due date I plan to, as if I'm making a dinner reservation. In my mind I always switch into a hippie/stoned voice, and say to these people "It's the miracle of birth man. You can't call ahead for a miracle."

secret knitting

Remember this?

It was this!
Flip top mittens for my friend Steve out in Milwaukee. He received them this weekend and I'm happy to say they fit him perfectly.
I believe this pattern originated with Catherine, I remember a downloadable PDF from her .mac site way back when. Since then I've modified it and added some features, and I like to think of it as my own. Steve saw Dave's flip tops when he was here in December, and mentioned he had nothing to keep his fingers warm that matched his new red jacket. What was I to do?

Though I think I've knit a version of this pattern 6 or 7 times, this was by far my favorite. The wool was fantastic to work with and the fingers are even and well planned (that's not usually the case). Dave always tells me that I should make up 5 pairs of them and see if I can sell them locally or online, but I have never got around to it. Maybe this summer I'll plan ahead and get it done for the fall. Men at his work ask about them regularly, most often wondering where he got his "shootin' gloves". I've found the flip top functionality not just good for shootin', but great for getting keys in a door, turning pages of a book while waiting for a bus, and of course - knitting in the winter.

I'm very glad they suit Steve, and I hope to be sure of the fit when he visits at the end of March. For people who don't wear a lot of hand knitted items, it seems like they are sometimes hesitant to complain when things don't fit quite right. It's best to be able to see the person wearing it. It wouldn't be too much trouble to pull the fingers back and make them wider or longer, depending on what he'd like. The one major flaw of this design is that because there is knitted fabric between your fingers, they get kind of squished when you close the top. Mostly Dave and I wear ours with the tops down, so it's not an issue. The top is just there for those really, really cold days, when you can't bear to have any exposed skin. Yay for surprise knitting!

my belly has taken over

This is what 38 weeks is shaping up to look like.

It's not just me, right? That belly is huge.

I am hoping to get to the plaster cast of myself this weekend. I'm not sure how it'll work, but I have high hopes that it'll turn out.

I'm part of a prenatal yoga video, and the filming has been last week and this week. I think it's going to be so cool to look back and see myself doing yoga at this stage, especially

triangle pose and half moon pose. We've modified them slightly, as you would expect, but I'm still pretty certain that these are poses I couldn't do before I got pregnant, and I'll be impressed to look back at the video and see that huge belly sticking out.