My week of demands

With one week left until the baby is due, I've decided that Barry has had it pretty easy in terms of the husband of a mommy-to-be.  I've been a very easy pregnant lady!  No cravings, no mood swings...yes, seriously!  I feel like I've missed out on being a hormone crazed woman these past months, so I'm going to make up for it this week.  For example, I've decided one of the things I'm going to do is crave and demand Neapolitan ice cream at 3am sometime this week.  I don't know what night exactly, but I DO know that it will be Neapolitan ice cream and that we have none in the house.  So, that means Barry would have to go out at 3am and get it for me.  Yes, I did see a container of Neapolitan ice cream at Asda yesterday and thought about getting it, but then I thought that would take all the fun out of it...if we actually had it in the house.  So, it was not purchased.  I don't know what else I will come up with, but I'm sure it will be interesting.  I wonder how Barry will cope with this week?  Especially since the only place open with Neapolitan ice cream at 3am would be Tesco allllllll the way on the other side of town.  Is that mean?

Also, with one week left until the baby is due, I thought it would be nice to have some cool pictures of me being pregnant.  I tried to talk Barry into having a photo session similar to these ones below, but he didn't go for it (these photos were taken from awkwardfamilyphotos.com).  Dunno why!

That's just gross.

This was someone's Christmas card?

Uh, WTF?

So, instead of doing a photo session similar to these, we decided to take a run up to Fort Grianan yesterday.  In case you don't know, Grianan is an ancient ring fort a couple of miles outside of Derry and it is on a large hill.  So high up you are able to see four counties from it. Yesterday probably wasn't the best day to go since it was FREEZING and rainy and windy...all of this intensified when you're that high on a hill.  Plus, the fog was unbelievable as you'll see in the photos. We were lucky to see four fingers in front of us let alone four counties.  But, we went anyway and took a couple of photos since all I had so far of me being pregnant consisted of me just standing up against a wall as you can see from this blog post.

Our chilly photo shoot:

That white haziness is the fog...for reals. 

Barry is also taking some time today to practice his labor ball techniques.  You'd think I would be the one doing it, but nope.  This ball is supposed to help bring on labor and is also supposed to be used during labor to ease pain.  I'll be lucky to get a turn on it at this rate...he's having way too much fun.

Seven pineapples can make you give birth

Another ultrasound yesterday of baby breech revealed a shocker!  The baby was not breech...so, my cute little nickname of baby breech will have to change.  I'll just be creative and change it to baby non-breech...that's a word, right?  So, good news!

Now, we just have to wait two weeks at least to be able to see baby non-breech.  Although, I'm not sure I'm going to make it that long.  The sleepless nights are getting to me.  As the three other males in the house (Barry and the two cats, of course) snooze away during the night, I'm left awake to struggle to find something to do because it certainly isn't sleeping.  There are only so many things on the Internet you can look at and so many reruns of CSI or Law &Order you can watch before you're ready to put your head through a wall.  Oh, and as of right now, baby non-breech weighs nearly 7lbs!  With two weeks left to go and the typical rule that babies gain a half a pound a week in the last trimester until their born, I'm quite concerned the baby is going to be larger than my body can cope with...ouchie.

So, since I'm not too keen on waiting much longer, I've decided to see if some of these old wives tales about inducing labor on your own work.  Some of these were given to Barry and I at are last prenatal class as well.  Although, I don't know that I'm willing to try all of them. Here are some:

• Eating seven fresh pineapples all at the same time.  I have a feeling that a baby wouldn't be the only thing I was giving birth to if I were to do this if you know what I mean.  Hmm...I wonder if seven pineapple upside down cakes would work instead?
• Castor oil.  Um, no.
• Eating spicy curries.  Well, I hate curry, so that's not going to work.  I'm sure spicy anything would work, but I'm wondering just how much I'm willing to put my mouth and acid reflux through just to kick start the process.
• Sex.  Well, it makes sense.  The same thing that got me in the situation could get me out.  Sort of like coming full circle.
• Washing the front door step.  Well, to be honest the front door could use some cleaning, but we don't have a step.  I supposed I could wash the sidewalk in front of the front door, but perhaps the rain will do it for me instead because I just couldn't be bothered with that.
• Walking.  I'm so uncomfortable walking right now.  Does 9 hours of Zumba a week not replace the walking?
• A hot bath...okay, now that I can handle.

So, anyway, I guess I should stop complaining and get doing some of these things.

The end is near

It's been well over two weeks since my last post, which likely tells you I've been busy.  Yes, busy to say the least.  After spending nearly four weeks home in West Virginia, I arrived back in Derry to a heap of work.  Mostly this work consisted of preparing for Baby Concannon, but some of it was helping go through the stock from what was left of the shop.  The shop Barry had to close while I was away in America because the economy sucks now.  Only one of many shops in Derry that has closed recently.

Anyway, as I was saying, the majority of this work consisted of baby prep.  How could something that weighs between 6 and 9 pounds require soooooo much stuff?  By the way, I'm hoping it weighs on the lower end of that...ouchie!  Prams to put together (strollers for my American peeps), bouncers, cradles, washing all the baby clothes, towels, socks, blankets in gentle detergent (and drying all these baby clothes without a tumble dry), packing my bag and the baby bag, doctor appointments, prenatal classes...the list could go on and on.  Oh, and on top of all that, the baby was breech and we had an ECV performed last week to flip the baby.  The baby DID flip, however, it has flipped back around to breech again.  I have a feeling this won't be the last headache this wee child causes Barry and I.  Hopefully baby decides to flip back to the proper position, but with three weeks left, chances are not looking good.  I so don't want a c-section!

Here I am before the ECV.  You can't tell it in the photo, but I'm shitting myself with nerves here.  Not literally shitting myself, but you know what I mean.

On top of baby stuff, I've started back with Zumba classes for 2012 after the Christmas holidays (where my class hopes and prays the baby doesn't shoot outta me like a spitball while I'm teaching and start Salsa-ing across the stage).  And, it was in these classes where I heard a rumor about me which went something along the lines of "the instructor down at Pilot's Row is fat."  I'm the instructor at Pilot's Row.  Luckily, the person that said that was corrected and was told I wasn't fat, I was nearly 9 months pregnant.  I've come to learn that rumors spread in this town quicker than a California wildfire and some of them are quite funny actually.  Barry heard a rumor the other day that he had closed the shop and moved to America.  We got a kick outta that one, especially since they knew I was here.  So basically, the rumor was that he was in America and I was in Derry...that we had just switched places haha. Oh, and I just helped organize and instruct a Zumbathon this past Saturday, so if I didn't mention it before, I've been busy.

Anyway, as I was saying, the end is near.  And, I'm not talking about the end of the Mayan calendar, which I believe is December 21, 2012 although I'm not sure, I guess I could Google that date, but I couldn't be bothered to be honest.  No, the end I'm referring to is pregnancy.  Just 3 weeks to go til we meet this little breech booger.  And, here's a photo timeline of my bump.

About five months along here.

About seven months here.

About seven and a half months.

Nearly eight months here.

32 weeks here.  

37 weeks here.

37 weeks at the Zumbathon this past Saturday.

As I review these photos, I find myself disgusted at how fat my arms have gotten.  And, my roots need done.