My head hurts

Thank you so much for the recipe ideas!  I'm totally going to make recipes of everything you've suggested and I'll definitely post on my progress.  You guys are the greatest!!


So, whenever I'm not here writing or reading and commenting on your blogs, I'm researching.  Pregnancy, birth, carseats, strollers, diapers, what to buy, what not to buy, when to buy it, what you have to have or your kid will be dumb, the stuff only dumb people buy and everything in between.  My head is swimming, my eyes are sore and I need a nap.  Drew and I have decided to start buying stuff after the first of the year so I'm reading up now so the purchasing process is less painful but the research is overwhelming!


The only thing that's fun is looking at nurseries and getting nursery ideas.  I have a folder where I'm saving all the cute pictures I come across but even that causes cuteness-overload at times.  I know I don't want anything pink and I don't want a theme - no classic Pooh, Disney princess or even zoo animals.  I know it's my kid's room but I have to be in there too and I want it to blend with the rest of the house while still being a baby girl's room.  Thankfully, I have some ideas - and if y'all would help me and please tell Drew that airbrushed murals do not belong in our nursery that would so great.  I'm trying to be open-minded but I keep sneaking glances at Drew to see if a cholo has somehow invaded his body.

airbrushed mural

cholo

My husband 

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong...

As for the pregnancy bit, I'm almost to the halfway mark - I'm 18 weeks and change and I still have ankles!  I'm so nervous that I'm going to blow up for the second half and I'm terrified of cankles!  There is a very popular blogger that chronicled every. single. thing. about getting ready for a baby, then she got pregnant and now she's a bona-fide mommy blogger.  She got cankles while pregnant and for some reason was obsessed with them, taking pictures of them and posting them on her blog!  With no warnings or anything - just one day, you'd click and bleccchhhhh!  Cankles!  


And now that I've named my fear to the universe I will get cankles tomorrow.  I will not post pictures but you will hear my cry to the heavens.  Every day, I'm drinking enough water to float a battleship in an effort to keep the cankles at bay.  Which of course means I have to pee fifty thousand times a day but I'll do it - I'll do just about anything not to get cankles.  I'm super concious of my posture at all times, being sure to keep my feet flat on the floor and not crossing my legs which might encourage swelling and if there's anything else I can do, puh-leeze tell me!


The Hypnobabies studying is going well and a lot of the wording is very similar to what I use in final meditation in my yoga classes.  Drew and I were listening to the first CD and shortly into it I exclaimed "Hey this is yoga!"  Drew immediately shushed me and said that I was breaking his concentration.  After the obligatory poking fun of the lady's earnest hypno-voice, we settled down and it's actually very handy.  I'm looking forward to the rest of the program.


But here's the super funny thing:  the Hypnobabies hypnotizes the dog and it makes her pee!  At first we thought it was a coincidence, but three times now the dog has piddled on the floor when I'm playing my CDs!  And she's completely housebroken!  Each time, Maya has laid on the floor wherever I'm playing the CDs, giving an occasional big sigh, and when she finally gets up there's a small puddle o' pee on the floor!  So now, I have to listen to it with earphones on or when Drew takes her for a walk because I'm getting tired of cleaning up after her.  There is no warning about this on the packaging and I wonder if anyone else has experienced this or if it's just my highly suggestible dog.


Tomorrow is my come-to-Jesus with my OB.  I'm really nervous and I hope she doesn't take the hard line with me.  I talked with my MFM and I got another opinion from a midwife and they've both said that with my clotting factors it's not really safe to go past 40 weeks, which is pretty much what I've found through my own research.  The $60,000 question is when is she thinking of inducing me?  Is that date set in stone?  Is there some test that she can do to see if me and the baby are doing okay with the pregnancy so that I don't have to be induced?  And if I have to be induced, can we exhaust all natural methods before going straight to Pitocin, do not pass go, do not collect $200?


I'll be asking her about her labor philosophy as well - under what circumstances does she cut episiotomies, how she feels about continuous fetal monitoring, eating and drinking during the birthing time, (Hypnobabies does not use the word 'labor' - dangit, I just said it again.  I'm a bad Hypnostudent.  I need to do more Hypnostudying.), and anything else I can think of between now and tomorrow morning.  I know she's doula-friendly, she's receptive to birth plans and she has had several patients who are yoga instructors so I think she's open.  I just don't want to come off militant and combative yet I want to make sure my desires are heard and honored to the best of her ability.  I just have to remember that this is still a business, I'm still a consumer and it's not wrong to speak up for what you want.  


Additionally, I need some new reading material - I'm getting kind of full of baby stuff.  What are y'all reading these days?  What's your favorite blog?  Besides yours and mine of course.  I found one the other day that made me stop in my tracks.  I was so taken in by the first post that I couldn't stop reading.  That doesn't happen often and maybe you'd like it too - Mr. Sponsorpants is a virtual AA sponsor but his words ring true even if you're not in recovery because you can substitute any problem for the alcoholism and it still resonates.  It's been a while since I found a blog that grabbed me like that and I thought I'd share.


Your turn - whatcha readin'?  I'm swimming in baby stuff and I'd love to come up for some grown-up air.