Week 41

OK, I don't have a regular weekly photo to share this week. Sorry! Many people are wondering and the answer is yes, I am still pregnant. Tomorrow we are officially a week overdue. I have tried just about everything to jump start labor but so far no luck. We tried strenuous activity over the weekend by cleaning the entire house. Nothing. Greg keeps making me take long walks even if they are around the living room because of new snowfall. Nothing. On Monday I took Castor oil and had a few minor cramps for an hour and then went back to feeling great. So nothing. I have been using primrose oil every day on my cervix but that has resulted in barely 1 cm dilation. Today we started acupuncture treatments (above photo). So far nothing. You can kind of see the needles in my shins and hands. There were also needles on my ears, collar bone and ankles. This was my first experience with acupuncture and it was not bad at all. Not painful anyway. They burned three rounds of moxi on the needles in my shins so right now I smell like really bad marijuana. I am sure people on the subway were wondering why a woman as pregnant as I smelled like weed!

On a happy front I had a non-stress test today and little Koobie was very happy and not stressed and doing great in my belly. Apparently I am a great gestator! The sad news is that as of midnight tonight we are risked out of the birth center at Roosevelt hospital. They only allow you to be 6 days overdue and still use the center. We now have to go to the labor and delivery floor to have our baby. It is not the end of the world at all but I am very disappointed by the news and have been working hard to come to terms with it. I know that God's timing is perfect and there is a reason he wants this baby to stay where she is, it is just hard to let go of my plans and desires.

So we are still waiting. I am working a little from home. Greg stayed home today to go to all my appointments but will probably go back to work tomorrow while we wait. I guess we waited over 2 years for this little girl, we can wait a few more days!

Week 40

Hello due date. Good-bye due date! We are officially overdue today. It is funny because we really want the baby to be born but each day we have been saying "but not today because...." there is a meeting, a deadline, the birth center is having the floors redone and is closed and most recently there is a blizzard coming. We got about 8 inches of snow over the weekend at our house and certainly didn't want to try to navigate our way to the hospital in that kind of weather. So now we find ourselves overdue. At my regular appointment yesterday we talked about some ways to try and induce labor at home. Poor Koobie, first she got her head frozen for being breech and now we are going to torture her some more with long walks, special oils, and laxatives to try to encourage her to be born! She really is going to hate us when she finally pops out!

I have definitely turned that corner from being happy to have her stay inside forever and saying things like "I will miss this bump of mine when it is gone" to my new state of being ready to have this baby outside of me so I can have my regular body back, sleep on my stomach and wear regular clothes again (I miss shopping for me!). It is just getting so tough to get around and find positions to be comfortable in. For instance I have been working all the way up until today but decided yesterday that baby or no baby I would not be in next week. It is just too hard commuting each morning on crowded trains and multiple flights of stairs. Plus I am at the point where I am so pregnant it makes people at work nervous. That being said we are really hoping and praying that she and my body decide to work together this weekend to be born. I found out my favorite midwife in the group is on call on Sunday which would be great. Plus that is Valentine's day and so many people have been hoping for a valentine's baby.

So I leave you with this fun comparison. Here was my view looking down at 34 weeks. And here is my new view at 40 weeks. Still can't see my shoes or much else!

Koobie's Room

We finally put the finishing touches on Koobie's nursery. It is all decorated, cleaned and stocked and ready for her arrival! My handy guy did some light work to get the pictures hung on the walls and items hung from the ceiling. Now we are ready to give you all a tour!

Welcome to Koobie's room. The little lamb is leftover from the shower and the baby bootie garland was a gift from Alice. When you step in and close that door you see our main bookcase holding Koobie's toys and supplies. You can see my big pom pom balls found a place to hang. If we work our way around the room we see the dresser turned changing table. I hung a couple more pom pom balls and paper lanterns for Koobie to look at while she gets her bum cleaned off. In the corner is Koobie's co-sleeper all ready to be used. It is hard to see the pictures on the wall but they are manatee watercolors that Greg and I have had for years. The final corner is where we have Greg's Grandmother's rocking chair and a little night stand that holds Koobie's books and odds and ends that come in handy when rocking and feeding. The tree is a vinyl cling from Land of Nod. The final wall is all doors so there is nothing to show. Koobie has 4 doors in her room! That limits the space we had to work with but we are very happy with how her little room turned out. Her dresser is all stocked with diapers, extra wipes, tiny socks and hats and booties. All her 0-3 month clothes are crammed into the second drawer with linens, towels, blankets, and some 3-6 month clothes in the bottom drawer. OK Koobie, we are ready for you to use your new space! Love Mommy and Daddy! Of course after the photo opportunity our work was not really done. We had to actually move the co-sleeper into our room, attach it to the bed and rearrange everything. It is actually pretty huge so we had to really change everything around. I am sad to lose my nightstand but it will be very nice to have her within arms reach for late night feedings. I am glad we tackled this before Koobie arrived. It was a lot more work moving furniture and lifting the mattress than I anticipated.

Pom Pom Ball Decorations

Finally a craft post! Can you believe this used to be a craft blog? Heck, it used to be a scrapbooking blog but we won't go there today. As I mentioned previously a couple girlfriends threw me a baby shower recently. We had it at my house since I have a lot of space by NYC standards and the guest list was a little on the big side. I offered to handle all the decorations mainly because I had wanted to try making these pom pom balls I had seen in Martha Stewart Living (January issue I believe). I thought I could use them for the party and then move them into the nursery when the party was over. I have been a fan of Martha's tissue paper pom pom balls for a long time. I made them for this previous shower and loved the effect. So when I saw this new version of the pom pom I thought they looked just as easy and cool so I thought I would give them a try. First I got out my materials. They have a foam ball center, some ribbon to hang the ball by, and the rest is made from cupcake liners you can buy at any grocery store or cake decorating supply shop. I got all my supplies at Michael's. I found pink Wilton's cupcake liners with green stripes (my color scheme for Koobie's room). You also need hot glue and some kind of stick, pencil or implement to attache the cupcake liners with. I ended up using a couple bowls too which I will show you. First thing I did was make a hole in the top of my foam ball and glue one end of my ribbon into it. Then I was ready to start. You basically take a cupcake liner and smoosh it over the end of a pencil erasor or dowl. I used a folding tool with a blunt end (the green stick). Then you apply some hot glue to the smooshed liner and attach it to the foam ball. Right away I noticed a problem. The hot glue melts the foam ball so you have to hold the liner in place for a few seconds until the glue cools and sticks to the ball. Otherwise the liner will just fall off. This means the process is a little on the slow side. I made up for that by watching season 1 of the Closer while I worked. Good show! I started adding liners around my attached ribbon and then began working out. On the first ball I did I just added liners willy nilly very close together. This produced an uneven surface and I actually ran out of liners long before finishing the ball. Not good. So for the next ball I learned my lesson and began working in quadrants. Counting out liners in the rows so they would be about even and spacing them out a bit so that the surface would look even. This worked MUCH better and I was able to complete a small ball with just 2 packages of mini cupcake liners (the foam ball was 4" in diameter). I found that placing the foam ball in a small bowl while I worked kept it from rolling around. I also found I could move faster if I smooshed all the liners in advance and tossed them into a big bowl. Then I could just focus on gluing quickly. I have to say I love the way the balls turned out. I hung them from the ceiling and a light fixture with a few white paper lanterns for the party. However there were some other lessons learned. This project is expensive. Tissue paper pom poms cost a couple bucks total. These pom pom balls were about $13 for each big ball (I made 2) and $8 for each small ball (I made 2). My large balls had a 6" core ($5) and it took 4 pkgs of regular liners to cover each one (75 count $2 each). My small balls had a 4" core ($4) and it took 2 pkgs of mini liners to cover each one (100 count $2 each). Not terrible but if you are just using them for a party decoration and throwing them away I think that is a waste of money. They are also time consuming to make. Tissue pom poms are a 30 min project, these balls took me almost 2 days to complete. Again, if you intend them to be disposable I would say that is a waste of time. I am planning to use at least some of mine in the nursery so it was more worth the time and expense. This project reminded me of grade school when we used to twist small tissue paper squares around the end of a pencil, dip them in Elmer's glue and stick them to a piece of paper. Very similar except in grade school I never burned my finger with the glue gun! Ouch! Be careful out there and consider this project. I was thinking on a much smaller scale it could make some cute Christmas ball ornaments for a Christmas tree.

Week 39

Week 39 is almost over. I had my regular check-up today and nothing has really changed since last week. Baby is still head down, my cervix is ripening but not opening and she is only "dipping" into my pelvis (-4 or -3 station) which is fancy talk for, "it looks like we will probably be seeing you for your appointment next week". According to my providers my due date is February 11th so they think I have a full week before I am even due. Everywhere else I look, every book, every website, every pregnancy wheel says I am due on February 9th. It really doesn't matter. I know that babies come when they are ready and all those dates are just a guess. It is fine with me if she wants to hang out in my tum a little longer. I have lots of things left to accomplish before she arrives at work and at home. I didn't manage to get my last bit of decor up in the nursery last weekend so I could take pictures to share with my blog readers. I did manage to get my hospital bag finished and do a big run to the grocery store for labor snacks and postpartum freezer meals which is good. Plus Greg and I managed to win Super Mario Brothers Wii over the weekend which is very important for parenting preparation!

Overall I am still feeling really good though a little stiff and my waddle is becoming much more pronounced and slowing me down a bit. My last vacancy in the office was filled this week so I have a full staff now which has removed a lot of the burden from my shoulders in terms of being ready to leave work. That is great! I will probably keep working next week if things don't start changing and I still feel good. I hate to waste my precious leave days with no little baby to care for. I can sit in my desk chair as easily as I can sit on my couch watching tv or reading books on breastfeeding and baby care (my latest topics). Anyway, that is the latest from the Cruikshanks. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

Week 38

My goodness. Week 38. Since Koobie was turned I am really feeling differently. Having her head wedged down in my pelvis has made it harder to walk and stay comfortable. There is just so much more pressure on my pelvic floor than before, which is great mind you because it will help my body get ready for birth but it also makes me feel like a 9.5 month pregnant lady! I have to say it is really nice having her little fit kicking me at the top of my belly now so I can feel them with my hands as she stretches. That is really cool. My belly is so big now many of my maternity shirts and sweaters can't make it all the way around the curve so my wardrobe is down to 3 pair of pants with the big stretchy covering and a handful of tops. That's OK since I hope to only need them a little longer but you may be seeing clothing repeats going forward.

Last weekend my friends Suzan and Jennie threw me a lovely baby shower for about 20 ladies. It was lots of fun. I will have pictures of that soon. I of course didn't think to snap any photos so I am waiting on Jennie to send some my way. We received some very nice gifts that will make welcoming baby even easier. We are also pretty much done outfitting the nursery so I will have photos of that soon too. Plus some craft projects I manage to complete! So many posts to come. I will try to do them this weekend. I am really swamped trying to get my job completed so I can go on maternity leave and feel okay about it but we are in a little bit of a grant season and I don't have a grants person until next month so I am stuck doing it all myself. This week I am working working working just to stay caught up. Hopefully the baby will hang out until her due date so I can get some more stuff done next week! We'll see.

Week 37

Week 37! This week I am full term so Koobie can decide to come at any time. I was commenting to one of the professors at work who asked how I was doing that I have never had to function under this level of uncertainty before. Never knowing which day of work will be my last. Totally nerve racking.

On the turning front Koobie did not respond to any of our torture techniques to get her to move. Ice packs, clothes pins, pelvic tilts and inversions, soothing music, annoying music and combos of everything above. We even got our hands on some Moxi although we didn't get a chance to try it. Koobie refused to budge. So yesterday Greg came to my OB/GYN appointment for the "big talk" where we went over our birth plan, got our questions answered and got instructions for the big day. They also confirmed that Koobie was still breech and went over with us what would happen during our scheduled version TODAY. It was actually very reassuring to discuss it with them and hear that the potential risks were very remote.

So today we spent pretty much the entire day at the hospital on the Labor and Delivery unit. We had to arrive an hour early for IV fluids, blood work, and fetal monitoring. Then we had to wait around for the doctor who was going to perform the procedure to show up. He has a reputation for being very good at versions and having a high success rate. Well, I believe it. We were his 6th version of the day (all the previous ones had been successful) fHe spent a little time scanning Koobie by ultrasound and then it was time for the muscle relaxer before he went to work. It was very uncomfortable and at times a little painful as he started to push Koobie around from the outside. Luckily after about 4 minutes he stopped and informed me that she had turned! Way to go Koobie! After that it was a couple more hours of monitoring to make sure she was OK, another Rhogam shot and we were cleared to go home. I can already feel the difference in her position. New pressure points and adorable little feet kicking me in the top of my tummy instead of the bottom. We are so thankful that she turned fairly easily and we have so far had no complications. We were also told that there is a very low likelihood that she will flip back at this point which is good. It feels nice to be back on track with our birth plans. Thanks to everyone for your prayers!

Week 36

Hey, I actually posted my picture on time this week! Yippie for me. Greg and I had a pretty productive weekend which was great. We were successful in finding a car seat that would fit safely and easily in our little car which is a big relief actually. I had nightmares that we wouldn't be able to find anything that would work and would have to buy a new car at the last minute. Not that I wouldn't love a new car! It is funny that we have an entire room of baby furniture filled with baby clothes yet buying the car seat for some reason made the whole thing so much more real. I guess that has happened at each step and this was just the latest.

This weekend I also ran some errands and did a big craft project which I will post about later when the finished product is in place. It was really nice to do something creative with my hands. It has been a long time since I made anything and I miss it. I have so many projects floating around in my brain but so little time and energy to execute them. I just have to pick and choose which ones will get done.

On the baby turning front, we have been doing our daily exercises as instructed by our OB group. They are a little crazy but worth it if they end up working. For 20 min a day I have to put clothes pins on my pinky toes while holding an ice pack on the top of my belly and playing music at the bottom of my belly. Supposidly the pinky toes are an accupressure point that should help while the ice packs make the baby's head cold which they don't like and instead they are supposed to move away from the cold and toward the music. Sometimes I just have Greg talk to her. The toes are hard because I have such big feet. Greg had to make me special clothes pins using the ones I got from the OB group mixed with springs from smaller ones we had at home to make some they didn't pinch too much. They are supposed to apply pressure but not hurt. For the ice we have been using 1 pound bags of frozen peas and frozen corn. The cold is not so hard on me as long as I am warm everywhere else. This is the full package. Very comical really. You can't see the headphones but they are under the blanket playing music. Greg is so sweet setting me up each night and doing online research on other techniques to try. He jokes about getting to torture me a little but I think he feels bad any time I am uncomfortable. Such a sweet guy. So far no movement. At least not yet. She has been very quiet this morning so I can't can't confirm her position yet but I don't think she has moved. I am trusting that she will move when she is good and ready!

Week 35 Update

I just got back from a very discouraging visit to the doctor. Turns out baby Koobie got tired of being head down and has flipped back into a breech position. Bad baby! I have some voodoo like exercises to practice this week to see if we can coax her back into position. I would appreciate any prayers for her cooperation. I really don't want to have a c-section if it can be avoided. Thank you!!

Week 35

Well this photo is so late it is probably week 36 by now. I am losing track of the count these days. I am ginormous to say the least and this is the first week I have really been feeling "pregnant". A little sore back, sore tendons, stiff when I sit too long, hard to roll over in bed, all that stuff which comes with the last month of pregnancy. I can't imagine that this can go on for another 4-5 weeks which makes me all the more anxious to get everything ready for the baby in case she comes early. We found a possible daycare to send her to in May that is near Greg's office and we have an appointment to see a pediatric group next week to ask questions about her future care. This weekend we may try to find a car seat that will fit in our little VW Beetle (not an easy task it turns out). We are pre-registered at the hospital and I have started putting together my hospital bag. Things are definitely underway which is great. I even have a baby shower in the works and I think all my local blog readers have been invited but if not drop me a line and I will have the hostesses add you to the evite!

So much to do and so very little time but I am trying to tackle one small thing each day and we are making progress which is great. Well, I have my now weekly Doctor's appointment today so I had better get some work done before I have to go. Happy Thursday!

Week 34

I know I am very delinquent with my posts! With the holidays we pretty much got completely out of our routines. We had a really nice Christmas and New Year. Spent lots of time relaxing, a fair amount of time playing, a little time cleaning, and a little time prepping for Koobie. Coming back to work this week has been hard but there is so much to accomplish before I go out on maternity leave. I did not manage to take a profile shot during my entire vacation, nor did I manage to take our yearly photo (no New Year's cards I guess!). A couple people who don't read my blog contacted me recently and I am sure it is because they wondered if I was OK since I didn't send out a card.

Here are a few shots I did manage to get during the holiday: Greg opening some of Koobies gifts. For a kid who isn't yet born she sure got lots of Christmas love from the family! This is a little book my mom sent where there are furry ears and tail for the child to wear while reading it. Totally cute! I tried to get a shot of Greg when he decided to put them on! but he was too quick to pull them off to prevent his own embarrassment.

I decided at the last minute to cook a Christmas feast which turned out amazingly well. We of course took pictures of it. The Tofurkey roast, probably our best one ever cooked in a dutch oven with some veggies. I think the dutch oven made all the difference keeping the roast moist and flavorful. We bought another one for the freezer so we can make it again this weekend.

Potato gratin from Everyday Foods. Very rich made with real cream and cheese! It also was a huge mess that boiled over and started smoking up the kitchen. What's a big meal without a little drama right!

And some green beans lightly sauted in pear vinegar. So yummy.

Here is a photo of our annual Christmas tradition which is to do a puzzle. We really only do this once a year. This puzzle is of the Seattle skyline and was a gift we recieved last year. This year my parents sent us a puzzle so we are set for 2010!

A shot of the snow we got during our vacation taken from our kitchen window. And here is a photo I managed to capture of myself documenting what I see when I look down, NOTHING! If I lean over I can see my feet but that is all. I have to trust Greg when he tells me the rest of my body is still there in tact! HA!

Week 33

Well, we did get a blizzard last weekend which was kind of fun. We didn't have to go anywhere so we just got to watch the snow fall from inside our cozy house. Greg helped our basement neighbor shovel out the walks and the cars the next day. Of course my photo shoot got canceled. It looks like this will be the first time in 9 years that I will not be getting a Christmas card out. Perhaps a New Year's card will find its way into the mail but Christmas cards are out at this point. That's OK. It is just one of those years where keeping things simple is key.

Well due to the snow my regular photo spot is a huge pile of powdery white stuff. Greg got out OK and into position for taking the photo but when I tried to step out onto the snow pile my foot sank in and snow went right up my pantleg. Brrrrrrrrrr! Greg managed to get this shot after I climbed back onto the top step: He thought it was hilarious. I tried to brush the snow out of my pants as fast as possible. Needless to say I had to change my sock before leaving for work! We did manage to get a semi normal shot. The distance is off from the other photos so I'm not sure how much of a comparison can be drawn. I sure feel much bigger than last week. Little Koobie is pretty much out of room to really move around so she stays in one place and just practices stretching her arms and legs so I get lots of belly distortion which is funny to look at. We find her pretty entertaining these days. I have been starting to panic a little as I realize I have 3 weeks until I am "full term" and could have her at any point. I have so much to do to get ready, especially ready to leave my job for 3 months. Plus we have to have a pediatrician picked out before 36 weeks and we still can't decide if we want an office in Queens or in Manhattan. So many choices!

My university is closed from Dec. 24th through January 1st so I am really looking forward to almost a week and a half of vacation to finish up some baby details (like a nursery to put together and a registry to finish). I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

With love,
The Cruikshanks

Week 32

So sorry this post is so late. I have been drowning in Final Exam preparation for the last 5 or 6 days. I actually had to bite the bullet and take 2 days off of work in order to study for the test properly. I just couldn't master my procrastination tendencies this time around. Of course it didn't help that the course was really hard and there was so much material that it was fairly daunting. I took the exam last night (40 questions in 3 hours) and I think it went well. I am hoping for a solid B in the class. I am just so glad to be done with it. It was my worst course so far at Stern. No more homework, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks..... Actually my teacher was very nice and had an adorable Australian accent. Unfortunately he used it to talk about finance which was soooooo boring. Anyway, I slept like a baby last night and am now trying to catch up on work stuff. Looking forward to a weekend with no school work to ruin it. Last Tuesday was Greg's 33rd birthday and we didn't do anything because I was so busy with school so this weekend we will try to properly honor his special day. We were going to try and go out tonight for vegetarian Dim Sum but last night he requested a quiet night at home with take out instead. I guess he has been a little too busy these days too. I have Julie and Julia on DVD at home and I have been dying to watch it so that may be on the agenda as well.

We snapped this photo this morning. You can kind of see my neighbor's bumper in the shot. I hate it when he parks in my photo area. Anyway, you can't tell but it was COLD out. These photos are getting harder and harder to take outside. We are actually on Blizzard watch this weekend which I think will be fun except that I need to take our Christmas photo so snow may throw a wrench in that plan. I had my 32 week check up this week and little Koobie is right on track for size and had a nice strong heart beat. She remains head down like a good girl. I can tell she is growing larger because her movements are increasing in frequency and intensity as she runs out of space. Other than a little heartburn now and again I have been feeling really well and have no major complaints.

Now for one bonus photo. Me in my giant maternity winter coat. Greg says I look like the stay puff marshmellow man, I say it is more like a toasted marshmallow! At least I am so big now that even with the coat on people can tell I am pregnant and offer me their seats on the train. That is always really nice.