Down in it.
We're close, folks. I'm starting my 36th week today. For the various friends and family members who have just decided to never pick up a phone, I'm doing great! Feel free to ignore my messages and emails. I'm sure I'll find tons of time to spend with you in a few weeks!
We're actually really ready. My midwife measured me on Monday and recommended that I have my bag packed this week. Rather than do that, I'm going to ignore her advice and just pray that the baby decides to wait it out another 3 or 4 weeks. Her nursery is more or less done, her clothes are washed (shout out to T who sent me a CASE of 7th Generation Baby Detergent!), diapers at the ready, various products acquired (shout out to Neiman Marcus who now owns a good portion of my bank account due to their wide selection of Keihl's Baby products), coming home outfit ready (I had no clue how important people think this part is. It's really pretty, btw. Pale greens and yellows).
M somehow almost crushed his larynx while putting the crib together. It was almost too cliché, watching him and my brother perform this feat. Hilarious, though. We have bouncer(s), a swing, stroller(s), crib, bassinet (for our room), dresser, etc. Let's just say that she's got nicer furniture than us, and a much more varied wardrobe. Her aunt is shopping at Fred Segal for her, her Grandpa at Neiman's. I think it's because they're in CA, so they feel it's ok for some reason to overpay and spoil pre-natally.
We took our birthing class with our doula last week, which M found utterly horrifying. The other night we took "The Basics of Baby Care", leaving M as an extraordinary swaddler, if not an inept diaperer. He'll work on the last part. I'm finding these classes to be really geared for people who have little to no intuition when it comes to common sense, though some things they explain (how to take a rectal temperature, for instance) are extremely helpful. My neighbor gave me the best advice: "Listen to what people say, then toss it out the window because you're not going to listen to them anyway. Do what's right for you."
So far I would say that most people do have good advice:
Sleep when the baby sleeps.
Don't worry about following routines.
Pick your baby up all the time.
Some people aren't helpful in the slightest:
You say you're going to breastfeed that long. Just you wait.
Let her cry it out from the beginning or you’ll spoil her.
You have no idea what childbirth is going to be like. I bet you get the drugs.
All the experts. What do they know? We did all of that stuff when we were starting out and our kids are fine!
Black!?! Who puts their baby in a BLACK crib?
People are weird. I like to think they really do want to help, but I know in some cases they just want to hear themselves speak. Even if the words amount to shit.
And, the nesting. The nesting is fun. Mostly because I don't clean my own house (I know my limitations) to begin with, nor do I do dishes or laundry (thanks, hon), and if I did it would be disastrous since I can't bend down at all. So my nesting is consisting of rearranging the bedding in the crib, rearranging the clothes in the drawers and spending a ludicrous amount of money having work done to my house. I thought I was crazy for doing this, but there was a Times article last week about Nesting with a Vengeance. I nested my finances too and paid off all of my debt. It's weird how something I can't control (birth, pregnancy, parenthood to an extent) has made me much more in control of things I used to let fall away.
Anyway, there's my update. I'll likely post more frequently once I go on maternity leave in 2 weeks. Here's hoping she doesn't make her debut before that!
