Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Broke My Flash, But Look, Here's A Hospital Bed

Or, 36 weeks, still not in labor 

Um, yeah, not sure how I have done it but my camera's flash isn't working. It is just the camera's built in flash, and it acts like it will flash but then doesn't. It is possible that I have just inadvertently messed with the settings, but a more likely scenario is that I gunked up the works by carrying my camera around in my purse with all the other crap I keep in there (pens, wallet, peanut dust..) Time to bust out (and charge up) the back up camera if we want any non-fuzzy photos of the twins first moments.

All of this is to say: these photos come without the benefit of a flash, and are thus a little blurry. I'd worry more about it but right now we are waiting to have a baby and trying to buy a car.

So, onward to the pictures:

Week 36 - take 1
four hats, no waiting

Karen is visiting, so we roped her into the photo-taking. Chris is wearing a hat my parents brought us from Turkey. Ada has on Chris' usual winter hat. My hat is a weird old ribbon and fur hat that looks suspiciously like a brioche. Karen is wearing a straw hat that I will probably use next week if the twins don't show up first.

The belly feels a bit beside the point in this picture, though it continues to be impressive enough to stop traffic and scare children. As I get larger it is harder to motivate to take the ton of pictures really required to get a few good ones. So this will have to do.

About the hat: a stamp inside says it is a Duchess hat made in Italy. Inside the band is a tag reading Created by Mr Theodore, Chicago. No hat close ups today. We took the pictures during the day, but now that it is evening and the light has faded, I won't even attempt to capture the hat alone without a flash. This is probably a good thing, because the hat is a bit stained.

To make up for the pregnancy pictures, I offer the following other picture:

05/18/09 Non-Stress Test Bed
monitor and bed: non-stressful, huh?

This is the bed where I had my first real notable contraction (as in "wow that hurts" painful contraction) while undergoing a non-stress test (NST).  This contraction served as a quick reminder that I do not want to be lying down during labor. It was all I could do to not jump off the bed during the contraction, and it was only six minutes and at its peak maybe a 4 on a 1-10 scale.

Apparently the boy's heart rate dipped during the contraction, though it appears to have bounced back quickly. The dip was worrisome enough to the doc overseeing the NST nurse that she sent me to the hospital for some more monitoring. It wasn't worrying enough for the NST folks to balk when I told them I was going to stop at home first. (Home is between the doctor's office and the hospital, and neither Chris nor I had eaten since breakfast.)

The hospital test was uneventful, and I managed to nap through part of it while Chris sat next to me and worked. I have another routine NST on Thursday, for which I need to bring a lighter book. (I know, who decides to pick up a 1,000 page book days before they go into labor?)

The best part is that if I really had gone into labor or the hospital staff had decided they needed to admit me after the second NST, I would have looked like the most committed employee ever. Usually my office has a weekly meeting on Mondays at 11, but due to some legislative hoo-ha, my bosses were not available until about 12:30. I had asked to be conferenced into the meeting, and took the call as Chris drove me to the hospital. I was fairly sure that the test would be fine, but as we approached the labor and delivery unit I told my colleagues that I needed to get off the call because I'd gotten to the hospital. If I'd had the babies on Monday, I would have been an office legend, working up until moments before the birth. I don't need that kind of fame, but the idea did amuse me for a while.

So there you go, a little post on the weekly belly and a little story about what else my belly did this week.

10 comments:

  1. I'm thinking those babies will be here by this time next week! Two happy healthy lil'ones.
    Those contractions...Oh how I remember!

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  2. Nora have you decided on names yet?

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  3. When I went to Sunnyside for my early labor/not the bladder infection they thought it was, I grabbed Ken Follett's PILLARS of the EARTH, a million-page saga about building a cathedral. I finished it in the seven weeks that followed before Milo showed up, but BOY did I wish I'd brought a smaller book, if it meant that finishing meant I was ready to have the baby (or build a cathedral.)

    There is some knitting lore that says that babies don't show up until the knitting for them is done. I've gone into overtime on sweater #2, just in case it's true. Because I don't want to be the one to hold things up. That's just how I roll, you know.

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  4. I read a book about pediatric cardiology/cardiac surgery a week before I had a baby. Don't do that.

    Maybe you'll go into labor during next week's conference call...

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  5. Luann - we are close, but I feel superstitious about putting them on the blog. Last time we didn't tell ANYONE the name.

    Stephanie - thanks, I appreciate your speed.

    Magpie - That would be dramatic!

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  6. *bites nails* This is getting exciting!

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  7. You guys look fantastic. Happy and clean and not at all as snarly as I think I would be if I was any one of you.

    Hooray! Here's me & my bated breath n'all.

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  8. Infinite Jest. Indeed. Let me send you some playaways, please.

    (I love this picture best of all)

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  9. That child doesn't look scared! I guess the traffic ran out of the picture.

    You may need the the 1000 pages - if not before, then after. Though with twins, a book stand might be a good idea.

    I actually think the pictures look nicer without flash, though I guess that's a personal thing...

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  10. One of the ladies I used to work with went into labor while at work. She then proceeded to finish her off-cycle checks (checks that were processed on non-payroll days) and took herself off to the hospital. Baby arrived by lunchtime. This was her fourth baby, so she was pretty laid back about the whole thing, obviously.

    I hope you continue to feel good and able to take such great hat pictures. :)

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