Jasper Orion
Born at home on July 27th
4:15am
9lbs. 11oz.
22"

Birth story coming soon!

I don't even need to say it, do I? Nope. Still, no kidlette, and nothing in the way of any kind of regular and productive contractions. And trust me, I've tried pretty much everything, and then some other not-so-conventional things to get things going. 

Thankfully, feeling pretty good, although I don't know how much more stretching my belly can take (it's been surprisingly resilient!). It's hard as a rock most of the time. I poke it a lot because I am constantly amazed at just how hard it is. (that's what she said) I did start having some swelling yesterday. Ugh. Cankles are just not cool. And I will be quite happy when I don't have old lady hips at night anymore. 

BUT I am trying to be patient and just go with the flow. Ruby was 3 days late and was only 6lbs, 12oz. So maybe the kid just needs some more time to cook. Sometimes I wonder if I have some kind of mental block in place that's delaying birth, but as much as I believe in a mind/body connection I know that eventually my body would get to the point and it would be like, "Let's do this thing!" 

For the hell of it, my predictions for this one:
 
Girl (real scientific on this one-because the Chinese birth chart said so and it was correct for Ruby)
7 lbs, 6 oz. 
21.5"

I am still with child. Silly me, I really thought I'd go early this time around. Shows what I know! Ah well. Now I'm just basically trying to keep myself occupied and not let myself get into stressed out mode, which I'm only succeeding at about 50% of the time. Things I'm trying to avoid: "haven't you had that baby yet??" and "what are you doing about childcare?"

Ugh. Let's seriously NOT talk about that.

This morning my car decided to not start while I was at the store but thankfully a good samaritan jumped me (well, the car) and I was on my way within five minutes. After that was a trip to the auto store where turn around was also quick, much quicker than I thought it would be. Battery tested and replaced within 30 minutes. Hell yes.

Now I'm getting a mani/pedi, something I usually don't do for myself. But hey, I'm 40w2d pregnant so I figured what the hell. Also, I had my toes painted green when I delivered Ruby (Heath called them my Hulk toes) so I figured I'd continue the tradition, this time with purple and green.

And you had best believe that this whole time I have been willing my water to break, possible public humiliation be damned! We'll just ignore the fact that most of the time labor does not actually begin this way. It happened with Ruby so it can happen again, right? 

It was a pretty uneventful three day weekend. We celebrated the 4th with our friends on Thursday evening with good food (Ruby ate three cupcakes), adult conversation, and fireworks.  I think we meant to do something fun and/or productive on the actual holiday but we didn't for whatever reason. 

Saturday I got together with friends and tried the Wallace Station Deli for the first time-YUM! Afterwards we went on a photo tour of the abandoned Old Crow Distillery in Frankfort, KY. 

The tour, lead by those who bought the property with the goal of reestablishing the site as a new distillery, was interesting but most of the time I was lagging behind the group taking photos. The whole thing was basically a texture photographers wet dream.

In baby news, still no indication that he/she will be here in the very near future. LOTS of movement but that's about it. I choose not to be checked as far as dilation goes so I have no idea what is going on up in there. Fuck. I can't believe that it's week 39 already. 

I'm ready, not because I am physically taxed or anything, but I am ready as far as just wanting things to be done so I can stop worrying about the WHEN and all of the other logistical things surrounding birth (where will Ruby be when it all goes down, if my doula will be able to attend my birth).

In general I am somewhat anxious about how things will go this time around. I'm not sure how likely it is that I'll have a wham-bam-thank-you-mam quick (but very intense) birth again and I'm trying to not get caught up in the idea that some second deliveries are faster than the first. I feel like if I do  then I won't be mentally prepared to handle it if things last longer. But at the same time I don't want to be all gloom and doom, oh my god I'm going to be in labor for 48 hours ohthehumanity!! because, you know, self-fulfilling prophecy and all that.

So I am hoping for the best but preparing for the worst while also remaining optimistic that things will go as smoothly the second time around. Two words. Mind. Fuck. Or these two: Over Thinking. But that's just how I roll, my friends, I can't help myself! If I really calm down and get out of my head, I do fully trust my body to know what to do and sooner rather than later I'll be doped up on those amazing endorphins that got me through the first time around.