The Grumpies

I got the grumpies yesterday, big time.

First of all, the doctor (as I expected) told me Baby Girl wasn't doing much - and that I would probably be back to see him on July 1st. He said at that time they would do a non-stress test, checking the baby's heart rate and amount of space & fluid inside me (through a fetal monitor and ultrasound - nothing invasive). Apparently Baby Girl needs to still be swimming comfortably, or they get worried. Then they would decide if/when to induce me. My 41 week mark will be July 5th - and I assume the induction, if it has to happen, would be sometime in my 42nd week.

I don't really want to be induced. The 5 or 6 of you who actually read my blog, please pray that she decides to come before then. My actual due date is this Sunday. :)

After the appointment, I came home and found out that our neighbors have officially begun building the fence around their backyard. We live in such a tiny house, the fence feels very close - I'm not even sure we have the space to run a lawnmower along our side yard. I'm not worried the fence will be ugly - the couple next door has good taste. But I do feel a bit insulted. I know our backyard is ugly, but is it really so terrible to look at? I feel like we're being shut out.

Then I began to make banana bread (another goody for the freezer). Long story short, our oven is not heating. It lights up, and it tries... but gets nowhere. It's got to be 15 years old, so I guess I'm not surprised that it crashed. But now I need to know - who do I call about the oven?

Can anyone tell me...?

What else am I supposed to be doing?

I mean, with my time. I'm not quite sure how to fill it. I feel like I must be missing something. Last week was great. No problems filling the day with cooking, cleaning, getting some exercise, running some errands.

This week has been slower. Although I spent Monday afternoon having lunch with friends (which was lovely!) I've been rather wanting for things to do since then. (I know, I know, I shouldn't admit this, right?) It's way too hot to go out walking. We don't really have TV. One can only read so much. Granted, some of my inactivity was involuntary - yesterday I accidentally locked my keys in the car and was tied to the house. But, I mean... what do I do?

The baby clothes are washed. Diapers, etc, are stocked, as well as my "goodies" for after L&D. The house is clean (enough). The hospital bag is packed (minus PJs for D). I prepped a dish of lasagna today that I mean to freeze and save for after Baby arrives. Tomorrow I'll make & freeze some banana bread. The phone number for the food ladies from church are stored in my cell phone. The car seat is installed, the bassinet set up. There's gas in the car.

My mother and sister are emailing or calling every day to find out what's going on. And what do I tell them? NOTHING. Nothing is happening. Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment, and I expect more of the same.

Come on, Baby, come on.

My guess? July 4th.

8 Dozen Cookies + 2 Dozen Cupcakes

= One Hot Mama. Literally. Sweaty. That's a long time in the kitchen.

DYB's concert is happening tomorrow night at Naperville Presbyterian Church, and so I am doing my part to help: Baking my portion of a bunch of desserts for the after party, and learning how to use our new portable credit card swiper so that my friend L and I can work the "merch table". Oooh, sounds so professional!

I have to admit, I'm a bit bummed, though. My baby belly is BIG, and none of the super cool new DYB shirts fit over it very well. I do so wish I had a hip rock-star-mama type maternity shirt to wear. Alas.

15 Days

If little Baby Girl comes on time, it's 15 days and counting. The bassinet is up, the diapers are ready, the nursery is fairly well organized. I have a list of things I still want to buy (stuff for after the hospital stay) and am hoping to do that tomorrow. We also need to pack a little overnight bag, although some people tell me that the day I go into labor, I'll have enough time to get that together. I tend to agree with that, seeing as I'm not working.

15 days. It's weird. We'll be parents. It feels surreal. I like to believe it's sunk in a little bit more for me than it has for David, but probably not. We're both probably clueless.

I'm pretty huge. It's really hard to bend over at all. (Which is annoying, because I continually want to weed the front gardens. And if I drop something on the floor, it usually stays there until someone else picks it up.) I tried to put my Sketchers on today (because even though it's mid-June, it was only 60 degrees and pouring rain this morning and freezing cold), but they wouldn't fit. I can only wear flip flops.

I'm to the point where, although I'm still pretty terrified at the thought of L&D, I just want it to start. I want to get it over with, to have her here. I'm tired of people telling me scary stories about how much our lives are going to change, how we'll never sleep and we'll be so tired and she'll poop so much and we won't have time for anything etc. etc. etc.

So, yes. I want her to get here. But I guess she can't until after the 19th. I can just see it. If I go into labor before the 19th, I'll be lying there in the hospital bed feeling guilty about the fact that D will have cancelled the release concert. I don't want that on my conscience. :)

Day In, Day Out

I know it's been too long since I blogged, but what can I say? I've been so pooped after work I haven't had the energy to sit down and write. However, right now I'm propped up on the couch watching a bunch of brilliant kids compete in the national Spelling Bee. (I'm also eating a brownie. Mmmm.) These kids are incredible. I feel really, really dumb watching them.

While I sit on my duff, David's at rehearsal - number 2 of 3 this week. He's got two gigs coming up, and the CD release date is estimated to be June 19th (check the website - http://www.davidyeagerband.com/). Sooo exciting!

As for me and Baby Girl, June 28th is exactly one month away... Can't wait. I'm still thinking I wouldn't mind it too much if she came early.

Gardening

I am sitting on the couch with my Fred Flintstone feet propped up in front of me. As I type, D is practicing Jill. Over and over again.

I hurt. A lot.

Not because of D and his song, but because I accidentally worked out yesterday. (Which reminds me just now that I had a dream last night about jogging, and I woke rather concerned that I had exerted such energy, albeit in an unconscious state. Perhaps in my moments of drowsiness, I thought I might accidentally do something similar while awake. Who knows. Anyway... that is not why I am writing this post.)

I did accidentally work out on Sunday. See, this past weekend D and I went to St. Louis to celebrate my sister's birthday. My grandmother actually hatched the plan, convincing my mother, aunt, and uncle to join her in surprising my sister. We showed up on her doorstep on Saturday morning armed with presents, but unfortunately, no birthday cake. She seemed surprised and happy to see us. After a day of relaxing, eating LOTS of yummy food, and playing with her new puppy, Mia (not a birthday present), D and I returned home.

The weather on Sunday was gorgeous - sunny and in the 60s. As soon as we stepped foot on our lawn, I was itching to do some work outside. Long story short, I convinced David to NOT go play Frisbee with Scott and Joel (I'm such a cruel wife), but to stay with me and mow the lawn while I did some gardening in the front. I'd been anxious for weeks to get out and clean up the gardens in the front, but I'd been either A. thwarted by the weather, or B. stalled by the fear of working alone... that I would, in my preggo state, get down on hands and knees and not be able to get back up again. And I'd be stuck there until evening, when Vid returned from wherever he was. Or that I would faint in one of my low-blood-pressure-or-low-blood-sugar-no-one-really-knows-why-I-black-out moments. But man, today was the day.

See, sometime in February, one million little snowdrops sprouted in our garden. They were sort of pretty for about a week. I mean, who doesn't like to see growing things in the winter in Illinois? But the thing is... they had populated the available soil in a really odd way. One side was practically carpeted with the tiny flowers, and the other side was sparse. Some places there was just one bloom, and other places a whole big bunch grew together. And then all the tiny little blooms wilted and died in about a week... leaving us with what looked like a garden full of crab grass. And, while I like flowers a lot and feel guilty at the thought of ripping perfectly healthy growing things out of the ground, they had to go.

So that's what I did. I dug up one million billion gajillion little tiny snowdrop bulbs. I left the crocuses and the tulips alone. And our garden looks much better - much cleaner. (And now I want to go buy different flowers to add a bit of color to the front of the house. Ironic, right? A waste of money? Remember people... they looked like crab grass...) The job took about three hours. I was on my knees or my bum the entire time.

And by noon today, my body was on fire. I hurt from the waist down. Even the palms of my hands hurt (I assume from gripping the spade?) and my fingers ache.

I'd love a glass of wine. And maybe a soak in a hot tub. Alas, alack.

Oh Blah Di...

There's nothing like starting a blog to make you realize how mundane your life really is. Stuff happens to us, but is it really worth publishing and making you read it?

Here's an updated photo of Baby Yeager in utero. I'll be 31 weeks on Saturday. She's moving around a lot, and making me feel rather sluggish and out of shape. We have some nice weather the next few days, and I am going to find every excuse possible to be outside, getting some sunshine on my arms, and some exercise.

Here are some recent headlines from the Chicago Branch of the Yeager Family:

1. David and I are waiting with baited breath for Mat's return from Japan so that he can okay the final mixes of the album. David's been working this week on creating a design outline for DiscMakers. All that means that we might actually have a finished CD by mid-May? (Yeah, we were shooting for the end of March, but... life happens.)

2. It costs too much money to hire our friend to paint neat murals on our nursery wall, so I may have to go hunt down some stencils. I'm looking for a Frog Prince type theme. Suggestions on where to find such things would be helpful... I'm not exactly crafty.

3. Yesterday we had a mallard and hen napping in our grass, while a little brown bunny munched the renegade daffodils that have leaked from our garden and started growing in the middle of our lawn. I love spring.

4. It's funny how much better life seems in general once the weather turns warm in Chicago. I'm back in West Chicago once a week, teaching our abstinence curriculum to a group of junior high and high school girls in an after-school program. (The program is located literally across the street from my old elementary school.) It's been good so far - good for my Spanish, and a good break from the office for me. There are only about 7-10 girls participating, some of whom were former students. I figure it's got to be awkward for them to have their 3rd grade teacher sitting across the room from them, talking about sex and abstinence. But they seem to be handling it well, and seem happy to see me. All the students at the center (big and little) are very interested in my pregnancy and always have their hands all over my belly. Anyway, as I left that group last night and headed home, my windows were down, the breeze was balmy, the sun was still bright in the sky... and I marveled at how great everything was. I tell you, winter in Chicago depresses me more than anything. I'm so glad it's warming up. After baby is born, I've decided I'm celebrating summer with a margarita.

On Thursday night David announced he had an unexpected day off on Friday. Good Friday usually isn't a holiday at the bank for him, but last week, his boss was feeling benevolent. D said he'd stay home and work on house stuff. (We're still in the process of getting stuff back to the basement.) So, I went to work, and he puttered at the house.
Look what I found when I got home! Isn't my honeyman great? There are a few finishing touches we want to make (painting the closet, getting a rug, hanging a valance and some stuff on the walls, for example), but for the most part, the nursery is set up. This made my week. I have the best husband in the world.

Being Preggers

I noticed something on Sunday at church: My belly gets me lots of attention.

Case in point: I decided to wear a maternity dress to church the other day because we are finally having some spring weather here. Over 10 people commented on how I looked (I just did a count in my head.) - and those were people I knew. But what was fascinating to me yesterday was that three women I did not know walked up to me, introduced themselves, and chatted with me about being preggers. Go figure.

Here are some of my favorite comments from Sunday. To my gentler readers - please don't be offended. And please remember I was at church...

"Oh, now you look cute. I imagine those dresses are more comfortable than pants?" (Now? Now? Just what does that mean?)
"Well, look at you! You don't look too uncomfortable or sore or anything." (No, not right now, but you should see me try to get out of bed in the morning.)
"You can't even tell you're pregnant from behind!" (Hmm... people contemplating my behind...)
"Oh, you just wait. You'll gain weight, especially in your chest! When I was pregnant, my boobs started at my collarbone! My husband loved it! (Your collarbone? Really??)
"You know, you don't look like you're getting it too bad!" (Like a bad case of the chicken pox, or what?)
"You don't know me. But I just have to tell you, I've loved watching your belly grow." (Uh... gee... thanks.)
Rub rub, pat pat. "Oh my GOSH! I had no idea you were pregnant!" (Yes, but I've talked with you at least five times since I found out I was pregnant. Just what did I look like before?)
"Be careful how much pink you let your daughter wear - my daughter is a pink-hater now!" (?)

It's the weirdest thing. I mean, I'm teasing, I know, but I think I appreciate it. Still, it sort of makes me marvel at how little attention I was paid before the belly appeared. I mean, everyone knows David. And so, if anyone met me, the first comment of comprehension/connection usually was, "Oh, your husband David is up front! I love his voice (violin playing, worship...etc.)." When I finally got involved in the Children's Ministry at church I established a bit of a face for myself. But the belly by far takes the cake. Suddenly it feels like everyone has their eyes on me.

And the ironic thing is, I'll probably miss all the attention after she's born.

PS 25 weeks and counting.