Here she comes!

We're about to head to the hospital! The doctor has decided to induce after all, as Luna measured over 8 pounds at this morning's ultrasound and she is worried I will need a C-section if the baby grows much bigger. We'll begin the process tonight, and tomorrow morning the doctor will break my water and start the medicine to initiate contractions. Wish me luck! I'll post again once I'm officially an American mama in Belgium!

Prison Sentence Extended

So yesterday sucked, plain and simple. For a day and a half, I had been having trouble breathing. This is not abnormal during pregnancy, I realize that, but what I found odd was that the baby has dropped, so one would assume she is now putting LESS pressure on my lungs. My books all said that breathing difficulties and heartburn issues should ease once the baby has dropped. So I called the OB's office, and was directed to go to Maternity to be monitored.

G had to take a day off from work, unpaid, to accompany me. I felt terrible about that, but we of course had no way to know how the day would turn out. We were hopeful we'd end up with a baby! I knew I wasn't in labor, but we figured if I couldn't breathe they might end up inducing or something. I took a backpack full of essentials with me just in case.

We took the usual transport - taxi followed by train followed by taxi, so it took a couple hours to get there. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor, and Luna was doing just fine. I had a panic moment at one point when the monitor suddenly stopped picking up her heartbeat - it would drop out completely, and would then come back very slow, like 75 beats per minute, and then jump to 150 beats per minute, then disappear again. I freaked and called the nurse, but it was just that the sensor wasn't settled on my belly well. She wasn't especially active during the monitoring, just a few kicks, but the nurse was like, "Wow, she's so active!" She has NO idea, LOL. I'd like to see her reaction when Luna really gets going!

They took my blood pressure and checked my oxygen levels, and pronounced both fine. The nurse told me the problem was simply that I was "breathing wrong." Which I took with a grain of salt, because first of all, why am I suddenly breathing differently than I usually do, and second of all, the breathing problems are the worst when I am asleep, and I don't have much control over how I breathe then.

After the monitoring, they sent me down to see my doctor, who just said what she always says, "Its because of the pregnancy." Duh. She did an ultrasound, and low and behold, Luna is back to measuring exactly on time (just over 7 pounds now, and about 19 inches long). So she is no longer suggesting early induction, though she did say we could schedule an induction for April 6th if we want to (the day after my due date). I wish she had never even mentioned the possibility of the baby coming early or inducing on the 30th, because it got my hopes up. Now my prison sentence has likely been extended by two more weeks. :( I'm telling you, she is never coming out, and I will be trapped in this house forever.

Needless to say, I was pretty depressed yesterday. G did his best to cheer me up, but I was determined to be miserable. I'm trying to do better today.

In happier news, my sister-in-law's sister had her baby yesterday, a healthy and beautiful little boy. I'm jealous as hell, since we had the same due date! :) But I am very happy for them, and can't wait to meet the new arrival!

Spring Has Sprung, but the Baby Has Not

We've been enjoying some beautiful weather. Yesterday we spent a lovely afternoon in the garden, G working hard with the new lawnmower and weedwacker and me waddling around in his wake, supervising. There are flowers sneaking up through the ground in several places, and some have already bloomed. The birds are singing so loud they could wake you up in the morning. But Luna does not seem to be inspired by all the signs of new life, she continues to nestle cozily in mommy's womb. G looked at me yesterday and said he thinks she may have dropped lower, which could be true, considering I had to pee even more frequently than usual yesterday! But dropped or not, I haven't had any concrete signs of impending labor. Everything still points to, "She'll come out eventually."

We got some frustrating news a few days ago. The only cab company in town has gone out of business, apparently. Their telephone number no longer works, anyway. That means the only options for getting to the hospital now are either calling a cab from another town, which will be horribly expensive and will take forever, or calling an ambulance. I guess our choice will depend on how eager she is to emerge once the time comes. We're finding it very difficult to cope without a car these days. Even though its normal for G, with all of the large items we've had to get for the house these past few months and with my limited mobility, he's wished repeatedly for a car as well. But its just not in the budget anytime soon.

I hope everyone is enjoying their little glimpses of spring!

EDIT: Excellent news, the taxi company is not gone after all. G decided to try the number again today, a few days later, and it works fine. They apparently just had some phone trouble or something. I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief!

Still STILL Pregnant. Sigh.

Unfortunately, my husband is not a psychic. The 18th came and went with nary a contraction. As of tomorrow, Ms. Luna will be an Aries baby just like her mommy, instead of a Pisces like her Daddy. We continue to try everything we can think of to lure her out, including outright bribery (we've tried to tempt her with everything from ice cream to Easter baskets), but she continues to bop around in there as though she has no intentions of emerging. Which means I continue to do not much at all. I've been trying to get out walking most days, as the weather has been so nice and warm this past week. Today we went for a relatively long walk on a path near our house, but it wasn't long enough to invoke labor. We continue to wait impatiently!

Still Pregnant. Sigh.

Not much to report, I am still pregnant. :) I am beyond ready to get this show on the road, but until Luna is ready, there isn't much I can do. I don't sleep much at all anymore, which means I don't do a hell of a lot when I am awake, either, because I have no energy. I am just sitting around waiting for labor. Sometimes I pace around the living room or go out for a walk, just to try to get things moving. But mostly I just wait, my nose in a book.

Geert has decided she will be born on March 18th (2 days), though I don't know how he chose that date in particular. I have decided that I will be pregnant for the rest of my life, and will likely have to attend her college graduation while she is still in utero.

Needless to say, I haven't much interesting to report here. Hope you all are well!

Growth Spurt!

Its been 2 weeks since my last doctor's appointment, but at today's appointment, Luna had gained over a pound! She went from 5.2 to 6.3 pounds in 2 weeks! She also gained three inches in length. I am now measuring ahead, and the doctor is saying to expect her by "the end of the month" (my due date isn't until April 5th). She said if I haven't gone into labor before then, and Luna continues to measure ahead at my next appointment, she may induce me. My next appointment was SUPPOSED to be in 2 weeks, but because of scheduling difficulties (the doctor is going on vacation), the next appointment we could get isn't until March 30th. We'll see if I make it that long. The good news is, I have plenty of amniotic fluid and we were able to watch her pretending to breathe on the ultrasound and the doctor said her lungs are fully developed. So she's in good shape, even if she decides to make an early appearance. I certainly wouldn't mind, but I'd rather she decide to come on her own, I don't want to be induced.

I've discovered I have passed that magical milestone where I am SO huge that I make strangers smile. LOL You know how when you see a hugely pregnant woman waddling around it just makes you smile? That waddler is now me. The whole time we were out today, strangers were doing double takes and grinning at me, and more than one person asked me when I was due. Happy to amuse the masses....

Last night around 8 PM, the police finally made an appearance! They scared the hell out of me arriving at that hour, but they looked at my passport, filled out the paperwork, and kindly overlooked the phenomenal mess the house was in (its bad enough to begin with, but I was in the middle of cooking and there were meatballs cooling on all the counters!). Now I can get my permanent residency card, and I am a legal resident for five years. We are still waiting on my insurance card to show up in the mail, hopefully soon.

UPDATE: My insurance card arrived in today's mail! By the time G checked the mail it was late in the evening and I was too worn out from unpacking to do the "yay-my-insurance-card-came" dance, so G did it for me. :D I immediately let Luna Bean know that all systems are go and she's welcome to come check out the world anytime! She celebrated the news by dancing on mommy's ribcage for approximately three hours, non-stop. Sigh.

A Baby is Going to Live Here!

We are pretty much as ready as we are going to be for Miss Luna! On Friday we went to a shop in Sint Truiden and made the owner's day by spending an astonishing amount of money (no really, take whatever you imagined and then triple it, we both nearly had heart attacks) getting the remaining things we needed. They delivered all the packages to our house, everything except the stroller system, which we had to order and will not get before the end of next week. I'll definitely post pictures of the stroller when it arrives, its very European, nothing like the stroller systems we have at home. Its more like a modern pram.

We have been working very hard all weekend, and as of about six o'clock this evening, we are finished! The baby stuff is all assembled and her room is put together! I do still have more laundry to do before all of her clothes and blankets are clean, but laundry is slow when you can only do one load a day. Both G and I are so proud of how it turned out, we both expect to keep peeking in there every ten minutes. After all, its not only adorable, but its the only room in the house that is put together!


Here are a few pictures, more can be found on my Photobucket page. The crib went together relatively easily (G barely swore at all compared to the last piece of furniture he had to assemble), and the bedding set looks great with it. For those that haven't seen it, this is the rocking horse that was mine when I was a child. My dad refinished it for Luna. He also refinished a cradle that was mine when I was a child, it looks lovely. Its not in these pictures because it is in our bedroom, where she will sleep in it for the first couple months.

The "changing table" is a cupboard my grandfather made me many years ago. It has been spruced up with some removable stickers and a changing pad has been placed on top. We didn't have anything for her clothes other than some plastic drawers, so I dressed those up with stickers as well - I may no longer be living in Maine, but I haven't lost my Yankee ingenuity. And finally, the light fixture G picked up and installed yesterday. I just love it!

Having her room completed is making this all much more real for both of us. Tomorrow I will be nine months, and before we know it, our little family will be three!

35 Weeks and Counting... and Growing!!

Just a quick post to share a couple of belly pics. It was kind of a frustrating photo shoot for us both, with G frustrated by the lighting and the lack of a back drop and me frustrated with the pics not turning out how I wanted (would have been easier if I could have used a stand in model!), but we got a couple. Best we can do I think. I assure you the belly looks MUCH bigger uncovered, but I have no intention of sharing the naked belly pics (or should I say stretch mark pics) with the entire Internet community.

Today we are going shopping for baby things, I can't wait! We started cleaning out the baby's room yesterday, too. Pretty soon it will be like a baby really is going to live here soon!

Misery and Bliss

Sorry I have not posted anything for awhile, I've had a rough week. I ran out of the prescription medication I take for acid reflux disease, and my obstetrician prescribed me Maalox for the problem. I have been on prescription meds for acid reflux disease for more than five years, its not a minor problem, its a pretty big deal and if I don't take medication it rules my life. I cannot sleep from the pain and I vomit frequently. I apparently did not make the situation clear enough to my doctor, or perhaps she just doesn't know how to deal with that problem. I tried to humor her, but within two days of the Maalox only regiment I was beyond miserable, in constant pain, unable to sleep and eventually unable to keep any food down. It was way worse than its ever been before, obviously because I am pregnant.

My obstetrician turned out to be completely useless in helping me alleviate the problem (I'll spare you the details), and in the end G called his family doctor, who made a house call Tuesday afternoon and ordered me some better medicine. I have been slowly improving since then. The doctor also felt my belly and told me the baby has not dropped yet, which was good to know - I've carried her low the whole time so its hard to tell if she has dropped or not, I don't know how obvious it will be.

G went today to the main office for his job and pushed along the paperwork for my insurance. We have a form that came in the mail today that he will have to go return tomorrow, and hopefully after that I will have a temporary insurance card. We still have not seen the policeman, so I still have no permanent residency card, but we're trying to work around the system to get me covered before I go into labor. Hopefully this will work.

In other, much happier news... MY SHIPMENT ARRIVED!!! My things are here, seemingly in one piece, and I couldn't be happier! Luna now has a place to sleep (two places, actually, a cradle and a crib) and clothes to wear. I have books to read and familiar things around to cheer me up. We have a hell of a lot of work ahead of us in getting everything unpacked (G isn't unpacked yet either) and sorted through, but I figure we start with the baby things and go from there. Actually, a few days before my shipment arrived, I received a package from my mom that was like a little piece of home. So its been a good week in terms of STUFF!

I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but G wired up our first light this past weekend, and this morning he picked up another one to wire up. I have an adorable picture of him wiring it up with the lampshade resting on his head, but I have been forbidden from posting it. :(

We're having day three of sunshine here, which is so shocking we expect the world to end at any moment. G has the day off today, so once he's done running his errands we are going to try to get outside and take some pictures of my HUGE belly. Stay tuned!