Welcome, Anouk!

 Anne Louisa Verdier 

March 25, 2011 

11:28 PM 

4 lbs, 15 oz

18 3/8 inches

Pregnancy brain

The thing is that sometimes this accidentally happens.

 

And sometimes it happens twice in two days.

A visit to the perinatologist.

 

I have a standing date, every two weeks or so, to stop in and visit with the nice folks at the Antenatal Testing Center at Inova Fairfax Hospital. In general, I hate hospitals, but I find that I rather like going to the perinatologist's. Reasons: 

• I have been trapped inside now for 13 weeks. Even the doctor's is exciting. 
• They have a backlog of good magazines including Vogue, People and OK!
• They always give me an ultrasound so that I can see my bayyyyybeeeee! I like having incontrovertable proof that she is still alive. Because even though I feel her kicking and can listen to her heartbeat at home whenever I want (NB: 17 times a day), this is always a relief. 
• One of the nurses there is due just a few days after me, and is the only other person I know in real life who is having a girl. We like to wave at each other and go, "You're SO BIG!" and talk about how we can't sleep properly anymore and how little girl clothes are the cutest. 
• They give me nifty bracelets to wear. (See above). 

I also really like going so that I can see Dr. B, one of the maternal fetal medicine specialists. He's kind of a gruff dude, but early on I promised myself that I would become his friend and melt his chilly exterior with my sunny good humor, all Anne of Green Gables style. He's not quite throwing up his hands and going "Cat-cat!" when I enter the room, but two visits ago, he did smile at one of my jokes. And then last visit he laughed. And then today, he cracked a joke of his own!

"I'd like to see you go at least two more weeks before you have this baby," he said.

HA HA HA HA, Dr. B! Good one! Two weeks! LOL! It's funny because I'm only 33 weeks pregnant and pregnancy is 40 weeks and in two weeks I'll only be 35 weeks and...and why aren't you laughing?

He wasn't laughing because he wasn't joking. So I started to kind of hyperventilate. So many questions were whirling through my mind.

"But I still need to buy a lot of stuff," I said pitifully. That was the thing that my brain settled on at that moment. Shopping. "Do I have time to buy a crib mattress?"

"Are you ordering it from the internet?" said Dr. B. Which was actually kind of funny.

So we are looking at Baby V. maybe being an April baby instead of a May baby. She's not in any danger of anything except possibly not having a crib mattress to sleep on. But I am determined to keep her in longer than two weeks.

She looked healthy and happy during her ultrasound. And HUGE.

Don't believe me?

Apparently four-point-five pounds of baby translates into GIANT HUMP OF BELLY.

...bring May flowers!

My very wonderful mother-in-law hosted a beautiful baby shower for us this past weekend!

 

Some of our favorite parts were celebrating with friends and family, experiencing the warm spring-like weather, being off bed rest for the day, DELICIOUS CAKE, and reading the beautiful and funny messages that people wrote to Baby Girl in her Welcome Baby book. The MASSIVE HEAP of baby swag was pretty nifty, too! It helps me rest a lot more easily at night to know that if Baby were born today, she would have diapers, blankets, some extremely fashionable clothes, and a bib that features Omar from The Wire. After all, what else do you need in life?

Official thank you notes are in the works, but in the meantime, lots of love and gratitude to everybody who helped make the day so wonderful!

Practice makes perfect

Our childbirth class last week was CANCELED, but never fear. James and I have been doing plenty of practicing for when baby comes. And we've gotten some crucial help from a couple of friends.

For instance, we put together our snazzy new stroller (thanks, Aunt Cathy and Uncle Jerry!). It has so many different features, a rain canopy and sun shade and parent console and super swivelly wheels...

...that we might have overlooked the handy basket underneath in which to store things, had not Hank brought it to our attention.

 

Thanks for the demo, Hankie!

Not to be outdone, Malcolm was glad to help us practice the techniques we learned in The Happiest Baby on the Block video, which teaches 5 S's for calming a crying baby. 

1st S: Swaddling

2nd S: Side-holding

3rd S: Shushing

4th S: ...

I honestly don't remember what the 4th S is. I kind of want to say "shaking" but I know that can't be right. It involves jiggling the baby up and down, which led to the cat Scratching and me Screaming. I suppose either of those could work. The 5th S is missing because our test subject escaped under the bed.

And just for fairness' sake, a few pictures of our human child.

31 weeks

Yes, that is my child's vagina. I figure this is my only chance to post a picture of it on the internet without going on some kind of list.

59 days left, as of today!