As I sat there on the hospital bed sipping my water, I
stared at those awful pastel and plaid curtains. I thought about my friend who
told me once the sight of them is panic inducing after so much time spent
staring at them, and I thought, ‘That makes sense to me’. The sight of them
reminds me of the time spent with Zoey in the hospital. Those horrible first
couple nights, feeling completely overwhelmed, in pain, and desperately wanting
to be anywhere but there. As I stared at them this time, on the cusp of having
Roo, I thought, ‘I really don’t want to be here’. 
It was another short quick trip to Labour and Delivery. My
first being a couple weeks ago after I noticed Roo, our very very active Roo
had stopped moving almost entirely for a half a day. That coupled with some
spotting sent Henry and I over to get assessed. By the time we were there Roo
was squirming around once again but everyone at the hospital told us that it
was absolutely the right thing to get checked, if nothing else, but to be sure.
I was grateful for their encouragement. This time at 34 and ½ weeks I was asked
to go after a day and a half of irregular, but painful cramping. Obviously no
cramping occurred while I was hooked up to the monitors but they were able to
determine Roo was fine. After a couple quick tests they determined I had a
bladder infection and was absolutely having painful cramping. Once again they
told me I did the right thing in coming to get checked out since a bladder
infection can spur pre term labor or even develop into a kidney infection. So
it was again helpful to me to hear that I’m not over reacting or being silly.
It is making Henry and I wonder if Roo is willing to stay put for much longer.
I thought about the reality of that while I sat in the Assessment room. I had truly not realized how soon Full Term
is until the nurse chatted cheerfully, “Only 2 more weeks and you’re ready to
go!”. I had to pause and ask her if she was serious. I hadn’t even realized how
big my belly was until last week. I literally was waddling around thinking I
still have my 20 week belly, but the truth is I’m much much bigger than that
now. Roo will be here before we know it and it’s thrilling and terrifying all
at once. Perhaps it’s because I know now, more than I ever did before Zoey was
born how much a newborn can rock your world.
The basement is nearly finished which is an amazing
blessing. Having that space finished will change how we are able to function as
a family in the house. Having a room downstairs means we can have both Roo and
Zoey upstairs and we will hopefully be painting and setting up Zoey’s ‘New Room’
this weekend. Our goal has always been to make that transition with a fair
amount of space between Roo’s arrival and her moving rooms. We don’t want there
to be any association of, “I had to move out of MY room because of the baby.”
We are also decorating it with fun colours and characters to make it an
exciting change. I expect a night or two of adjustment, but I think she will
overall really enjoy having a Big Girl room for her own. I also expect that setting
up the crib again will make things feel even more real.
 |
| 34 Weeks |
Physically, I’ve been feeling tired and getting and staying
comfortable is increasingly more challenging. Off and on I was having the
sensation of having been kicked very hard in the pelvic bone. I remembered it
vaguely from my pregnancy with Zoey, but not a painful and less frequent. My
Doctor told me that with a second pregnancy babies head can drop into place and
then bounce back out repeatedly. But it seems yesterday Roo has dropped and so
far seems content there. I’ll be very interested to hear where I’m at, at my
next appointment. Henry and I are trying to mentally prepare for the very real possibility
that baby could show up on time or even a little early. Henry’s guess is
currently 3 days before Christmas, but I’m trying to balance preparedness and
patience to go the long haul into January if it comes to it. Not the easiest to
figure out, but we are doing our best!
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