More Preparations

Instead of focusing on our moving preparations, this past week we have been taking it easy and focusing more on the baby. Lately, I have gotten tired much more easily, and I have experienced the joy of swollen feet, ankles, toes and fingers. If you were to have glanced at my right ankle last night, you would have wondered whether or not I had an ankle bone. It’s pretty awesome.

Taking it easy has not been as successful as we might have hoped, however. The weekend before last, we spent a gorgeous afternoon out in Heidelberg with our friend Satakieli from Bumbles and Light. She took some amazing maternity photos for us. These are some of my favorites:

The majority of the ones I’ve included come from the top of one of the hills in the Heidelberg area. My non-pregnant self remembers it being a cinch to walk up the hill from the parking lot. Being in my third trimester, the walk this time around was quite a bit more challenging. In all, we spent about 2.5-3 hours out and about taking photos and walking around. By the time 9 PM rolled around that night, I was so sore that I could barely make it to the bed.

This past weekend was a similar story. Saturday was spent running around downtown Heidelberg looking for some last minute items we want to include with our household goods, namely a sketch of Heidelberg and a beer stein. We were successful on both accounts, although I would still like to find some Polish pottery as well.

Sunday morning, I started work on one of the craft projects I have put together for Monkey. Unfortunately, I underestimated the amount of fabric I would need for the binding, so I have to make another trip to the craft shop this week before I can complete the project.

Sunday afternoon, our friends Derek and Jes threw us a baby shower with several couples from John’s unit in attendance. The party was supposed to go from 2-4, but everyone was having such a good time together that we didn’t disperse until after 6.

When we walked the whole block home, I mentioned to John that Monkey hadn’t really been active during the day. We both were a little concerned, because he’s typically a little soccer player in there, so I laid down for just shy of an hour and we only felt one – maybe two – movements in that time. Since decreased fetal movement can be a sign of distress, we decided to call the doctor. They had us come in to labor and delivery to get checked out.

I was supposed to just be monitored for 30 minutes for contractions and the baby’s heartbeat, but about the time the midwife was supposed to come back to take the monitor off me, we heard someone ringing the bell incessantly at the door to the ward. Shortly after, we heard lots of running. Then I heard a lady screaming… a lot. And then…we heard a baby crying. Oh my gosh, I officially got nervous right then and there. That was some intense screaming! Thirty minutes later, the midwife came back to my room to take my monitor off me. Of course, Monkey turned into a jumping bean as soon as we got hooked up to the monitor. The doctor wanted to do an ultrasound too, just in case, but everything looked good.

We finally got home around 9:30, ate a quick dinner and went to bed.

I think it’s going to be a long week…