Monday, September 25, 2006

operation baby

Do you know what today is? Today is September 25th. The 25th. As in, 3 months from December 25th. Also known as 3 months from my due date, the date on which I have forbidden this baby from appearing any earlier. I hear most women hoping their baby appears a couple of weeks early, or at the very least right on their due date, and instead I find myself lecturing my uterus on the fine art of patience and remaining inside until I am ready for baby to emerge.

My mom bought us a tiny little countdown clock that we keep on the mantle, and I noticed a few days ago with no small measure of alarm that the clock has bypassed 100 and dropped into double digit numbers. Double digits! On the one hand, Christmas seems forever away, and I have more than enough time to finish the registry, and get Josh to paint the room, and purchase the crib, and order the dresser and the rocker, and get diapers, and do all of those things that everyone tells me don't actually need to be done before the baby is born but I feel a pressing need to complete. Yesterday, though, when I saw the Christmas display already set up and twinkling at Target, I felt a little sick to my stomach. Excited sick, but sick nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Josh skips around the house singing and alternately cupping my belly in his hands and telling baby to come "faster, faster!" because he can't wait for December to arrive. Every night he presses his hands against my abdomen as we wait for the nightly internal kickboxing show to begin, and every night he ends up sighing and telling me how jealous he is that I get to feel our baby every single day. I am so lucky, on so many levels, there is not doubt about that.

So that is what we're doing these days. I try to get my head around the idea that a baby might come home at the end of all this, and it seems impossible. Instead, I focus on cleaning out the closet, finding spaces for the junk accumulated in that room. I've discovered that the color yellow is an evil bastard, and I have 6 different 2*2 foot swatches painted on the wall to prove it, none of which match the yellow of the crib bumper exactly right. Did you know that yellow can be too green and too orange and too icy and too pale and too just plain wrong? Because I didn't. But when I asked at the paint store for a common yellow used in a nursery, the clerk just laughed and laughed. I should have known then.

Yesterday I attended a prenatal yoga class, and I'm in all kinds of pain right now. Pain in places where I didn't know I had muscles, like my ribs and my back and my shoulders. Ouch. I'll try to believe the teacher, though, when she tells me that I'm making space for my baby by stretching out my chest and doing squats. Seriously, though, OUCH.

Besides all of this, I herald the arrival of my favorite season, of course. My favorite holiday is coming up soon, and then I suspect that the days will fly by from there. I'm just trying to hold onto these last couple months before they slip through my fingers.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

These last few "double-digit" days will go MUCH faster than you ever thought possible. Baby will be here soon. Have we thought of a blog name for Little Pumpkin? :)

You may think you want the baby to stay in there as long as possible, but trust me, by the last month -- you want that baby OUT. You're miserable. It's going to be awful for you, comfort-wise, and the waiting to meet your baby is terrible. But, you tend to forget about it because you have a sweet little baby!

Anonymous said...

I don't know how it works in the States, but here in Canada it is always a good idea to have your baby before the end of the tax year -- so your baby can be a little write-off!!! Although 16 days overdue is VERY overdue these days. I was 9 days late with my first and they were going to start inducing me the next day, if she hadn't arrived on her own! Good luck, no matter what!

Yankee, Transferred said...

I think blog name must be Little Pumpkin, what with you being a Haloween Lover and all.
So, so exciting! And you have to be the most enthusiastic pregnant mommy ever! Can't wait to see her (him?)!

Girl said...

My sister is a minister and she just kept telling the baby to make sure he didn't show up until AFTER the session meeting, funeral, wedding, etc. He showed up so late they had to induce, at which point he had a groove in his head from leaning up against her ribs (he also failed to ever get his ass in gear and flip).

Whatever happens, he/she will come when he/she feels like it :)

Oh...and do you think you might have gotten slightly ill at seeing the Christmas stuff in Target because it is Christmas stuff...IN SEPTEMBER???!!! Honestly...I may just boycott all stores who have stuff out before November!

Liz Miller said...

Little Pumpkin!!! Squeeee!

Anonymous said...

Ha ha, "Squeeee!" I love it, Liz!

Hey, why not take part of the bedding (with the yellow)to a paint store and ask them to colormatch it and then do a shade lighter and a shade darker and paint those 3 on the wall and see what looks good? All colors turn out to be evil bastards when you want to paint your house. Have you tried to narrow down a shade of beige? I think you have so you know what I'm talking about.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering if you could color match, too, with the bumper.

Time with Curious Girl--both before she arrived, and since--seems to either fly by or stop still (and sometimes both at once!). I love reading your pre-pumpkin thoughts--and I'm kind of with Josh in wanting to meet the baby soon! But then, this preparation time is special, too, and it's probably best all around to try to enjoy the moment.

Anonymous said...

So, if it's a boy, you have to name him "Jack," short for Jack-O-Latern.

Anonymous said...

That's "lantern." Lantern. I can spell. Really.

Unknown said...

You are such sweeties. I'm glad you're enjoying this special time so much!

Suzanne said...

Hey, let us know if you can get your uterus to listen to you. They are just so independent, those uteruses!

jo(e) said...

Hey, anonymous brings up a good point. The one thing you do need to do in the next few months is decide on baby names. (I used to get horribly stressed out about that.)

We readers of course are impatient to see a real photo of the baby!

halloweenlover said...

I was kind of hoping that baby would come out with a name attached, sort of like a Cabbage Patch Kid?

We cannot even discuss the name thing because we have absolutely no names. Sigh.

KLee said...

Sorry, that first post, the one with Anonymous -- that was me.

I'm having one of those days. :)

Anonymous said...

Speaking of "one of those days"... you're due on the 25th (so, it IS quite possible for you to have the baby in January). My first was born on Dec. 15th... that's where I got that 16 days overdue nonsense. I guess I meant 6. Don't blame me. I'm pregnant again, and pregnancy makes me stupid. :)

Maribeth said...

My daughter was born on Dec. 20th. That was the best Christmas gift I ever had!

ccw said...

How about skipping the yellow and using a nice green? Yellow supposedly makes children churlish.

I hope that you make it very close to your due date but not past.

Anonymous said...

I'm only posting to let you know that I read a study that says babies who live in yellow nurseries cry more than babies in any other color of room. I have no idea why, I don't think the article stated, but I thought I should warn you before you head down that road. :D

K said...

Yes, yellow is a very weird color. It looks perfectly nice on the little card and then YUCK. The warmer yellows look better on the wall to me. Anything lighter or toward the cool side ends up looking washed out.

As for names, have you been to Baby Name Wizard? I am obsessed with that site/blog. Of course, it might only make things worse.

Anonymous said...

I saw a cute Halloween display in a shop window yesterday, and I thought of you and your favorite holiday. I'm so glad that everything is going well for you and your pregnancy.

And as for yellow paint--I hear you. My living room currently is a warm yellowish gold color with a hint of orange that brings out the rich tones in the woodwork and fireplace mantel. I love it, but I am ashamed to tell you how many times I painted the room different shades before I got it right. Yellow is the most reflective color, and it really intensifies and bounces off of itself once it is painted on all four walls. I wish you all the best in finding the perfect shade for the nursery soon.