False Alarm

Yesterday B and I headed to Little Neck, Queens for the Apple Festival at the Queens Farm Museum. It was fun but B felt weird because it seemed more of an event for kids although I pointed out to him that I saw lots of couples and just groups of friends there too. I ate some sweet corn on the cob, some popcorn and drank some apple cider. We also bought an apple pie and a half gallon of apple cider to take home. I was feeling not so hot because I was feeling pain all throughout my lower abdomen and wrapping around to my back. It was uncomfortable to walk with all the pressure. B said that I make myself do too much and said I should be home resting. He also said I was like the "Terminator" when it came to cleaning up the apartment on Saturday. I told him I don't want to give birth in a pig sty. Pigs can give birth in a pig sty! LOL! So we only stayed for a bit at the farm and then we headed back to Brooklyn. The whole way there I was suffering. I really thought the baby was ready to come out. We were both like "Oh shit!" because we knew we really weren't prepared for all that right at that time. We have little to no food in the house, especially for during labor. Again, a Fresh Direct order that never was... So we just picked up some water, coconut water, vitamin water, raspberry leaf tea bags and some food at Golden Krust and headed directly to the house. I remembered my midwife telling me that if you are doing too much, that can bring on that feeling of crampiness. What I was feeling was like heavy menstrual cramps. I also heard that dehydration can cause that feeling too and bring on the Braxton Hicks contractions. So I just hoped that when we got home, I could just drink drink drink and all the sensations would go away. I wanted at least one more week to prepare for the baby. One more saturday to stream vac all the rugs in the house and maybe even clean the windows! Just one more saturday to receive the Fresh Direct delivery with all the goodies we need to fill the pantry and fridge. So I crawled into bed with my soya and veggie patties from Golden Krust and a coconut water sitting on the side. I suggested to B that we watch one of our netflix films. As I forced myself to drink all the coconut water and then about half a gallon of water, I felt SO much better. All the contractions and crampiness just went away! I was like "Phew!" I ended up having a vitamin water later in the evening and yet ANOTHER one at like 2 o'clock in the morning. I really must have been dehydrated! Yesterday when I woke up, I drank the last 8 ounces of our bottled water and then had a cup of soymilk before we left the apartment at around 10:30am. And then I didn't drink anything else until we were about to leave the farm at like 1:45pm. So yeah, I paid the price for that folly! I spoke to my doula yesterday and we agreed that she would come over today at 6pm to do my belly cast. I was getting worried about it. She also said last night that if I started having contractions again, to call her no matter what time it was so she could come over and do the cast before I have the baby. I was like "ummmm at like 2 in the morning?" And she said "yes that's what doulas do!" Luckily I didn't need to call in that favor. At 2 o'clock in the morning I was wrestling with my snoogle body pillow, because that's what I do all night long. I change positions, flip it around, hug it from one side, and then switch to the other. It's a never ending drama. I hate side sleeping, I miss my stomach sleeping... Soon enough that will be back in full effect although my doula says for awhile after you have the baby, you panic if you end up on your stomach because you forget that you aren't pregnant anymore! Right now I am trying to figure out if it is worth it to buy a tripod for my video camera to record the birth since I want B to be an active participant OR should I just use that money to get groceries sooner rather than later... hmmmmm..... Maybe I can borrow a tripod from someone? I'll figure it out...

38 Weeks and 4 days

Right now we are playing the waiting game. Wondering when this little boo will decide he's ready to leave the womb. I feel pretty prepared at this point for the homebirth. The only thing we have to do is stock up on food. B and I were supposed to be getting Fresh Direct delivery but for reasons I don't feel like getting into, that did not happen. But we did stock up on paper good supplies and we also did a pretty good job of cleaning the apartment. We washed all the towels and sheets too. And we washed all the necessary baby clothes, burp cloths, etc... So at least I don't worry about the baby being naked! We ordered natural biodegradable diapers (the only ones on the market!) in bulk online along with natural wipes and a baby care starter kit. Hopefully everything will come in a few days. I really wanted to do cloth diapers but the fact that I live in a brownstone without any washer/dryer REALLY does not make it seem realistic for me. Yeah they have portable washers but realistically, me working full-time, I don't think I would be able to keep up with the washing of the diapers. Babies can use up to 70 diapers a week... For me the biodegradable diapers by Nature babycare is my compromise. At least I can feel good about these diapers because they don't take 1,000 years to biodegrade like most diapers. And they also do not use chemicals and toxic gels like Pampers and Huggies brands. So I can be eco-friendly and good to my baby at the same time. I need to take some more pictures while I still have this little belly. I bought a 2 gig camera card so I am going to have the motherload of pics of me and the baby. Today B and I are going to the apple festival at the Queens Farm Museum. We also planning on picking our own pumpkin! I love stuff like that... I am such a New England girl at heart!

Goodbye Astroland!

Yesterday B and I went to Coney Island to bid Astroland goodbye forever. The Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel will be the only remnants of what was once the main draw to Coney Island, the Astroland Amusement Park. The lines for Nathan's were CRAZY! All we wanted were drinks, and the shortest wait was 25 minutes! I couldn't even take it, standing in the sun, almost 35 weeks pregnant, was making me dizzy so I left B in line while I attempted to find some sort of seat in the shade. All that for old fashioned lemonade! I guess everyone got the memo that Astroland was closing. I was kind of sad when I saw all the little boos on the kiddie rides, I would have liked to have brought our son to Astroland one day. We walked up and down the boardwalk. We sat down a lot too because I was still feeling a little dizzy from the craziness of the Nathan's line. We looked out on the water and talked about our future plans as a complete family with our little boo coming on the scene so soon. B wants us to go on a family vacation to the US Virgin Islands. I can just picture us at the beach with our little guy playing in the sand. I know he will love the sand and sea just like his mommy. :) I know me and the little guy will probably go to Martinique next summer for a couple of weeks so that should be great too. We still don't have a name for him... It's getting down to the wire! We need to figure things out!

A Day at the Beach

Here's me at Long Beach yesterday. I will be 7 months this coming Wednesday. As you can see, I am still rocking my bikini with pride! It was fun yesterday getting out of the city. It definitely made me think about how much I really don't want to raise my son in the city. I want to have a lawn and backyard for him to play in. I want him to be able to ride his bike in the street. I want him to be able to roll around on grass. I really like city life for just me but for me and my little family, I want a house. I would love to live somewhere kind of country, with fruit bearing trees and a garden. Or it would be nice to live on a somewhat cosmopolitan island, the best of nature mixed with access to arts and cultures. I hear St. Martin is pretty diverse and has a lot of stuff going on. Hopefully in the next few years B and I will have an idea of where we may want to go from here.
Anyway, the beach was fun! We got the one day getaway package to Long Island which included a round trip ticket on the Long Island Railroad and beach admission all for 18 dollars each. We ate junk food on the boardwalk and then hung out on the sand. We only went into the water like twice because it was REALLY cold. Refreshing, yes, but you wouldn't want to just hang out in water at that temperature for long periods of time. After we left the beach, we found this cute little diner across the street from the train station. B had a grilled chicken caesar salad and I had a veggie burger and salad. We both got dessert to go since we didn't want to miss our train. Overall it was a lovely day. I was so pooped when we got home, I went to bed around 10pm. Woke up this morning and went to the gym. I was feeling so good on the elliptical machine, I ended up doing 65 minutes of cardio on it! This week I went to the gym 4 times so I am feeling cool about that. Five times would have been better but oh well. I find myself getting concerned about my every changing figure but I am like "Hey I am pregnant, I can't wear the same things I used to." But I definitely want to keep up the exercise until the day I go into labor and start up my postpartum fitness game plan shortly after delivery. Gradually of course. I will start with walking on the treadmill and eventually build up to running. Weights will be added probably a month or so after the delivery. Anyway, the little boo in my belly wants to eat breakfast so I need to honor his wishes! Later y'all! Oh and by the way, I passed my glucose challenge test with flying colors! Yay! I don't have gestational diabetes!

Coney Island Babymoon Afterall!

So after all that fussing I did yesterday morning about the weather and such, we DID end up going to Coney Island. I just thought that we could take a gamble on the weather and we did and we ended up not getting caught in any t-storms. It actually stormed while we were on the Q train on our way back home that evening. We had a BLAST! We will definitely be going back before the summer is over.




B and I in front of Brighton Beach with our beverages of choice(he had an extra large beer and mine was a medium lemonade, talk about supersized!) from world famous Nathan's.
B stealing a smooch while we were at the New York Aquarium.
Chilling in front of a pic of walruses at the aquarium.
Me in front of the shark tank.
B waiting for the Q train on our way to Coney Island.
B made me get some corn, I really wanted pizza!
B loves Nathan's hotdogs.
He loved his hot dog BUT complained that the actual weiner was too small, LOL!
B made me get a candy apple, I don't remember the last time that I had one! It was good!
Me waiting for the train on our way to Coney Island.

Yeah the pics are kind of in reserve chronological order; I am still getting used to the set up of blogger.com. Overall it was a great day. We played games at the arcade, went on the "Spook O' Rama" ride, LOL! Hung out on the boardwalk, walked on the pier. I had some funnel cake/fried dough and was disappointed in the quality. The funnel cake was just sitting out and they threw it in the oven. I am used to seeing them pour the dough in the hot oil right in front of you and getting a freshly fried cake with the powder sugar on top. So I only at like a little bit of it and then threw it away. They now have the calorie counts on all the items at Nathan's so that totally discouraged me from getting my own order of fries when B was ordering his food. I wanted to eat some of his fries, but I was annoyed because he got chili cheese on them and I had to pick around the chili to get untainted ones since I don't eat meat. He said next time he will just order plain ones since he wasn't so into the chili cheese topping and didn't even finish his order. After the games, the ride and just walking around and chilling on the boardwalk, we headed to the New York Aquarium after we realized it was literally right there off of the boardwalk. We got tickets to the aquarium; there was also a 3D deep sea ride we could have gone on too but I figured I probably could not go on it anyway since I am prego. We had a lot of fun at the aquarium and it was a nice way to end the day at Coney Island. B was like a kid in a candy store! He loves animals and he loves science. I swear he missed his calling as a vet or researcher of some sort. He was just so excited to be there and just in awe of all the different aquatic creatures. He loved the sea otter we saw. He was however cursing the jellyfish, he was stung once while at the beach and now he just thinks of them as sneaky bastards, LOL! So after our nice relaxing tour of the aquarium, I was basically spent. I told him I was tired, it was about 5:45 at that point and we had been there since 12:45. He was a little sad because he wanted to stay. I reminded him that I had to work tomorrow and wanted to get back home in time to kind of unwind and go to bed in a timely fashion. At first he was like "okay..." but then we heard a loud thunder clap boom through the sky and we both were like "let's go!". The rain had held out all day for us at Coney Island so we weren't trying to push our luck. B got a vanilla soft serve cone to go and we were back on the Q train, heading back to our 'hood. When we got back we realized every restaurant was pretty much closed, so we did a little quick grocery shopping for dinner. I ended up snacking a little bit and being too tired to eat my Amy's Vegetable Pie. I couldn't even make it through Family Guy, I went to bed at about 9:20 or so. I am glad too because I woke up feeling fresh and was at the gym this morning earlier than I have been getting there lately. It may be the iron supplement that is helping with the energy I am feeling too. I really think it's funny how I am almost 6 months along and I am still just doing my thing. I always thought this far along in a pregnancy, you just want to lay up and eat all day. I am glad I don't feel that way because I am trying to stay fly! Tonight I want to go to the Aquatic Exercise class, I think the baby likes it. Oh and in parting, I think we have found a name for our little lion! More details to come...

No Babymoon for me today :(

Today B and I were supposed to go to Coney Island for the beginning of a series of mini babymoons for us. A babymoon is like a fun little vacation that you take before the baby comes. Because after that baby is here, it's pretty much a lockdown for 3-4 months. There are supposed to be T-storms today so that totally messed up the plans. And next weekend B will be busy on Sunday I am just annoyed at Mother Nature right now. I was cooped up in the house all day yesterday so I was really looking forward to having a fun day of ferris wheels(the only ride I can go on!), fried dough/funnel cake, pizza, the boardwalk, the beach and the New York Aquarium. That's postponed for now so I have to think of something that we can do that is closer to home. I thought maybe go see a movie but seriously I don't even know what's out and I usually am not interested in many mainstream things. Yeah I am a snob! I just know that if I have to spend all day today in this apartment I may go stir-crazy! Oh and on a sidenote, I got the Floravital iron supplement and it tastes pretty good. I will be taking it twice a day to "build up the blood". I really want to keep everything in the pregnancy as normal as possible since it started it out kind of crazy! Okay so I guess I am going to check the movie listings for the theatre downtown. I am not feel very optimistic about the selection. Oh boy, another week is beginning. Hopefully I will feel better since I am taking the iron supplement.
Baby Bojangles and I wish you a happy Sunday!!!!!