Wingspan, Banjo, Lampshade, Grover?

So for me, one of the highlights of Baby Mama was a scene where Tina and Amy walked through a park where there were tons of children running around.

A mommy says to her children, "Wingspan, Banjo, let's go, we have a playdate with XX and XXX." I cannot remember the names of the other two children because I and everyone else in the theater were laughing so hard that it drowned out the other names. So yeah, anyone, anyone? My Little Man. His name will not be Wingspan Banjo Lew.

LLBWCD was today as per our usual Wednesday routine. I feel like I'm looked upon with pity now when I'm in there. Things are fine...no real reason to have any clue as to when LM will make his introduction. I know we are hopeful it will be very soon as Big Man's softball season starts next Wednesday evening and I would hate to preclude his season opener with something as trivial as the birth of his son :) Four days till D-Day. We are holding out hope for Cinco de Mayo...margaritas and a piñata at the Four Seasons BCFH Labor and Delivery Floor. Maybe a bull for our little Taurus?

More Things I Look Forward to Doing

So I think that in the last few weeks, there's really one thing that I have decided I really miss and really look forward to doing. Sitting comfortably in a chair. I cannot find a chair or a sofa or a bed or anything that I can sit in comfortably for any period of time worth noting. It sounds like such an insignificant thing...but when I'm desperately trying to do last bits of work before maternity leave, or finishing thank you notes, or just watching TV or whatever...I simply cannot sit in a chair for very long as it squishes the Little Man and is just really, really uncomfortable for me as well.

Just chalk it up to the list of things "they" don't ever tell you. As I say in the header of this blog, honesty is the best policy here. As long as it doesn't cross the disgusting line, you'll hear of it here.

Also, some of our readers have been inquiring as to how they will be alerted as to the arrival of the Little Man. Well, I'm not 100% sure. Hilariously, prego is able to update this blog from the Crackberry. So yeah, I could be sitting in my labor and delivery suite at the Four Seasons/Boulder Community Foothills Hospital, rocking the epidural, and sending drug-enhanced play-by-play of labor (probably not delivery). However I think this might send Big Man and Grandma Jane to the loony bin due to the oversharing nature of this scenario, so we'll play that by ear. I think that most likely, the first updates or announcements will come via text message and then Auntie Allie will hopefully be able to post a blog entry with photos soon after the LM arrives. Which right now, at 39 weeks and basically 3 days, feels like it will be never. There's also obviously going to be an email. If you want to be on the email, you know how to let me know.

And We're Back

My apologies for the lack of recent entries. No, the little man has not arrived. Instead, a vicious bout with the common cold has arrived, rendering prego pretty useless since Friday night.

Fear not...I was able to attend Baby Mama, which was hilarious. Tina and Amy are masters and in spite of what some reviews said it was really a funny movie so I recommend it. Six of us went and no one was disappointed. I wasn't a huge fan of the scene depicting Amy's arrival at the hospital....simply because it obviously mirrors a life-experience that I'm going to have sometime soon...very soon. So the phrase, "It feels like I'm shi##ing knives" wasn't nearly as amusing to me as it was to my five friends who would point and laugh at me each time some horrible aspect of labor and delivery was mentioned. One of my friends is pregnant and due soon after me, however she will be having a c-section so she was also perfectly comfortable laughing. Super.

The weekend was spent doing battle with the cold...I won't lie the cold has had the better of the fight so far. Big Man had a bit of self-inflicted affliction on Saturday so mostly we just laid around trying to get sorted out. Sunday he got pretty fired up and installed the car seat holder base things in the Honda and the Mitsubishi. So when the time comes, we both are prepared to have Little Man in his rocking zoo themed Graco car seat with no problems.

In other LM news, he continues to routinely stick out a foot on my left side and it's gotta be a heel or something because it's quite a firm appendage. I don't think it's a knee. I sense that he's dropped, at least a bit, as there is activity in places there previously has not been. Big Man is doing great, cranking out at work and taking amazing care of prego and LM. We could not possibly have gotten this far without him and his excitement for what's coming is very adorable. People often ask us if we are ready...I don't know if anyone ever is. But we're as ready as we're gonna be.

"Who is going to use dangerous western medicines and drug their baby for their own selfish comfort? Woot wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

It's Wednesday...You Know What That Means!

LLBWCD! Yes we had our weekly doctor appointment today with Dr. L. It was typically brilliant as blood pressure was good, Little Man is measuring correctly and his heart rate is fantastic. As I suspected he is not slipping into low rider mode and is still sitting tall...as in no, he has not dropped. Sorry to report that to the members of the CU Athletics Lew Baby Pool who have anything picked out in the next week. You might want to adjust those time slots to around or after my due date of May 4. Note the advantage you will gain by checking the Lew Blog...sort of like insider info.

I'm also pleased that I was able to forgo the, ahem, examination. Basically we learned last week that the examination will do nothing but depress us and be uncomfortable for me, so we passed. Apparently this exam will tell you dilation and effacement, but that information is actually meaningless unless you are actually in labor at that point...so really there's no real reason to do it as it doesn't provide a magic formula that says you are X this and X that and therefore will go into labor at X date and X time. It says you are X this and X that and pat you on the butt and send you home.

So instead, we went to Red Robin for lunch and then back to work and skipped uncomfortable probing. Good times. Did I mention that it's two days till Baby Mama?

What's He Like?

So a good blog idea came to me today from a coworker who has three kids. To make notes about what the Little Man is like in utero because kids like to hear that stuff when they are older and you get so caught up in what they do once they're out that you forget what they did when they're in.

So what is LM like? Pretty fun. I don't ever have to worry about kick counts because a few times a day he gets crazy and parties in there. Often his foot sticks out on my left side and Big Man or I can tickle it or tap it and some times he'll kick us. Other times he'll have his head turned a certain way and down on my lower right side you can see his little noggin sticking out. Then you can see his back and his little butt usually pretty easy too. Kick counts are supposed to be 10 movements in 2 hours...he does that in 2 minutes easy.

As far as food...I can't ever tell if there's anything he likes any more or less than anything else. He likes when Big Man talks to him. And if I'm squished over in a chair or on the couch, he will let me know if he needs more room. And finally, his latest is punching or heading me in the bladder, which is my least favorite LM move.

38 Weeks

So we've made it to 38 weeks. We cannot believe we've made it this far and this long! Things are the same as they have been. Prego is large and uncomfortable. Little Man isn't moving nearly as much or as violently as he was even two weeks ago, but he spends some time each day moving enough so that we don't have to worry about him. Big Man takes care of us both.

We took a family trip yesterday to the CU Football Spring Game. We saw Grandma Jane and Grandpa Monty and Uncle Eric and Future Aunt Jennie and Grandpa Lew were all there along with the tailgating buddies. The highlight of the day (along with Grandma Jane's potato salad) were the inaugural runs of Ralphie V the CU mascot. On her second trip at halftime, her harness came loose and she basically was running free but for one Ralphie Handler hanging on. It was very, very entertaining.

Little Man did well...probably because prego drank about 14 Nalgenes of water. That's all for now. We're on day one of week 39. We've got five days till Baby Mama....will we make it?

Baby Mama TV Spots

Okay I just made this new discovery on the Baby Mama website and I'm sorry but you need to watch every single one of these TV spots. They are amazing.

Highlight: "How many of you are going to use a dangerous epidural for your own selfish comfort?"

Anyway Dude, I'm Telling You I'm Pregnant and You're Acting Shockingly Cavalier

It's been a busy day. We had an appointment with Dr. J at LLBWC. Our usual Wednesday appointment got bumped so we rescheduled for this morning. I think our standard nurse lady Alex noticed that I'm not my usual jovial self. I'm kind of uncomfortable. We measured great and all that was fine. Blah blah blah. Prego did gain a few lbs...need to steer clear of frozen dairy products.

Anyways, my delicate condition is an exciting topic for my colleagues at the University of Colorado Athletic Department. Such that some of my friends have started a baby pool and are placing bets on the Little Man's birthdate and time. To assist them in their pool preparations, I consented to a belly photo. No one needs to see what lies above or below this portion of the photograph. People want to know what day I think LM will come...I honestly have no idea. As he reaches 38 weeks on Saturday (that's full gestational age for those of you without children) I figure sooner rather than later would be nice.

Today's title is a line from Juno. We now own it and Big Man watched it last night with me..he had not yet seen it. I think he appreciated that it is a quality movie probably more than the pregnancy comments. I was just glad he didn't hate it.

A Little Effort, Please

So can we talk about how it's not that hard to try to do your job well? And how when it affects the 37 week, 2 day pregnant woman, it's that much more exasperating?

First of all, Red Lobster. This is the second time I have been there ever in my life. We went last night with Big Man and his parents...they are all big Red Lobster fans. As a non-seafood lover in you, I don't regularly go there, but I know they have steak so it's clearly a doable place for me. it was a nice treat for Big Man since he never gets to go on account of me not being a seafood lover in you. So everyone ordered their crab legs and deep fried seafood extravaganza and bowls of butter and I ordered my steak. I soon remembered why I don't go a lot to the RL...they aren't too concerned about the quality of the New York strip. I mean I understand it's not their specialty, but at Outback Steakhouse I think their seafood and chicken offerings are probably pretty good even though they likely are focused on their cow mean items. Red Lobster, can we please at least attempt to keep the non-seafood people and pregnant people who have to forgo seafood but still want to dine with their loved ones happy with at least a semi-decent piece of meat? Keep that in mind people. Though props to the cheddar bay biscuits, and my salad and potatoes and smoothie were delightful.

Second. A root canal update. I have now been to Dental Health of Boulder I think 10 times since February 20. I had a root canal, which I've discussed in earlier entries. I have now in the last month been back to have my permanent crown put on three times. And three times it has not happened. "The lab" keeps messing it up. Well then "the lab" can pay for it since I will now be there no less than four times to have this crown seated. I have not much faith that "the lab" will get it right next Monday. Did I mention I have 19 days until my due date? I'm not sure laying on my back while various people fill my mouth with rubber impression products is how I should be spending my time right now. The upside is the ladies at the front desk are always super nice and entertaining so I haven't yelled at anyone. Yet.

Shameless pitch of the day: Juno came out on DVD today. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you do so. And now a word from Bren...

"Well, I'm a nail technician and I think we both ought to just stick to what we know."

Good Times

Not much action in the Little Man department the past few days, other than designating his gang affiliation on Thursday :)

Grandma and Grandpa Lew are in town as Grandpa Lew is going to be teaching at CSU for a couple of weeks. We traveled down to Denver yesterday to celebrate the engagement of Uncle Eric and Future Aunt-in-Law Jennie. It was super fun. Today to Pearl Street.

The Little Man had the squeeze put on him yesterday a few times with some super fun BH contractions. Those are not prego's favorite way to spend time. But all is well...

Decisions, Decisions

I'm so glad Big Man and I have already made this decision...I won't lie. I had to bust a cap in his ass to get him to recognize, but at least we are on the same page and whatnot.

Really?

Oh, You Think You're So Special Because You Get to Play Picture Pages Up There?

Ah, Wednesday. Which is now officially Lovely Ladies of Boulder Women's Care Day (henceforth to be referred to as LLBWCD) every Wednesday until the little man comes.

We had much to discuss with Dr. J today. You see on Monday, we had a wonderful cold front blow in. I used to love cold fronts blowing in as it made for significantly more comfortable body temperature for prego. Now...not so much. This particular cold front brought with it very high barometric pressure to the metro area and therefore an uncomfortable time full of practice contractions and high pressure in the belly. However thanks to my lovely childbirth class, I have pretty much mastered the difference between the real deal and the fake stuff and I knew it was all fake. That doesn't mean I liked it or it was at all pleasant.

We raised this issue with Dr. J to make sure I wasn't projecting or something. Well apparently she was on call on Monday and had a lot of people coming in for labor checks thinking they were rolling out. She said it made for a lot of activity but no actual births. So I guess childbirth class was time well spent. Can I get a 5-1-1 shout out?

As for a Little Man update (since that's why all four of you read this) he is well. He has not "dropped" per se but is settling a bit lower in the belly. As usual our stats were gold stars all the way around (BP, heart rate, measurements) and prego didn't gain any weight, which should be the norm at this point (woo hoo). Let the record show that I was totally average with the total lbs. His bed is ready, the bag is packed...but there aren't any indications that he'll be making any early appearances (though that doesn't mean he couldn't come knocking 10 minutes from now).

Shoutouts! I never realized that spring time really is baby time. It's getting out of control. Rachel and Mike have a new little boy Hunter as of April 4...and Nancy and Craig also have a new girl Madelyn who came around on April 6. Little Man will have lots of friends to play with!

Wish us luck...another cold front blowing in tonight...

"Well, my five year old daughter could do that and let me tell you, she's not the brightest bulb in the tanning bed. So why don't you go back to night school in Mankato and learn a real trade."

And We're Back....

After a few days delay, we're back. Nothing has really changed for us. Thanks to the wakeup call of last Thursday, the Little Man's room is 97% ready for him and the most important things are good to go. A place for him to sleep and a place for us to change him out of his dirties. Big Man and I have been relaxing this weekend as my continued increase in girth has made it hard to be active for seven days in a row. So basically from Friday night to Monday morning I recharge for the work week.

The Little Man continues to be very active. Today Big Man was chatting him up again and he was again startled by the leg strength of his son when he gave his hand the boot. I'm telling you a career in futbol is a possibility. If he can inherit prego's leg strength he's got a shot as a kicker in football.

That's really all we have for today...when you spend the weekend laying around resting there's very little to report. We did get to watch the Cubbies win today on WGN and are disappointed in the opening homestand for the Rockies. Hopefully they turn it around since I'm sure that's what I'll be watching when I'm home on mom break. We'll have a LLBWC update on Wednesday.

Reality Sets In

So for one of my classmates from childbirth class, Thundercats Were Go a little early. She gave birth to a little boy on Monday, March 31....four weeks early. She was 36 weeks when her wee lad decided it was time. Less than a week before that we were yukking it up in class on Wednesday night.

Needless to say it was a shocking dose of reality when her email popped up this afternoon announcing her "surprise arrival" on Monday. She also gave a shout out to the class instructor about how she went epidural free thanks to her instruction..to which I say bravo! I mean it I'm impressed. I'm not even going to try!

I forwarded her email to Big Man and then also to one of the other gals from class that I email with on occasion. My friend responded with the thought that all of a sudden things just got really, really real and a little scary. I told her I was going home tonight and packing my bag for the hospital and making the Little Man's bed.

Our LM will be 36 weeks on Saturday and to be honest, although I've realized that it's a possibility that he could get rolling at anytime, I've sort of just been strolling along doing my thing, figuring I've got a few more weeks to get things ready both at home and at work. I mean I'm making plans to see a movie in three weeks because I'm just assuming that he'll still be in utero at that point. I was 8 days late and sort of just have figured that he wasn't going to make an early entrance either.

Anyways, this development has left me stunned and so I have nothing even remotely amusing or even glib to say. I'm gonna go pack.

Can I Just Spray a Little Pam Down In the Area Before the Baby Comes Out?

First of all, you should know this about me. I think Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are the funniest women in entertainment. 30 Rock is kick ass and everyone knows the only good parts of SNL anymore are when Poehler does the news and then anytime she does Amber the one-legged woman and other characters from her repertoire. When Tina Fey hosted the season premiere of SNL after the strike ended it was hysterical from start to finish.

Now they have made my dreams come true by partnering on a movie called Baby Mama. Poehler serves as Tina's surrogate mother. I have seen like four trailers for this movie and I laugh hysterically at every single one. Of course, the dang thing opens on April 25, which is D-day -9 so I'm already mentally preparing to get myself there to see it that day. Big Man or Sally O'Malley or Grandma Jane or Future Aunt-in-Law Jennie may have to roll me in there in a wheelbarrow, but I will see this movie. I will be intermixing my Juno quotes with Baby Mama quotes in here from now on...today's blog title refers to a scene from...wait for it...childbirth class! I can hardly contain myself.

If you are thinking that perhaps I'm overly excited and there's no way this movie can deliver the hilarity I am anticipating, feel free to view the trailer at the Baby Mama official site by clicking video once you get there. If you don't think it's funny then you have no soul.

April Fools Day Update

I again had no witty title for today. No Juno quotes were appropriate for the potpourri of ideas I have in my head.

People like to use the word beautiful to describe pregnancy. I have found that a majority of women who actually ARE pregnant feel the same way as I do...that it's not an applicable word at this point. There are some who do and that's fine, but of my many friends who are also pregnant, I like to think many of them (or a simple majority of them) are on the same page as I am. Don't get me wrong...the outcome of this will be kickass I'm not the total cynic that I make myself out to be and I don't want to give the impression that I'm not excited. I totally am. I just think there are appropriate adjectives for pregnancy and beautiful isn't one of them. Sorry to burst anyone's bubble here.

I got to lay down today on my back for an extended period of time which was amazing. Unfortunately it was at the dentist in the dentist chair. Today I was supposed to get my permanent crown (see root canal posting) but in a development that surprised everyone in the dentist room other than me, gasp, my crown didn't fit! How shocking! I've only been there eight times now for a process that required two trips the last time I did this root canal situation! So now I get to go back in week 38 for a new one. Yes, I said week 38. As in right around the time Little Man reaches full gestational age. Here's hoping we can get that done before he decides to make his entrance.

Shout outs: Kendall and Bret Schoolmeester welcomed a baby girl, Sophie Jean, on March 27. They were student-athletes I worked with at CU and Kendall is my knocked up Facebook partner in pregnancy. So congrats to her and I already appreciate the details she has shared. Say it with me...epidural!