Rutabaga Dreams

Or perhaps I should say a baby who is very comfortable exactly where he or she is currently located, thank you very much!  

This is now my longest pregnancy - I had Gregory very early in the morning at 41 weeks exactly.

Tomorrow is my “let’s talk about natural induction techniques” appointment with my midwife and I’m beginning to think that I’ll be going to that appointment after all.  Oh well.

At least I’m still reasonably comfortable and sleeping well.  I think I’m in pretty good shape for going into labor…  if I could just manage to do so!

I think I need to get rid of the floating baby widget because I do not appreciate seeing the days until my due date increasing every day!  I already feel like this whole overdue thing is dragging on forever.  The baby does feel lower this morning though, so that’s probably a good sign.  I’m still having contractions, they just aren’t leading to anything worth getting excited about.  I’m just getting more and more impatient, although I suppose I should be grateful that I’m still sleeping well and I’m quite comfortable, at least considering how huge I am.  

I started reading Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather a couple days ago and I am enjoying it a great deal.  She describes the environment so well, I can picture it - even though I have never been to New Mexico or the desert regions of northern Mexico.  I am also struck by the history of the region, particularly the antiquity of the contact between the European and indigenous cultures.  The book starts in 1848 and at that point the Catholic Church has already been in the Americas for a significant period of time…  the main characters are encountering moldering, decrepit mission churches that are hundreds of years old.  The Spanish were there, but they were not able to sustain their presence and gradually many of these churches were left in the hands of poorly trained native priests.  It is a part of history I don’t know much about, but I am finding quite interesting.  There was a great post over at Bearing Blog sometime fairly recently (I wish I could find it to link to it, but it is evading me - I can’t find it in the monthly archives or the category archives) where she talked about the historical narrative generally used in US classes.  This narrative starts on the east coast and generally moves westward, following the theme of manifest destiny but largely ignoring the Spanish/Mexican explorers, the Catholic missions and the Russian presence along the west coast.  These peoples and events are covered as the Americans reach these areas, but at that point it is easy to lose sight of just how long these people have been there.  Reading Death Comes for the Archbishop is really bringing this point home for me.

OK, the children are clamoring for attention so I suppose I should read to Gregory and help Emma with her art project.  This afternoon I’m going to try to get some tomatoes and squash in the ground over at the property, provided I can convince my body to do it.  At the very least I want to get over there after lunch so the kids can run around for awhile and tire themselves out.

Yup, still here, still pregnant.  I was woken by contractions at about 5 this morning, which didn’t go away until I got up a little after 6.  Once I got up they stopped though, leaving behind a sort of unsettled crampy sort of feeling.  *sigh*  I keep reminding myself that I’m still not as far along as I was when I had Gregory (after all, he was a week late).  I measured 39 cm at my appointment on Tuesday, which means the baby has dropped a fair amount.  This is definitely a good sign.  If I end up going to my 41 week appointment on Tuesday, then we’ll start talking about natural induction methods.  Thankfully they do not recommend castor oil for a third pregnancy!

On a different subject entirely - I’ve been reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books to Emma (and Gregory, he seems to like them too), and my take on them is quite different now than when I was a child.  When I first read them, I was taken away by the adventure of it all and the differences between my life and Laura’s.  I still find the differences remarkable, but now I’m looking more at Ma than Laura.  How she manages to run a household in such isolated and primitive conditions completely amazes me.  What I have been ruminating on the most recently though is the limited nature of their diet.  I don’t think they eat any fruits and vegetables other than plums, prunes, and turnips during the entire books of Little House on the Prairie and On the Banks of Plum Creek (a time span of over 3 years, if I’m figuring correctly).  Their diet consists of cornbread, wild game, fish, bread, butter, eggs and milk in varying amounts depending on season and circumstances.  I have a hard time understanding how this is even possible!  They try to plant gardens at a couple different points, but one had to be abandoned, and the other was eaten by grasshoppers.  I have to wonder - was their diet really that poor, or is this just a fault of Wilder’s memory?

We had a lovely time out at the Yuba River yesterday.  I meant to bring my camera to take pictures, but of course I forgot.  There was a nice sandy beach area near the parking area and we hung out there for several hours.  It is amazing how entertaining wet sand, shallow water, and a couple buckets and shovels can be for a 2 and 6 year old.  We didn’t even have to pay for parking, and it wasn’t as far as I thought it was going to be.  I think we’ll have to keep doing this over the summer, it is a great way to spend an afternoon.  

My wonderful mother brought bagels over this morning from a local place (Bubba’s Bagels, now how’s that for a name?) I’ve been meaning to try ever since we moved here last summer.  They are very good bagels - I think they could use perhaps a slightly stronger flavor, but the texture and crust are excellent.  Then I conned (err…  asked nicely) if she wouldn’t mind giving the kids a bath.  Now the kids are all scrubbed and clean and I didn’t even have to hurt my back or wipe myself out to do it.  :-)  She’s heading out this afternoon after my midwife appointment, which we figure should influence the baby to come tonight so that she’ll just have to turn around and come back so she can meet her newest grandchild. 

I was wondering how the little floating baby widget on the right would handle going past the due date, and the answer is not well.  I’ve gone from 0 days to my due date (yesterday) to one day until my due date again.  The day and week count is even more off.  With how often women go past their due date, you’d think they could design their algorithm to handle this a little more gracefully!

Yup, today is the day - or at least that’s what the calendar says.  We’ll see what the baby has to say about it!  I’m guessing I still have a few more days to go, but it seems difficult to predict.  I wonder how many women go into labor naturally on their due date?  Off the top of my head I can only think of one baby who was born on his due date.

My mom is visiting for a couple days and she took Emma to her hotel last night for a little sleep over.  It is very strange to just have a two and a half year old around!  It is a lot quieter, but it also means he doesn’t have anyone to play with.  He’s pretty good at entertaining himself, but it is definitely a different dynamic.  Everytime a car comes into our parking lot he runs to the window to look to see if it is Grandma and Emma.  I definitely think he misses her!

We’re going out to the South Yuba State Park today.  We’ve been so busy with the house that we haven’t done any of the tourist-y sort of stuff since we moved here, so my mom and I thought this would be a good opportunity.  It should be a nice day, and I think this will be a fun outing.