The Bump Chronicles- week 29

This morning I learned that baby can kick your diaphragm in such a way to make you start coughing, how fun!

So in the span of a couple of weeks I’ve gone from big to tiny or so people say.  The predominant theme this week is how I’m “all belly” and no fat.  I even had a coworker compare me to Heidi Klum as the only other pregnant woman he’s ever seen whose face, arms, and body in general didn’t change.  I think it has changed, my thighs, arms and rear are larger but they are not gigantic.

Speaking of big bellies, I’m really liking how my belt tattoo looks with the big belly, considering that I got the tattoo years ago when I never planned to have children I must say it looks better now and it frames the bump very nicely.

I can understand the “all belly” comments though as when I look in the mirror my “bump to body size” ratio is more pronounced than in women that tend to have more general padding and whose bump is partially hidden by that padding.

Now that I’m seeing my midwife every 2 weeks instead of once a month I have a regular reminder that we’re entering the final stretch so I need to stop thinking about what I need and start getting it.  I don’t have the luxury of blowing a fortune in one shopping trip so I have to shop smart and in installments.

This week I invested in the beginnings of our cloth diaper supply.  Ordered 15 used Bumgenius All in One diapers from a coworker’s friend.  Ordered the first dozen of newborn size cotton pre-fold diapers and 2 WAHM diaper covers, 1 in newborn size and 1 small.  I’m hopping to get a little bit more every 2 weeks from now on so that we will have a decent startup supply for baby Fox’s July arrival.

Another major investment was in our co-sleeper bassinet, I knew the model we wanted for months, it attaches to the bed mattress allowing for co-sleeping/easy baby access without space restrictions or danger to baby.  It works as a standalone bassinet and folds down compactly into a carrying bag making it excellent for camping.

While checking out one of the consignment stores in the area I came across 3 of them!  The hardest part was choosing from the 3 colors that they had, so now we have baby’s first sleeping space for 55% less than retail.  It’s in like new condition with the mattress still in it’s original plastic packaging, I just need to clean a couple of stains on the frame fabric from people touching it at the store, nothing some oxyclean can’t fix.

I have noticed how my brain has already rewired itself into mommy brain, I no longer feel inclined in shopping for anything for myself but just love any excuse to shop for baby.  A dangerous shopping instinct for the wallet!

Today I was impressed when I got the e-mail newsletter from the people that wrote the “What to Expect when you’re Expecting” book, normally it’s full of the same mainstream information you find most places so I was pleasantly shocked when one of the articles in today’s newsletter was on how to prepare for a homebirth, sweet!

It recently dawned on me that there is a new holiday in my realm of awareness, Mother’s Day.  I recently got my first mother’s day card that didn’t come from a cat or other pet and I admit, I got misty eyed.

In the education front, we have our first childbirth class in just over a week, I finished reading the highly recommended “Birthin from Within”  I liked it but I disagree with it’s stance on breastfeeding.  It tells you to “train” baby to drink from a bottle while breastfeeding “just in case” you want to do something selfish like go out on a date.  Ok, it was exactly worded that way but it did use the date as an example of why you want to give a bottle to your baby, wtf?  I’m not against dating my husband but I don’t want to introduce something I’d otherwise avoid and that can cause nipple confusion just so that we can have an adult dinner.

Yes, baby Fox will have to learn to use a bottle but that is so that I can go back to work, I don’t see a need to start any earlier than that.

I have broken down and subscribed to Mothering magazine, it’s the only pregnancy/parenting magazine that remotely aligns with my granola mama style.  I got a free digital subscription so I was able to immediately read the current issue and was instantly reassured of it being the right choice when the cover’s headline was about cloth diapers and browsing through the pages yielded advertising from companies that I’m actually interested in and whose products I would buy.