Quote of the Now

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do
Rumi

Thursday, October 13, 2011

6 weeks and a couple days

You may have caught the FB post about eating two thanksgiving dinners... for two. Or maybe you missed it. That's okay. I'm telling you now, more plainly, that Abi will be a big sister. Our family is growing.
By standard measures (which are ridiculous, by the way) I am 6 weeks and a couple of days pregnant. (But really that means the embryo has existed for 4 weeks. And a couple days. Because you don't get pregnant on the last day of your period. What a ludicrous method of counting. As if people don't understand ovulation and how conception works in the 21st century.)
Only 34 more weeks to go until we meet the baby. Or so. Thereabouts.
Fewer weeks until we will know if it's a boy or a girl - and yes I intend to find out again because, no, I am not patient enough to wait.
You can do the math if you like on your calendar, but I don't like to announce a "due date". It's a "normative" date. That means, on average, the 'norm' is about 40 weeks (which is actually 38 weeks by the way, but they have to tack on an extra 2 weeks to date it by the last day of your last period. See how silly it all is?)
As I was saying, if I was going to give some standardized date, it would be around June 5th (look at that, you don't even have to check your calendar now). But I don't say that or think that way. It's foolish. It's not as if a baby has a timer that buzzes when 38 weeks are up. Just because some measure found an average of 38 weeks for development, doesn't mean it literally takes that exact length of time.
And don't even get me started on the misuse of the body fat index...

Sorry, where was I? Oh, the joyful news of a new baby. And that it is due around early June. (Not late May, because I'm pretty sure running early isn't in the genes.)

And to answer the typical questions we've been fielding:
Yes the baby will be born here.
Therefore, no, we will not be returning to Winnipeg before June.
Yes, I once again intend to have a natural home birth with a midwife.
Yes, we are still returning to Winnipeg in 2012. Shortly after the baby is born. And yes I'd rather move with a newborn than while pregnant. Especially since I do not want to transfer my midwife care and I want to make sure I can have my baby in the comfort of my own home.
Abi is elated. She talks constantly about how she wants to care for the baby. She'll rock it to sleep and sing it lullabyes. She'll hold it. (She'll change diapers I like to add...) She'll teach it to draw and read and... the lists go on.
Abi has also stopped nursing as of my last ovulation (when I was certain I was pregnant). Yay, I get a 9 month respite. She respects that I need my energy for the baby. She still hints that she'd happily start nursing again if I said yes, but she doesn't push or beg. So I think that went well. We'll see what happens when there is a baby nursing...

That's the big news around here. I don't have any related photos to share, but you can see what the baby looks like, sorta, here. Eww. Squishy little thing.

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