P.S.

She was born Sept. 25th.

Okay, this time I DID have the baby.

But I am not back on the beach in my old swimsuit. I actually look like the above picture. The swelling is the result of severe blood loss, and this was two days after the fact so you are spared the really scary swelling. The short version about the birth is that if I was a pioneer woman on the plains I probably would have died. The long version is that I had a retained placenta, lots of blood loss, a blood transfusion and emergency surgery to scrape out the rest of the placenta about 7 hours after the birth. The birth went fine (no drugs), the exciting part was afterwards. Exciting is not really the word, more like really scary and on my part very painful. So, this is it for my baby having. I've always bled too much after birth but this was out of control and I've been strongly advised against getting pregnant again. But it's okay because I knew that the moment I found out I was pregnant. I had a premonition this whole pregnancy that something was wrong or that there was potential for something to be very wrong. I'd never talked about it with anyone because I was so afraid it was going to be the baby. Thankfully, it wasn't the baby, it was me. And I'm okay now, or I will be when I can get my anemia under control. And in the end we have a gorgeous baby girl.

Back of the head shot of her lovely hair

Oh! Would you like to know her name?
Violet Anabelle Smith
7'15"
18" long

Too sweet

I had the baby yesterday..

and now today I am back in my old swimsuit and lounging on the beach. Here is proof.

Sally without a ginormous belly lounging on the beach.

What? You don't believe me? Fine, I'm just pretending. But it's my birthday and the reality is that I am going to spend the day gimping around my house feeling like my hips are going to fall out of their sockets and there is nothing my husband or kids can do to make me feel better. So I'd just like to indulge myself and gaze at this picture and fantasize that someday I will again be able to pull my legs up and rest my chin on my knees.

The unfashionable show

About 3 weeks ago

Here are the promised late pregnancy pictures. Rune took the latest one (just today) and thankfully cut off my head.

today

Really, it's impossible not to look ridiculous at this stage in pregnancy. And thankfully, it's difficult to even care. Thus the mismatched shoes in the first picture.

But there is good news. I had external version attempted last week and the baby that was breech is no longer breech. Unless there is another flip I will be spared the final injustice of a c-section. My friend said, "Wow, I've heard that they can massage the baby into place." Well, I wouldn't use the word 'massage.' It was quite a bit more...violent than that, but I'm sure it beats recovery from a cesarean . It is not usually a super successful procedure, but the doc said that since this is my fifth pregnancy that my uterus and abs are "looser" making the version easier. Well, up to that point I hadn't considered my flabby abs an asset but they worked for me that day.

Anyhow, I'm at that point where my due date gets closer but impossible to reach at the same time. Just like dividing a number by half over and over. You will get closer and closer to zero but never actually reach it. If this pregnancy is lucky enough to mimic Lily's then I will be done in 4 days. If I am unlucky enough to follow in Eileen's footsteps I will be pregnant for another month. *shudder* At this point sleeping is so painful that it feels I am actually doing harm to my body by trying to lay down and rest rather than something beneficial. I took a walk this morning and there was an older woman on my same route and she wasted me. Alma comes to sit on my lap and must feel that he is not properly situated and repeatedly slams back into my belly trying to get closer. And finally, that phenomenon called nesting does not and never has existed for me. I look at my messy house and visualize all the bending involved in cleaning it up and just cannot do it. Don't get me wrong, I have a desire to clean up, just a desire for someone else to do it. BTW, Grant and the kids actually help out quite a bit in this area. Grant, willingly, the kids not so willingly but they are learning valuable life lessons on work ethic.

Is anyone..

sick of me writing posts and including zero pictures? I will tell you the reason. Our computer tower resides on the floor, not on the computer desk. This means to transfer pictures from the digital camera to the hard drive I have to actually *gasp* BEND OVER. I loathe to bend over. I avoid it at ALL costs. This is not an excuse. This is the actual reason I have not posted any pictures. The pressure in my abdomen cannot take the pressure increase caused by bending over. And for that fact, neither can my thoracic cavity, bending over means I can't breathe. Bending over compresses my stomach, this equals nausea. Bending over displaces my xiphoid process, this equals pain. Bending over compresses my bladder, this equals an urge to micturate. (My recently completed Human Anatomy class has been very useful when it comes to describing my pregnancy complaints). I have a recent picture of myself to show all you friends and family members so you can enjoy the unlovliness of my last weeks of pregnancy but you will have to wait until I can get Grant to download the pictures!