Wednesday, March 14, 2012

No Dice

I just got home from my doctor's appointment and she didn't check me for dilation or do a membrane sweep. I asked her if she would do the sweep but she said she didn't think it was beneficial and can cause more problems. I'm kinda bummed, but I guess I can hold out 11 more days or less. Other than that everything is great. My next appointment is with my regular doctor next Thursday. Here's hoping I deliver before then!

- Amy

Monday, March 12, 2012

39 Weeks

Yes, peanut is still super comfy apparently. We are 39 weeks! Yay :) I had another doctors appointment on Friday and everything is still looking great. I've been getting quite anxious about going overdue lately. I know there are risks to the baby if you are allowed to go past 42 weeks, as sometimes the placenta cannot continue to adequately nourish the baby. However, I know many women who trust their body's and prefer to let things happen naturally. So, if mom and baby are doing well they will just continue on with the pregnancy. If I wasn't as anxious as I am and didn't have the history that I do I would probably be ok with this. However, I do not want to go too far overdue. I'm so scared something will happen!! I expressed my concern to my doctor and she agreed to induce me at 40 weeks 5 days if I was still pregnant then. I feel much better with this plan. So the longest I could be pregnant is now 13 days!

I've been getting a TON of contractions the past week. I mean I get them all the time, but these are becoming much more uncomfortable and quite frequent at times. I keep getting my hopes up that labour is starting. Oh well, peanut will come when he/she is ready... I'm still not sleeping at night, and am officially a day sleeper. My belly continues to be extremely itchy. I was close to tears one morning last week as it was so itchy I wanted to rip the skin off! I continue to use the bio oil and tons of lotion. I also picked up some Aveeno Anti Itch Lotion which I use just before bed and that seems to be helping a little. Anyway, thats enough bitching... I'm extremely grateful to be 39 weeks :) :) Oh, yes... my cravings these days? quesadillas, nachos, tacos, etc. Especially quesadillas, I could eat them for every meal of every day! My appetite definitely doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

Well, thats really about it for this week. I see a different doctor on Wednesday as my usual doctor will be away. I hope she doesn't miss peanut's birth, as she has been a great support throughout this pregnancy. I'm hoping this other doctor will do a membrane sweep at my appointment. I will be 39 weeks 2 days, so I don't think it would be too unreasonable. I'll update on Wednesday and let you know if she did it.

If you haven't already made a guess in our baby pool, you can do so here: Amy and Ralph Shaw's Baby Pool. We left out the guess for gender, as so many people already know and would have an unfair advantage. So, go ahead and submit your guess.

Here is my 39 week belly :)


- Amy

Thursday, March 8, 2012

The Other Side

Well, there are always 2 (or more) sides to every story. I posted yesterday regarding the KONY 2012 campaign created by the non-profit group Invisible Children. I was extremely touched by the video and felt compelled to pass it on and spread the word. However, while browsing the web today I discovered many people are critical of the work done by Invisible Children. At first I rolled my eyes and thought "Really? Is it so hard to believe that there are some people out there that are genuinely trying to do good?". Then I thought I should at least read some of the criticism so that I may have all the information, from all sides.

I'm not going to restate all the criticism out there, but will provide you with links to the articles I've read so far:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/120307/kony-2012-campaign-criticized-dumbing-down-conflict

http://justiceinconflict.org/2012/03/07/taking-kony-2012-down-a-notch/

http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble

I will also provide a link to Invisible Children's response to these criticisms:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html

It will definitely be interesting to see how this all plays out in the following days, weeks and so on. For now, I am leaning more toward the belief that Invisible Children's intentions are primarily good. I believe they truly want to help the afflicted Central and Eastern African countries and bring Joseph Kony to justice. Based on what I have read so far I  believe their plan and methods in doing so are appropriate. With that being said, I suggest you read all you can from all points of view and draw your own conclusions.

- Amy

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Nothing is more powerful than an idea

I just learned today of a man named Joseph Kony. He is #1 on the International Criminal Courts list. He is the leader of a rebel group, The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. This group abducts children, gives them guns and forces them to kill. This has been going on for over 25 years and the LRA have abducted over 30,000 children in that time. Kony is not fighting for any cause, he is fighting only to maintain his power.

For the past 9 years a group of people in the United States have been trying to bring attention to Joseph Kony so that he may be captured and brought to justice. This group is known as Invisible Children. Their efforts had mainly been futile because the U.S. government stated they would never get involved in a conflict where their national security or financial interests weren't at stake. However, Invisible Children have been spreading the word across the world and brought enough attention to the cause to force action from the U.S. government. With hundreds of thousands of people behind them Invisible Children finally convinced them to send help to Uganda. In mid October 2012 Barack Obama authorized a small group of U.S. forces to deploy to Central Africa to assist the Ugandan Army in the removal of Joseph Kony. Unfortunately Kony and the LRA caught wind of the U.S. plan to stop them and changed their tactics to avoid capture.

If we do not show the government that we want this man captured they will pull out forces in Central Africa. We need to keep the pressure on so that they will stay and find Kony. Invisible Children has started a campaign, "KONY 2012" essentially to make him famous, not to celebrate him but to raise awareness and support.

So what can you and I do? Spread the word!! We have the power to make a difference, and show that we can come together as a global community for the greater good. Children, no matter where they live deserve a childhood free from war and violence.

**All preceding information taken from the InivisibleChildrenInc video**

Please take the time to watch this video and pass it on.




- Amy

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Insomniac

in·som·ni·ac

       [in-som-nee-ak] 
noun
1.
a person who suffers from insomnia the inability,especially when chronic, to obtain   sufficient sleep, through difficulty in falling or staying asleep.



I CANNOT sleep!! It is so frustrating, I'm close to tears! I've never been a good sleeper; I've always been a night owl, but these past few weeks have been so draining. I can't sleep at all at night and am only able to get in a couple of hours during the day. Everyone keeps telling me to rest up now because I won't be able to when peanut is here. I wish I could! It's not so much that I'm uncomfortable because when I do finally roll over from one side to the other I'm actually ok, it's more that my mind just won't stop. I'm just so excited and anxious for peanut to get here. I keep playing scenarios through my head of when I finally go into labour. Will it be in the middle of the night? or while I'm out shopping? I am a planner, I need to know everything that's going to happen in advance so it's really difficult for me not knowing when the big day will be. 

I had a doctor's appointment last Thursday. Everything's great with peanut and I. I've gained a little more weight than I wanted to, but what do you do? The Dr. said baby had a big growth spurt according to my fundal height soooo I'm just going to blame the weight gain on peanut and not the massive amounts of chocolate I've been eating. I told her how anxious I've been feeling. I just want our baby here safe and sound! She thinks I likely have an anxiety disorder, which I've sort of suspected I've had for a few years now. So, I think I'm going to try and meet with somebody to learn techniques to decrease my anxiety, and I want to avoid medication if I can. This is definitely not something I want to pass onto peanut when he/she is older. I want to take care of this now! 


I forgot to post a recent pic of my belly in my last post so here it is at 37 weeks 4 days. You can see all my lovely stretch marks. They are making my belly so itchy. I'm applying Bio Oil twice a day and regular lotion about 2-3 times a day to cut down on the itchiness.




Oh, and here is a video Ralph took on his phone of me shopping in Walmart when I was still on bed rest. I'm not sure exactly how far along I was.... I'm thinking around 28-30 weeks... Usually when we went shopping back then Ralph would push me in a regular wheelchair, but that night one of their employees suggested I take the electric one. I felt SO ridiculous, I couldn't stop laughing while riding it. It even beeped when you backed up. Hahaha!




I got my hair done yesterday. I figured I won't be able to get it done for a while after baby is here so I got it done while I still had the time. My hairdresser was shocked to see me still pregnant. Haha. 


Ok, so I think I've pretty much abandoned the 365 project. Maybe I'm just not creative enough to come up with an interesting photo each day, or it could be the fact that I'm just tired and lazy right now. Once baby is here I'm sure I'll be posting lots of photos, but I just feel guilty each day that I don't post one so I'm saying I'm done for now. 


I've started reading the "Hunger Games". So far I've only read the first chapter, but I think it's going to be a good read. I haven't read a book other than a textbook in at least 9-10 years which is so sad because I used to read 1-2 books a day when I was a kid. I have a hard time concentrating on a novel, but I'm bound and determined to make it through this one then hopefully continue on with others.


Ralph and I went with a friend to see "Safe House" last week. It was a good movie, I recommend it. I felt kind of silly though because I had to bring a pillow for my back. Oh well, I was comfortable and could enjoy the movie that's all that matters. 


Well, that was a long and random post. Since I'll be 38 weeks pregnant tomorrow and I've pretty much updated you on everything I may not post tomorrow. I may post a belly pic, I'll see how I feel. It's 6:45am, I'm going to attempt to sleep here in a few minutes. Wish me luck!


- Amy