I am being very patient and am rather curious about how and when labour will start and what our birth story will be. Our neighbours have been stopping Steve to ask if we've had our baby...soon he tells them. Steve is excited, he is so attentive to me and the Baby P and we finally settled on names for the baby. We'll keep those under wraps until baby arrives. It's like the Witness Protection Program around here! Haha. We are both happy we don't know the sex of our baby. The curiosity alone is going to make me work at labour!
I get a kick out of my belly button!
The baby dropped last Thursday as you can see.
This is the baby's change station in our bedroom. Set up on my Grandma Dodie's Dresser.
Baby P's Co-sleeper - it aligns with our bed.
Baby's layette has found a spot in our room too!
HOW DO I FEEL?
I have experienced a HUGE ENERGY BOOST in the past three days. Every woman I talk to who has had a baby says ... that's the sign the baby is coming soon! I have been taking advantage of this energy by cleaning the house, dusting and vacuuming before baby P's grandparents get here to visit, I raked all the leaves out of the back yard (you're off the hook for leaf removal Sue) and today I am heading out to add compost to our gardens and plant our veggies and flowers from seed.
The tulips and daffodils I planted in the Fall for baby P's spring arrival are blooming this week as is our Dogwood. The Azaleas and Rhododendrons are just beginning to pop pink buds. The Mourning Doves have made a nest in the Holly Tree just outside our kitchen window, two fat copulating bumblebees nearly flew into my head yesterday .... new life is all around us. Soon our new baby boy or girl will be here. We can hardly wait!
A couple of weeks ago my mother in-law Linda called to tell me all about an amazing kids consignment show in Morrisville near the airport in Raleigh NC. She thought it would be worth driving there to check it out as she had heard really good things about this show. I thought it was a great idea too, and liked that Linda was supporting our decision to raise our child under our philosophy of reuse & recycle!
Thoughtful planning on the part of the consignment show invited first time mothers to shop one day in advance of all other shoppers. We had to preregister for this privilege. A few days in advance I received an email inviting the "WADDLERS" us "PREGO" ladies to a special one hour advanced shopping time - it began at 4PM!
Linda and Steve's sister Dawn - who is expecting her second baby boy April 21st -and I piled into Dawn's SUV and the three of us set off to shop! On the drive there I said - this will make a great news story - all these pregnant ladies shopping for baby items in a time of recession - I bet there will be news cameras there!
Dawn, Linda and I got there on time and boy did it paid off! It was not too crowded, we got to take first pick of everything. As Linda and I were looking at cribs she said, "Michelle look over your shoulder!" There was an ABC news camera pointed right at us. I laughed and totally ruined their b-roll as I was looking straight into the camera. We bought a beautiful solid wood walnut crib by Stork Craft with a Sealy Posturepedic mattress - barely used, no scratches, not even a finger print on it - for $100.00. The woman said it was at her mother in-law's house for when the baby visited and had only been used a hand full of times. A total score! Steve said "I hope our baby is not allergic to nuts!" hahah.
Our Loot ... before we went baby clothes shopping!
Linda and I then went into the linens section and dug through a box of stuff and found brand new crib sheets name brands like Laura Ashley for the full size crib all marked to about 2 or 3 dollars a piece.
I picked out two wooden brio toys "made in Canada" and a little vibrating chair - it was still in the box for $10.
Dawn picked out some stuff too but was mostly there to shop for summer clothes for her Two year old.
We took all our purchases to the cash and then Linda wouldn't take my money not even for the crib. I burst into tears because I was just over come...this baby is directly attached to my tear ducts lately. I guess it was seeing Linda so excited for our baby and then the reality of baby coming home so soon and it's just so nice to be spoiled by mom.
Linda & I
my camera was acting up...Blurry :(
We then loaded the car and went to the clothes section. Dawn and Linda dove right in. Everything was SO WELL ORGANIZED. Boys clothes on one side and girls clothes on the other sorted by size. They even had maternity isles in the middle.
I poked around but got a little overwhelmed and over heated so I went to sit outside for a bit. I went back in and found the girls whose arms were weighed down with clothes! Linda asked me why I hadn't picked anything out. I said because I only want to buy PINK!
WHY ARE THE GIRLS CLOTHES SO MUCH CUTER THAN THE BOYS CLOTHES?
Linda told me to go get the pink ...if I have a boy we'll send the pink to Steve's sister Jennie she is having a girl in June.
So I picked out two pink outfits and a pink nightie and a yellow and pink nightie, three gender neutral outfits and Dawn found two navy and white sailor rompers for Baby P- all for this summer in size. The clothes are all in fantastic shape barely worn - no stains and all name brand like Gap, Gymboree, Carters etc.
I can't recommend this sale enough if you live in this area. Go early. It was sorted and organized so well. The items were clean and reasonable priced. The volunteers working were friendly and helpful - they even loaded the car for us! By the time we left the sale 4 hours later, again this was the advance shopping day- closed to public - open only to the preregistered first time moms - there were very few items left on the shelves!
Thanks Linda & Dee for a fun afternoon and evening out! Let's do it again in the Fall!
Three of us - little stepping stones a year apart in age.
I arrived first in January 73
Cousin Jen March 74
Seester Sue May 75
Each time the Shipley bros would get together they would line up the Shipley girls to take a photo. This went on for years and years. The likeness found in cousin Jen and I as wee ones was so close there have been mislabels on family photos as to which one was Jen and which one was me.
Auntie Di would say; "I don't recall you having a shirt like that Jen?
"Mom that's Michelle!"
My mom could be heard sighting the same tales!
When we hit our teens we all took on our own likeness. Jen became a signatureblond, I opted for red and Sue was our cutie brunette. Jen and I sprouted up long and lean and Sue stayed petite. At one point during college both Jen and I worked at the Bull Dog Pub on Elgin Street in Ottawa. It was a hot spot, we made great money and it was totally fun to work there together. I recall one regular saying to me; "I thought your laugh was totally fake until I heard your cousin Jen laugh - you guys sound the same!" Was it a compliment? Jen & I have no idea.
On other occasions, while I worked the bar, and Jen cocktailed the floor, I would have customers approach me and say :
"I ordered a drink from you when I was standing back there, but, I moved to that table."
I would correct the customer and say, "no you ordered a drink from that girl" pointing to my cousin ..."I'll let her know you moved."
So while we didn't look exactly alike we still held the Shipley resemblance pretty strongly.
We always had a blast together any time we got together, which was never long enough, or often enough, as far as we were concerned. We played dress up. Sue, Jen and I dressing in our mother's old negligees and high heels, making up dances and plays and then inviting our parents to the couch to watch our performances...we were all as close as sisters.
Don't kill me for posting this one girls!
We talked about having little girls one day who would play just as we had. We discussed having this miniature version of ourselves in our own grown up homes. It never crossed our minds that we had no control over the sex of our children or the fact that these kids would be their own person, with their own ideas, likes and dislikes, who may not want to play dress up. And we never thought of having sons ...
And then Sue had a SON.
Sue, Jen, Aaron, & I 1997.
Then Jen had a SON.
Jen & Wyatt January 2008
BOYS!? At a hair appointment Jen and Sue recently conversed about the Shipley girls having houses full of baby boys....just because we had been a brood of girls.
Well, wouldn't you know it. Jen & her hubby Mike became pregnant with their second baby and their due date was APRIL 3. Steve and I are due April 10th!
Jen and I were so excited to be having babies so close together. What if we have them on the same day?! She told me to hold on - if you think you are in love with Steve and your baby now just wait what comes over you the second you hold your Baby P - she was over the moon for me to share in what she & Sue already knew about motherhood.
Jen prego, Sue, Me prego, February 2009
Well yesterday my sweet cousin Jen had a BOY! Yes, another boy is added to our family! Congratulations Jen, Mike & big brother Wyatt - I can't wait to meet Baby Brother.
Jen and Sue both think our baby P is a boy too. They said it's karma because we were all such girly girls our fate is to reside in houses filled with boys and boy things....upon hearing that I became superstitious. I bought only gender neutral items for Baby P. So long as the baby is "healthy" we have "no preference" for a boy or a girl Steve and I repeat this over and over when asked.
And then last night I bought this:
I know!
It's PINK.
But, it has little embroidered PEAS on it for Baby P.
If Baby P arrives with a Pee Pee then the outfit goes to Cousin Baby Girl Deutscher due in June ... no harm no foul right? Right? I also bought BLUE...I did! I swear! A few little NAVY BLUE outfits!
I'm still teaching Yoga which has been a life saver - it makes lots of room for baby and my yogis give me little milestones to look forward to each week - which does help the time pass and keeps me grounded!
How do I feel?
For the most part really good, sleep is easy, although, I find I tire much more quickly now and am back to the first trimester fatigue necessitating little cat naps through out my day. The baby is significantly bigger - when he/she stretches out length wise I feel it from sternum (hello heart burn) to pubic bone (hello bladder). It made driving the car challenging the other day! But then a few cat/cow postures in Yoga and Baby P moved, settling into a much more comfortable fetal position.
I am back to eating like a teenage boy, I can never stay full. The good thing is I am craving fresh fruits and veggies and for some reason totally out of character for me "Ranch Dressing."
We also experienced fetal hiccups for the first time last night. You could see them and feel them in a consistentrhythm. Steve and I watched this go on for about 15 minutes. Pretty cool!
Totally because I have been on such good behaviour, have not taken the piss out of myself or anyone else, lately, and because I am starting to get tired of answering the same questions:
1) When are you due?
2) Is it a boy or a girl? You don't know - how can you do that?
3) How are you feeling.
I have a very STRONG desire to answer these questions with RIDICULOUS answers. Totally for fun - not in a mean spirited way- just to catcha new reaction!
Like:
1) Due for what? My next mammogram is in about 6 months. Just had my teeth cleaned - no cavities!
2) It's a puppy. Watermelons don't have a sex. The basketball team used me for a net - the ball is stuck and I am awaiting surgery to remove it.
3) I just finished running the Virginia Beach 1/2 marathon and feel great. I broke my time actually!
MY MOST SECRET DESIRE:
I have an incredible urge to take an armload of different brands of pregnancy tests up to the Pharmacist at Walmart and with a very straight face ask;" Which is the most accurate?"
Epilogue:
Last night at the EPISCOPALIAN Church Oyster roast up the street I actually used the "I ran a half marathon last week and broke my time" response to how do you feel? I got a great laugh. Considering we knew NO ONE there and I didn't know my audience it went over well - I tried a few others too and got some laughs...which I have to say made me feel a lot more like me than I have in a little while.
I actually don't mind the attention I get for the bump. It's all in good "rights of passage" fun and well meaning. I do enjoy listening to everyone tell their pregnancy stories - it's all good. I just was so ornery yesterday I thought I would write....which beats crying for no reason and feeling heavy...which was the kind of day I was having. Pregnancy is glorious and also redonkulous!
I am a small breasted woman. For my entire life, I have had the fact that I am small chested brought to my attention by tactless people. Because, I hadn't noticed on my own? My dad used to say; "Michelle you're a pirate's dream... a sunken chest." Ha Ha. Shipley is a soap star on "Young And The Chestless."Ha Ha. Flat as an ironing board. Ha Ha. I have heard them all. At night I would pray and pray for the Boob Fairy to come to my house ...please let me wake up with something ...not a D-cup just enough so that you can distinguish my back from my front.
The boys at school nick named me "LITTLE Shipley" while my sister two and half years my junior was called "BIG Shipley" since she had developed a great wrack by an early age. Clearly unfair. How was it that the Boob Fairy made it to her room and not mine - we reside at the same address!?
I became well used to the ribbing. "Why do you wear a bra at all?" The boys would ask me in high school. "Because most girls my age do," was always my reply. If I showed them they didn't bug me and went along with the jokes eventually they would move onto a new target. It was my M.O.
My mother's friend who was very busty told me her boobs were a curse and I should be happy I don't have them to get in the way. I didn't understand how they could get in the way until, I went off on a soccer tournament with the senior girls team, who was shy a full back and brought me up from the junior team. There, in a hotel room in Virginia, I witnessed one girl helping another wrap a tensor bandage over a sports bra. "What on earth are you guys doing?" I asked. "Holding the girls down - you have no idea how much running hurts with these things." Came her reply, and I didn't.
I began to work as a model and fell into a group of my own kind. Most models are pretty flat chested. Our model's bags came equipped with "falsies" mine were foam pads I could slip into my bra to augment as required. I was stoked when the "push up bra" then the "water bra" came on the market. I could fake some cleavage with one of those and so I came to own several! Later, I progressed to sporting silicone gel falsies- they slip into your bra right under your own boob and add just enough volume, they look real, and move like they are real, and they feel real. These are fine until I get into it a bit and find it hilarious to pull one out to show it off ...
Lucky & I at the beach with my INSERT!
Once, in the 9th grade, I explained to my girl-friend the difference between convex and concave while studying for a science exam by giving her the imagery of our bust lines. She was convex and I was concave. She never forgot again....at her wedding when we were 25 years old she got up to introduce her bridal party to the 150 guests ...when she got to me she said; "I have known Shipley since kindergarten and her boobs were the same size then!" I was MORTIFIED! I waited out the introductions and then excused myself to a bathroom stall to cry. So, clearly, I was NOT over the ribbing. Despite the push up bra and the silicone falsies this lack of boobage continued to be a sore spot for me.
And Then Pregnancy.
The Boob Fairy Arrived! OHMIGAWD! I began to grow a set of hooters! I couldn't keep my hands off them. Seriously...they were beautiful! I told everyone who called to ask how my pregnancy was going how big my boobs were becoming. "No I don't believe you- send pictures" was their reply, but, the proof is in the pudding and my cups were finally FULL!
I received this "CONGRATULATIONS" card from another member if the Itty Bitty Titty Committee - who could also delight in new curves as she was also expecting!
The Cups Runeth Over
The day came when I didn't fit into my other bras. I went to the department store and pulled about 40 bras off the racks. I had no idea how to fit a bra. I aways wore small or medium and could still wear the kid's ones from the GAP... this was a new adventure for me. Completely confused I called my sister from the change room to ask her what the number and the letters were for on the bras. She said, "Michelle you are 36 years old, as if you don't know how to fit a bra? Try a 34B - if it's too tight try a 34C and if you are in a D I am flying down there!" I left with a 36C ... YAY Me!
I tried each of these on...no joke!
When I finally saw my sister she said, "Ohmygawd - your boobs are perfect - I am going to take you to a surgeon and ask to have your breasts." She said this while holding her own, now small, post baby boobs. That's funny I said, "Mom said that about my nose and actually took me to her rhinoplasty surgeon."
Well - that 36C has now become to tight. How do I know? After wearing it several hours I removed the bra to find my boobs had turned blue on the under side. I was horrified. How does one cut the circulation off to her mams and not notice? Perhaps, because at 35 weeks pregnant everything is Mc-supersized and feeling like the Ghost Buster's Marshmallow Man has become normal. Maybe, the Boob Fairy can and should stop visiting ...
This is my Pre-Pregnancy sports bra on top of my current sports bra...I'm NOT KIDDING!
Yesterday, my darling, and usually supportive, hubby made fun of my giant nipples." I hope our baby as a big mouth." He said. "No. I hope it doesn't." He quickly retracted when I shot him THE look of death. "My boobs now scare you?" I asked. "Yeah, Kinda."
Be careful what you wish for .... on that note -enjoy this song.
TALES to RIVAL MULBERRY STREET. My MUSE is MY family. Censor -SHIP occasionally advised. All of my writings are truthful, based on how I recal the events.
Earth to Mother Ship: ramblings en route to parenthood and general musings on; raising a kid (and some chickens), food ethics, repurposing, eco, travel, yoga and LOVE.
inFINcible: Our seven year old's blog! An introduction to story telling and the world wide web.
In my off-line world I work as a freelance television producer specializing mostly in comedic and popculture based programming. I am a passionate Yogi, Certified E-RYT with Yoga Alliance + proud owner operator of Mothership School of Yoga + Mothership Wild + Wellness Retreats www.mothershipyoga.com.
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