THE FINAL COUNTDOWN...

With less than two weeks to go until the arrival of "Baby Tummy" (as Caroline continues to call her), we are in full-swing trying to get things as ready as we can. I head in for a scheduled c-section on the 18th, which is fast-approaching! It still seems a bit strange to me that we actually have anything left to do. When Caroline was born, we were ready to go weeks before she actually arrived - I think I had myself convinced that if everything was in place then we would totally know what we were doing once this little foreign creature moved into our home full-time.

This time, I feel like we know better - the confidence we have regarding how to actually keep this little person alive and thriving makes it seem just a bit less important to make sure that every throw pillow is in place in the glider and that every room decoration is arranged just so. Combine confidence with the fact that we have a toddler running about and you now know why the painter is just now scheduled to come paint the nursery on Friday - exactly 1 1/2 weeks before the baby will be born (if she decides not to make her presence known any earlier than that)! Oh well - it will all fall into place. Having Caroline taught me that...

From the perspective of my wheelchair, I think I've been pretty lucky with this pregnancy. With Caroline, she was arriving in the late summer, which meant I had to endure alot of heat and humidity in the weeks leading up to her birth. My body was incredibly swollen, which is common in pregnancy but particularly of issue for women who are in chairs. Limited mobility means limited ways to relieve the fluid retention. My ankles and legs were huge towards the end, and I was so swollen all over that I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my hands and wrists and couldn't feel my fingers a good deal of the time. Not only was it really uncomfortable; it also began to affect my ability to use my hands - writing by hand became almost impossible (I even had to be incredibly tacky and type my thank-you notes for my baby shower), transferring into my chair was really painful, and taking my chair apart to put it into the car was harder and harder every day. The perk to all of this, however, was that when I finally delivered, I lost so much water weight right away that I was well on my way to my pre-pregnancy weight - gotta look at the bright side, right?!

My issues with swelling, and specifically the carpal tunnel syndrome, made me initially reluctant to even have a second baby. Thankfully, however, this journey has been different! While I was initially nervous to have a winter baby, the toll this pregnancy has taken on my body has been far less dramatic. I've had swelling recently in my legs and feet, but nothing that I haven't felt I couldn't handle. And to my relief, the carpal tunnel syndrome that I dreaded has been non-existent. I am so glad that things have gone differently this time around, especially with Caroline to keep up with. It's also really nice to feel like we know what we're doing - we've got alot of the little tricks figured out where a newborn is concerned. Now if anyone could hand me an owner's manual for my toddler, we will be all set!