All my bags are packed...

I have arrived at what doctors refer to as full term. The baby is completely developed and can technically arrive any day! However, until his/her arrival, he/she will merely be feeding and getting fatter by the day, sort of like me. The doctor, is not, however expecting an early arrival. While the baby is in position, he/she has not yet dropped...and going back to an earlier post, my doctor seems to think that the ultrasound technician overshot the estimated weight of the baby. He said that there is no way the baby will weigh more than 8 pounds. Either way, we are talking about a big healthy baby!

I had a terrible nightmare a few nights back that my water broke in my sleep and I had to be raced to the hospital. There were complications and they didn't give me a choice as to whether or not I wanted anesthesia. I awoke with a beautiful dark skinned baby girl in my arms, nursing eagerly. The strange part of the dream was that Claudio was away on business in the US and it was, instead, my mother who had accompanied me in the birthing process. So what I am trying to say is, I suppose I do have some hidden anxiety about giving birth, and mostly about what to expect. That and, I am no longer certain the baby is a boy.

The heat has been excruciating, and has surely played a role in my nightmarish dreams. It is never easy to sleep in a pool of perspiration. Though, I must say, there has been a surprisingly low amount of humidity in the air. So while the rest of the Rosario suffers and dwells in their complaints of the suffocatingly dry heat, I, on the other hand, am in seventh heaven. I have had tons of energy, finishing up the final touches and preparations for the baby's arrival, something that feels a fin to running on a treadmill, as I am finding one can never truly be "ready."

But...
After struggling with how to attach the sides, I finally finished the bassinet!

I also decided to decorate a few of the plain white Onsies that were gifted to us...

A cute froggy towel...

And finally, taking what may be the last of the belly shots, Claudio has turned into quite the photographer!

One month to go!!!

They say that time flies when you are having fun, I don't know who "they" are but "they" are wrong. Time flies all the time, in good and bad, and yes, in fun. I look down at my stomach, impeding the view of my toes and feet, and think to myself, "Wow, there is a child in there and it only took me 9 months to make!" Those nine months didn't just fly by, the went warp speed! No no, they went light speed!

Each day I find myself with a little less energy, a bit more need to lay on the couch and do nothing more than eat, sleep, and stare. And each day I also find myself a little more restless, as I have never been one to sit still for too long. I rest when I am tired, and work when I find I have the energy, even if that energy comes in waves of one hour increments.

So, news...
I have been having contractions, not painful ones, but the kind that leave my stomach feeling like there is a boulder inside rather than an infant. This means I am truly on the last leg of the tour.

Another interesting thing that has been happening, something that the books don't tell you, are the excruciating pains that come at any given moment, with no forewarning all, located in the hip flexors. These pains are apparently "shots" of hormones that help your ligaments to lengthen ahead of time in order to prepare your body to "push a piano sized object out of a nostril sized hole." (I had to put that in quotes because I read it somewhere once, and can not possibly take credit for the genius of similes) But other than that, I am great!
My current weight is equivalent to the size of a small whale, my acid reflux is torturous, and I am drinking about a liter of milk per day, go figure.
No, really, all joking aside, I am in good spirits. I feel...well the word happy is too small to describe what I am feeling...content doesn't do justice either. Floating in bliss might come closer to the accurate adjective...but even then, it merely simplfies a feeling much more profound than words are capable of telling.

I finally made the decision to go back to short hair, and what a great decision it was! With the heat of the summer and the extra pounds, the weight of my hair on my neck was enough to make me homocidal.

So, with that being said, I will give you what you have all been waiting for, perhaps the only reason you even read this blog...

Here are some cute belly photos from last week, which I know you are all dying to see!

Problem in Paradise

Today, while perusing the inter-web, I grew increasingly impatient with the speed of what is supposedly broad band internet access. As I began snooping around in a vain attempt to find out why in the world my computer was working at a turtle's pace. I discovered that the internet settings were programed to store the last 30 days of internet history and began deleting our online history only to discover a website that my "perfect husband" Claudio had apparently visited. I could not believe my eyes, startled with the sting of betrayal, I quickly began searching further only to find the following website: Sex during pregnancy, up until when?

I immediately laughed out loud. My poor lovely concerned husband has subtly made various comments about how he is concerned he will harm the baby, especially now that the head is positioned downwards. While I continually reassure him that there is no way he is hurting the baby in any way, shape, or form by making love to me, he apparently was not convinced and had to do a bit of investigation on his own. And what do the experts say you might ask?

It is only logical that what got the baby in there in the first place, helps get it out! So up until the water breaks, unless otherwise advised by your health care professional, they actually recommend making love up until the very end!

Incredible Connection

Last night Claudio finally took me to see Avatar. The expectations I had of the film had grown exponentially due to comments like, "That film will change your life!" or "That film has changed history!" or "I would see it again in the theater!" Needless to say, I went in with fairly high expectations.
And it was, perhaps, one of the better films I have seen in a long time. I am, however, glad I did not see it in 3D, as I surely would have had a seizure. The special effects were brilliant, the underlying message we beautiful, I cried with the knowingness that we are, at this very moment, truly living a very scary situation of destruction verses profit.
Although, it was not the most amazing and incredible thing that happened to us over the course of the evening.
Midway through the film the baby was being so active that I found myself uncomfortable for the first time during my pregnancy. Constantly moving and kicking, I received one blow to the rib cage after another. I was so uncomfortable, in fact, at one point I could barely continue sitting up in my chair, and finally grabbed Claudio's hand to silently communicate to him why I was slouched down in my seat like an attitude driven adolescent.
Claudio looked at me startled, and whispered, "It must be the sound." "Leaving his hand on my belly he said, do you think it is upsetting him/her?" And then, suddenly, in a matter of 30 seconds maximum, the baby was calm, calmed by daddy's touch. We looked at each other and smiled a smile where words are not needed to express the love and excitement we share in becoming parents.
Claudio left his hand resting on my stomach for the entirety of the film, nearly an hour, and the baby did not so much as move.
While the film was dialoging about energetic connection with mother nature and planet earth, we, on the other hand, were experiencing it.

This morning, after rising with the sun,
we sat drinking mate, recalling the beautiful moment that had touched us the night before. Then, teary eyed, we realized the date. Yesterday, January 10th, 2010, marked exactly 4 years from the night Claudio and I first kissed in the sacred mountains of Machu Picchu. Exactly four years from the start of a beautiful and karmic connection, another connection was made, this time between father and child.

(The view from our bedroom window)

Power Animal

Over the last 7 months I have purchased next to nothing for out baby. A few things here and there, but to be quite honest, I thought I would wait until the gifts came in and then see what I was missing or what I still needed. Without ever making comments, people completely and totally unrelated to each other, with absolutely no way of conspiring to do so, have gifted us items with giraffes on them. I am not talking about one or two items, I am talking about nearly every article of clothing, as well as baby blankets, bibs, and burp rags, all with giraffes printed or sewn to their fabric. The first few times this happened, I thought, "wow, what a coincidence." But now I am beginning to wonder.

Two days ago a package came for me in the mail. One of the most lovely packages I have received in a long time. So lovely, in fact, that it brought tears to my eyes and made me miss my friend Melani in profound ways that I couldn't quite find the words to explain.
This care package was so special as everything inside was handmade in San Francisco, two little onsies, some photos, a pair of awesome earrings for me...and yes, a hand sewn giraffe stuffed animal.

Meet Jonas the giraffe!

All of this got me to thinking about power animals, and that perhaps our baby's power animal is the giraffe. If this is so, then what does it all mean, I wondered to myself.
So I started snooping around on the internet to see what I could find, and surprisingly, there are many people that whole-heartedly believe in animals as your power animals and have written dozens of books on the topic.

According to Ina Woolcott, the giraffe represents the symbol of grounded vision and farsightedness. They are capable of seeing far into the future, whereby reaching things that are unreachable to others, such as: communication, intuition, and the ability to remain above the fray. Just in case I have sparked an interest in you and you would like to read more on the topic, here is a website that is quite interesting:

http://www.shamanicjourney.com/article/6035/giraffe-power-animal-symbol-of-grounded-vision-farsightedness

So this got me to thinking of all sorts of stuff like, "what will be the Chinese zodiac in February of 2010?" So I snooped around a bit more, killing more time than I actually had, and found that if the baby is born after February 14th, he/she will be born the year of the tiger. However, he/she will not just be born into any ole year of the tiger, but what they call the year of the Metal Tiger.

"What the hell does this mean?" I thought. Well, according to Wikipedia, the Chinese zodiac is divided into "10 heavenly stems (the five elements in their yin and yang forms), which combine with the 12 earthly branches (or Chinese signs of the zodiac), to form the 60 year cycle."

"umm, I still don't get it," I was thinking...so I read on.

The qualities associated with metal are unyieldingness, rigidity, persistence, strength and determination. The metal person is controlling, ambitious, forceful and set in their ways as metal is very strong; and they are self-reliant and prefer to handle their problems alone. The metal person is also materialistic, business oriented and good at organization and stability. However the metal person can also appreciate luxury and enjoy the good things in life. Just as metal can conduct electricity, the Metal person has strong impulses and generative powers and can bring about changes and transformations for those who come into contact with them. Metal is believed to govern the lungs, nose and skin. The negative emotion associated with metal is grief, while the positive emotion is courage.

Haha! Now that sounds like a child of mine!!! Hold on to your horses everybody!!! If these china men know anything about personalities and predicting them, we are in for a fun and interesting ride!

Chubby Baby

Last night Claudio and I had our third ultrasound. This time they did what they call a "Doppler" which allows the technician to see the flow of blood from both the placenta and the umbilical cord, to confirm that the heart is beating at a good rate with all 4 chambers developed, as well as examine that the stomach, bladder, liver, and other organs pumping are moving together as a system.

As she moved through the motions of marking and clicking objects I would have never identified on my own, I began to grow nervous. She hadn't mentioned whether or not the size of these things were normal or good, she was merely taking note of the size. At one point I asked her, "the size, is that normal?" and she merely said, "yes." It was towards the end of the exam that she said, "wow your baby is already quite chubby, it is growing at a really good rate." She proceeded to tell me that the blood flow to the baby's body is so strong and fluid that the baby's health is not only "normal" it is far more than "good," it is "EXCELLENT!"

She then, by measuring the length of the femur and the size of the stomach was able to give an approximation of current weight inside the womb. Get ready ladies and gentlemen, our baby, a month away from birth, already weighs 6.38 pounds!

He/She is gonna be a big one!!!!!!

When you know you have let yourself go...

Yesterday began just like any other day. I woke up, drank mate with Claudio, ate the rest of my homemade banana bread, checked and responded to emails, waiting up until the very last minute before I had to dress myself quickly and fly out the door to meet with a new Spanish student from the Ukraine.

The day was not as hot as the days prior, in fact I felt a slight chill and left the house in my favorite black leggings, a comfortable hand me down T-shirt and my favorite black hoodie.

I don't even think I brushed my hair, but rather pulled it back into a loose hanging bun and donned my black Ray Bans before heading to the bus stop.

After meeting my student, successfully selling her 10 hours of class time with the option to add more hours as she goes, I indulged myself by walking to the bead store just in case they had any nice new rocks that I do not necessarily need, but can't live without. (of course they did of course I ended up spending my entire day's earnings)

From there I made my way back the hostel so as to meet my student upon the ending of her first day's class, (quality control) and from there took a taxi back home.

After enjoying our lunch with a lovely friend of mine that had stopped by for a sandwich, I figured I better go to the grocery store as we were out of just about everything.

Timing it just perfectly, I made our big weekly purchase just in time for Claudio to pick me up with the truck, saving me the struggle of walking two blocks loaded down with shopping bags.

When we finally got home and all of the food was safely stowed, Claudio stopped, looked at me, and said, "Did you go to the grocery store like that or did you just change when we got home?" I said, "No, I have been in these clothes all day, why?" He responded with, "Get the camera." So I did. What I saw staring back at me was startling. I can honestly say, that while I rarely feel the burn of embarrassment, I was mortified to know I had spent the entire day meandering the streets of Rosario like this...

I believe it is time to invest in a full length mirror.

Claudio is one year older!

For those of you that haven't marked your calendars, Claudio turned 37 this year on December 27th. We had two, yes, not one but TWO, birthday parties for him this year. One with his friends and one with his family.

If you celebrate your birthday close to the holidays, you know all too well of those whom are tempted to take the "two in one" approach to gifting. It is for this reason I do not mind cooking up two parties, after all, I am the hostess with the mostest!

However, after my two day extravaganza with cooking for Christmas, and the unbearable heat that has been shining upon us, I decided to do what any good wife would do...order out! I ordered empanadas and heated up pre-made pizzas, kept the ice cold beer a flowin and it was a success! Except, of course the cakes. They were two layers of homemade decadence involving brownies and cream, caramel and chocolate, pure mouth watering gluttony.

The following day, I did, however, cook up a nice meal for the family, the typical steak and potatoes with a side salad, of which, you can never go wrong.

As for presents, while I would love to take the gold prize this year for "most sentimental present," our nieces came in first place. They put together a miniature futbol (soccer) kit for daddy and child with matching T-shirts, one that says, "It is not about winning or losing, it is about playing and being Canalla (Canalla is a word to describe those that are fans of Rosario Central, Claudio's team) And the other says, "I am from my daddy's team."
Needless to say, tear filled eyes were involved.