40 weeks + 2 days

Two days past our due date, and it's beginning to hurt!

Alan putting together the nursery furniture. Yipee!!

(The dresser/changing table will be put together next...)

Connor happy and excited, and pretending to be a crying baby.

First thing Connor did when we told him the furniture was put together was run upstairs and jump in the crib! It was adorable. :) Then he said, "I wish the baby was here already."

That makes two of us, Connor!

The Rotunda Hospital

This is where our little one will be born--someday, we hope! :)

The Rotunda (or The Bun Factory, as the locals call it) is an amazing place--they're solely a maternity/fertility lying-in hospital. They deliver 9,000 babies a year!!!! It's the very first hospital of its kind--established in 1745.

Here's the link to their website: http://www.rotunda.ie/default.asp?p=ci

Enjoy!
This is the hallway, waiting rooms and doctor's office where I have my weekly check-ups. Mind you, this is in the private clinic in the hospital (vs. semi-private or public clinics within the hospital). I can talk more about those differences another time.


That's my doc, Dr. Sam Coulter Smith. He will be there at the end of the birth process--and if everything goes well and fast, I may not see him at all. All the births are overseen by midwives.
This is the delivery room. I got a tour on my last visit with one of the midwives there. The poster is of different birthing positions they encourage you to try. I asked all my questions, and loved the answers! It certainly made me feel more comfortable.

But as you can see, this is truly a hospital--it makes St. Vincent's back in Portland look like a "medical hotel." And Alan's comfort is an afterthought--he gets a hard-backed wooden chair. (Although it's out of view in this picture.)

Ah, this was interesting...

I had no idea why the main bathroom on the first floor had these strange blue lights. I asked a lady I met, who happened to be a hospital employee, and she told me that they installed this blue-light system to discourage junkies from shooting up in the bathroom. Apparently, they can't see their veins under the blue lights.

She said it was sad, really, but the problem has been getting worse in the city, generally speaking. Sure enough, later that day when I hopped into a department store to use its bathroom, they had changed their light bulbs to blue lights, too.

39 Weeks!

The bump is getting bigger, and it's getting harder and harder to move around. :)

At this time with my last pregnancy, my waters had broken and we were about to go into the hospital to have Connor induced. So, this baby could come any day now...

Alan came home from his trip to Arizona on Saturday afternoon. It is wonderful having him home!! Connor planned a whole party for him with homemade signs, balloons, cream cakes, and party poppers. It was very sweet and heart warming.

Connor's transition into school is getting better everyday. We're meeting some nice children and their parents. Having Connor in a neighborhood school has benefits: I get to meet lots of parents.

We all bring our children to school (many of us are walking there), and we wait with the children in the classroom until the morning bell sounds and their teacher arrives. Then, in the afternoon, we all wait outside the school to pick up our children. It gives me ample opportunity to meet other kids in Connor's class, and if there's anyone Connor has been playing with, I usually can introduce myself to his mom right away. It's been so easy to connect with them. Back in the States, with bussing and car-commuting, I'd say that it takes a lot longer to meet the children and their parents from your child's classroom.