Friday, June 29, 2007

Holding Pattern

I'm still here. The bun is still baking.

My frustration is getting to me. *sigh* I am chasing the carrot but someone keeps moving the stick. When we went to the hospital last weekend they told me to come back when my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and they were strong enough that I had to stop what I was doing until it was over. That occured last night so we went back. I had charted my contractions for 3 and a half hours before I decided to call Labor & Delivery. I gave them the run down and they told me to come on in. Hubby and I put Gwen to bed leaving one of my good friend's to hold down the fort and we hopped in the car. Neither of us had much hope that this trip would end with a baby but we had hit the milestone the hospital prescribed so we followed directions. End result of the trip: no baby. I am still 4 cm dilated but I am also now 50% effaced so that is some progress. They also "stripped my membranes" which isn't as bad as it sounds- it is a simple procedure that can release hormones to stimulate labor- we'll see if it has any effect, so far it has just made my contractions somewhat more painful. This time, when we left the hospital, they told us not to come back until I was having regular, close, white-knuckle contractions. So there you have it- the new carrot.

And in non-baby related news (yes! there is some!)

I finally finished the Knit Puffy for my Secret Pal:
Here it is in its natural habitat :) Pattern is from OneSkein. Knit per the instructions from Aloo yarn. I know I complained about knitting with the nettle yarn but in the end I was really pleeased with the results. I might even make another one. But not anytime soon. I sent the package off on Monday and my pal, AJ, received it yesterday. I really enjoyed Secret Pal 10 and will most likely do the next swap.

I have also been the lucky recipient of a couple of fun and fabulous packages in the last couple weeks.

First up, a prize from an SP10 group contest, courtesy of Robyn, my fantastic hostess!
This is a really cute cross-stitch kit. The balloon reads, "Who are these kids and why are they calling me mom?" For those of you who don't know, cross-stitch was my first needle art love so I am looking forward to tackling this project. Thank you Robyn :)

Next I received a treat from Sasha of free wool as a prize for a contest she ran:
All sorts of good things. Three vintage knitting pattern booklets (I swear I think my grandmother made me one of the sweaters in one of the books- it looks so familiar!), a Japanese booklet of little animals (the correct term escapes my brain at the moment and I am too lazy to look it up) to needle felt, recent copies of BabyBug (Pooh Bear loves this!), mothering, ReadyMade and Bust- all of which is really more inspiration than I can handle right now. My crafting/knitting to do list is multiple pages long and I know that my time will be limited to non-existent soon. The bag included some whistle candy and a Fran's Macadamia Gold bar which was waaaaaaaayyyyy too tasty. Last, but certainly not least, is a really neat skein of Noro Sakura which is a really unique yarn. Fabulous bright colorway and it periodically has these sections where the yarn is wrapped around the base in a way that totally reminds me of the friendship bracelets I used to make with my friends from embroidery thread back in the day -So fun! Thanks Sasha!

Lastly, a big hug and thank you to everyone for the kind words and good wishes you've sent my way as I have been making my way way through the slowest labor ever recorded, I really appreciate it... you guys are keeping me (somewhat) sane.

Next time: Baby Knits - the longer BtB stays in, the more I get done...so that is the bright side of this whole thing. BTW, generally a bad sign when the nurses at your doctor's office take a look at you and say, "Man, you are going to drop that baby any minute!"

6 comments:

Montreal Mama said...

So glad you got the Xstitch! I can't wait to see how it turns out. I tried to do one once, didn't work out so good for me.

I need to add you to my sidebar on my blog. One of these next few days :)

Even though SP10 is over now, I'm glad to have "met" you!

Sasha said...

Oh yay, I am glad that you liked the yarn, I wasn't sure but I thought it was fun. I didn't really figure you needed any more baby knitting inspiration, you seem to have a pretty good to-do list going. I am happy if you find something in that stuff you enjoy regardless of whether it leads to any projects!

For your sake I do hope that BtB comes soon, and that you can keep up your strength for the main event. And I hope things go really well for both you and baby. Take care!

Anonymous said...

Oh man. I'm thinking of you and hoping to meet your little one soon!

AJ said...

Awww, I'm sorry that the baby hasn't "popped" out yet. I know how bad being pregnant and ready to deliver in the summer is. Jem's b-day was yesterday! 9 already!

Thank you again for my wonderful gifts. I haven't figured out what pattern I will use for the Yarn Pirate yarn, but you better believe that I will not be gifting those socks to anyone but me!

You are in my thoughts, as is the baby. Good luck and w/b after the baby is born. I wanna see pictures!

mama k said...

Love the scrubby! Where did you find aloo yarn? I have the book but haven't tried looking for it yet.

Sarah-potterknitter said...

Looks like I had the opposite! Dilation with no contractions for a week and when my midwife checked me out last thursday she sent me straight to the hospital. 6 hours later, baby! I was already in the car when I had my first real contractions.