Pretty much everything on my to-do list is done, I am ready to go and am slightly excited to arrive at The Farm. On the other hand I am sort of sad to leave the house, pets and N behind. It is going to be strange to be away from it all and when I return I’ll be a mother. Kind of a crazy concept when you think about it.

Today has been a calm day for severe weather, thank goodness! After 2 days of thunderstorms and tornado warnings we were both exhausted. N was of course chasing storms for work and I was having to herd animals and hide out in our “safe place” in the downstairs bathroom…

Not sure if you noticed the odd blog format from yesterday’s post. It’s how my future live blog posts will look as I update you on my progress while I am away at The Farm. Those updates are sent via text messaging from my cell phone, they show up in my twitter timeline (but aren’t as pretty) and they auto post to the blog also. Like I’ve mentioned before you can subscribe to this blog to ensure you don’t miss an update, that way you’ll know exactly when I go in to labor!

I’ll be offline as far as internet access goes so I wont see or be able to respond to your comments (or read your blogs). The best way to communicate with me (if you need to) is via direct message on twitter (those should come to my cell phone, possibly). This is all dependent on the access and quality of cell phone reception out at The Farm of course, just an FYI.

All the feelings and sensations I described in graphic detail yesterday are continuing and happening more regularly. I am not in labor yet but things are headed that direction and I am just trying to keep active as much as possible (which isn’t very much at all really)…

N and I did a mini shopping trip this morning to get some groceries and such for me to take along to the birthing cabin. The best deal we got today was 5 gallons of milk for a total of $5.15, yep paid $1.03 for each gallon thanks to coupons and store sales! I am a big milk drinker and use it to cook so we’ll have no problem using it all plus it will last us weeks.

Walking around at the stores today was way harder and more painful than normal so that means it shouldn’t be too long now, we’ll get to meet Tater so soon!

My mom is delusional thinking she is going to get me to toodle around Columbia, TN and do fun things with her when she comes to The Farm to stay with me and wait for labor to begin. I can hardly handle walking back and forth from the bed/ chair to the kitchen for food or to the bathroom these days. Of course that is probably due to the stairs but still, I am pretty immobile these days.

Here is a farewell belly shot. It’s probably the last you’ll see until I get back from The Farm.

You can compare it to the very first belly shot I took at the start of the pregnancy if you need more “wow factor”.

It is kind of funny to see how my mole/ freckle has moved up as my belly has grown. It’s totally amazing how the body can adapt and accommodate a growing baby inside you all while you do nothing but rest and increase food intake. The body is truly a smart, complex and highly evolved “machine” isn’t it?

Well I am off to make some been and cheese burritos (hopefully) and to possibly tidy up the place a bit. Stay tuned for the labor updates and progress and don’t forget to enter the baby weight contest!

The post Bags are packed, I'm ready to go! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Then real life hit and I was just drop dead tired yesterday. I napped right after visiting the chiropractor for my adjustments, then woke up, checked over the bills (N is training to take them over while I am away at The Farm), clipped a ton of coupons, strategized our grocery shopping and got a major memo from Tater.

She dropped down yesterday. She was really low and super, crazy active all night. I was having some major stabs of cervix pain along with some discharge (or early stages of mucus plug loss)… All early signs of labor. The thing is all these things can happen weeks before labor or just days before depending on the mom and the baby.

Tater is basically just warning us to get our butts in gear because the clock is a ticking! LOL.

I am not worried at all, she isn’t coming right this moment or anything. But she could if she wanted to! Basically I am just taking the hint and packing up everything I can for me, baby and getting as many lists and papers in order for N as possible because time is sure running out and we need to be ready in case things do get started early.

Got the “who to call when Tater is coming” phone list up by the phone. My medical records, midwife’s number, hospital’s number, parents numbers and all the emergency stuff is in a file for N. I am making a list of last minute things to grab right before we head off to the farm (like pillows from the bed, food, shampoo, etc). Got all the baby clothes/ blankets washed and packed for the trip. Have the partially stocked birth kit packed… You know just gathering, packing and preparing like a madwoman.

I’ll be “full term” in just 3 short weeks so literally Tater could be here any day now, or she could hold off and be late. It is all unknown, exciting and kind of surreal. Makes me say “Yay, wow and holy crap” all at the same time.

I plan to tweet via text messaging once labor begins and I plan to try keeping everyone in the loop this way (as much as I can based upon how I am doing at the time) so be sure to follow me on twitter if you want to see how things are going. You can also see my recent twitter updates here on the blog sidebar and I’ll probably embed them in a post once I am off to deliver Tater.

So, there you have the pregnancy updates… Now what have I forgot to put on a list or pack? Hmm I need to get busy.

The post Is this labor? Signs and symptoms remind us parenthood isn't far… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.