Nate in the Kitchen

Nate and I bought some more sour cherries at the Farmers Market on Saturday, and he proceeded to spend a good hour or so hand-pitting each and every one of them in order to make a homemade cherry pie. He admits to being biased, but upon taste-testing, commented "this is the best cherry pie ever!" I had to agree - it was delicious. Here is the baker's masterpiece.

Tomorrow, I'll be starting pregnancy week 39...just 8 days now until d-day and we're both wondering exactly when Baby Bacheler will make his or her appearance. I seem to nap a fair amount these days...is it possible to stock-pile sleep ahead of time? Nate took this photo of me just before the sound of the camera abruptly startled me from my rest!


And here's one of the last belly shots. Most people continue to seem surprised that I don't look bigger when they ask how far along I am, but I measure in the normal range - I guess it's just all stretched out lengthwise along my extra-long torso. Lately, the baby has been jabbing my upper right ribcage with his/her feet I think. I've definitely been experiencing some very strange sensations in the belly and pelvic region these last few weeks, as my other pregnant friends can probably attest to....
With the start of the NFL Pre-Season, Packers mania has significantly ramped up. We moved here at the start of summer training camp, which caught a surprising (to me) amount of news itself. Now the evening news dedicates an even higher proportion of its broadcast to talk of the Packers: the new 3:4 defense, new players to watch for, a former Packer who committed the ultimate crime and now plays for the Vikings (one of the funniest t-shirts being sold around town says "Brent, we'll never forget you..."). On game days, it is a sea of green and gold. And if the wind is right, we can actually hear some of the announcing in our back yard - Lambeau Field is only a couple of miles away, as-the-crow-flies. Even my Certified Nurse Midwife was sporting a Packers scarf around her neck on game day last week. We have already acquired, as a gift from some of Nate's co-workers, a Packers outfit for the baby. Guess we need to make a run to Goodwill sometime soon to stock up on some gear for ourselves....I'm sure they plenty of Favre jerseys these days, he, he, he.

Cherries and a flip

Nate and I headed up to Door County this past weekend, intent on picking our own cherries and heading to the beach for a swim. We ended up bagging the pick-your-own idea when we found it much easier to find farm stands and roadside stores that sold freshly picked fruit than to find a place that had pick-your-own. So, we bought a pint of Bing cherries and a quart of tart cherries (variety unknown) - they are a delightful summer treat, eaten cold out of the frig.

Since we haven't really had any swimming opportunities yet this summer, I've refrained from buying a maternity swim suit. Instead, I made an old bikini do extra work on Saturday (and fittingly, it is a suit that has cherries on it). I'm sure this image will be shocking to some, but I'm sort of proud that I can still get away with it (though maybe this is a matter of personal judgement?), so here I am, in all my 8-months-pregnant glory. And just to be fair, here too is a shot of Nate, enjoying our freshly purchased cherries on the beach in Egg Harbor. He was brave enough to go for an actual swim - me, I wimped out and only went in up to my knees in the 67 (we guessed) degree water.


This morning, we headed to St. Mary's Hospital at 6am to have our external version (breech) procedure done. And we're happy to report, it worked! The doctor was able to manually flip the baby around (by pushing on my belly and rotating the baby's bum and head in a clockwise fashion). As long as the baby stays in a head-down position for the next 3 weeks or so, we should be all ready for a natural delivery.

Kate comes to town

We hosted our good friend Kate Richter (now McWilliams) this past week and enjoyed having a familiar face around the house. We know Kate from our years in Raleigh, and now she and her husband Gordon live and teach out by Asheboro, NC. But she also taught high school for 2 years in nearby Appleton, WI, while her brother and sister-in-law were living in Green Bay. While she was here, Kate and I had a fun get-together with a few of her old teaching buddies, and we enjoyed a day trip up to the Door Peninsula and the quaint village of Egg Harbor. It's the height of the cherry season, so Nate and I might need to make another trip up there soon to stock up at the plentiful pick-your-own farm stands.

Kate, Nate and I also enjoyed a fun dinner out one night at the Titletown Brewery, where I realized that my belly has become a convenient drink shelf (don't worry, it's a non-alcoholic beer!).


With just 1 month to go before "D-day", I am more thankful than ever for my tall stature, which has kept the breathing and belly discomfort to a minimum. In fact, most folks seem surprised when I tell them how far along I am - I suspect that with my long torso, my belly just isn't popping "out" as much as it would on a shorter woman.

These days, I'm in 'freezer food' mode - I hope to have our deep freeze filled with as many soups, stews, breads, and frozen fruits as I can before the baby arrives. And speaking of the baby, it appears that we have a stubborn little guy or girl in there....I found out at my appointment last week that the hard and circular thing I was feeling toward the top of my belly was indeed the head. Our baby is currently in a breech position, which means in order for me to deliver naturally, we need this baby to do a big summersault to position the head down by the pelvis. I've been instructed to go ahead and try a variety of exercises/movements to encourage the tyke to turn around. And it could happen that the baby will just decide to flip around on its own, but if it doesn't do so within the next week or so, I'll likely be given a procedure called an external version, where the doctors will first determine (by ultrasound) exactly how the baby is lying, and then through external manipulation (pushing and prodding of my belly) try and turn him/her head down. From what I've read, the procedure has between a 50 and 70% success rate. If that doesn't work, then we have to come to terms with the fact that I might need to deliver by Cesarian-section. Though that would be a big disappointment for me - I've been looking forward to experiencing the birthing process - of course the health and safety of the baby (and mommy) is of utmost importance...We'll learn more after our next appointment tomorrow morning.