30 Days to Go!

I can't believe it! 30 days, give or take and this baby will be done cookin'!

I'm anxious and excited and feeling very unprepared. I haven't spent much time around newborns, not since Jesse and Sarah were little, and even then I didn't have much to do with midnight feedings and dirty diapers.

Everyone seems to love telling me to soak up the sleep now....and I keep wondering to myself 'what sleep?' Between the thoughts circling in my head at night, the 6-7 trips to the bathroom, the hip pain, and the fight I'm losing with my belly, when am I getting sleep? I don't mean to be a whiner, but jeez I am starting to get uncomfortable. I'm okay during the day. For the most part, things are quiet, I do make several trips to the bathroom, but it's the night time that I have started to dread. I can't seem to catch my breath because baby is pushing on my lungs, and I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like there's an elephant sitting on my chest because I'm lying on my back!

Christmas shopping this weekend was quite an adventure as well. Never mind the 8 million people that were driving crazy, or pushing through the crowds. I had to overcome bathroom trips, swift kicks or punches to my cervix, and that overall heavy feeling I get lately. I haven't gained much weight, but the way I'm caring, I feel like I've gained 50 lbs. I would walk past two or three stores at the mall and start to get winded. I keep telling Jeff that I don't know how the morbidly obese handle it. I can't wait to get this weight off of me or should I say out of me....just so I can function again.

And now for the good stuff....Jeff finished painting the nursery! It took a month, but it's finally done. We haven't put anything in there yet. I'm waiting until after the holidays to do that. I still want to steam clean the carpet, and that will take a little time for it to dry since it's too cold to open windows. This next pay day is dedicated to ordering curtains and other little odds and ends that will make her room complete. I'm looking forward to having it done, but since we got the bassinet put together, I don't feel like I'm totally unprepared. She won't be sleeping in her room for the first few weeks anyway, so even if I went into labor next week, it wouldn't be a big deal if her room isn't done.

And..we went to our birth class. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was long...and didn't really offer much more new information. It promoted 'natural' childbirth. I was disappointed that they didn't go into more detail about emergency c-sections or different pain relievers. I know that the whole point for the class is to teach you to cope without those things, but the reality is, not everyone will be able to handle the pain. I guess I just felt like they shouldn't push one idea and should at least try to cover the other 'what if's.'

So, now I'm just working on getting through Christmas. I know that sounds bad, but really it's just another milestone for me on my way to babyland. I really couldn't have cared less if we put the tree up or exchanged gifts. It sounds horrible, and my mom likes to tell me I wish my life away, but I just want to meet my little girl already! I'm done waiting!

7 Weeks and Counting....

Okay, I guess at 33 weeks, the time has come. I am definitely feeling pregnant these days. It’s still not as bad as all of the horror stories I’ve heard, but if I had a nickel for every time I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I could retire at 25!

Last night has been the worst so far. I didn’t actually keep count, but I went to bed around 10:00p.m., and needed to visit the bathroom every 1-1.5 hours after that. Then while I’m stumbling to the bathroom with no lights on, I realize that I’m thirsty. So I get a drink of water, and before I know it, I’m rolling out of bed to do my business again. And to top it all off, the dog woke me up last night so I let her out, and she didn’t even go potty. She just stood there and ate grass. Needless to say, I was not in a stellar mood this morning and actually hit the snooze button instead of getting up at my regular time. Of course, that’s after I went to the bathroom when the alarm went off the first time….

I told Jeff last night that I’m starting to feel like a rollie pollie. I can’t actually sit up to get out of bed, I sort of do this half roll thing and grab onto the fitted sheet to pull myself up. Then, there’s trying to get off our couch. For some reason, my usual seat is the hardest one for me to wiggle out of. I’ve taken to sitting in the middle of the couch because I don’t feel so sunk in, which means less work trying to get up. Even then, I have to scoot to the edge of the seat and push up with my fists just to get up to…you guessed it….go pee!

Really though, I haven’t had much pain yet. I do feel like my ribs are starting to spread. They’re just sore most of the time. And this little girl seems to enjoy stretching, so it feels like she’s pushing on my bladder and making it impossible to breathe all at the same time. And, depending on how the baby sits, my right thigh has started going numb. It’s not painful, just a weird sensation. It doesn’t last long, especially if she shifts, but she must be pressing on something in there. I’m just glad it’s numb and not sciatica pain, which I’ve had before when I wasn’t pregnant and that’s no fun. I can’t imagine dealing with that on top of every other symptom pregnancy throws at you.

So, all in all I know I must me making progress and she must be getting bigger because I feel like there’s not much more room in there for her. We only have 7 weeks left until the estimated D-Day, and part of me feels like we’re no where close to being ready, while the other part of me just wants to get her out so I can cuddle her…and breathe again.