34 Weeks

I know I posted last week, but last week was technically just behind. And since I haven't posted any pictures really of me to appease family and friends, this is an arrogant post about me....and Mark too!

I am now 34 weeks along. So 7 1/2 months pregnant, or 8 1/2 if you're really being specific. Pregnancy has not been bad overall. Sciatica comes and goes, usually when I've done to much in a day. This has been a huge blessing as we worried about back pain due to my weak back (and accident with stairs early on). Mostly, I just miss my body. Going through pictures from a Disneyland trip we took a year ago this week, I got a little depressed seeing this picture:

I know I know: "you're growing a baby, you're going to gain weight". But still, any woman who has been pregnant will tell you that even if there is an adorable little person growing inside you, your body has betrayed you in more ways than you ever thought possible. There are things no one will tell you, because no one will get it until they are pregnant themselves. (Plus everyone is different.) So then you get to find out for yourself. Trust me, studying human development in college included plenty of childhood education, infant development and sexual education classes. I was not completely blind going into this. But still...

At 34 weeks, we are getting antsy for this bundle of joy to come into our lives for real. Last week a nurse was able to see him have the hiccups on the ultrasound screen. Seeing and feeling that at the same time, I finally was able to connect that the odd twitches that I felt for weeks were in fact hiccups, not just muscle spasms (though highly likely as well). He gets the hiccups almost on a daily basis now. Poor kid! I know they're not harmful but I just imagine his little body shaking with each one the same way newborns do.

Here is life for me (and us) at 34 weeks:

• Baby is most active in the morning and sometimes throughout the afternoon. Daddy does not appreciate this...
• I am starting to grow OUT of maternity clothes. This is also a little sad since I still have 6 weeks. Originally I had 6 great pairs of maternity jeans. I'm now down to 3. If only it weren't winter and I could just wear skirts! 
• I am really good friends with the hours of 3 and 4 am. I rarely sleep through the night anymore. I'll usually wake up, get some water, empty my ever-shrinking bladder and go back to bed. 
• We no longer fit on the couch. In the good old days, (or up to about 3 weeks ago) Mark and I used to enjoy laying on the couch together watching TV. Now, a good portion of my belly hangs over and I feel like I'm about to fall off. So we sit like old people on the couch watching TV now.
• Baby is laying a little odd currently and it's putting pressure on the right side of my rib cage. If I spend a lot of time sitting, by the end of the day, the top of my rib cage feels sore. 
• I still wear my wedding rings but not for much longer. It doesn't take much for my hands to get puffy (or feet for that matter).
• Mark and I are both feeling  a bit anxious. Although birth doesn't scare me aside from the loosing of all dignity, (I'm a very private/shy person. You won't find me breastfeeding while grocery shopping or anything.) motherhood finally caught up with me one night and I all the sudden felt this huge wave of anxiety about the future, baby's health etc. We are definitely excited to be parents, but also plenty nervous about those unknown coming weeks, nights etc. 
• No Braxton Hicks or contractions that I know of, but plenty of round ligament pain down where the baby is settling into. 
• If I manage to get out of bed in the morning when Mark leaves for work, part of his routine is saying goodbye to me, but also goodbye to the baby. He hates school as it is, and not getting to see his baby boy until 7 at night will probably make it worse. We'll have to do lunch dates with daddy a lot. 

I got brave/succumbed to my antsiness and asked my doctor on Monday how long she would let me go past my due date if he doesn't come out willingly. She said no more than a week, which is fine with me. So assuming she won't want her or her father (the other doctor at the practice) to be forced to come in on the weekend, I imagine he'll be here no later than the 7th of March...if things how I envision.... haha. Right! 

  

Here's to roughly 49 days left!