Our house has turned into a total destruction zone, preparing for his arrival. I'm working my way into the nesting phase, so we've been cleaning and rearranging and trying to make his home perfect. The nursery's been painted and is all ready to be cleaned and set up once my parents come to town next weekend. We only have a few major items still to pick up, but I am ready to start putting that crib together and washing all the baby clothes!!!
I am feeling quite whale-ish and there is absolutely no doubt that I'm pregnant now. People move to get out of my way and give me space, which sometimes makes me laugh and other times, makes me sad. They are frequently eager to touch, poke and rub my belly to see if they can get Shortstop to move. Its quite funny when Rick does it -- he will poke me and I'll feel a kick on my other side, or the baby will hear his voice and kick me. Pretty much whatever noise he can hear, he's reacting to. I can't quite figure out which way he's laying in there, but playing "guess the body part" sure is fun!
There are plenty of things I miss about my old body -- I never realized how much I took for granted climbing the stairs, picking up Nala, being able to put pants on easily, wearing sneakers! Its hard for me to get into our SUV. I can't sit close to my desk at work anymore. I'm a side sleeper, but I like to curl my legs up, which definitely doesn't happen anymore! Sometimes I picture wiping out in the shower -- I'm actually surprised I haven't done it yet. While I miss all these things, pregnancy has been pretty much a miracle. I have enjoyed it, guess I'm one of those lucky women who tolerates and wears it well.
We took the hospital tour and it made me feel so much better about the whole labor and delivery process. I am not good with hospitals in the first place, but luckily ours didn't feel so sterile. I'll have a huge, private room to deliver in, then I'll be moved across the hall to a private recovery room, complete with my own bathroom, TV and room service. The whole 4th floor of the hospital is dedicated to moms and babies so I'll be in good company. I still worry I'm going to see something gross, and one of my worst fears is still going into labor in the middle of the night and needing to be admitted through the ER, but I do feel better about the whole idea. I'm not even really worried about Rick passing out -- I just think we'll be too focused on other things to get caught up in too much of the medical. My white coat syndrome dropped quite a bit after that hospital tour.
I'm close to settling my maternity leave with my company, and Rick has gotten a great deal on his. 4 weeks off, fully paid. I am so grateful. Its going to mean so much to me that he'll be up with me all hours of the night, feeding and changing and rocking our son -- that we'll be able to have family and friends over and not have to worry about one of us needing to go to bed to get to work the next morning -- that we can take walks when the sun comes up or as its going down or whenever we need to. I know we won't have any freedom those first few weeks, and that Baby G will run our schedule, but at least we'll be on it together. I'm taking an additional 6 weeks off and don't plan to return to work until October -- and while that seems like a long time, I know its going to go by way too fast.
This weekend is my baby shower in St. Louis. I'm really looking forward to spending a long weekend with my family. It will probably be the last time we are all together before the baby comes. Of course, he'll just add even more happiness to the group in the future! Its also the last time I plan to travel far from home. I've been promised there will be lots of food, lots of laughs and lots of pictures -- and I plan to enjoy every second of it!!!!
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