32 Week Update

8...

Same old, same old. Still getting bigger, still getting slower, feeling less rested, and so on. I can't believe I still have 2 months of this to go through. (My gratitude at finally being pregnant only goes so far.)

Highlight of the week - getting offered a beer sample at the grocery store before the sample lady saw the bump as it was apparently hidden behind the cart before I changed directions. My response: I would love one, I really would! With just a hint of desperation in my voice.

The desperation in my voice may have been there thanks to starting to read the post-birth / early childcare section of my pregnancy book. I think that section terrifies me more than the birth section. I know this baby is going to come out one way or another, I just don't know if I'm up to motherhood. Great timing for that realization, huh? The number of hours I've spent with an infant can probably be counted on both hands, if not just one. I've been paid to babysit only once - when the people looking for a sitter were desperate and the kids were well out of the infant years. WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Thank goodness DH has more experience with this than I - even if his experience was 25+ years ago when his brother was born. This is another reason why I wanted to take the birth class - I'll be the one in the back feverishly scribbling notes and feeling like a dummy.

Sunday found me subject to The Nesting. It started with cleaning out our basement and kitchen freezers - shamefully, the prior had frozen meals with expiration dates from 2007, and the latter had a number of unlabeled containers with mystery contents. As I was emptying the containers into the trash I made a mental pinkie swear promise to myself to start labeling containers with the food and date before putting them in the freezer.

From the freezers I moved on to the linen closets. You'd think from the number of towels we have accumulated that we were hosting lots of very dirty guests on a regular basis. Not so much. And I'm left wondering why when we have 2 queen beds (ours and the remaining guest room) we have fewer sets of sheets between them than for the double bed which got much less use and is now dismantled in the basement. Hopefully the "order" in which I left the two closets makes sense when I'm no longer subject to pregnancy brain, and is maintainable. We'll see!

Next OB appointment is tomorrow - assuming it will be more of the same. I do plan to ask if it's safe to use the massage function on our recliner. Sleeping on my back has gone from being okay for short periods to making my right hand go all tingly so I'm spending more and more time sleeping on my sides and it just doesn't allow my back to relax and stretch out properly.

Yesterday I once again indulged in a pedicure. This time I went with a snazzy orangey/red called something like Chili Pepper. Much better than the bubble-gum / Barbie / pepto-pink I'd been sporting for the past three weeks. And the leg massages aren't bad either!

Speaking of feet - the OB from two weeks ago was right. :( Despite my efforts to elevate, hydrate and avoid excess sodium, the other ankle has also started to swell but has not yet reached the circumference of the first. My hands have also started to swell some, but is only noticeable as my wedding band is taking more effort to remove. Thank goodness today is to be the last of the streak of 95+ degree days we've had and temps should be in the relatively more reasonable mid-80's for the coming week.

And more feet - Little One is spending more time than I would prefer forcibly shoving one of her feet up under my right rib cage. That's about as comfortable as it sounds, and getting harder to redirect. I did read somewhere that a heel should feel like a gumball under the skin and that's definitely what I'm feeling down below both sides of my ribcage (when the one foot isn't trying to burrow into my lungs), but I'm not sure of the other bits I feel poking out every now and then.

Thursday evening we're heading down to the in-laws house on the Outer Banks for the 4th of July - we're both taking Friday off in order to extend the weekend just that much longer as it is the last time we're going to get away before the Little One arrives.

My MIL said she would bring the car seat down so we'll get to see it in person. She's a little OCD on the neatening and had already put it in the attic...but at least when I mentioned something about needing to look at it in person realized that it was a little unrealistic to expect that I'd be able to make a decision without seeing it for myself.

Anyway, my plans are to do as little as possible. Nap. Eat food I don't have to prepare. Nap some more. Read a non-baby book or two. No guarantees I'll have internet access so I'll wish all of you who celebrate the 4th (and those who don't) a safe weekend.

But I'll probably check in after tomorrow's appointment - just to let you know if I get to fight the good fight on the vinyl vs. nitrile (much more comfortable non-latex) gloves. I just know you are holding your collective breaths on this urgent topic. Hah.