I’m starting to get Facebook messages and texts from family members who live far away checking in to see how I’m doing, so I know people are officially on baby watch!
There’s absolutely nothing going on yet, and I’ll be 39 weeks along tomorrow. I’m simultaneously prepared to go into labor at any moment and convinced that I still have a week or two left to go. In fact, my mom commented over the weekend: “You’ve got plenty of time; you aren’t nearly miserable enough yet.”
And I’m not! I’m really surprised to feel so good this late in the game. I visited my chiropractor twice last week, and I had another awesome prenatal massage earlier this evening. I think those two things, plus maintaining a decent-ish level of activity, have been key to staying fairly comfortable.
I’m getting impatient for the baby to arrive, but I think that’s more due to the fact that not knowing when she’ll come is driving me crazy rather than the fact that I’m physically sick of being pregnant. I’m not. Yet.
Anyway, let’s rewind to our doctor appointment last Friday to start this update! I got checked again and the baby had dropped a bit; the doctor said she was at -2 station compared to the previous week’s -4 station (completely dropped would be 0). My cervix was 80% effaced (thinned), but still not dilated at all.
The doctor said none of this info had any bearing on when I’d go into labor, but in my completely non-scientific opinion, the baby seems quite comfy in there. I also haven’t been feeling any Braxton Hicks contractions that would indicate some sort of progress — although I’ve talked to a few moms who didn’t feel any contractions until they were actually in labor! So basically, I know nothing.
I put on another pound since our previous doctor visit, so I’m up 36 pounds total. As I write this, I’m working on my second bowl of ice cream today — temps hit 88 degrees, which is nearly as hot as it ever gets in Seattle — and I officially DGAF. I should probably start thinking about reestablishing better eating habits so I can be my happiest and healthiest postpartum self, but no. Just no.
Actually, my understanding is that I’ll need to eat even more calories once I’m breastfeeding, so yay! They probably shouldn’t all be ice-cream calories, but yay anyway!
We clearly made it through all the activities we had planned this past week and now have nothing on our calendar. Aaron turned 30 on Tuesday, and we celebrated by going out to dinner and a special Teatro ZinZanni circus show with friends! Teatro ZinZanni is typically a dinner-theater event, but this one was just a mish-mash of performances. There were singers, dancers, aerial artists, and even a lady who juggled umbrellas with her feet! It was a late night out for us, but so much fun.
Isn’t Aaron just the cutest at every age?? Happy 30th, my love!
On Wednesday, we took an infant safety class at our hospital, where we learned how to perform CPR on incredibly creepy baby mannequins.
That thing will now haunt your nightmares; you’re welcome.
We also learned what to do in the event of choking, how to baby-proof everything in our house, and how to minimize the risk of SIDS by ensuring a safe sleep environment. It was an extremely helpful class, and now we feel ever-so-slightly qualified to be parents! Once we actually have our baby, we’ll quickly realize we know nothing, so I’m savoring this brief moment of feeling educated.
On Saturday, we had a bunch of friends over to celebrate Aaron’s birthday with a potluck brunch. The key word here is potluck, which is code for, “Please come be a guest in our home, but bring some food while you’re at it.” Genius! We provided the essentials (fruit, bacon, mimosas), and our friends filled in the rest to make a delicious spread.
I’m aware this photo looks about as fun as an AA meeting, but it was the only one I snapped, near the very end, when everyone was gathered in the living room chatting together. It made my heart happy to have so many of our favorite people in our house for what will be the last time before we have our kiddo.
On Saturday evening, we celebrated Aaron’s birthday and my mom’s birthday as a combo, since we’ll likely be busy celebrating another birthday around the time of my mom’s (April 30).
My mom and her husband recently got back from their belated honeymoon to New Orleans (they got married last July), and they brought back such cuuuute stuff for the baby!
It’s already clear who’s the star of the family since she got the most gifts that night and she’s not even born yet. 🙂
Sunday was nice and low-key. Aaron saw a movie with his best friend, and I went for a long walk in the sunshine. I even dusted off my Garmin to see how far I go on my usual route, since the health app on my iPhone typically says about 4.5 miles, but it doesn’t feel that far. Sure enough:
Notice I was actually moving for 1:23, yet I was out and about for 2:32. The downtime includes multiple bathroom stops and about 40 minutes of sitting on a bench, eating snacks and soaking up the sun. That part is very necessary for me to be able to walk so far at this point!
It was the loveliest day, and I’m so happy I was able to go out and enjoy it on foot. Soon enough I’ll be taking my daughter on this same walk! I’ll need to bring about 50,000 more things than I bring for just myself, and our snack break will probably be more for her than for me, but we’ll have fun just the same.
That brings us up to speed! I’ll try to check in on Instagram every few days to let y’all know if we’re still waiting around or what.
We probably won’t be posting a baby announcement right away, since I’d like to make sure all our family and friends know first, and I don’t want to get caught up looking at social-media notifications in those first few days when I should be savoring time with our baby.
I haaaate it when I’m Facebook/Instagram stalking someone who is about to have a baby and they don’t post anything for like five days after their kid is born, but I totally get it; you never get that precious time back. But, we also might be too excited to hold off. We’ll see!
I have a feeling I’ll be back next week with a 39-week update anyway. 🙂
Dev on Running 