It's Official

My belly button has popped. It now protrudes all the time. How cute.

Baby's Room

I actually have quite a bit to write about, but have been pretty busy. Last weekend, some of my friends threw me a surprise baby shower! Mostly a surprise anyway. I knew they were planning it, since they asked me who I wanted to come, and what I wanted to do, but I didn't know when or where it was going to be. It turns out it was at Jessie's house, and SO MANY people came, I was really surprised! I wouldn't have thought that so many people were available the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun, and repeating myself, we received lots (way too many) gifts for the baby.

This weekend, Shawn and I have been getting the room ready. He painted it a while back, and I've been slowly accumulating baby paraphrenalia that's been piling up in the empty room. I took parts of last weekend and most of this one so far, and cleaned it out and started setting things up. It's not finished; I'm waiting on a few small things, and one piece of furniture, but it's looking fairly good! Luckily, we're planning on having the baby sleep in our room for the first few weeks, so it actually doesn't need to be completely set up for a while. I'd just rather have it all set up and taken care of.

Unsettling

Imagine that feeling you get when you're hungry - stomach grumbling, maybe even audibly. But I'm talking about the growly FEELING you get in your stomach when you are to the point of being very hungry. Now, try to imagine where that feels...somewhere in the middle, for lack of better language. Is that feeling supposed to occur and inch or so beneath your breastbone? NO, it is not. This brings home to me that my internal organs are not at all in their homes, but have been shoved into whatever cubby hole is available. Creepy.

A Baby Shower!

My mom and my sister hosted a baby shower for me yesterday for my "extended" family. My grandma was there, but so were all the women who are my mom's friends, but seem to have invested some energy in caring about me too. It was really nice to get to see all the Springfield women, and they had plenty of advice for me. : ) Highlights included an adorable ducky cake, and finding out that most of these women had senses of humor nearly as wicked as mine can be. Shawn and I received lots of gifts (way too many) for the baby, and we're definitely getting closer to having the ridiculous amount of stuff you need to take care of a new person. I can't seem to get the pictures up that my mom emailed, but it was very cute, with many ducks (even on the gifts!), and some pretty damn good spinach dip. My poor dad and brother hightailed it out, but we even got gifts from my 15 year old brother. (Redskins related, natch)

Above: 30 weeks

Scary Phone Call

Two weeks ago, I went in for a normal, BORING doctor's appointment. The usual: pee in cup, weigh on scale, listen to baby's heartbeat. I also had to chug a lug the nasty glucose drink in 4 minutes, and then have blood drawn for the gestational diabetes screening. The drink itself was not so bad tasting, it was having to down this liquid sugar in 4 minutes that was difficult. I got through it, and asked when they would have my results. They said it would be a week. Well, I knew we were leaving for St John the following Friday. So, last Thursday, when I got off work, I called to ask about my results. I called 7 minutes after they closed, apparently. I went on vacation and forgot about it. However, after having severe headaches and a LOT of dizziness for the first three days of our trip, I was somehow not surprised to receive a phone message as I got off the plane last night asking me to call the doctor's office at my "earliest convenience." When I got the message, it was after 8 pm, so I couldn't call. Instead, I spent all night worrying about having to go for the follow up glucose screening. If you fail the first test, they make you come in, drink the nasty thing again, and then take your blood every hour for THREE HOURS. This is terrible. To say nothing of the implications that I might actually have GD. I called the office as soon as my assistant got into the classroom this morning, and the receptionist actually asked me to call back after 1:30!!!!! She said there was only one nurse on at that time, and she was totally swamped. GRRR. Anyway, I called back, and the short answer is I am fine. I am anemic, and the doctor wants me to take iron supplements. Aha. Not a huge surprise, actually. Red meat is expensive, and we have been doing a crap job cooking lately, since we've both been so very busy. Apparently, beef, broccoli, spinach and perhaps Cream of Wheat are in my future. On a side note, I love that the only thing the nurse told me to do was to take an iron supplement. I have no problem doing so, but there was no discussion of foods that are high in iron that might also help. I just know them from a lifetime of anemia. Geez.

In other news, after spending a week in the tropics with a rather large growth, I have determined that I will do anything in my power to avoid being pregnant in the DC summer heat. Sorry Jessica. But honestly, I was miserable, and seemed to make Shawn miserable with my miserablosity. Never again. Of course, as Shawn pointed out when I made this comment to him, since we seem to be SO GOOD at timing our pregnancies up to now...HA. Obviously, you can't plan everything out in advance, but good Lord, do I not want to be hugely pregnant during the summer.

Hoping to take a belly picture this weekend, during our ten minutes of down time, so look for that post soon!

A Little Cranky, I Think

I've finally entered the period of time that I always pictured in my thoughts of having a baby: obviously pregnant, eliciting responses from strangers without bringing it up, or hinting. Store clerks are telling me the sex of this baby, asking when I'm due. I had a man in my office building today ask me when I'm due, and tell me "feel better." (I didn't realize I wasn't feeling good!) A man held the door for me as I walked through with my lunch, and tell me "enjoy your lunch - both of you!" Surprisingly, this general interest in my "condition" has not extended to bathroom lines. I am a big believer in karma, and doing nice things because you never know when you might be on the other side of that favor. I have always, to my knowledge, let pregnant women pass me in the line. Maybe women are just more catty than men, but no woman yet has let me skip the line. I don't necessarily expect it, but would like to think that since many of the women I'm speaking of have obviously been in the same situation, there might be a little sympathy. I've always heard there's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women. Hmm.

I had my glucose screening last Thursday, and haven't gotten the results back yet. The drink didn't taste so bad, it was having to drink it in 4 minutes that was hard. Also in the world of OB-GYN news, I am now at the point of having to go in every two weeks. Woot. Everyone is reminding me that I'm so close to the end now, not much longer to go, better start getting things ready...so why do I feel like I've been pregnant forever, and that there is no end in sight? I'm not tired of it, I guess, just feeling like this is perhaps a permanent condition. I'm starting to get so used to perpetual heartburn and frequent bathroom breaks, that I have a tough time remembering life before. I really used to only pee about 4 times a day. I acknowledge that that probably wasn't very healthy, but I pee 4 times in the night now. Additionally, my belly is now large enough that I'm spilling on it constantly. Food/beverages that used to fall to the floor now fall squarely on my midsection. Cute.

Not much going on here

Shawn and I went yesterday and got massages with the gift certificate Patsy had sent us. I think we both really needed it. I finished my last papers for grad school on Monday night at about 1 am. Officially done! However, for the last week, I have been having such bad back pain, I've been taking two showers a day; I stand bent over with my lower back under the spray as hot as I can take it. That, with a light course of Tylenol when I really can't take it, and ANOTHER pillow added to the bed seem to help a little. (I think I'm up to 4 pillows) The massage was great, although with prenatal massages, they are a little skittish to touch your lower back, or work you too hard. I would definitely do it again, though...very relaxing. Shawn's was pre-emptive - we left the massage place and watched the Huskies get beat up for three hours.
In other news, I have scheduled my one hour glucose test for the 23rd. I'm kind of dreading it, mostly because I know the drink will be pretty nasty, and the doctor won't let me take it home and drink it before I come in. I have to hang around the office for an hour. On my lunch break. I don't have to fast though, which I know some doctors are making people do. My coworker who is pregnant failed her test by two points, and had to go back in for the three hour blood drawing event. Yikes. I'm hoping to avoid that, and pass it the first time.
All the warnings I had heard about the baby's kicking getting painful have of course, come to pass. It's not so much the actual kicking that hurts, as the location that baby chooses to pound on for 15 minutes at a time. For some reason, my right lower rib is particularly deserving. Never my left side, only right. The kicks aren't so hard, but after 12, the area is a little sensitive. And, of course, the baby's favorite time for the daily kick-a-thon is during nap time. I'm trying to sit quietly with the kids, and talk to them quietly about why they need to lay down and relax, and I'm hopping up out of my chair every two minutes and gasping for air. Really relaxing. Last Sunday, Shawn and I were sitting in church while the choir was singing, and we couldn't concentrate, since my midsection looked like a bad scene from Alien. I knew that at any moment, something was going to come popping out. We also couldn't keep from laughing. Hopefully, this Sunday will be calmer.