Well, today I am 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Baby is due in less than two weeks.
AAAAAHHHHH!
Lol.
We have all the basic necessities ready - except for a reliable doula - I got one but things don't seem to be working out. She was super responsive and great in the beginning...via phone...but I haven't even met her in person yet nor do I have the contact information of her backup doula and she's barely responding to me. Apparently she caught covid about two weeks ago and I guess I should give her grace for that, but...it's crunch time and I'm getting worried.
She said she would call me yesterday and didn't - I don't even have her full first and last name. Meh. Thank God my friend Kim wants to be there with me when I give birth - Cal is worried he might not be able to stay conscious.
But on to the better things.
I graduated! On December 16th...and I now have a master's degree in science communication! I have a big-girl job as a science communication specialist, and I ACTUALLY ENJOY WHAT I DO! This is awesome. I'm so grateful.
I got hit with the nesting bug super hard last week, lol, and deep cleaned my entire office (it was previously a bonafide disaster), put together as much as I could of my birth center bag, packed the diaper bag, and organized the bedroom. I also got rid of all the empty Amazon boxes that had been sitting in the hall for weeks.
Today is my last day of work before I go on maternity leave. Unfortunately I'm three weeks short of qualifying for FMLA (paid leave), but oh well. It is what it is. If I had started my job on July 1st rather than August 1st I'd qualify, but like I said, it is what it is. Thank God I make enough big-girl money that I've been able to save for the weeks I'll be off.
We'll be alright.
My mother-in-law showed up this past weekend. She'll be spending 3-4 months here in the city since her second home upstate costs too much to heat during the winter months. I secretly think she just wanted to be here when the baby is born because she's afraid she won't get much of a chance to be around the baby otherwise. Also, it is in fact really expensive to heat her home up there. Hopefully her and my sister-in-law can manage to keep the peace between them - that's been my biggest concern about her coming back.
Hopefully.
Oh yeah. She also brought her six dogs with her...so now the house has four Yorkies, two Great Danes, and three cats. And only one of the dogs is trained to go outside to use the bathroom.
Lol. I guess at the end of the day I made my choices and knew what I was getting into and now I have to sleep in my bed the way I made it, as my mother used to say. It's true what they say about how when you marry someone, you marry their whole family. Welp.
We're going to try to move out within a year or a little more, though.
So! Pregnancy symptoms! I often wake up at night with Braxton Hicks contractions that are NO FUN. They feel like period cramps...but like burning too. But then when I go empty my bladder and drink a ton more water they ease up, and baby isn't here yet, so I guess they haven't been the real deal.
It's VERY difficult to get out of bed now, and it's also a pain to get back in. I get up between 4 and 5 times a night to use the bathroom, whether I drink water throughout the night or not. But if I don't, I get woken up by Braxton Hicks multiple times a night. So I drink water.
I get hungry every two to three hours - ravenously hungry - so that's a thing. This week I feel like I've been getting hungry more often than that...so maybe baby is going through a growth spurt. There are hiccups almost every day, a few times a day (baby's hiccups, not mine), and squirms, kicks, stretches, and occasionally punches to the bladder every few hours. Oh, and I've experienced the joys of lightning crotch now.
They really meant it when they said "you'll KNOW when it happens to you." Yikes. It's like a lightning strike - in your crotch. And even when it happens four or five times back to back, each one still strikes you off guard and makes you flinch. Pregnancy, amirite?
Let's see, what else?
At the last ultrasound (two weeks ago) baby was estimated to weight 6lbs, 13oz. So baby is probably pushing 8lbs by now. I have another ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow morning, and a non-stress test. And a midwife appointment. And Cal has a dr. appointment in between those two. Hah. Last week we had one dr. appointment each day every day of the week, and this week we have them all piled in on one day. Guess we'll see which is better, lol.
I got my TDaP shot last week and also chose a pediatrician's office. It's nearby and seems really great, ticking all the boxes we care about and a lot we didn't know we cared about. Gosh. I'm hungry again. I just ate at 8:00 this morning and now it's only 10:00am. Also, Cal is awake now and hasn't eaten yet...guess I'm off to get us some grub!
We need to go grocery shopping today, too.
Laters!
