8 Months

This is a few days late, but with good intention! Sorry Wombling, Mama had to write a report or something. School can be a pain sometimes, and I wanted to make sure I was free from the burden of looming deadlines while writing this.

This month has been like perpetual pressing fast-forward, but at the same time pressing pause. It marked the start of very frequent visits to the OB, which makes me a waddling PRO, I tell you. Did you know pregnant women size each other up? In a way I would never imagine - I can spot a preggo chick from a mile away now, and probably tell you within 2 weeks plus or minus, how far along she is. I took a few health tests, all of which came out negative (a good thing!) and even started getting examined for progress. I have been 50% effaced with ZERO dilation for two weeks now (this is also a good thing). this month we had an ultrasound and we got lucky with a really nice tech, and she gave us a 3D/4D ultrasound as well, just for fun. It's still rather hard to see anything clearly, but we did get face shots, and she looked much less Darth-Vaderish than in regular ultrasounds. She slept through the whole thing (go figure, some one's watching, she is quiet as a mouse), but she did manage to peep one eye open a bit in one photo before shoving her hand in front of her face. Apparently, The Wombling had had enough of the paparazzi.

I can feel (and see) my stomach dropping down, in a most peculiar way. The scary stretch mark phobia? It was warranted. I now have what I call my 101, because it is small lines on either side of my belly button, making it look like the number 101. God help me if it becomes my 1,110,111. So far, so good. There are things I can do to remove them, so I'm hopeful. This is me expressing my vanity, I know. The weight does become an issue, in the sense that I can FEEL it now. When I try to move quickly or turn over in bed, or just be my usual clumsy self, not realizing my space limitations, and knocking my stomach into things. At school, I consented and stopped carrying a big backpack, instead taking the rolling laptop bag that my friends kept insisting I borrow. I am one of those rolling bag people now. Awesome. One good thing, is that I have managed to keep my weight gain in control for the most part. I have gained a total of 18 pounds, and I'm hoping we don't move beyond that too much in the last few weeks.

However, my new love for bleu-cheese-stuffed olives and chocolate milk might not help that. Andrew cringes when he sees me pulling those out.

Last weekend I finally got a bug in my butt and ordered the remainder of things we need to have a baby. "Need" is a loosely-interpreted word really, but you can't explain these things to a crazy woman. The only item left to order now is a glider, which I'm shopping for with my mother next week. I can't bring myself to order a glider online. Somehow I feel like I need to sit in it and try it to actually be convinced. And those suckers are not cheap, so Hello There! Maximizer-Tendencies! You have reared your ugly head once again. It has been fun to receive packages in the mail everyday, I must admit. Snail mail is heavily under-rated.

We took the final class for preparation, the birthing class at the hospital, much to Andrew's amusement. It was, well, LONG. And really, the videos are pretty funny, offering not much more than what a book tells you, other than the gruesome images. I was not at all prepared for what a placenta looks like. Dear God, it's like delivering a twin! I did physically recoil at that part. First question I asked? How long after birth do we have to wait before taking a shower?

I am, all at once, excited to meet her and hoping she stays in a few weeks so I can get some rest after school is over. I have several projects lined up for post-school-traumatic-stress-syndrome (this is where I don't know how to relax after being stressed out for a while), and I can collectively feel Andrew and Janet rolling their eyes from here. They know this means more work for them too. Because it is absolutely necessary that we MAKE proper mobiles, right? RIGHT??