33 weeks

We are chugging along! Holy Cow 33 weeks!!! My head is swirling w/ all there is left to get in place (or those things I think are necessary now that I will inevitably laugh at myself for later). BTW, still no crib or baby room furniture (uh-hmm...Chad and Danielle--bro and SIL-- are supposed to be handing the crib off but as a back up I am headed to Shelbyville on Monday to borrow a bassinet from a friend).

I had an OB appt on Tuesday which was virtually uneventful. I lost 3 lbs thanks to decreasing my sodium and wearing very attractive compression stockings to combat cankles. The doc also reported that Baby Boy is still head down and growing on par. According to my readings, the Impending Boy is supposed to be just over 4 lbs and 17 inches long, about the size of a pineapple. He's supposed to be rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal (ouch). (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance...double ouch!)

Meanwhile back at the uterus, I am now officially waddling unless I make a conscious effort to do otherwise and I have had edema in my hands and feet off and on. I am now sporting a plain silver band instead of my engagement ring and wedding band and, as previously mentioned, I am now the not-so-proud owner of an attractive pair of compression stockings for my lower legs and feet. My BP is still low/normal (at last OB appt it was 110/62) so fortunately the edema is not likely a symptom of pre-eclampsia or toxemia. I have only had 2 or 3 false/BH contractions since last week so everything is on the up and up. I accomplished washing the majority of the baby clothes and linens that we have acquired or been gifted (thanks again everyone!!!) but still have many household "honey do" projects I would like to see done before the baby gets here. We shall see how much will get finished considering my somewhat limited physical abilities as of lately. Poor Brad will have to do the dirty work I suspect. :)

On a completely unrelated note, we had our annual pumpkin carving party w/ some family and friends this past Saturday and here are some resulting pics....

BTW, I am carving a Dracula Mickey Mouse pumpkin...scary!


Brad didn't actually carve a pumpkin but instead acted as seating for
Kaylee (left) and Lilly's (right) viewing of Aladdin.


This is the chaos that was the pumpkin carving portion of the evening.


Henry was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing and tried to lay low to avoid
scoldings for walking through pumpkin guts and licking people in the face.

This week has actually dragged on because of all the special projects I've had going on at work! Thank goodness I have a student who is nearly able to fly solo so that the next month and a half it is still possible for me to manage the physical demands of patient treatment! Next week marks the start of my decreased work schedule and it couldn't start soon enough for me! I will be off on Mondays for the rest of my pregnancy. Hopefully this will allow me to get some much needed extra rest and to accomplish all the crazy last minute things I need to do. I am sure the remaining 7 weeks will be gone in a flash. Fortunately, I will have a wonderful baby boy in my arms at the finish line. I think it's time to start a birthday poll.....

8 months/32 weeks!

Henry checking out the nursery...I bet he keeps wondering
why he's not allowed to hang out in this room.

Brad's handy work! :) He and his dad (future 'Poppy' to the impending boy) finished the chair rail a couple of weekends ago. And Brad put up the blinds this past Sunday.

Wow! My pregnancy is flying by! I can't believe our baby boy is practically here! To celebrate hitting the 8 months pg mark today, I decided to have Braxton Hicks contractions off and on last night! Woo-hoo! No worries though. I called the OB office this morning and they told me to drink 2-3 glasses of water and lie down on my left side for 2 hours and call them back w/ an update. I haven't had any since 8 am and so I am out of bed but still at home. Now I am supposed to drink a glass of water every hour and call the OB's office if the BH contractions come back 4 or more in an hour. So I think this was a little reality check for Brad and I about how little time we have left before baby gets here....and how much there is to do! LOL! At least I accomplished 1 thing today....we picked a pediatrician's group! We are waiting to hear back from them but they did say they are taking new patients so I think we're 'in'.

At 32 weeks, the impending boy is continuing to fatten up and grow 'real' hair and nails. He is also supposed to be taking up lots of room in the 'ol uterus so amniotic fluid volume is decreasing. Meanwhile back at the uterus, I am supposed to be having heartburn and shortness of breath because my uterus is pushing up against my diaphragm as well as sleeplessness related to back pain. I've had some of all that but last night's events took the cake. I had had some one off BH contractions a few times at work but never more than one in one day and especially not 5 or 6 in a night. Fortunately they weren't painful just weird to have my belly turn rock hard every so often. So the excitement is building.....

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities.

Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.

--Gloria Steinem