Waiting

This weepy and unknowing feeling of in between is such a strange place to be.

This poem left me in a puddle of tears.

As did this post, coming from a blog that usually makes me laugh out loud.

And for reasons that are hard to articulate, this talk has been on my mind a lot recently.

Could be days, could be weeks. I find myself sitting in the baby's room just staring and daydreaming, trying to imagine how different things will soon be.

(Pictures taken by my mom at about 33 weeks, back when I thought I couldn't possibly get any bigger. ha. ha. ha.)

36, 37, 38 Weeks & time to put your guesses in

38 weeks this weekend...whaaaaat how did that happen.

Baby: Full term! So since I guess theoretically she could come at any time time now (even though it doesn't feel like it's that close yet) put your guesses in for due date and birth height/weight! For full disclosure, at my appointment on the 6th, the doctor actually said babins is feeling and measuring just a tad small so she may need some time to bulk up. As far as timing, I've obviously never done this before so I have absolutely no idea if I'm even getting close, but I am feeling September vibes and hoping she comes maybe a few days before her Oct. 1 due date. Whoever is closest on the stats gets..........the satisfaction of a guess well made.

Feeling: Hungry. It's not quite as bad as the all-day-hand-to-mouth of the first trimester, but it's gotten back to the point where I can't sleep through the night without waking up starving and needing to eat at least once. I sincerely hope the extra food is going straight to the baby, because heaven knows I didn't need 8 waffles for breakfast.

Things I don't like:

• Sitting down for any prolonged period of time
• Putting on socks, or pants, or anything that requires balance or bending over
• Rolling over in the night

Things I do like:

• Frozen bananas, almond milk, oats, greek yogurt, almond butter smoothie. I have it once or twice a day.
• Napping to HypnoBirth recordings
• Enjoying these last peaceful weeks of childless couple time
• Prenatal massage scheduled for a week from today, I've had full length dreams about it twice already. Cannot wait.
• Baby kicks. Even the hard ones that kinda hurt.

In the last couple weeks we have:

• Graduated from HypnoBirth classes and pre-registered at the hospital
• Installed the car seat base
• Typed out our "birth preferences"
• Sewed car seat canopy
• Bought diapers for the first time!
• Packed hospital bags
• Ordered a few baby headbands. Is 15 too many? Didn't think so.

Kiddies

My students just keep the gems coming.

"Are you going to have your baby soon??"
me: "Yeah- probably in just a few weeks!"
"Good, I was going to say you look really fat, but then thought that wouldn't be polite. Plus I know it's the baby that's making you fat."
Nice. save.

"Did you hear that!?"
me: "Hear what?"
"I just heard your baby crying!" [He comes over and puts his head on my belly]
me: "I don't think she can cry yet."
"She is! You just have to listen!"


"I was so big when I was born that my mom had to have a seizure."
me: "A seizure or a c-section?"
"Umm I don't know, one of those."
I really hope her mom didn't have a seizure when she was born.


"The baby eats whatever you eat, so that's why pregnant people shouldn't have beer right?"
me: "Right."
"What about vodka, or whiskey, or bourbon. My dad drinks a lot of bourbon, is that bad?"
me: "Well your dad's not pregnant."
"He smokes cigars too, you should try it sometime after the baby is born, he really likes it."


I don't need to look in the mirror anymore, because they'll let me know exactly how bad or good I look the second they see me.

"You look different."
me: "Is it because my hair is up in a bun?"
"No...[pauses to think]. It looks like your hair is like exploding out of your head, I think that's why."

"Your lipstick reminds me of a queen."
me: "Oh that's nice of you, thanks."
"An evil queen."


One of my students clearly had "the talk" with her mom recently and was a little over anxious to ask me allllll about how exactly I ended up with this baby inside and how it was going to come out. Some of her questions were so beyond awkward that I would actually feel uncomfortable typing them up, but a few snippets of the conversation:

"How come you keep saying, 'That's really personal, you can talk to your mom about that'? Obviously everybody here was born which means everybody had to do it so why can't we all just talk about it?"

"You have 3 bumps on the front since you're pregnant."
me: ".....yep......"
"My mom said when I'm 13 I'll get 2 bumps."

She kept scooting her chair closer to mine, and when I looked down she had both hands planted firmly on my stomach. The first time she did this, I gave her kind of a funny look and she just said, "I want to be pregnant SO BAD!"

Ever since the kids found out I was pregnant and I've been showing them what size fruit the baby is now, they have asked me every single week if it's the size of a melon yet. The last few weeks have been different types of melons, so they cheer every time I tell them. I love it.