35 weeks

This week a lady at work stopped me in the hall and asked if I was already dropping as the bump looked lower than the day before... my response was "I don't know!"  So I have been thinking about it every since trying to decide if it has or not.  By Saturday I decided that I think the baby just might be starting to drop based on slight changes in the shape of the bump (that maybe only I can tell), the fact that I can feel the mid/upper part of my ribs again, that the bump now rest on legs when I sit in certain chairs and makes it hard to bend over now, how my clothes fit, and the movements are hitting in different spots.  Maybe I am thinking to much about this.  Either way, we are getting close!

Oh you noticed in that huge paragraph that the fit of my clothes has started to be a predicament?  Well, my jeans are no longer an option.  I was cursing that demi panel on Friday as it kept rolling down and making me nervous about flashing my belly.  So they are being put away and if it really has to get down to 50 degrees again on a Friday before the baby comes I will just have to work from home on account of wardrobe malfunction.

The car seat is ordered and will hopefully arrive before or while Dan is here to get installed.  The crib is not in stock anywhere but we have an order in with the place that listed the earliest date (6/11).  The rock n play is here but needs Dan's muscles to put it together.  Most of the baby clothes that we have received over the past couple of weeks have been washed but not yet folded.  We are getting there.

At this point the baby's organs and systems are hopefully pretty much developed and we are just in growth mode.  I know by know that my body will adjust as needed for these last few weeks but damn - I don't know that my belly can stretch much more!   With Dan working away in the East Coast, the dogs have been keeping me out walking to help prevent baby from causing my rear to grow any more than it has already.

I still feel really good.  But am going to admit that I hope the next couple of weeks fly by.  I am ready for the next chapter to start.

34 weeks

Apparently we have hit a milestone.  At the 34 DR appointment my doctor was very excited to say that we are at the 34 week milestone of "if anything happens they won't stop labor."  In just three weeks we will be at full term.  Woah!

Last week I forgot to mention that I noticed hiccups for the first time.  I saw them before feeling them as my bump was moving in the rhythm of hiccups.  I have noticed them a couple more times since then.  Movement is still very frequent but now is more often squirming than kicking.  When my doctor was measuring the bump at my appointment the kid decided to stick its rear out to one side (this is a frequent movement that makes my bump look crazy distorted) and both the dr and Dan got big eyes and were all entertained. 

I have had a bit of heartburn which is not cool and am waking up more often during the night.  I haven't noticed any braxton hicks contractions.  Still overall pretty comfortable but less able to keep up a solid pace all day long and my back gets tired by the end of the day.

We had a really stressful, over-programmed week of selling stuff and showing the apartment.  By Friday morning I was completely done, as in at breakdown point and in need of some major relaxing.  Our weekend visit to the farm was just what we both needed - peaceful and restful.  My family probably thinks we are major bums now as all we did was lounge around.  It was fun to see everyone and be there if even for only a short time. 

I made Dan try on the baby carrier the day it arrived from Pam and Matt and then he decided that he had to really test it out with Shelby... She was surprisingly game for this and likely could get quite used to being carried around.

Fun Daniel things from this week... It was pretty funny to walk into the waiting room after signing in for my Dr appointment to find him reading an article for dads in Fit Pregnancy.  Joking back and forth with my doctor he went one to far and said "oh is that the line?"  On the drive back from my parents' farm he let me know that he finds my belly button hilarious and that I apparently entertain him by walking around with a belly button bump on the bump.  Dan likes to give the baby 'butt smacks' - the kid responds with squirming.

We are starting the stretch of this move adventure where Dan is in NYC without me.  I am not going to lie, I totally put up a front of "this is no big deal" when dropping him off at the airport.  I am used to having my husband here and the next two weeks can't go fast enough.  The dogs agree, they sat by the stairs at the main entrance waiting for him to come up after I got home.  But- it is very exciting to start the search for our next home this week. 

During my commute this week I had a thought pop into my head that this baby will not be late but likely will be a little early.  No idea why but I was pretty convinced.  Of course I have zero "mothers intuition" about what the gender is so I seriously doubt the ability to call such a thing as timing but who knows.

33 weeks

Much of this week was spent trying to figure out the best approach for the move.  It is definitely the more complicated move with a baby due in such a short period of time but I think we are getting a plan figured out that will work for all five of us.  And as much I have really liked our current apartment and was excited about the increase in space... I think it will be awesome to go back to having one floor!  Especially after the baby is here.

The baby must have had a growth spurt this week.  Dan always lets me know that my bump is huge but right after a growth spurt I get wide- eyed exclamation about how it is really huge.  Last night Dan was caught by surprise at the size of the baby house and stated that it had grown over the past couple of days.  This morning he reminded me that the bump is half his. 

We had a really awesome date night this week.  We went to a farm dinner at an intimate restaurant down the street and then walked home in the beginning of a rain shower with the last bit of sunset light.  Every course was really good and according to Dan the wine pairings were also really good.   Dan's favorite was the soft shell crab with peppered bacon, arugula and tomato marmalade.  My favorite was the smoked pork loin with rhubarb mint relish and grits.  I can't help but think about how date nights will forever be different... it has already started of course with me not being able to drink and next of course will be the need for a babysitter.

It is hard to believe that in just four weeks this baby will be full term, it wasn't that long ago that we were starting all baby-related sentences with "if this baby sticks".

Salut Chicago!

What is the news Tara spoke of in the last post?  That would be the fact that I received an offer to work for a huge consulting company at a client of theirs in Newark, NJ.  And what is close to Newark?  New York City, and that's where we just decided to find a home for the next three years.  When Tara and I visited Manhattan last November, we had a blast.  We explored numerous neighborhoods, dined at some awesome restaurants, drank at some really nice bars, and walked all over the place taking a lot of photos.  When this opportunity came knocking, I jumped on it.  We have had a standing agreement that if anyone gets a great job out of Chicago, we will find a way to do it.  Once the news hit Tara she was thrilled, and I was stressed, as it's a lot to deal with when you are moving that far. 

Of course downsizing from 2100 sqft to maybe 1000 sqft involves selling a lot of our large furniture pieces, and even the motorcycle.  I felt that this was a good time to pass the bike on to someone else.  Someone younger that doesn't get quite as sore riding a race bike in traffic as I do.  So we parted ways and both parties were happy with the deal.  It has been interesting to start selling off furniture and home stuff.  Some nights we have 3-4 people coming to buy different things so it is keeping us busy.

Our plan is for me to live there in June and July with Tara and the baby moving out around August 1st.  The logistics alone are overwhelming when you have a kid on the way in the middle of this move.  But we can do it.  One thing we are good at is adapting. 

Last  night we decided to focus our apartment search on Brooklyn.  Everyone's commute will be easy and there are more parks within walking distance for the dogs.  As cool as Manhattan is, we would have to live too far north or in the financial district and my commute wouldn't be enjoyable. 

Stay tuned for updates on our journey to the Big Apple, it's going to be pretty wild. 

And this is not Facebook public news yet so we aren't saying anything there for quite a while.

32 weeks

I think we are officially in countdown range.  Eight weeks to due date seems like not a lot.

This week while we were sitting on the couch Dan was in a pestering mood and decided to talk to the baby, asking what it was doing in there in an "all business" voice.  He thought he was cute. (and of course was being cute)

We did our family photo session this week... picking out clothes for a photo session while pregnant was very high stress as I don't find most maternity clothes all that flattering for me.  But I am excited to have them and I am sure 10 years from now I will only think we look great. (still wondering if I made the right necklace selection)

I have been fortunate to not have a lot of the yucky side effects of pregnancy and up until recently  had been completely illness free.  A month ago I got a terrible head cold.  Then this week I got my first stomach bug in a very long time - at least it was only a 24 hour bug.  Still, my super-charged immune system has been serving me well.  Energy is still good during the day.  At work I was scurrying around for back to back meetings and a guy said "you are the fastest walking pregnant woman I have ever seen"... I haven't slowed down my pace during the day but by 7pm I am much slower.

The baby is still a big mover although our soccer player has turned into a master yogi.  On Thursday something clearly had the kid all wild as it was majorly partying in there all day starting at 6am.  During a very large meeting with a potential vendor it was kicking up a storm... it is hard to not be self conscious during those times with hoping that someone doesn't notice your belly contorting and being all mis-shapen.

But baby might have just had a sense that it was a big huge day. I got out of that meeting to quite the voicemail and email from Dan.  Life change news.  Big.  Huge.  We had already been seeing this summer as a chapter change in our lives.  But we didn't expect that it would be a two chapters kind of change.  I am confident (hoping) that this baby will be adaptable and able to roll with things from the get go.

31 weeks

Little by little we are starting to get ready for baby's arrival.  Dan worked on painting the dresser this week and now I need to find some drawer pulls to finish it off. The chair arrived.

The kid is still rolling around and stretching in there... with a nice jab every now and then.  And we are still on a chocolate kick, made brownies this weekend.

We spent some time talking about a first big trip with the little one, where we might want to go. 

Finally sent in the hospital pre-admissions docs. 

Dan sent me a text one day with a pic of the diapers that arrived accompanied by 'wtf.'  (they are super cute- newborn size gray all-in-ones)

My maternity pants have gotten uncomfortable... wish I had bought more of the full panel instead of the demi panel.  Can't wait for warm enough weather to switch to more skirts and dresses.  Oh, and I never get the "but you are so tiny" comment anymore when saying how far along I am.  Ha. There is nothing small about that bump.

It is getting real.

30 weeks

For some reason 30 weeks seems like a big deal.  We have moved out of the 20's and are in the final countdown.  10 weeks seems like both a long time and like nothing.  Right now I am feeling the 'it is nothing' aspect and freaking out a little bit about having so little ready for this baby.  I have to keep reminding Dan that June will be a really bad time for him to be off on a motorcycle weekend- his reply is that knowing me the baby won't be early but I wouldn't be so sure about that.

Dan has been quite funny lately with his comments about the pregnancy and baby- wish I could remember them.  The other morning I was being a slug about getting up and he came over and told the baby that it "better be getting ready to get out of there."  He has also taken up poking my belly button - sometimes this is funny and sometimes my belly button is feeling really sensitive so he gets his head bit off.  When we were checking out at the grocery store a woman at register next to us had her baby in a baby carrier and we both looked at each other with "that is going to be us soon."  And almost every day he looks at my belly and makes an "omg- seriously!" face... he thought it was huge at 20 weeks so it will be entertaining to see his expressions at 40 weeks.  He also had an 'omg' moment this week when adding a pair of cloth diapers to his amazon order.

I am so very glad that I did the Ravenswood race and that we did it together - it will be a nice memory for sure.  I am going to put serious effort into making prenatal yoga workouts a priority for these final months... I haven't been doing them as much as I planned. 

I might have had spaghetti cravings this week.  I was addicted to oreos and made a trip to Fox and Obel for the good chocolate.

I really hope that Chicago warms up so that I can stop having to button up coats that don't fit anymore... I refuse to buy a maternity jacket at this point.

Quotes from the DR visit: "You are doing a fabulous job with your weight gain." "Your blood pressure is perfect and consistent - no surprises there."  "Your baby is very responsive and active."