39 Weeks

Last week was a bit tense. After several days of feeling a bit off, crampy, achy, and that things were starting to gear up for labor, we got hit with a big snowstorm on Thursday. Like, it took Ryan hours (over the course of two days) to be able to clear off the driveway with the tractor and plow, and as far as we can tell, our neighborhood didn't get plowed until two days after the snow started.... and that was after Ryan called VDOT to ask for them to come plow, given that I'm 39 weeks pregnant and all. Obviously, the plan is to have the baby at home anyway, but not unassisted, and not without the ability to get to the hospital if needed.

So we're mostly dug out now, I was able to pick up some antibiotics this morning to start taking those for my GBS, I had a sweet baby shower at work, and now I'm attempting to finish up the last few things for work so that I'll be completely done with new stuff by Monday. The two snow days were also nice in a way - I still was scrambling to be able to work and get my hours in (especially important right now, since the first 5 days of my leave will be PTO before short-term disability kicks in, and I don't have enough PTO to cover all my leave anyway), but I got to spend some fun time with Ryan and Josie that we probably wouldn't have otherwise had before our family gains another member. So all in all, we're pretty much ready... I'd like just a few more days to be on antibiotics before the baby comes, so hopefully it's listening ;)

My appointment with the midwives went really well this week. My belly was measuring 39cm (up from the 36cm it seemed to have stalled at the last couple weeks), although new baby was also pretty stretched out, so it may still be a bit smaller than that. But still - 2cm on either side of the number of weeks I am is within the normal range. The baby is apparently in a great position, and very, very low now. After just a bit of puffiness in my legs the last few weeks, they suddenly started swelling up pretty badly at night over the past week, so I was a bit concerned about that. But my blood pressure was awesome, and with no other symptoms of pre-eclampsia, it looks like I'm still doing well on that count too.

New baby is still moving around a lot, but in rather odd ways. If I remember correctly, Josie was all over the place with lots of appendages moving around. This baby just likes to stick its knees (or feet, can't really tell which) against my belly and puuuuush. Turns out that's quite uncomfortable.

I've slowed down a lot now, I get weird muscle pulls (even when I'm just standing still), my hips are starting to hurt, and Ryan has confirmed that my belly is definitely hanging out of the bottom of most of my maternity shirts, but I do so enjoy being pregnant, and I will miss this. I'm not quite as enthusiastic this time about feeling like I could be pregnant forever without any complaints (as I remember being with Josie towards the end), and while I'm still not in too much of a rush for this to end, I am starting to get just a little bit antsy. Although that is something I was a bit surprised about this time - I really thought I would be overly sentimental about every aspect of this pregnancy, given that this is (in all likelihood) the last time I will ever be pregnant, but instead I'm far more excited about the baby to come. With Josie, while I was excited to have a baby, I think I was more focused on the pregnancy since I could grasp that better as I was actually experiencing it at the time, not really knowing exactly what it would be like to have a baby at the end of it all. With this baby, the pregnancy is a cool means to an end, but I am just so excited to finally get to meet this little person, my constant companion of the last 9 months :)