State of the Pregnancy Address

We are 19 (nineteen. N-I-N-E-T-E-E-N.) days away from the anticipated birth of our first child.

And I haven't peed myself (yet), so I'd say month eight is going fairly well.

The hospital bag is packed and the nursery is finished- that's the easy, external stuff. Baby has been a great motivator to get Christmas shopping and decorating out of the way early, and I'm happy to report I can check the shopping (and wrapping) off my list! (Don't expect efficiency like this every year.)

My weekly checkups at the doctor assure us that everything is fine with baby...measurements, activity, position and heart rate are all normal. Also normal are the increasingly intense back pains, restless nights, and grunting noises that emanate from me when I stand...or move. At our last office visit, our nurse exclaimed that her head is "right there!"...locked and loaded for the big moment. Now, it's just a waiting game.

Baby has fallen in to a predictable pattern of activity. Like clockwork, she starts jabbing at my ribs around 10 p.m. More subtle activity occurs during the daytime. She also has a little water fetish...and will do cartwheels in my belly after I consume liquids. Her feet poke out regularly on my left side, opposite the huge bulge on my right side that causes a very lopsided tummy.

Mommy has been taking it easy, working sporadically for repeat classrooms. The flexibility in my work schedule has been a GODSEND the last 9 months. Meanwhile, Daddy has been stepping it up both at work and home, pulling some extra "on-call" weeks and putting dishes away on the bottom shelves :) I don't know how anyone does pregnancy, let alone motherhood, on their own! My husband is the best...though he is more than worried my opinion of him will change during labor. I have assured him he is in no physical danger- unless I hear him chewing.

The countdown to December 14th is on! 

(Photo credit:  Torsten Mangner)