36 Weeks

Hello there, friends. I thought I'd share a few facts about how life is at this stage of pregnancy. Since you're reading this, you'll assume that my voice is calm and unhurried, perhaps the voice of an automated reminder from your doctor or the voice of whoever reminds you at the airport that "the next station will be Concourse A. Concourse A as in Alpha." (A voice, to quote Beverly Cleary, of a person "who had never hit his sister or cheered at a ball game.") 

If I were telling you about all this in real life, you'd have to listen to me trail off mid-sentence as I totally lose my train of thought, get slightly hysterical over the fact that I still haven't found any curtains for the nursery (my current thorn in the flesh), or just go nuts in general over the fact that I am having a baby very, very soon and that makes me a little bit crazy. 

Lucky for you, you're only reading this so I'll sound slightly normal and coherent, very different from real life. =) 

Moving on... even though our five-year anniversary was in July and we knew we wanted to take a short trip to celebrate, we opted to wait until the weather cooled down (and by that I mean back to the high 80s and low 90s... we are still in Texas, after all.) Then our wonderful church family and pastor decided to make the trip a gift for Pastor Appreciation Month and paid for our hotel room plus gave us food/shopping money, so that was an unexpected but gigantic blessing. (Thank you, thank you again Woodforest Church!) 

We spent last weekend in San Antonio and other than all the walking that seriously made me question my sanity, it was absolutely perfect. =) The weather was tolerable- not too hot, but of course carrying another human around inside me kind of bumps my temperature up anyway- and we stayed right on the Riverwalk, which is a must if you ever go! It was so nice to get away for a couple of days and soak up the last little bit of "alone time" we'll have before Miss Alice joins our little party. I've said this before but I'm really starting to get sad that the time we have with just the two of us is coming to an end, so ending the pregnancy with a trip like this was wonderful. I seriously have the best husband, y'all. *Sigh*... okay, mushy time is over. 

How far along: 36 weeks and 2 days.

How big is baby: about 19 inches long (ish?) and the ultrasound last week said close to seven pounds (!!!) but of course those are very flexible numbers so we'll see. I do know (because it was very clear on the screen) that she's pretty maxed out in there so either she'll come early or I'll have to stretch some more and neither of those is appealing to me so... we'll see.

Weight gain: I'm starting to see it more than just in my stomach... catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror can be like, "Woah! Who's the girl with the puffy face?? Oh, just me... carry on," as I eat another handful of M&M's. (Don't judge.) 

Sleeping: Hmm... a mixed bag, really. Sometimes it's good and sometimes not but for the last few days I've still been waking up at an ungodly hour BUT have been able to go back to sleep until around the time Jonathan's alarm goes off so that's a blessing. And I'm napping most afternoons, well... because I can and I know sleep doesn't work like rollover minutes but I'm enjoying it before it's gone forever.

Food cravings: Mostly just M&M's (the fall-colored ones, thank you) but I did finally get my Arby's the other day... shocker, it didn't live up to the hype in my head.

Food aversions: I'm kind of tired of soup... it's not an aversion per se since it doesn't gross me out or anything... I've just eaten it a LOT for the past few months and I don't want any for a while. (I'll probably make it again in a day or two though... it's so easy and I'm so lazy.)

Symptoms: um, well... I completely threw my back out the other night by moving a heavy object (in my defense I didn't know how heavy it was and dropped it almost immediately BUT it was just long enough to hurt myself.) The past couple days I've been moaning constantly and avoiding the use of my right leg (pretty hard, it turns out) but I think I'm turning a corner. Fingers crossed. 

Miss Anything?: sleep. A waistline. Being able to shave my legs without cramping up like a runner who forgot to stretch. 

Doctor’s appointment: Last week's was really good... we had an ultrasound and everything was perfect, my fluid was good, etc. We'll have another checkup today and each week until she arrives. 

Clothes: I'm now trying to avoid buying any more maternity clothes since I'm so close to the end but I did buy a few tank tops and t-shirts at Old Navy the other day (I think they were less than $2 each... yay clearance!) to get me through the next few weeks. I still have my tent-like dresses and elastic-waist shorts so I'm hoping that will see me to the end!

Movement: after last week's ultrasound I know where she's positioned so I now can tell if it's a foot, hand, or elbow jabbing me... nice to know exactly how I'm being assaulted. =) 

Best moment of the week: our trip was amazing, I got the sweetest baby package (that totally made me tear up!) from a dear friend (love you Mrs. Temple!), I got my dresser drawers organized and my fall/winter clothes were gone through again... got out a bunch of lighter stuff that I'll be able to wear soon, washed it, listed some stuff to sell, etc. (I think I'm nesting!) Oh, and I ate In 'n' Out Burger for the first time almost ten years and it was just as wonderful as I remembered. 

The Holy Land... also I never eat late at night anymore but you better believe I downed a cheeseburger and fries at 11:30 pm with NO regrets.

What I’m looking forward to: if I could just find some curtains my life would be much better. Seriously, curtains and a lamp should not be so hard to find. And it would be nice if everything I saw wasn't either absolutely hideous or or required the sale of one of my kidneys. Ah well, such is life. 

What I did / Got for baby: I was tempted on our trip to buy ALL the baby clothes but I stuck to a very few needed items (namely newborn stuff since we had almost nothing that size) but I'm telling you... it was hard. It's a good thing my love of cute clothes is only outweighed by my cheapness or this kid would have me in serious trouble. 

Prayer requests: As always, health and safety for the baby and for me... the hardest part right now is not knowing when she's coming so pray that the timing is just right. I'm leaving that in the Lord's hands. Too soon and I'm not ready, too late and I'll probably be rolling around like Violet Beauregarde as a blueberry. Sounds fun!

If you care about such things, my jeans are Liz Lange Maternity, my top is Loft Maternity, and my shoes (my favorites ones pretty much ever) are from Target last year and I deeply regret not buying them in black. Also some people were staring when I took this picture but considering that the San Antonio Comic Con was also going on I refused to be made to feel self-conscious by people dressed up as cartoon characters.

Thanks again for sticking around and being so kind through this whole experience... asking about the baby, praying for our family, telling me I look pretty... equally important things. =) You're all the bomb! Happy Thursday!

Ash