Still Cooking!

I'm still pregnant! Three cheers for that!

I was discharged home from the hospital at 30 weeks because, despite contracting every few minutes, I had not dilated further. At that time, the doctors were very concerned that I would deliver within two weeks and that it might happen really quickly, so I had strict instructions to not do much of anything and to call 911 at the first signs of labor. I am currently 33 2/7 weeks and feeling much more secure. I still am not allowed to pick up my daughter (or lift anything, actually), but I can get out and about a little bit and have been getting some things done around the house. Mostly I am feeling good that if I have the baby, it will most likely need very little interventions and should be able to come home after just a brief stay in the NICU. Still, I'm crossing my fingers and my toes that he stays in a few more weeks so he can skip the NICU all together! We also have a LOT of nursery prep to still complete, so there's that. I'm fully prepared to not finish it before he's born, but it just gets so much harder once they're here that I'm afraid we'll never finish! Small problems. 

"Couch rest" as I've been calling it, is not so bad. Being in the hospital was rough and I was just so bored, but being home has given me the illusion that I'm just having some extra downtime to get stuff done. A lot can be done from a couch, people: laundry folding, baby-book completion (thanks for that suggestion!), girl clothing purging and organizing, reality TV watching, online shopping...some days I feel quite productive! 

As far as the pregnancy goes, I'm feeling pretty good. So very different from last time in just about every way. I honestly never felt quite so giant as I do now. Sleep is getting more challenging by the day, as is life in general. Just the normal woes: hard to shave my legs, hard to get off the floor after lego sessions with my gal, and I have quite the waddle going on. The biggest thing has probably been my immune system, or lack there of. I got a wicked cough just as I was discharged from the hospital that lingered and lingered, and now I am fighting a sinus cold. Ugh. This little guy is sucking the life out of me ;)

Here's the latest belly shot! Taken about a week ago.

She's coming when?!

Something happened in between the 32 and 33 week marks. At 32 weeks I felt like we had a lot of time. At 33 weeks, suddenly I felt an incredible panic that Baby's arrival is JUST AROUND THE CORNER! And we have so much to do! And we haven't gone on date nights or had a lot of loud sex, or slept in super late, or... yikes.
A lot of life events happened right around this time too that just might be contributing to my sense of the time slipping away. One being a bathroom remodel. Why at 8 months pregnant did I think this was a good idea? I have no clue except that it sounded like a better idea to do it now than with a newborn. This remodel necessitates us moving out of our cozy bedroom with the king-sized bed into the crap-filled guest room/office with a full-sized mattress. It also means that we have construction workers in our house A LOT. Boo. And that we are hemorrhaging money on bathroom tile and vanities while also trying to save money for my maternity leave all the while buying a bunch of baby crap.

Aside from the life stress, I'm feeling pretty darn good. Sometimes I almost feel like my symptoms are disappearing. One week I have heartburn, the next I don't. Week 32 was a good one for this.
I have a good belly shot, but having technical difficulties uploading, so I'll save it for another date.

 At 33 weeks, aside from being 7 weeks away from D-Day, I started feeling a lot more "pregnant". I feel like the belly just keeps growing and growing and lugging my tired body around is getting a lot more challenging. And bending over? Forget about it! The absolute highlights of the week were attending our first childbirth class and our Baby Shower!
The childbirth classes are taught by a hippy dippy woman who refers to herself as the "cervix whisperer" and reminds me of one of the women in the SNL skit "Schweddy Balls". Hilarious and informative at the same time :) I don't feel like I gained a lot from the classes, but Mr Hubs certainly did. I think he's feeling much more confident that he can support me during the birth than he did before. The take home video scared the living sh*t out of me...even though I've witnessed hundred of births. Somehow it's way scarier when it's only 7 WEEKS AWAY and going to happen to you instead of someone else! Go figure.

Anyway...the shower. Oh so much fun!!! Our friends and family did an amazing job throwing a circus-themed shower complete with cotton candy, caramel apples, corn dogs, baby pictures of both of us, and no cheesy games. Opening the gifts and bringing home oodles of baby goodies made it very real very fast. You guys, this baby is going to come home with us. Whoa.
Without further ado, some shots from the shower and a belly shot!

I think they should make this the glucose challenge test...WAY tastier than orange syrup!