34wks & 35wks

Things I can't believe sometimes: 

- IVF #3 actually worked

- We're 5 weeks (give or take) from meeting this tiny little person who's stretching my belly out to weird configurations

- There's really a baby coming & it's ours

Last week I had my 34 week appointment, the seeing that doctor part was pretty uneventful but the waiting room was a zoo. My doctor has a private practice, it's just her, and her waiting room seats about 11 people snugly. On Wednesday I walked in and it was standing room only. Until I realized one woman had her purse in a chair, which she eventually moved so I could sit. There was a super loud grandmother there with her pregnant daughter and her 2ish year-old  granddaughter who was running around the tiny waiting room like a lunatic. There was also another loud couple across the waiting room who was having a conversation with the loud grandmother. Right after sitting down the 2 year-old ran and planted her face into my lap and then proceeded to bite my knee through my dress until her grandmother pulled her off. Fun times. After that I got to listen to the ramblings of the loud couple and the loud grandmother until they each got called back. I think that was the longest I've sat in the waiting room. When I finally got back to see the doctor everything was fine, my BP is good, weight isn't that bad(still more than I'd like though), baby's heart rate is good, etc. My next appointment is at 36 weeks (next week) and I'll get the Group B Strep test (not looking forward to that). I don't really know when (or if) my doctor does internal checks, my best guess would be that I'd get one next week while she's down there...

Over the weekend my best friend threw me a baby shower in my hometown. It was so nice, it was at a local restaurant and she and her mom did an amazing job putting it together. Our family and friends were extra generous and we got a lot of useful baby things. I can't tell you how weird it was to be at a baby shower for me instead of someone else. It's even weirder that now there's a whole lot of baby things in our house for us, not waiting to be gifted to other people but for us and our baby. Amazing. Doug's department is also throwing a shower for us on the 12th and I can't wait to see him open baby presents. 

This Sunday we're having some maternity photos done at our house. I went back and forth for awhile about having pictures done and then I thought this might be the only time I'm ever pregnant and if that's the case I want to capture that you know? So a friend of my mine recommended a couple who do very nice work and they're coming Sunday. It won't be anything cheesy or silly, just us and this giant bump of baby : )

32wks & 33wks

Getting closer and closer. According to the compare-your-baby-to-fruit-website, our baby is the size of a pineapple this week. That's given me this unshakable image of a pineapple-baby in my stomach.

My 32 week appointment last week was uneventful, up about 1.5 lbs. (ugh). BP is normal and all that jazz is still good. I'm starting to feel more hefty and tired, mainly in the afternoon. It's more difficult to sleep comfortably and I have to roll over a lot because my legs get sore. I still have nothing to complain about, I'm pregnant, I'm healthy, as far as we know baby's healthy and hopefully we'll have a healthy full-term baby with an uncomplicated delivery. Baby moves around a lot and I think I've felt hiccups. Sometimes he/she will curl up on one side of my stomach, making it appear lopsided and it's equal parts weird and amazingly awesome.

Our childbirth classes were this past weekend. On Friday night we had a two-hour class called 'Mind Over Body'. I wouldn't call it a natural childbirth class exactly but it focused on ways to use your mind/different positions, etc. to work through labor without an epidural. We learned breathing techniques and used birth balls and chairs and massage. At the end we went through these stations and used clothes pins on our ears and ice cubes in our hands to simulate the pain of a contraction. On Saturday morning we had the all day 'Pregnancy to Parenthood' class. It started at 8:15AM and finished at 4:30PM. It was useful, there were a lot of couples in there with due dates close to ours, lots of younger couples too. I think there was about 12 couples total. The guys seemed kind of immature for impending fatherhood. I was really glad to have a husband who is not worried about the lack of beer, parties, and money after the baby comes. I think we both learned more about the actual length and the stages of labor, plus we got a tour of the Labor & Delivery unit and the nursery, which had a teeny, tiny newborn in it. At one point we were standing by the elevators waiting and there was a little chime. The nurse told us that every time a baby is born the chime plays. Cue the tears (for me). Of course I only teared up a tiny bit, I didn't want all the other people around us to think I was insane. But that little chime just made this actual birth of a baby thing seem a little more real. Plus I started to think about everything we've been through and how we got it, add to that the fact I'm full of hormones and then you have the tears. All in the all I think the classes were helpful, even though we both know how to change diapers, feed, bath, and swaddle babies. I've been around little ones since I was a kid and Doug has been around all our nieces and nephews since they were born so we've both changed our share of diapers.

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. It's just a few short weeks until it's July and then not long after that it'll hopefully be baby time.