I wasn't kidding when I mentioned in my last post that 3rd trimester was going to get busy. Our lives have been taken over by baby planning. Since I last posted, Jon and I have torn the guest room and den apart. We've rearranged furniture, painted walls and furniture, and assembled furniture (fun fact: IKEA's furniture comes in 500 pieces). On top of that, our weekends have been booked to the point that much of this work carries into the work week. During the weekdays we've taken several parenting classes and I spend some of my nights researching the best baby products, parenting styles and methods for doing things such as cloth diapering. It's all so overwhelming, but in a very good way.
My nightstand is littered with pregnancy and parenting books, every weekend is consumed with some sort of baby prepping whether it be getting our house ready, registering at stores, bickering about expensive v. cheaper jogging strollers or circumcision in case it's a boy (yes we've debated both on several ocassions), and making some final visits to see family and go up north. This past weekend marked my first ever baby shower in Bismarck with my in-laws. Everything went smoothly. I sat through the festivities and took a moment to realize how lucky I was to finally be "far enough along" that I was allowed to have baby showers thrown in my honor.
I'm 32.5 weeks and the baby is getting bigger. The kicks have turned to movement, and as I poke around I feel limbs--the baby can't hide from me anymore. The other night I poked around and I felt a foot for the first time. I was by myself when I felt it and caught myself smiling--I was feeling my baby's foot! It makes the thought of our child all the more tangible. Sometimes at work as I feel the baby moving around I get caught up in the moment and reality hits, "oh my gosh, there is something alive inside of me moving around and I'm going to meet this kid in two months!" It is the most surreal and unique feeling I've ever had in my life and sometimes it leaves me in disbelief.
Our lives are about to turn upside down and though exciting it's a little scary as well. A few weeks ago during our breastfeeding class the instructor was explaining the feeding patterns of a newborn and that they have no concept of night and day. Of course I know that parents are horribly sleep deprived and that moms are napping on and off during the daytime to make up for lost sleep during the night, yet I left that class and turned to Jon in the car and said, "oh my gosh, I'm not going to get any sleep!". He had no idea what I meant because didn't we already know this? I think about what this baby is going to do to our lives in a very theoretical and far-off sense, but now that the time of delivery is less than two months away the reality that this all about to happen very soon has sunk in and I'm beginning to have an, "oh my gosh, what have we gotten ourselves into?" moment. It makes me even more curious what the secret is that all parents know that I don't know yet because after all, if it was really that awful the no one would be having kids. Clearly, we will find this all so rewarding and I can't wait to find out why and to feel it.
This weekend Jon and I hope to get the nursery finally complete. Once it is, I will post photos on this blog. We are also doing some unofficial "maternity photos" in which I will hand my mom the SLR and have her take a few shots of Jon and I at the pumpkin patch. In a few weeks I will be having a baby shower hosted by my side of the family, and then finally, I think Jon and I will let November be our month to be just ourselves again and tell the baby that we're ready when he/she is. There are few things I want to do "one last time" as a childless adult including marathons of TV shows on DVD, sleeping in until 8am (I can't seem to sleep past 7am anymore!), running errands whenever I feel like it at the spur of the moment, and spending those last few weekends with Jon cherishing the way it "used to be" before it's actually gone.
What I'm looking forward to the most after the baby is born (besides the baby) is not having to be so conscientious about my caffeine intake, sleeping on my back, sleeping without aches and pains, and being able to go back to full blown intensity work-outs including long-distance running. This whole experience has been a fun ride, but I can't wait to meet this kid.
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