(Almost) Week 30 Update
I'm just wrapping up my 29th week of pregnancy. I only have about ten weeks left. Frightening. Even more frightening... it's entirely possible/reasonable that I might go into labor sooner, like in just seven weeks. That's less than two months away! Eeep!! I keep telling myself that women in my family tend to deliver late and that by the time I get that pregnant I'm going to be really ready to not be pregnant anymore... but then I think about all the people who told me how active they stayed through their pregnancy (like me... I'm still out working in the woods) and they delivered either early or right on time ...they think owing to all the exercise. Eeep.
Don't get me wrong, I"m *thrilled* to be a mother. I'm just slightly terrified of the responsibility. But lately, every time I see someone with a kid or baby in tow it actually makes me feel a little better (even when aforesaid kid or baby is *screaming*). I think that must be part of the reason that God makes babies so cute: cute is not terrifying (and you want to kill it much less when it will sleep for only twenty minutes at a time and cries the rest of the time). Greg sent me an article that I thought was funny and hopeful: I Hate My Newborn
I think that the nesting instinct is starting to kick in for me... at least occasionally. Most of what I've read indicates that it shows up most often and most strongly in the ninth month. But in the last month I've almost cleared our entire yard of weeds. To put this in perspective: I didn't do *any* weeding during my first trimester when I was feeling so crummy all the time; so pretty much the entire length of our fence and all the garden area along the house (except my vegetable garden) was mostly weeds, mostly waist high. I've cleared almost everything at this point. And when Greg went on a business trip at the beginning of last month I spent my time while he was away cleaning house.
I also had another doctor's appointment last week. I went in to get the gestational diabetes test done (along with some other blood work) and I managed to just pass. This is *good!* It's not that I actually expected to have gestational diabetes but this initial test commonly returns a false positive and if your blood sugar level comes back above a certain level you have to return for a test that takes *three hours!* So, I was very glad to have passed it the first time. However, my white blood cell count came back a little abnormally high so I suppose I'll probably be talking to my doctor about that at my next appointment.
Anyway, Jasmine really is getting bigger now... she should be up to almost three pounds at this point. Most of my weight gain from here on out will be almost all Jasmine (as opposed to amniotic fluid, blood, placenta, boobs, etc.) In spite of all the new growth and the fact that it must be getting crowded in there she is still kicking me like crazy... but as she get bigger she's also kneeing and elbowing me too. Last night it felt like she had the hiccoughs. This is actually possible (Meagan has already experienced it several times)! I was trying to go to sleep and every few seconds for about half an hour my stomach would sort of jump. Weird. Poor kid. Oh! And her eyes are open now too!
Greg's getting really excited now too... he's always petting, kissing, tickling, and talking to my belly. He even made a World of Warcraft character named "Jasi" that he created to look like what he thinks our daughter could look like. She's a blood-elf priestess and she looks sweet... but sassy. :) And yesterday when I complained that the mobile I put together for Jasmine's crib wasn't very well made because when it tries to turn it gets caught on the post from which it hangs Greg decided to get right to work and fix it. It made me smile.
It's funny, and lovely, how being pregnant makes me so much more in love with my husband. He's gotten so good about helping around the house. (We've actually managed to keep our room immaculately clean for a solid month! I think our previous record might have been week or maybe even just a weekend.) And he happily rubs my feet and calves for me when I come home from a day in the woods just feeling crippled by muscle soreness. He puts up with my mood swings and when I do dumb, forgetful, absent-minded things (another common symptom of pregnancy) he just chuckles and brushes it off. I feel so blessed!
Don't get me wrong, I"m *thrilled* to be a mother. I'm just slightly terrified of the responsibility. But lately, every time I see someone with a kid or baby in tow it actually makes me feel a little better (even when aforesaid kid or baby is *screaming*). I think that must be part of the reason that God makes babies so cute: cute is not terrifying (and you want to kill it much less when it will sleep for only twenty minutes at a time and cries the rest of the time). Greg sent me an article that I thought was funny and hopeful: I Hate My Newborn
I think that the nesting instinct is starting to kick in for me... at least occasionally. Most of what I've read indicates that it shows up most often and most strongly in the ninth month. But in the last month I've almost cleared our entire yard of weeds. To put this in perspective: I didn't do *any* weeding during my first trimester when I was feeling so crummy all the time; so pretty much the entire length of our fence and all the garden area along the house (except my vegetable garden) was mostly weeds, mostly waist high. I've cleared almost everything at this point. And when Greg went on a business trip at the beginning of last month I spent my time while he was away cleaning house.
I also had another doctor's appointment last week. I went in to get the gestational diabetes test done (along with some other blood work) and I managed to just pass. This is *good!* It's not that I actually expected to have gestational diabetes but this initial test commonly returns a false positive and if your blood sugar level comes back above a certain level you have to return for a test that takes *three hours!* So, I was very glad to have passed it the first time. However, my white blood cell count came back a little abnormally high so I suppose I'll probably be talking to my doctor about that at my next appointment.
Anyway, Jasmine really is getting bigger now... she should be up to almost three pounds at this point. Most of my weight gain from here on out will be almost all Jasmine (as opposed to amniotic fluid, blood, placenta, boobs, etc.) In spite of all the new growth and the fact that it must be getting crowded in there she is still kicking me like crazy... but as she get bigger she's also kneeing and elbowing me too. Last night it felt like she had the hiccoughs. This is actually possible (Meagan has already experienced it several times)! I was trying to go to sleep and every few seconds for about half an hour my stomach would sort of jump. Weird. Poor kid. Oh! And her eyes are open now too!
Greg's getting really excited now too... he's always petting, kissing, tickling, and talking to my belly. He even made a World of Warcraft character named "Jasi" that he created to look like what he thinks our daughter could look like. She's a blood-elf priestess and she looks sweet... but sassy. :) And yesterday when I complained that the mobile I put together for Jasmine's crib wasn't very well made because when it tries to turn it gets caught on the post from which it hangs Greg decided to get right to work and fix it. It made me smile.
It's funny, and lovely, how being pregnant makes me so much more in love with my husband. He's gotten so good about helping around the house. (We've actually managed to keep our room immaculately clean for a solid month! I think our previous record might have been week or maybe even just a weekend.) And he happily rubs my feet and calves for me when I come home from a day in the woods just feeling crippled by muscle soreness. He puts up with my mood swings and when I do dumb, forgetful, absent-minded things (another common symptom of pregnancy) he just chuckles and brushes it off. I feel so blessed!