Full Term: The Waiting Game Begins (for real)

The full term gnatalie belly as it lounges in bed on a lazy Saturday morning…

It has felt like a waiting game for 37 weeks, but now it REALLY is. All this time of anticipation, preparation, researching, wondering, etc has gone by fairly quickly. Now we are at the point that literally any day our baby boy could be born. At my check-up yesterday, the doctor made sure to point out that MOST women go into labor within a week of their due date… a week before or after… and that it is very probably that I’ll be pregnant until mid-January. Good time to point out this was not my regular doctor, and also that when you have a swollen uncomfortable pregnant woman in front of you just maybe you should try to make her feel like she won’t be pregnant forever. Oh well.

I’ve been told the same 3 things by just about every woman I know who has a child, and they are:
1) The feeling of the baby moving inside you is one of the most amazing things in your life and you’ll miss it always
2) The last month of pregnancy is miserable
3) Within 15 minutes max of giving birth you forget (or don’t care about) all the pain of birth, discomfort of pregnancy, etc. It is so worth it.

So I am prepared for an additional 3-4 weeks of misery, though I’m not sure my feet are. The swelling blows my mind. I didn’t know my feet would ever look like they do. I’ve worn house slippers for the past 4 days, as they are the only shoes that seem to fit. Last night as I went out with the dogs though, I realized my “dog walking” shoes fit too… and maybe a better choice than slippers. Just for prosperity sake (this is basically my diary you know), the other “symptoms” I’m enjoying in the final weeks are: continued heartburn which prevents me from ever thinking of laying down, upper back pain (as opposed to the sciatic pain of the 1st & 2nd trimesters), aching painful hips/pelvis which sometimes feels like my pelvic bone will come apart, easily out of breath, difficulty reaching my feet to wash them, put on socks & shoes, etc, frequent peeing, poor sleep (due to peeing, aches, pains, etc), Braxton Hicks contractions that vary between being painful or not. That about sums it up I think, and I think is basically the list of normal pregnancy symptoms. The good news is that despite gaining 43lbs SO FAR (13 lbs over the 30lbs I wanted to gain) and being very swollen, my blood pressure continues to be very good. 116/68 is about the average reading. I guess considering all the possible complications that can occur during pregnancy, I should be thankful to just be experiencing the normal symptoms and complaints. And I am. Despite my complaints when I’m burning up (I forgot that always being hot despite others shivering around me is another symptom) or from aches & pains, I really do consider my pregnancy an “easy” one.

Let me talk more about the dog walking. Taking them out in the snow this morning was a glorious glorious experience. For those who don’t know, walking dogs at our house is a bit of a pain. We fenced the back yard, but to get into it the dogs still have to be walked out the door, down the stairs, across the driveway, and into the yard. We tried going leashless, and it worked for a bit. Then they realized that in that short time they were free. After chasing a run away Lucy through the neighborhood multiiple times and watching Stewie almost get hit by a car a few times, we have been using leashes. It is annoying because they are poorly trained & tug and pull you as much as they can. Once winter hits, those stairs are often slick so it is scary. Add in pregnancy, and those stairs are really scary. Then of course once Sawyer is here I’m sure we’ll have him with us at times. We’ve debated adding a door that goes out the back of the basement into the fenced yard, but haven’t tackled that project. We talked about stairs off the deck directly into the yard, again didn’t deal with it.

Which was all kind of dumb thinking since there is a door from the basement that opens beside the garage door onto the driveway, right at the bottom of the currently scary stairs. It is kind of in a corner, which stays cob web covered and the trash can sits in front of it (outside) and we have totes stacked up in front of it inside (holiday decor & such). Well with the approaching storm yesterday and most of the totes being scattered about while we decorated for Christmas, I suggested to Dan that we just start using the creepy old door. I took the broom and knocked away the old cobwebs and he did a “renewing” project to the lock & hinges. So now the old creepy door has cleaned, oiled hinges and a new dead bolt and is the new doggy walking path. When I opened it this morning I realized that I didn’t even have to step in snow. The driveway is covered by the deck there, so the dogs went into the yard and my feet stayed dry and warm. Then possibly the best part, the dogs enter back into the basement where their dirty wet feet get the basement floor dirty… such a glorious difference from their usual tracking of mud & grim into the kitchen and living room. I tell you, it is wonderful. Why didn’t we do this sooner?

The final thing I’ll add in regards to the “full term” post, is one final nursery addition this week. Now Sawyer’s room is truly full term too, and ready for him. We didn’t know we wanted or needed this, but my gosh we’re so thrilled:

Look at that! Oh, if you could’ve seen my face when I saw one in a buggy at WalMart yesterday morning. As I quickly marched my way… oh who am I kidding? As I waddled and shuffled my way as quickly as I can these days to the toy section, I told myself I didn’t care how much it cost. It could be $50 and I was buying it for Sawyer’s room. Much to my amazement, that giant sock monkey was only $20. What a great investment! Hopefully Daddy lets Sawyer keep it… as you can see, Dan is quite thrilled with it. I expect Sawyer to be scared of it for a couple years. LOL.

By the way, for having such a huge family, there aren’t that many votes for Sawyer’s birthday, weight, etc. Keep voting, you might run out of time before you know it! Click here to vote =)