A Weekend Full of Friends - But Not Labor!

Last night, as I heaved my humongous belly from the left side to the right side so that I could get up and haul myself to the bathroom, it dawned on me that there are some words in our vocabulary that just inherently work for pregnancy. For example, heave. When you are 9+ months pregnant, there is no other way to describe how you get from lying on one side, to lying on the other. Gravity is completely working against you. Here are two others:

haul - You may associate this word with expediency - like, haul **s. However, when you've got 30 extra pounds on you, this word refers to the need to actually put a wheel barrow in front of you, drop your belly in, and go.

pop - As in, "I'm about to...". While this word can typically be used along with "pizazz" and "sparkle", when your belly protrudes and your skin stretches to the point where you can see the outline of the baby inside, this word can only be used as a verb. I've always thought the phrase "You look like you're about to pop!" was crass, but you know what? I feel like I'm about to pop. Or at the very least, like my skin won't stretch any more.

I swore up and down I was going into labor on Saturday. After waking up with a cramp in my back in the middle of the night, I spent the whole day feeling crampy - which is exactly how I felt for three days before my water broke with Kirby. It's amazing how much we pregnant girls can allow ourselves to get our hopes up in the last couple of weeks. I think it's actually a tactic we use to help the time pass more quickly. Regardless, I woke up feeling as fine as a woman in my delicate condition can feel. It's probably for the best, since I still have quite a list of things to accomplish before I can feel good about leaving others with the household and Christmas duties.

This weekend I was blessed to spend some quality time with a few good friends. Friday night I found myself cracking up in Village Inn with my first two Denver friends. We followed the pie and laughs by spending an hour praying together in front of the Blessed Sacrament. What a gift - this Catholic Faith - and how blessed I am to have friends to share it with! We joked on the way home about our rockin' night out - pie followed by church...I do truly love my life! Saturday I attended a ladies' tea and Christmas bazaar at my neighbor's church. In five years of being neighbor-friends, it was our first ever trek out of the neighborhood together. I was thoroughly uplifted by the message of the speaker at the tea, who talked about what "Emmanuel - God with us" really means, and how we should prepare for the coming of Christ.

So, it is with a full heart and joy for the Advent season that I am now going to try to tackle something I don't enjoy - laundry.

The Belly

I think my sister is a mind reader. She just sent me an e-mail asking if I'd post a pregnancy picture. Little did she know that I have been planning that all day. I realized a few days ago that this little bambino doesn't have a "belly shot", so Husband and I set out to remedy that and here is what we got:

Belly at 33 weeks
(that's almost 8 months for our mothers' generation)

Now I have just one question...

Where do I rest my ice cream bowl after I have this kid???

Getting Ready

I think I'm experiencing some sort of hormone shift as I head into the final 6 weeks of pregnancy. My nesting seems to have slowed down and it's been replaced by the desire to hibernate. Did you know that bears actually have their cubs when they're in hibernation? How did that species of mammal get such a lucky break? It's the best of all worlds...gorge yourself, crawl into a warm, cozy den, go to sleep and - oh yeah - have a couple of babies while you're comfortably snoozing away. They've been taking care of themselves and feeding themselves while you caught up on your zzzz's. Now you can all enter the outside world together, refreshed and ready to enjoy the spring and summer weather - not to mention the fact that you've lost any baby weight that you put on!

Yes, I've been experiencing the minute-by-minute ups and downs that come with the anticipation of a new baby. Every sad news story, every tragedy and every misfortune I hear of seem to weigh heavier than usual as I, the mama bear, prepare to defend and protect a new cub. Then, all I have to do is rub my belly, and I get a physical response from my baby that is so immediate and so personal I am reminded that he already knows me and recognizes me - which instantly brings me joy. I don't remember having that awareness with the other two boys; maybe I was wrapped up in something else. But this time, I am completely fascinated by the fact that I can feel the outline of the baby, and I can tell when he shifts and moves a leg (he likes to kick me just below my right ribs).

Maybe I'm just taking this pregnancy less for granted than I took the others.

Mistaken Identity

Today, in the very same middle school, I was mistaken for both a student and a parent.

Teacher 1: "Wait just a second...oh - I thought you were a student! But then I thought, 'We don't have any pregnant students here right now!"

Teacher 2 (later in the day): "Oh hi! Are you with the PTA?"

Obviously, I prefer the first teacher's impression, and while it is a sad commentary on our society, I didn't mind being mistaken for a pregnant 8th grader!

Because I Can...

And it was so, soooooooo good!

Here is What I'm Craving...

Unfortunately, this most incredible of all pizzerias is located in Neptune City, New Jersey.
No other pizza will suffice, because there is no match.

What's a girl to do?

HAVE STEAK FOR DINNER (the next best option)

Accolades

Connor to me, when I sunk the ball on a particularly challenging hole on Wii Mini Golf:

"Yay!
Let's hear it for the
pregnant girl!!!"