Children and their thoughts about my belly

At preschool, the children know I have a baby in my belly, and many have had their own personal experience with a new baby in their family this year. But that doesn't stop their curiosity about the growing belly.

Mary, a bright 4 year old asked me when I was 7 months along, "If babies are so small why is your belly so big?"
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Just last week a cute 2 1/2 year old redheaded boy asked me why I had a big belly. I quizzed him back, "why do you think?" thinking he knew why as everyone did.

"I think you ate too much snack in the Big Room," he cleverly replied. "My belly gets big too after I eat snack."

"Oh, yeah that could be, but I have a baby in my belly," I responded.

He looked at me for a full minute deciding if I was telling the truth, then said, "No, I think you just ate too much snack." He proceeded to pat his belly as he finished his snack.

Baby Shower

What a wonderful shower! Just how I wanted it with baby's dad there to share the love and support from family and friends! It felt great to be surrounded by so much love! Thank you!

Big thank you to Dawn and Heather for throwing the party, you girls rock!

For those of you who missed the shower I plan to have a celebration at some point with baby to welcome him in our world! I'll keep you posted.

For those of you asking me, I still have a registry up at Amazon.com.

Anyday?

14 days to go... or how about tomorrow??

Hyper-nesting nearing

I'm not sure if its because I had the baby shower last night...but I was up all night full of endless thoughts and plans... if I had the energy I would have been cleaning and organizing according to such plans. Instead, for two hours, I wrote out my ideas, intents, and pending projects.

I feel like the hyper-nesting mode is nearing. In fact, if I didn't have to work, I'd be cleaning, shopping, and freaking out right now!

Feet

When waking from a nap baby boy pokes his feet out. If you place your hand on my belly you can feel a foot! The other day I felt the coolest thing ever... I put my hand over his foot and felt a little fluttering... he was wiggling his toes!

Nesting Instinct or irrational odd behavior the past two days...

This all sounds familar. I've organized all the closets and drawers in every room in the house the last two days. So is it the "Nesting Instinct"? Is it a sign of labor to come soon?!

from Pregnancy Weekly:
... the "nesting" instinct can set in. This is an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world.
Females of the animal kingdom are all equipped with this same need. It is a primal instinct. The nesting urge can also be seen as a sign of the onset of labor when it occurs close to 40 weeks of pregnancy.
Nesting brings about some unique and seemingly irrational behaviors in pregnant women and all of them experience it differently. Women have reported throwing away perfectly good sheets and towels because they felt the strong need to have "brand new, clean" sheets and towels in their home.... Cleaning the kitchen cupboards and organizing everything by size to the point that you make sure the silverware patterns match when it's stacked in the cutlery drawer. Sorting the baby's clothes over and over again is a favorite theme. Taking them out of the drawers and re-folding them, putting them away and doing it over and over again.

A little laugh borrowed from Babycenter.com

Five things you never thought you'd say:

• "Let me just finish this can of frosting."
• "Would you mind tying my shoes?"
• "Does my stomach look too small to you?"
• "Can you please massage my perineum again?"
• "Help, I can't get out of bed."

Yeah for Sleep!

I'm taking a personal sleep day tomorrow! Looking forward to napping all day between ...oh perhaps a little nesting if my body allows.

Big Belly

Is that a basketball I swallowed or a cute boy that kicks my ribs?

Free time

The other day I was asked what I do in my free time. I blanked, realizing later that I've spent all my free time the last 8 months sleeping.

How bloated can one get?

When people ask me how I'm feeling I think "Great! ...then again, lately I have to say "Great, if it wasn't for the extreme bloating that numbs my finger, arms, legs, and feet...creating pain."
Is there relief? Could be, if I could live in the bathtub for the rest of my pregnancy?! Otherwise, this is normal my doctor tells me. Joy. 6 more weeks... and my body goes back to normal-ish!

How low can you go?

Not only do I feel him lower than last week, but apparently it is noticeable to friends. These friends also think he'll be early. I think I'm behind them, there are days he pushes down so far walking becomes an effort not to mention the pressure on my pelvic bone! Ouch!

Thus my brain fails everytime I open my mouth

My friend shared this with me...it makes me feel better about my brain these days. I have not been myself. I can not hold a conversation, respond to questions, nor absorb what people tell me right away.

Dr. Oz was on Oprah and here is what he said about mommy brain (excerpted from Oprah’s website): (another case for your need of more sleep) Jennifer, a mom from Wayne, New Jersey, says she began noticing differences in the way her brain worked after giving birth to a baby boy. "I began to lose words," she says. "I would start in a conversation, and then all of a sudden, I wouldn't be able to remember a simple word like 'tomato' or 'chandelier.'"

Dr. Oz says this is a real condition known as "mommy brain."Dr. Oz says Jennifer's son, Benjamin, used up a lot of her omega-3 fats while he was in the womb. Eighty percent of our brains are fat," he says. "So the baby sucks up a lot of that vital nutrient, sometimes potentially to the detriment of the mother." During pregnancy, Dr. Oz says a woman's brain also shrinks by about 8 percent. "You don't lose cells. The cells get smaller," he says. "It might be because you're focused on one thing, but the good news is after you give birth, your brain begins to rewire quickly. … Your brain actually gets more powerful than before you got pregnant.

"To combat "mommy brain," Dr. Oz recommends taking omega-3 fatty acids and getting plenty of sleep. "[Omega-3 is] important because we know that it actually allows women to recover from depression faster if they have depression after pregnancy," he says. "It also allows the brain to grow."

32 weeks and 5 days

Got an ultrasound this week. He is head down, and I mean DOWN! My bladder has officially become his pillow. He favors my right side, must be more snuggly over there with his foot nearing my ribs.