This Is Your 36 Week Update

Hello Bloggerland!

More updates from the pregnancy front. First, contrast and compare, as my high school English teachers used to say:

30 weeks


36 weeks

(I decided to stick with the headless pregnant woman shots for now, though I will, when I've actually thought to do these pictures when I'm not steps away from going to bed, throw in a head shot too!)

Fuller, I think, would be the word for that. Rounder. Bigger beyond belief, maybe?

Baby is sailing right along on the growth front and we're officially in the final stretch of pregnancy world. There's an interesting mix of conversation around the subject of our due date. Both in our Bradley classes and at the birthing center (where Baby will be making his or her appearance) we hear: "don't expect the baby before your due date! Most new moms (who aren't induced) are at least a week late! Maybe two weeks! Don't be discouraged." This is quickly followed up with something along the lines of "You're 36 weeks! Baby could come any time! Have your bags packed, car seat installed, gas tank full, thank you notes written, mountains you've ever wanted to climb climbed, foods you've ever wanted to eat eaten... Baby could be here tomorrow!"

This back-and-forth just makes me laugh. The Hubba and I, admittedly, are more than prepared for a late baby. We're expecting a week after the due date, possibly more. We're verrrrry prepared for late.

We are not, as much, prepared for early. For instance, if Baby came, oh, I dunno, tomorrow, there might be some frantic packing around here, some throwing of things into suitcases, some "oh God, oh God, we can't leave until I've laundered all the cloth diapers the thousand times the instructions insist on," some "I'm not going until this last thank you card is written," some hurling of unattached car seats into the trunk with a to-be-fixed-in-at-a-later-date attitude. So, at this point, a late baby is not a bad thing in my world.

I think this bewilders people who really believe we should be having babies as early as possible, somewhere around the once-it-gets-a-tad-uncomfortable stage- for a lot of people about the halfway mark. As we cruise into July, I hear a lot about the weather and the need for a quick birth. Anything from sweetly sympathetic "are you ready to NOT be pregnant?" to "oh my God, how dare that baby be born in the summer, doesn't he know it's the South in July!" Poor Baby. Not really fair to her at all, but I've noticed people will have funny attitudes when it comes to blaming unborn little ones for issues completely out of his or her control (such as when his parents decided to gets bus-zay, thereby determining a due date).

As far as the heat goes, I have fantastic news. Yes, it's warm. Yes, this extra weight gathered right at the center of my body does make life a little slower, more awkward, sweatier in general. The good news, though, the really great, spectacular news that so many seem to forget when giving me a woebegone look and shaking their heads- we have central heat and air! I don't ever have to be anywhere warmer than 72 degrees if I choose. Between the house, the car, and pretty much any other indoor place, I can be, to paraphrase some rapper or maybe athlete that my preggy brain has completely forgotten, "as cool as I wanna be." This is something to appreciate.

Besides that, the day-to-day pregnancy is somehow amazing and ordinary at the same time. Somehow the fact something is actually making my stomach jump around, a sight easily viewed by the naked human eye, something is getting hiccups (yes, hiccups!) inside my belly, something is pushing and shoving and doing a little light tap-dancing in my stomach, makes me marvel and yet, at the same time, shrug nonchalantly and say, "Oh, yep, that's the baby." Isn't that wild? I can't think of anything else to compare it to.

I've got lots of knitted items to show, both Baby and not-Baby, as the world seems to divide up these days. I'll post them in the next few days!

Hoping all out there in internetland are well and somehow surviving the heat...