Time Flies!

It's been more than "a while" since I posted and I'm not sure why. I keep having these great ideas for posts but I never actually sit down and write them. Perhaps it's the fact that my belly is getting astronomically bigger and is sucking all brain power, or maybe I'm lazy. I happen to believe it's a combination of the two. In any case, I'm going to wing this one and do a little stream of consciousness blogging. 

Let's start from where we left off last time: 32 weeks. I am now currently at the end of 35 weeks, almost to the 36 week mark (Monday). This means a lot of things. I've gained more weight. I'm officially done looking at the scale because it's now over 200 at any given time and I simply can't handle that. Yes, I'm pregnant and carrying a child inside. Yes, I'm almost done. Yes, I will lose a bit after delivery and even more breastfeeding. But being someone who has struggled with weight for as long as I can remember, it's not an easy thing to see the scale move so much higher. I could probably use some therapy for this but we just bought a new car so that's not entirely in the cards at the moment.

New car?! Yes, we bought a new car. It's the first big purchase Thomas and I have put into both of our names and it's terrifying and amazing all at once. We researched, looked tirelessly at AutoTrader, went over our finances a million times and then we finally just went for it. We bought a 2003 Toyota Highlander and it's perfect. I love driving it. It's a little weird to transition from my little sporty v6, stick shift, red Jetta but it feels a heck lot more comfortable and I can actually get in and out in less than 10 minutes. I had very literally gotten stuck in the Jetta recently because of my belly. Awkward and uncomfortable. So now if anyone wants to buy a 1991 Volvo, let us know! It runs great and will last forever but we are looking to get that off of our hands!

So almost 36 weeks...insanity. How did we get this far?! The weirdest part of all of this is that September 5th, a mere week away, we will be full term. After that baby Junebug can make her appearance at any time she wishes and she would be considered a full term newborn. How did I produce a nearly full term newborn? I know how in terms of anatomy and physiology but otherwise, how did this happen? She's still moving around like a wild woman in there and she loves to shove her butt into my right side as far up as possible. My belly looks like a weird mountain terrain when she does that. I can also distinctly feel a knee or foot slooooowly move down my left side at times. It's fun for the most part but sometimes it is downright painful. I think she tries to stretch out and it feels like she's trying to make a break for it through any opening possible. 

This week she started to "drop," a process called lightening (not lightning, like a storm). That basically means that she's started to move her way into my pelvis. The first sign for me was that I could breathe. Seriously, I couldn't not breathe for the life of me for the past 5 or so weeks. She was so far up into my ribs that my lungs had no choice but to just stop working. The next hint was that I could eat. Again, all of those organs are pushed so far up that eating is nearly impossible. Until Wednesday night and I ate an entire 6 inch philly cheesesteak. (Which I could never do, even before this pregnancy!) The third little clue was that now I can barely walk because her head is so far down. It's a whole new phase of baby positioning making mom crazy. It feels like she's trying to come out when I walk so it's a whole lot easier to just stay put.

I'm swelling at an astronomical rate. My feet are pretty gross and I now get indentations from my sandals. It's delightful. I'm sure the heat isn't helping anything even though I'm drinking as much water as I can and keeping my feet propped above my heart when possible. 

All in all, I'm ready. I'm ready to be done. I'm not quite to the point yet of even considering induction even though my doctor did tell me he will induce any time after 37 weeks if he feels it is safe to do so. I just can't see the value in forcing June out before she's ready. I do, however, understand why I have seen so many women choose to induce on their due date. This stuff gets old at the end. But even with the internal fireplace we call Junie, the swelling, the contractions (oh yeah, still having those), the lack of sleep - I can wait. I'll let her decide when she's good and ready to make her debut. I think after nearly 9 months of cooking her, I owe it to her to make sure she's completely done before evicting her. 

Not quite ready for that.