The past month has been a blur - I went from a regular-sized baby bump to sporting this huge mountain of baby in my mid-section. I feel like I'm growing the next cast member of American Gladiator. She's so strong, kicking me constantly. My ribs have taken a beating for sure. Everything hurts - my hips, my groin, my legs, and worst of all - my back. If Rock wasn't home every night to rub my back, I wouldn't have made it this far. I'm sure he's just as ready for this baby to be born (his poor hands deserve a break). Enough complaining, I know she's going to be worth it and I've been extremely lucky to experience all of this prenatal bliss.
I'm so thrilled her nursery is finally complete - minus the rocker/glider we ordered a month ago :( oh well. Buy Buy Baby had it on back order said it would take 8-12 weeks, so we won't be rocking our little girl for a while. On the bright side, it gives us something extra to look forward to.
This past weekend, Shawn and I were determined to spend some quality time together before her debut. Of course, my nesting urges are in full force so we spent Friday night and most of Saturday scrubbing down the house - not exactly the quality time either of us had in mind, but it had to be done. And with 2 dogs and hardwood floors, the pet hair was out of control! Brisket brings in more dirt than a sand truck and Halley's shedding is ridiculous. So we have "Dirty" and "Hairy" to thank for that mess.
Even after hours of sanitizing, we decided to clean up and go downtown for dinner. It was a strange feeling to know it will be one of the last times (for a while) we'll be sitting at a table with just each other. But it's an excitement and anticipation I've never experienced. Oh how our lives are about to change.
The car seat is installed and we practiced adjusting all the straps, harness, etc. - we're a long ways from being pros, but I'm confident we can get her in there safely. Who knew all of this baby gear was so complicated?!?!
Our bags are semi-packed - okay, I'm 80% packed and Rock hasn't started, but he's a typical guy that throws things in a bag last minute so we should be good to go. I haven't had sweets in months, so of course I've sneaked a box of Samoan Girl Scout cookies in my bag as a personal postpartum reward. I figure that if I make it through childbirth, I deserve it!
So as of right now, I'm scheduled to go to the hospital Thursday morning for all of my pre-admissions testing. Then they send me home and we come back at 6 a.m. on Friday for the main event. We're still hoping that someone goes into labor and there's room for us to be admitted Thursday evening so we can get this ball rolling a bit faster. Either way, we're praying for a safe delivery and a healthy baby girl on Friday at some point. The anticipation is killing us!
