38 Weeks

I wanted to take a photo at 36 weeks, and this is how long it took me to get around to it. But check it out: I am gigantic. Michael likes to tell me all the time how huge I am. He says I'm like Jupiter (because it's the largest planet - and as my brother likes to point out, a gas giant). At my 34 week appointment the doctor told me the baby was measuring a little big, and as Michael and I were talking about it later he said, "See? I told you that you're huge."

Soooo sweet. I would knock his socks off if I could reach him over my huuuge belleh. Actually, I just had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and I asked the doctor about my weight gain, because no one has mentioned weight to me this entire time. He looked at my chart and said that I've only gained 15 pounds since my very first visit with them. And then he was like, "That's underweight. The average gain is 25-30 pounds. But your baby's growth has been doing okay each week, so she's doing fine." Then he looked at me really earnestly with his eyebrows raised and said, "So you could keep going!"

And I was like, "Sweet! I can let loose on all those chocolate shakes I've been wanting." And did I celebrate yesterday by having three Jr. Chicken Sandwiches from Arby's? MAYBE. Leave me alone. I'm underweight, dangit.

Hah, just kidding. Actually, I saw the doctor for the first time at week 8, and I know that between week 3 and week 8 I gained 5 pounds, so my real weight gain is 20 pounds (so far). I would feel more pleased with myself if I had put any amount of effort into this weight situation, but the truth is that I have been too fatigued and exhausted to stand up or go to the store to get food for myself, and I've eaten very little as a result. That and the nausea that has plagued me for the entire pregnancy. So really nothing to be proud of there.

Speaking of the nausea, I threw up about once or twice a week from week 7 to week 27 - and I COUNTED. My sister thinks I'm crazy for counting that, but I did. I threw up 27 times. Then I had about 8 weeks of peace and then threw up again around week 32. That brought me to 28 times. I haven't thrown up since week 32 but I've sure been nauseated and come pretty close a few times. I've been on anti-nausea medication for this entire pregnancy, too. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to walk or function at all.

More fun things: The water was turned off at my house for 5 days this past week, from Thursday to Tuesday. The water main for our house burst in the front yard, and luckily we didn't have any flooding in the house, but the front yard was flooded. So the city came out and turned off our water. We had some plumbers come out and give us bids, and the cheapest one couldn't have it fixed until Tuesday (yesterday). Which, as I mentioned, was FIVE DAYS without water. For a 9-month pregnant lady - not good. Did you know that pregnant ladies use the bathroom a lot? I realize that it's better that it broke before I have the baby than after, but that really wasn't a comforting thought at five in the morning when I had to use the bathroom for the fifth time that night. And what really sucked is that I couldn't blame anyone, and I kept getting so mad about the whole situation, like HULK MAD kind of mad, but couldn't be mad at anything but the universe and bad luck. Michael has honed his skills at coping with my grumpy complaints. When I'm really in a bad mood for no reason I say, "I hate everyone" and Michael replies, "Yeah! Everyone sucks!" which makes me feel a lot better. (I don't hate anyone, everyone is lovely, just so you know).

Our water got turned back on yesterday, and I ran around the house turning on faucets and flushing toilets, and I didn't even mind that when I took a bath the water was slightly tinged brown. (Correction: I didn't run around the house, to be perfectly honest. But I did waddle from the bathroom to the kitchen in an excited manner). They had to completely replace the line that brings water into our house, which is an expense that we were just dying to have right before we have a baby. But it's back on now, I have lovely water and I can use the bathroom as many times as I could possibly want, hurrah!

In other pregnancy news, it looks like I'm not going to have an outie. I know, highly relevant stuff. Isn't that why you came here, to hear about my highly relevant pregnancy news? Otherwise you'd be off reading someone else's blog. So yeah, no outie. My belly has just stretched and stretched, and the belly button has spread out a bit, but it's not going to pop. It's just like the little queen of stretch-mark mountain, and that's about it. (Yes, stretch marks. Didn't you read about the Jupiter thing at the beginning? I'm HUGE).

And I have one item of business that is non-pregnancy related. I know you are hugely disappointed. Our house is in a pretty populated area, but there's a large plot of land behind our backyard that is undeveloped. There's a herd of deer that like to live back there. Right smack in the middle of a city. And they like to use our backyard and side-yard to get in and out of their little private haven. My brother came to my door after it had snowed a few weeks ago and said, "Did you know you have HOOF prints in your front yard?" This was confirmed last week as I was pulling out of the driveway, and was confronted with four HUGE deer right in front of me, who looked a little startled and then continued through my side-yard into the backyard.

Anyway, every morning Michael and me can see them hanging out back there, on the other side of the back fence. It's so cool! I've taken several pictures already, but this morning it was snowing, and they chose to lay down in the trees behind my house and hang out. There are about 8 of them.


See? That's my swing-set, and off to the right you can see one laying down, chilling out. There is actually another one in that photo, but it's hard to distinguish from the brush. Here's a couple more:




So cool!