6 Week Hiatus & 35 Weeks
No guarantees I'll stick around, but the urge to write feels stronger than the urge to not write, so here we are.Last night, I went for a swim. It was the second night in a row, and it felt quite indulgent. I'm not sure why... was it the cold water in the heat, the darkness or the listening to that inner voice that said, "Yes, let's do this"? The whole activity was less than a half-hour, but it brighten my spirits.Today marks 35 weeks.Overall, I'm feeling good. I've enjoyed a surge of energy over the last month, and while my ability to execute anything with that energy is random, I much prefer this over feeling mentally blank and physically exhausted.---In 6 weeks, a ton of progress was made. We had our third, and final, high-level ultrasound appointment. Everything looked good. We attended a childbirth class, which gave us the knowledge to begin planning for labor and birth. Because of this (and because I never liked the OB I was seeing) I switched doctors and hospitals. I decided that I wanted to be at the hospital closest to us, so we did a hospital tour. One particular OB's name kept popping up when I mentioned that area of town, and after seeing him twice now, all the recommendations were spot on. I finally feel I have an OB I can trust. Our friend offered to take maternity photos for us - the results were breathtaking. I went to two prenatal massages and have a third one booked. H went on his own nesting phase, hanging photos, making trips to Ikea and painting a wall in baby's room. He unpacked the last moving box two weeks ago. The baby shower invites went out, so we've enjoyed almost daily deliveries of gifts. H assembled furniture and organized baby items. While he nested, I interviewed doulas and officially hired one (we meet with her and her partner tomorrow).Lastly, we just made it through H's last bit of travel before baby, so there's no more need to panic I'll go into labor while he's out of town.---Baby herself feels good to me. Her movements are strong and her bones are harder. She feels more and more present, moving when I rub my belly, living her own little routine. I'm still able to sleep 6-8hrs lying down so long as I drink enough water during the day and get up to pee around 3am.---I have less than a month of work left, thank goodness. The next two weeks will be the hardest - there's one more event to run before my leave, marketing for the huge January event, training my colleagues and generally keeping up with my daily tasks before I begin to hand over projects and wind everything down.But mostly 35 weeks feels odd. I'm just getting used to being pregnant, to feeling more excitement than panic and it seems it'll be over so soon. Of course, that end is really just the beginning - baby girl joining our family, learning how to be parents, and having our own parents all visiting in November. I'm just wrapping my head around pregnancy and birth, it doesn't feel like enough time is left to absorb newborn and postpartum information.But then that small voice pops up again and suggests, "One day at a time, one thing at a time".I guess that's all I can do for now.