8 Weeks and Counting

So I've been doing official pregnancy updates every trimester, but decided this last time around to do it more often--maybe every 4 weeks or so. Mostly because I want to--there is little else going on right now other than sitting at work waiting for the hours to pass by.

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As previously mentioned, Lil is still a girl. Thank goodness. We had another ultrasound yesterday and it was so good to see her. But she was huge! You could hardly see her because she just filled up the screen. I realized it was exactly 3 months since our last one. She has grown so much. She weighs 4 lbs. 3 oz., which is about average for 32 weeks. However, she slept through the whole thing. We could see her tummy moving up and down practicing breathing and we saw her taking some drinks of de-lish amniotic fluid, but she only wiggled a few times. The tech tried to wiggle my belly to get her to wake up, but she was out. About an hour later, of course, she started acting like her usual octopus self. And this morning at 5:30 I woke up to find her doing something akin to the Macarena. Silly girl. I always joke that she is shy, and she has done nothing to prove to me otherwise. Too cute. Anyway, her restfulness made it hard to get good pictures. Well, that and the fact that her face is squished up against the placenta (poor girl). But we got one good one of her face, and she has the cutest little nose ever. Ever.

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Me? I'm doing good. I've found that eating a mini meal every 2 hours or so has greatly reduced my nausea. A fellow Celiac mentioned that lactose made her sick during her pregnancy only, so she cut out dairy. I'm terrified of even admitting that might be true with me. We'll see if I get sick of being sick enough to try it. Its also getting harder to get a decent night's sleep. I wake up with a numb shoulder and have to make the mighty roll-over to the other side. Other than that I'm trying to not go insane at my job, as the University scene slows down considerably during the summer. Preparations for Lil are on hold as we await 2.5 baby showers in the coming weeks (one from the ward, one from Chris's family, and a mini party being held at my office). We'll finish up getting the necessities from there. So it feels like one giant waiting game. Waiting for time to pass. As you can see, I'm working on "joy in the journey" right now.

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We've been taking a 5 week birth class series at the hospital where Lil will be born. Its been quite eye-opening for me. The first week I saw my first ever birth video. We've also watched a real c-section. And we talked about what happens to you after birth. Yikes. Previous to this class, I knew nothing. And that's not an exaggeration. Chris is the health guy. He's taken several classes that discussed childbirth, including a women's health class at BYU. Me? Not one. And the entirety of my pregnancy I've been reading up on carseat safety ratings and how Lil is developing--not how she's going to get out. So its been good for me to be exposed to this now. However, I'm still a somewhat dutiful college student, so I take lots of notes and then take in a long list of questions to my doctor. He knows I'm somewhat crazy, and I'm sure he enjoys my lists. Yesterday he answered all my questions very much to my liking. Now I've gone from "she'll get out somehow" to having an image of exactly how I'd like the birth to go, allowing for considerable flexibility, of course. We also got a tour of the Labor and Delivery floor. Its so nice. So much nicer than I expected (for whatever reason). It was crazy to look in at the babies in the nursery and know Lil would be there (however briefly, I want her in my room) in 2 short (or long) months.

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In preparation of Lil's arrival, we've been trying to cover our bases for when I (cross your fingers) quit my job. Did you know you can be automatically disqualified for health insurance because of celiac disease? No? Neither did I--until Monday. HIV, heart disease, diabetes . . . . and celiac disease. I have never, not once, had to see a doctor because of celiac disease. And they won't give me insurance? For reals? We had a list of insurance plans that were great and even affordable, and things were going perfectly smoothly until now. We have found a few companies who didn't have celiac listed on the "automatic disqualification" list, so we are praying for something to come through. I often miss the simplicity of BYU student insurance.

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Chris is a rock and a superhero. He's working hard this summer, and doing really great things in his program as he prepares for next year. He's also getting so excited to meet his little girl. He's going to be one whipped daddy.

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Don't get me wrong. I'm enjoying every step, every development. Something they gave us at the birth class said "You won't be pregnant forever". Could have fooled me. Sometimes it feels like that. But rumor has it, it comes to an end. I'm enjoying now, but I'm very much looking forward to that end.