37 Weeks (and a belly photo)

The weather has been incredible this fall. I went for a walk today on my lunch break and didn’t need to wear a jacket. It was amazing! I was hoping to get a nice preggo belly shadow shot, but the sunlight wasn’t at the right angle. I’ll check in with my OB tomorrow, but as of last week, I was 1 cm dilated…which is the same as with my other pregnancies at 36 weeks. I’m so glad that I kept relatively good notes on each of my pregnancies (even though my plan with each was to journal more than I did). It’s been helpful to look back and compare notes. Of course, with Miss S, my note keeping (for my pregnancy) ended with her arrival at 36 weeks exactly. We’ve passed that date (and my final progesterone shot!) and are aiming for the baby’s arrival during my primary OBs next rotation, which is conveniently the 6 days leading up to and including my due date.

That’s been one major change between prenatal care here and in Scottsdale. In Scottsdale, the likelihood of my OBs delivering my baby was high, unless they were on vacation. For both Miss S and Mr. C, my primary OB was there. This time around, I go to a practice with 8 OBs who are associated with the University of Minnesota. Since my primary doctor is on call for those 6 days, as long as this baby is on time or a few days early, we’ll have our primary OB deliver. Otherwise, it will be whoever is on call. We’ve met most of the OBs at the clinic, and since this baby is our 3^rd, we feel confident about the laboring process…but we’d still rather have the doctor present whom we’ve seen the most.

I had some minor cramping on Saturday evening, probably only for 15 minutes, but it was enough to get a few more things accomplished on the “to do before baby arrives” list. You know, like washing the newborn clothes and cleaning the car seat. No big deal. You’d think with our 1^st coming 4 weeks early and this being our third that we’d be totally prepared. But, with Karl and I both working full time (and me working Monday through Friday for the first time since having kiddos), the to do list has been a little neglected. On the weekends, my priorities are pretty minimal – making sure the kiddos, dog, and I eat; making sure the kiddos, dog, and I nap; and attempting to do at least a few things to make our house cleaner a little less of a mess. (And for those of you wondering about the cats, they do eat. During my pregnancies, all cat tending is done by Karl. But, once this baby arrives, I’ll be back on litter box/cat feeding/pill giving duties).

Thankfully one of the tires on Karl’s vehicle decided to spring a leak tonight as he’s off the next 2 days. While his main plan was to rake tomorrow (since the kiddos will go to preschool), he’ll first have a date with Discount Tire followed by leaf raking.

It’s so nice to write up a little update. I’ve realized that one of the reasons I enjoy blogging (even though it doesn’t happen as much as I’d like) is because each time I’ve moved since living in Seattle, my community has grown a little smaller. I used to sometimes feel gluttonous about how many friends I had that I could vent to and process whatever needing processing. Realistically (not pessimistically) I don’t think my community of friends will ever match what it did in Seattle. Which is ok, although a little tear-inducing. (I can partially blame it on the hormones). I don’t need the large community of friends in the same way as I did then (as they were my family and friends whereas I now have a family in addition to friends…if that makes sense), but I do long for a larger community of friends. While my blog followers aren’t the same as a local community with people to hug, drink wine with, laugh with, cry with, celebrate with (ok a few more tears), this little place helps me to feel more connected.

Considering how inconsistently I’ve been blogging, there’s an excellent chance my next post will be about this wee one’s arrival. Eek!! Quite exciting.