Wanting to begin the countdown...

Is it too early to start counting down the weeks???

I'll be 31 weeks as of Friday, April 3rd. Baby Petry is very active, especially in the evenings. I really enjoy feeling the him/her move around - occasionally it does get a little uncomfortable though. The other night Gabe and I saw my stomach shift from left to right and back again. I've noticed that when other people are around the baby doesn't appear to be as active as when it is just Gabe and me. Gina was here this past weekend and on Friday and Saturday evening the baby didn't move nearly as much as he/she did on Sunday. But I suppose the could also be the result of us running around all day Saturday too. Who knows....although I can't imagine that a child of mine and Gabe's would be shy!

We had another doctor's appointment today - it went well. Basically we discussed how I was feeling (round and uncomfortable) and whether I was experiencing any problems (not sleeping well - although I suppose this could be considered the norm for me now). The baby's heart rate was in the 140s and my belly measurement was on target for being almost 31 weeks.

Last night we had our final Childbirth Preparation class. We learned a lot during the 4 week course...including what an epidural actually entails. Let me first state that I am not a fan of needles AT ALL, chalk it up to a couple of busted veins when IVs were being put in and one experience that resulted in 7 attempts having to be made to insert the IV (they eventually had to numb my arm - which also involved a needle - to insert the IV). So basically, my understanding (and Gabe's) was that an epidural was a BIG NEEDLE...that was really all I wanted to know about it up to a point of when I would ever need to consider having one. So you can imagine my surprise when I learned (by seeing one administered on a video) that not only did it involve a BIG NEEDLE into your back but a catheter as well. What can I say, up until that point I have heard the words BIG NEEDLE and just wanted to WALK AWAY. So gaining that information made me feel satisfied that we got our money's worth out of the class. Although I suppose that when the time comes when I potentially will want one - that needle probably wouldn't be too intimidating.

Overall I feel pretty good but the not sleeping well is taking its toll. I have my good days and not so good days. I also feel like I have lost a significant amount of my brain power during the pregnancy ...I don't know if my kid is just sucking it away from me (if that is the case I expect to see an undergraduate degree in hand when he/she is delivered) or if the lack of sleep is just catching up to me. All I know is I spent an absurd amount of time trying to determine why my checkbook wouldn't balance only to finally determine that when you need to take a charge out of $1, it does not subtract $10 from your account (geeeezzzz!)

My mom is coming to visit this weekend and is staying for the entire week - we're really looking forward to having her in town for a while. It is hard to believe how much time has passed and that we are now down to having only about 9 weeks left. Gabe and I are both very excited and I'm not trying to wish the time away but the thought of eventually being able to sleep on my stomach at some point in the future is appealing.

I have fallen a little behind on the Belly Expansion update photos - my intention was to do it on a weekly basis but I wasn't feeling it this past week. I'll get another one up there soon though.