Final thoughts about pregnancy

In less than two days, I'll finally get to meet my daughter. Being a planner, I'm glad to know when it's happening...but it definitely is a little surreal at the same time.

Friday was my last day of work. It was weird turning in my keys and hauling (or rather, having Justin haul) the last bit of my stuff to the car and saying goodbye to my co-workers that I've known for over four years. It was difficult saying goodbye to my class and former students, and I made lots of promises to come visit and introduce them to Baby Yasette. It was a good last day - I ended it with my annual field trip to the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, where my kids managed to raise the most money for the hospital (over $2200!) than any class I ever had. What better way to end my tenure at the school?

I've been spending these last few days before Baby Girl's arrival getting the house cleaned, the nursery as ready as can be, and doing all sorts of last minute things that I don't want to be bothered with once she arrives (i.e. car oil changes and those dreaded taxes)!

Anyway, before Baby Girl arrives and I forget what it's like to be pregnant, here are my parting thoughts on this pregnancy:

* I've definitely had it easy. Even with the emergency hospital visit back in December, I've been blessed with a relatively painless pregnancy. I almost feel guilty when I talk to my pregnant friends who've experienced all sorts of symptoms that I've somehow managed to avoid.

* Having said that, though, this last trimester has been rough - but nothing to really complain about. Yeah, I had to give up walking (waddling?) in a 5K and exercise has pretty much been nonexistent but it's been better than the few days that I had to deal with ridiculous back pain and heating pads. Yeah, I've had to wake up several times a night to go to the bathroom, but at least I've always been able to go back to sleep afterwards (with a few exceptions). Yeah, my big belly gets in the way sometimes and causes me to move slower, but it's not something I can't manage.

* I'm going to miss the pregnancy perks: strangers who let me cut in line at the restroom (especially when it's a long one, like at the Preds game last month!), people offering to help me with my bags at the grocery store, the expectant mom parking, and just the general kindness I've felt among people throughout this pregnancy.

* Boys have it easy. Justin has said throughout these last few months that he'd gladly trade places with me if he could...or at least tag-team it so he'll carry the next kid. I wish...

Here's some of the latest pregnancy shots (taken at 38 weeks) before the focus turns solely on Baby Girl Y:

Dr. Seuss - in utero

I've been reading some stories to Baby Yasette, and this is one of my favorites (and probably hers, too).

(I think this was taken around week 35, but we just now figured out how to format the video for blog-ability.)

Showers #3 and #4

On February 11th, I was blessed with two more lovely showers - one from my fabulous students and their parents, and the other one was a surprise shower given by my amazing co-workers!

Baby Girl Yasay is definitely showered with lots of love!



Opening gifts from my awesome second-graders.



Enjoying the tasty treats!



I sure am going to miss these guys...

Pregnancy Pics

Even though I feel like a giant cow these days (the fact that my doctor and Justin practically banned me from doing a 5K earlier this month didn't help matters!), I'll suck it up and show you some of the latest pregnancy pictures:



35 Weeks Pregnant at Bonefish Grill for Valentine's Day. (We never celebrated this holiday before, but we figured it was our last shot to do so before kids got in the way!)




Same night - 35 Weeks, but a profile shot taken in the bathroom.




36 Weeks taken in our new nursery. More pictures of the nursery to come soon!

Even though I'm still within the "normal" weight gain range, boy, am I ready to lose this baby weight!!!

Gotta Start Planning Ahead....

After I posted the previous entry, I did want to add that there is one way that I'm learning that my life will change: I'm going to have to learn to do more advanced planning when it comes to doing things that I normally would do on a whim.

For instance, a few weeks ago I decided that it would be super fun if Justin and I went to see Cirque du Soleil in June for our 2-year anniversary. It only dawned on me 'til after I had started searching for tickets that, wait a minute, Baby Yasay will be here, and she'll need a baby-sitter. (Luckily when I called my mother a few moments later, she was tickled at the thought of taking care of her granddaughter.)

Then today I saw a Groupon for decently priced Preds club-level tickets and was about to pounce on them until it dawned on me that the date of the game was for a week after Baby arrives. When I called Justin to see if he thought going to the game was do-able, he laughed so loud that I almost hung up on him.

It'll be tough adjusting to the fact that Date Nights are going to have to be slightly more spaced out and planned in advance, but I also know that the sacrifice is worth it. It'll just be one of those adjustments that I'm going to have to learn to make....

And, honestly, it is nice to know that Lolo and Lola are close by and are willing to babysit when needed! That will definitely help out...a lot!

It can't be THAT difficult....right?

Yesterday, Justin and I went to yet another class at Baptist to further ensure that we're doing all we can to be adequately prepared for Baby Girl Y.

One of the things that our instructor told us was that for the first six weeks post-delivery, the mother only has two jobs: to recover and to feed the baby. She made us repeat that mantra outloud to her several times. Apparently, the husband/support person is supposed to take care of the rest, and a dirty house is totally acceptable, and blah, blah, blah....

Okay, so maybe this is me just being a totally naive first-time mom, but really? For six weeks that's all I get to do? I just can't imagine that the recovery and feeding process is all that difficult and time-consuming. I also can't see myself letting go and putting Justin in charge of keeping the house in order....yikes.

Another bit of advice that has been given to me by several people is this: sleep when the baby is sleeping. This doesn't make much sense to me at all, either. Again, when in the world will anything get accomplished since whenever the baby will be awake, I'm obviously going to have to attend to her?

I dunno. I'm sure all of you who've had young children are all laughing at my gullible and innocent view of how little my life will change in two (yes, TWO!!!) weeks...but honestly, it can't be THAT difficult....right?

4 1/2 Weeks Left...

In 4 1/2 weeks, Baby Girl Y will make her appearance into the world. While being "ready" is very questionable, I am going to be quite excited to be able to walk normally, tie my shoes, and put on normal clothes again.

While I've had a relatively easy pregnancy, things are starting to take its toll now that the due date is rapidly approaching. I went on a four mile walk with my parents last weekend, and my dad (a 65 year old smoker) ended up passing me by quite a distance. Not to mention the fact that it took my lower back four days to recover from the excursion. This, especially, has been rough on me since I love to run and stay active (it's still hard for me to believe that I ran two half-marathons last year when I can barely walk these days!). I'm kind of in denial about it, though, seeing as I signed up to walk (waddle?) in a 5K this weekend....

I can't wait to look like this again:

Taken at 6 weeks pregnant.

Instead of this:

Taken at 32 1/2 weeks pregnant.