"Enjoy your sleep while you can!"

This. This is perhaps the most annoying comment you can give a woman who is past her due date (Or just late in pregnancy. Or just pregnant.). This is annoying because A.) You have no idea how she slept the night before (which probably sucked), and B.) You have no idea how wonderful or how poorly her infant will sleep. If you have said this to me at any point throughout my pregnancy, you may have seen a smile and shrug, but you missed me thinking "oh shut. your. mouth." That being said, it is much different for me now that my internship is done. This is because now "if" I don't sleep well, I can sleep in (note: by "if" I mean "when"). I am not exaggerating when I say that in the past week, I have spent most of my time in bed. For example, last night I went to bed with Ceej at 9pm. It takes 2-3 hours to fall asleep because the baby likes to head-butt my bladder causing me to get up every 20 minutes for those first few hours to use the bathroom (pretty sure my newborn will not be doing that). Then I woke up every hour to pee from 12-4:30am. Then I was awake 4:30-6:30, just chillin' in bed. In this time, I got up to cut up an apple for my husband to eat for breakfast (I bet you're expecting me to say "just kidding" - but this is actually true). After this I finally slept well and "only" woke up every 2 hours to pee from 6:30-12:00. Your math is correct in that I was in bed for a total of 15 hours. Am I enjoying being able to do this? Yes, I am. Do I remember what it was like to sleep through the night (with one pee break, obviously). No, I do not.

Here are some other things I have learned, being over-due and all:
1. Catcalls while power-walking/waddling still exist, but they seem even more pathetic.
2. Manners during phone calls no longer exist. For example, it is now acceptable for all individuals to answer my calls with "ARE YOU IN LABOR????" No, but thanks for the reminder.
3. That being said, my phone calls are answered more often and/or called back in a much more efficient manner than ever before.
4. I now know very intimate details of the births and pregnancies of many different women/strangers. Case in point: I was in the computer lab at an elementary school during my internship and a teacher whom I had never seen before started telling me about the black hair that covered her stomach and back during her pregnancy. Lovely.
5. I have been asked very intimate details about my body from strangers. Family, friends, and medical professionals are one thing - but if I do not know your first OR last name, I do not wish to discuss discharge, weight, or how far my cervix is dilated. Thank you.
6. There is such a thing as being too clean and organized.
7. Bones of the back, hips, and butt endure a sad life while hosting a growing fetus.
8. You never feel totally ready for baby, but there comes a point when there's just nothing else you can do to get ready for baby.

So there you have it. I am almost a week overdue, and thankfully still feeling well considering how long I've been pregnant. I've been walking every day, cleaning/organizing, meeting up with friends, cooking, playing games and doing fun dates with Ceej. Last Saturday we went swimming at Chaos water park and then out to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend. Swimming was not pretty to say the least - but my oh my! The glory of being free from the gravitational pull on my body was heavenly. I highly recommend it, although make sure you leave time for a nap afterward because your body forgets what it feels like to weigh a million pounds and does not remain light and free flowing. I'll leave it at that. I've been having semi-regular contractions (uncomfortable ones - not just the tightening of Braxton Hicks) for 2 and a half weeks now. They are less regular this week but more intense. Sometimes they cause me to drop to the floor in pain. My overall "readiness" is variable. 2 weeks ago I was pumped. Last week I was completely terrified with the thought of having a child. This week I'm excited to meet my baby and feel ready to quit prolonging the inevitable - life is going to change, and I'm ready for it to start. I keep thinking about holding him or her and watching him or her grow and change over the years - it's a pretty amazing & very exciting feeling.

I had an ultrasound last week just checking in, and our baby got 8/8 for health (yay!). They gave us a picture of its face, but I will not be posting it for fear you will think our baby looks like a pig. WHY they gave us the scary looking face shot rather than the cute profile of it sucking on its hand is beyond me. And no, they did not disclose the sex, and I could absolutely not tell what I was looking at enough to figure anything out. We still have the best surprise of our lives awaiting us.

39 weeks - I suck at posting regularly.

It's been a great 5 weeks since my last post. Let's see if I can remember everything. Hmm. First, a belly update:
36 weeks:

37 weeks:

38 weeks:

Pregnancy has been going great. I'm finally at the uncomfortable point where I feel ready to have the baby. Literally up until 38 weeks I was happy just being pregnant and not bursting to get the baby out. Since then, I've been contracting a ton - there was a period of 24 hours where I had painful contractions every 10 minutes. The kind where I had to breathe through and just laid in bed all day to rest between them and pray I could fall asleep. That was fun and restful. Not. We actually thought it was the big day, but alas, I am still pregnant. Since then (Monday) I've been contracting consistently throughout the days. Yesterday it was once every 30 minutes, today it was about every 10, but they haven't been nearly as painful as Monday's little treats. According to my midwife (I'll spare you the details) I probably won't last a full week. I'm getting less terrified about birth/parenthood and more and more excited to meet the little peanut!

On a different note, work/school has been going so well. I am done on Friday and can't believe it's worked out so perfectly (as in, I'm still pregnant). I've loved my experience in the Eau Claire school district, and I've learned so much! It makes me excited for all that I'll learn over the course of my career. It's fun stuff to love your future career. Obviously the belly has become a little distraction to some of my kiddos. Not only my own - the students in the school in general. Today, while washing my hands in the bathroom a 2nd grade girl came up to me and grabbed my belly. "Are you having a baby (with her hands still groping my stomach)?" "Yes." "HOW COULD I TELL?!?!" I've also used the words, "Please don't stare at Miss. Emily's stomach - it is work time" on more than one occasion. Oh, the joys of children :).

For those of you who know, Ceej has been in a new position at his work some months ago, and it is going great as well. He really likes it! God sure has been wonderful in this department.

I've also had another baby shower - my 3rd and final one. This one was with some friends and immediate family. It was so fun to see everyone! It was hosted by my mom, MIL, and my friend Jess, and it took place at my friend Jess' house (who is also pregnant, and who is my walking buddy. Currently we both contract throughout our walks, so the once 1-2 hour walks are now 20-30 minutes WITH a pee break at least once. We've decided it'll be faster to just roll down the street from now on. Plus, it's easier.). Guests included some people from Eau Claire and ex-roommates in the cities, and my aunt and cousin traveled from Winona/Hartford. They actually ended up staying over night. It was nice to catch up and spend quality time with them! We went to a Mardi Gras dinner at St. Mary's (catered by Cancun) and then attempted to listen to live music but ended up back at our house to chat and they had wine. Lucky ducks. I completely know it's okay to have a glass of wine at this point in the pregnancy, I just can't bring myself to do it. I came close when Ceej and I went out to dinner the other night, but then we were talking about it so much that it lost it's appeal (Ceej: "are you sure you wouldn't feel guilty if something happened?" me: "yes because I know it's fine, the midwife told me it's totally okay, and plus the baby is fully developed." Ceej: "even if you went in labor tonight? Or if the baby has a disability? I just don't want you to have regrets." me: "oh screw it.").


Ceej and I have been enjoying our last weeks as just us - we go out on dates every weekend and enjoy down time to relax with one another. I've also been cleaning the ENTIRE house top to bottom every weekend, "just in case I have the baby this week."

OH, and how could I forget: Here is a list of things NOT to say to a pregnant person. Ever. As you might guess, these things have been said to me throughout my pregnancy. Do people NOT have manners? Seriously.
1. "You're wider from the back than you are forward!"
2. "You're poking out from every angle!"
3. "You got thick fast, so it's good you look more pregnant now."
4. "HEY FATTY!!! HOW'S MY FAT GIRL???" (Thank you, Grandma.)
5. "Have you gained a lot of weight since I last saw you (last week)?" NO.
6. "Yeah, I can definitely tell you're pregnant from the back."

That's all! Maybe the next time I post it'll be about our little baby's arrival!