Thirty-Six Weeks

I'm officially 9 months pregnant! With only four weeks to go! Eek!

I'm so excited. I'm ready for Caleb to come in every way except for work. My boss and I agreed yesterday that I was now in "finish up" mode, with no more projects added to my plate. We'll see if he sticks to that. Right now, we're adding two new products--both of which require all new marketing pieces, a booklet with lots of little pieces, our quarterly newsletter is due, as well as two ads for magazines that I still have to present a budget to the president for. Yeah, it's going to be a great month. If I drop off the face of the planet for the next few weeks, I hope you understand.

So, how's our little boy doing this week? Caleb is probably about 6 pounds and over 18.5 inches long. He's gaining about an ounce a day. I can tell, because I've been hungry! He still moves a lot. Sometimes his little baby bum pokes up into my rib cage, causing me to jump and get as ramrod straight as I can. I rub on that spot until he settles into a more comfortable position. He occasionally gets his foot (or something...a knee? elbow?) all the way on my side, forming a little knob. If I poke on it, it tingles, like there's a nerve between him and me. So I usually leave that alone, and he moves pretty soon. The dr. said he would pretty much stay in head-down position now, which is how I know the bump poking into my rib cage is his bum. He still moves from side to side; sometimes the right side of my belly is hard, sometimes the left. It's all very fascinating to me, as you can probably tell from the amount of time I've spent describing it!

My ankles are swelling. Woe is me. I'm trying to drink lots of water to make it go down. No luck so far, so I'm just avoiding looking at my ankles. My hands might be starting to swell a little, too, since the larger ring I've been wearing on my left ring finger is starting to get a bit tighter. Not too tight, but it's really been too big, and it's fitting nicely now.

I've had a bit of pampering this week! Yesterday, Jon used some of his "mad money" to get me a massage! What a great husband!! I haven't had a massage in several years, and it was really nice and relaxing. I'd been told by a friend that prenatal massages are on a table with a hole cut out for my belly to fit into. I was kind of excited about that, because I've really missed laying on my stomach, and was looking forward to that. Well, no such luck. We started with me on my back (with pillows under my knees and my back), and I realized there was no hole. Then I thought, maybe a piece of the table comes out to make the hole. But no. It ended up that I turned on my side with a body pillow for support, and she rubbed my back that way--first one side, then I flipped and she did the other. So no stomach goodness, but all in all a very nice massage!

During pregnancy, you're not supposed to rub your ankles, because of pressure points there that could induce labor. I asked about that, and the lady said she'd actually had several women come in specifically for that purpose, and it had worked every time! Crazy, huh? So I guess if I'm way overdue, I could always try that.

And, as one more pampering treat, I'm getting maternity photos today!! As you know, I take maternity photos, so it was inevitable that I would want some of my own. However, I quickly found out that I cannot afford anyone else's rates. Many people charged $200 for the sitting fee alone! I had a few ideas of how to get photos, including offering myself as a model for aspiring photographers (Jon was very against that), and using a mirror and trying to do it myself. Enter Leslie! Leslie is a newbie to the area: just married, just moved, and just pregnant...with twins! She's also a photographer like me! So, we arranged a little switcharoo. She's doing my photos this month, and I'm doing hers next month (as long as Caleb cooperates!). We're going to swap files and call it even (though she's offered to edit my files, which would be awesome). Leslie is my first local photog friend, so I'm really excited to get to know her better, and I can't wait to return the favor of photos next month.

Jon, on the other hand, is not nearly as excited about photos as I am. He knows I can be more of the artsy type, so he fears we're going to be doing nude shots together or something. Well, no fears there. I have no expectations of pulling a Demi Moore pose. I do want to show my belly, so Leslie and I have arranged to do some photos of just me indoors, and then we'll go to the park with Jon. The park will give Jon confidence that we'll be fully clothed the whole time! It's going to be a great day!