8 Weeks-ish to Go....

Bullet point post. No time for actual post since going out to dinner with husband soon. Need to squeeze that in while we can before we have to find babysitters.

• Hit the 32-week mark today. Ye gods.
• Can no longer get up from couch/chairs/desk chair at work without some sort of OOOOFFGRUNT sea lion noise. Very attractive.
• Also attractive? Farting/burping. Will leave it at that.
• Left hip likes to go numb & radiate pain up my back. Massage in order soon. Yoga & stretches for now.
• Have just about everything we will need immediately after birth for baby except diapers. I hear those are important.
• Hungry. All the time.
• Tired. All the time.
• No, have not given up caffeine. It is the ONE vice remaining to me, do NOT make me give it up. Otherwise would be snoring at my desk by 10:15am every weekday. Not good for annual review time.
• Baby girl very active, possible future as Zumba instructor or other variety of dancing fool. Likes making the belly jump and flutter a la the movie Aliens.
• Baby girl also enjoys squirming into odd positions & then PUSHING out as hard as she can. Oh, the pressure.
• Getting rid of crud Dave has insisted on holding on to for years at a very satisfying rate. Ahhh.
• Starting childbirth classes next Sunday. Ye gods.

50 Pounds of Baby Clothes

As I mentioned in my last post, I went home to WA August 11-16 to visit my baby shower. When my mother's law partner's wife, Sue, found out I was coming home, she immediately piped up with, "Can I throw Janet a baby shower?" Um. Wow! Yes! Please, thank you! (My mother's good friend Margo co-hosted and offered up her lovely home for the shower, as well. Thank you!)

So, home to WA I went, and to the sweetest baby shower ever.

We received tons of lovely gifts, including tons of books, baby bathing products, two handmade dolls, and a onesie that says, "What Happens at Grandma's, STAYS at Grandma's" (And I'm sure it will, if my mom and my lovely MIL have anything to say about it!), plus stuff from our Amazon registry that was sent directly to us (like our stroller & car seat from my in-laws and aunts-in-law!!). Sue-the-shower-hostess also gave us a large box of gently used baby clothes from her 2 year old daughter. My mom had also purchased a large bag of baby girl clothes from her secretary, so once I got everything back to my parents house and laid out, it was an impressive haul. The original plan had been to buy a cheap duffel bag and pile all the shower goodies into it, then check the bag from WA to Los Angeles on my return flight. But there was just. too. much. STUFF.

So, everything got packed into two GIGANTIC boxes and shipped via UPS ground to our house. How much did the two packages weigh together? FIFTY POUNDS. That's 5-0 pounds. Wowie. When they got delivered, all Dave could say was, "Ye gods!"

After washing and sorting all of the clothes by size and putting away the bigger sizes (why keep them out 'til she can fit into them?), we have come to the conclusion that this baby will not need any more clothes 'til she's about 9 months old, or possibly even a year. That's how amazing and generous you people are. Dave and I are so very, very blessed to have such lovely, wonderful people who are so excited to help us welcome this baby girl into the world.

THANK YOU ALL, from the bottom of our hearts!

And now, for some pictures! These are just a few of the 65 pictures (!) that my brother, Sparky, took. I figured 65 pictures would make your eyes glaze over in boredom. Hence, the highlights reel.

Gifties!

Assorted celebrants, including, yes, my Dad (and my brother and his BF). Why should baby showers always be women-only?

Monkey princess ballerina!

Yes, baby girl, we do love you.

One of a pair of beautiful handmade dolls from Mom Rossi (I spent so much time at their house in HS, she's a second mom to me)

Pregnant Belly Bumps!

Oh, yeah, btw, I BEAT THE DEMON GLUCOSE!

I will write a post on my trip home last weekend & the wonderful baby shower two of Mom's friends threw for me (thank you again, Sue & Margo!) soon, but that will have to wait until I get all the pictures from Mom.

In the meantime, an update on gestational diabetes. Met with the nutritionist, who was very impressed with with my diet overall - "Clearly, I do not need to tell you to eat more vegetables and lean proteins!" - and gave me a few things to do, like cutting down on carbs a little (especially first thing in the morning), eating only 2 servings of fruit a day but unlimited veggies, making sure every meal & snack includes protein, upping my calcium intake, and drinking unsweetened soy milk in the morning instead of skim milk. The only part I don't like? Unsweetened soy milk. It tastes like slightly rancid liquefied tofu. I hate tofu, always have, always will, have tried it prepared a hundred different ways and there is no changing my mind, tofu is terrible. But, for you, dear daughter, I will do it.

Stuck to the proscribed nutritionist's diet for 3 weeks, then did a postprandial gestational diabetes test. This involves fasting from midnight the night before, then having the nurses take a sample of blood at 8am to get my fasting blood sugar levels. Then, you eat breakfast and wait 2 hours, and they take another sample of blood.

This was on Thursday morning. Friday afternoon, the doctor's office calls. Guess what?

NORMAL GLUCOSE LEVELS, YO!

Gestational diabetes, I no has it! Well, yes and no. They will still be checking my blood sugar regularly for the remainder of the pregnancy, and I have to stick pretty closely to the diet, but NO INSULIN! I beat the demon glucose through diet and exercise, just like I said I would. BOO-FREAKING-YAH!

Not to toot my own horn, but darned if I'm not proud of myself.

Be Glad

Driving home from Trader Joe's yesterday, I passed a car with a vanity license plate that read, "Be Glad." I couldn't agree more.

So, since I've been a bit complain-y on this blog lately, I'm listing some things I am glad and thankful for.

1. A healthy, active baby girl who, although she's now breech (and I have plans to turn her around closer to her due date), kicks and punches me all day and makes my belly bounce around like Santa Claus's proverbial bowl full of jelly.

2. That Dave has finally been able to feel our daughter kicking the last few nights & mornings - he'd felt her once or twice a month ago, but after that she'd decided he had a soporific effect on her and immediately calmed down every time he'd tried since. It's wonderful to share the experience of her kicking with him.

3. My forthcoming trip home to Walla Walla, to see my family (and finally meet my brother's boyfriend of 3+ years) and friends and have a baby shower. We are so blessed to have people that are so excited to help us welcome Thorberta into the world!

4. That Dave and I both have jobs that interest us and challenge us daily, even though his involves getting paged at 4am, in this not-so-hot economy.

5. That we have two insane, hilarious, cuddly cats that provide nonstop slapstick comedy and great snuggles at the end of a long workday.

6. All of YOU!

The Pregnant Woman’s Version of “All I Want Is A Room Somewhere”

All I want is a nap somewhere

Far away from the too hot air

In one enormous chair, oh,

Wouldn’t it be loverly?

Lots of pastries for me to eat

Lots of massages of my poor feet

Pastries, foot rubs, oh sweet, oh,

Wouldn’t it be loverly?

Oh, so, loverly layin’ ab-so-bloomin-lute-ly still

I would never budge til this

Kid is ready to come out and shrill….

All I want is a nap somewhere

Far away from this too hot air

In one enormous chair, oh,

Wouldn’t it be loverly?