30 Weeks & Counting

Today I am 30 weeks and 2 days. That's just insane! We are going to have a baby in approximately 10 weeks (give or take). It feels like this pregnancy is flying by now, and I really want to try to enjoy the time we have left. Yes, of course, I'm looking forward to what comes next. After all, that is the end goal of this whole endeavor. But I'm just not in a hurry to reach the destination without appreciating the journey. I realize not everyone enjoys being pregnant, and I wouldn't go so far as to say that I love being pregnant. But I don't hate it. Would I like to have my regular body back and be able to eat/drink whatever and go to sleep without fear of insomnia and/or reflux? Sure. But I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy watching my belly expand and move with the baby. I love feeling the kicks and jabs and knowing what they represent. I much prefer discussing due dates and gender guessing to dodging nosy questions about when I was going to "hurry up and have some kids."

And at the end of the day, I just don't know whether I'll get the chance to be pregnant again or not. We have frozen embryos still, and we will attempt to use those. But they might not work. And if they don't, I'm not certain I'd be willing to put myself (and my husband AND this baby) through IVF again or not. Honestly, the IVF was worse than pregnancy has been by far, at least for me. That is somewhat due to the fact that I developed pretty severe OHSS from the IVF. And I know I've had a relatively easy pregnancy, compared to many others. Nevertheless, I don't know what will happen in the future and I want to enjoy this stage as much as I can while it lasts.

I'm very much looking forward to things slowing down a bit around here. Both September and October were very full months with lots of extra stuff going on outside of work and nursery projects. A lot of it was good stuff, and some was not (like having to buy a new car all of a sudden). But even good stuff can start to feel stressful when there's too much going on and all you really want to do is sit down and breathe. This past weekend we went to visit my aunt and uncle in Indiana. I kind of didn't want to go because last week was so rushed and crazy, but I'm glad we did. We had a really nice time with my family and actually ended up getting a lot done on Saturday.

My aunt took us "Amish country" shopping and we got some stuff for the nursery (a little side table, a wall shelf, some Noah's Ark stuff), a few knickknacks and collectibles that we are always on the lookout for in antique stores, and some Christmas gifts for people (including something for my father-in-law, who is incredibly difficult to shop for!). Later that afternoon, we left the guys at home to nap/watch football and went fabric shopping. We picked out fabric for her to make us a crib skirt and a baby quilt/blanket. My aunt does really amazing quilting work, so I'm super excited to see the finished product(s). And it was great having her and my cousin to help, since I know pretty much nothing about buying fabric, etc. That evening, my aunt and Paul went through a stack of old t-shirts from his camp days and discussed plans for a camp-themed t-shirt quilt she is going to make for him. Meanwhile, she gave me a stack of quilting magazines to look through and pick out the styles that I liked for the baby quilt. We got back yesterday late afternoon/early evening and were able to have a few hours at home to just chill with the dogs and catch up on our DVR shows, which was nice.

I'm not a fan of the end of daylight savings time. I dread the time change every fall. It doesn't really matter to me that it gets light earlier in the mornings now because A) it's still dark when I have to get up, and B) I would MUCH rather drive in to work in the dark than have it be dark before I even leave my office at the end of the day. Ugh. Anyway, I'm hoping this week won't be as bad as the last few in terms of running around. I need to get a lot done at work this week so I'm hoping to get in relatively early each day and then be able to leave early-ish (or at least on time). I do have my next OB check-up later this morning, but that should be quick (I hope). Paul works this whole weekend but is supposed to get coverage for a few hours on Saturday afternoon so we can go in to this breastfeeding class I signed up for at the hospital. I've heard really good things about this one, so I'm looking forward to it. Paul is probably a little less enthused, but everyone says it is important for the husbands to tag along because there's stuff for them to learn/understand too, so we'll see.

Well, this post has dragged on longer than I first intended, so I think I'll wrap it up. I have a few other thoughts bouncing around in my brain to write about, but I will save those for future posts!