36 Weeks Pregnant

See my henna tattoo?! J Travis has a couple of Indian students whose mother does them, and ever since he expressed interest months ago, they’ve been pestering him to bring me to have one done. I love it! And she was SOO nice! She also did a sun on Travis’s hand and a bird on his inner forearm, and then gave us four tubes of henna paste so we could do our own later since she didn’t think she would be able to use them up before they expired. And THEN, she wouldn’t let us pay her anything! She just gave us some business cards and told us to send people her way. So if you like what you see and you live nearby, let me know and I’ll give you her info!

Also, you may have noticed our new picture at the top of the blog. Last Thursday we decided that we would go get the henna done the next day, and I wanted to take some cute belly pictures before then. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to take a walk anyway, so we went to a nearby garden (the same place we went for our engagement photo shoot!) and Travis brought his nice new camera and a tripod. We ended up with several great photos, including some of both of us, which I was most excited about since we take pictures of just me every week! We’re hoping to go again while I have the henna, which should last for 1-2 weeks. Here are a few more from last week’s trip:

With only a few weeks to go, the onslaught of mixed emotions is starting to hit. I’m anxious, worried, stressed, excited, happy, sad, needy, sentimental, selfish, loving…the list goes on. I hope we’re ready for this. I think I just need to remember to take it one day at a time. I feel a little bit better since I made a list of things I’d like for us to get done before Norah arrives. It has almost 30 items on it, though!

One of the things I’ve been wanting to do is apologize to our friends and family for not being a better friend, sister, etc. I want you all to know that I’m so sorry I/we don’t spend more time with you. There are a lot of reasons why we don’t, and while I don’t want to flood you with excuses, I’m hoping you can sympathize with some of them.

The main reason is simply that Travis and I have opposite schedules most days. When he gets off work, I’m just starting. By the time we’re both home, we just want to spend some time together at home.

In that same vein, my schedule is different every day, and I teach every day (including weekends), so it’s hard to plan things.

I don’t really like driving. I don’t mind riding, but that means Travis always has to drive.

I always seem to get tired before everyone else does (especially now), and when I’m tired I truly CANNOT function, and then I end up coming across as rude or angry or unhappy.

I’m terrible at socializing. I just am. It takes a lot of effort for me to carry on a conversation. I enjoy spending time with people, but after a couple of hours I’m drained.

I’ll stop there. I just wanted everyone to know that we neglect all of you equally, and it’s not you, it’s us. :-P

Also, I can’t guarantee that it won’t get worse once Norah arrives. In fact, it probably will.

I’m worried that our friends who don’t have children won’t understand. I don’t think they can. For example, I don’t think I’ll be okay with leaving Norah with anyone overnight for quite a while, and then very seldom. I guess I’m just sensitive to other people’s opinions, and I will take it personally if people don’t like some of our parenting choices, or if they think we’re lame for staying home with the baby all the time, or whatever. I hope everyone has enough confidence in us to know that we've put a lot of thought into our decisions, and we’ll do whatever we think is best for our daughter.

Norah has been even more active than usual lately! It seems like she spends more of her time awake now. She has been waking me up most mornings this week. This morning as I was watching my belly, I saw her two feet go – step, step! I could almost see the exact shape of each foot! So tiny!

Yesterday I had my 36 week doctor appointment. As far as I know, everything was fine. He didn’t tell me my belly measurement (I should have asked, but I’ll see the midwife next week anyway). My measurement all the way around is 39.5”. The heartbeat was good, and my weight was 137.4. I did the strep B test, and I’m not sure when I’ll hear back about that. I really like that doctor, though. He’s a family doctor/obstetrician/pediatrician. He seems very laid back and open-minded, etc. We will probably keep him as our family doctor.

He also wrote my prescriptions for the Vitamin K, Pitocin, and Methergine tablets. Unfortunately, I spent over an hour driving around looking for this specific pharmacy that carries all of those, and which is supposedly less than two miles from the doctor’s office. Never found it. Drove home feeling like my whole day was wasted. I’ll go back later this week, after I call his office to ask once again where the place is and what it’s called.

Yesterday’s Bradley class was really helpful. It was sort of a labor rehearsal. After we watched a video reminding us of some of the positions we could try during contractions and some things our husbands can do to encourage and make us more comfortable, we went into the birth center and did several practice contractions. Travis took notes on what I liked the most.

Well, I think that's all the news I've got for today. See you next week, when I will be FULL TERM!!! :-)