34 Weeks

I feel bad coming out and saying it, but I think you have all been replaced.

I still read your blogs and am inspired by all your running, but I have to admit, not running for 26 weeks has made it difficult to read about it. Not only because I am extremely jealous, but also because I have just kind of lost interest in it. It's hard to admit, but in a way I am enjoying the mental and physical break. I mean, I hate the fact that I haven't been able to do it for so long and hate that it's going to SUCK when I try to start up again, but in a way, I love that it's just one other thing I don't have to check off my list of things to do.

Especially when I am less than 6 weeks (hopefully) from having my first child and obsessing over all the things that I still have to learn: pain coping during natural childbirth, pros and cons of interventions, breastfeeding, vaccinations, what to do with a baby when she actually gets here, what to pack in a diaper bag, what to pack in a hospital bag, what the numbers on diaper boxes mean (I thought the 1, 2 and 3 were for ages, much to the amusement of my co-working mamas). Go ahead and laugh at me, it's fine.

I'm TOTALLY clueless I tell you and lately it seems, I clueless about EVERYTHING. And no matter how much time I have left, it will never be enough time to learn all the things I feel I still need to learn. I still have about 2-3 books I want to get through and everyday I find a new, fascinating website that provides more information than anyone could ever possibly need to know.

But I have to admit, the one thing that has been taking up most of my time the past few weeks has not been educating myself on pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. It's about something much more important...

NURSERIES!!!

OK, so decorating a nursery is obviously NOT more important than those other things, but when you are deep into the "nesting like a mofo" chapter of your pregnancy, cleaning and organizing the house and getting the nursery all set up and ready (even if it's still 6 weeks before your due date) seems like the ONLY THNG THAT MATTERS RIGHT NOW!!

So, that's what I've been doing the past two weeks. Lots of nesting, decorating, cleaning, shopping ("YES JEREMY, WE NEED TO HAVE A BOX OF DIAPERS AND BABY TYLENOL IN THE HOUSE RIGHT NOW, JUST IN CASE") and obsessing. And in the course of all my googling nurseries online, I have found some pretty amazing blogs out there from super-creative moms and the amazing spaces they have created for their little bundles of joy.

So there you have it. You have been replaced with blogs on nurseries, pregnancy, child-rearing and baby craft projects. Never thought I would be that girl, but I am.

Don't worry though. I'll be back to obsessing over Gu flavors, running shoes, weather.com and 20 milers again in no time. I've already got the Philadelphia Distance Run and Marathon on my radar in the fall. :)

Other than that, things at 34 weeks are good. I'm slowing down, but still feel alright. I'm much more tired and feel like I have grown SO much in the past two weeks. Actually. I know I have since I suddenly gained 3lbs in the past week. This makes for a grand total of 28lbs so far. Not so bad, but the sudden growth spurts do tend to hurt a bit and I'm starting to notice a few more aches and pains.

For example, when I get up any of the 32 times a day I have to walk to the bathroom from my office, I actually have begun to waddle a little because it feels like my pelvic bones have spread apart while I've been sitting there. I can't believe I'm a waddler. People actually laugh at me as I walk by their desks. Sigh.

Thursday night, I had my 34 week appointment and everything was great. Bean is measuring perfectly and her heartbeat is strong. Her noggin is down and her feet are up, already making mama proud. Keep up the good work Bean!

Finally, tomorrow, Jeremy and I have our childbirth class. We signed up for an amazing, one-day intensive Birthworks class at the Maternal Wellness Center that is literally a 5 minute stroll from our house. Very convenient and I love the fact that we do not have to spend 3-8 weeks taking a class. My midwife assured us we will get all the information we need about of the one day, 4.5 hour course as we would the one that spans a few weeks. I'm really looking forward to the class and am excited and nervous in a way to see how J reacts to it.

I'm sure as soon as we leave the class, the obsessing over the nursery will quickly change back to obsessing over birthing. After all the research I have done, I am fully committed to having a natural childbirth, but get many, many, many fleeting thoughts about how difficult and painful it is going to be to push a human out of my body.

Of course. I run marathons. It shouldn't hurt that much, right? ;)

Don't worry. I am fully aware of how that statement is going to come back to bite me in the ass.

32 Weeks and yep, more photos...

I should just turn this into a photo blog already.

I hope you all had a great holiday and a Happy New Year! Mine was busy, even with a whole week and a half off of work. We did get a couple of days alone while our houseguest left for a few days to see his sister, but then he came back with his girlfriend for over a week, so we were busy hanging out with them. We had a great time, but I have to say, when they left on January 3rd, I was SO happy to have an empty house. We have had house guests or been out of town EVERY weekend since HALLOWEEN!!!! I'm ready to be a loner for a little while.

Jeremy and I did have a nice Christmas eve. We ventured out to Babies R Us because I had a coupon I wanted to use thet expired that day. By the time we got out there, Jeremy informed me we were NOT coming back out there again, so we needed to get as much stuff off of our registry as we could. So the Bean made out like a bandit that day with a new crib mattress, a carseat, a snap-n-go and a Maclaren stroller (with anti-finger chopping kit attached). Once we get the Bob jogger (not for a couple of months), we will be one of those couples with THREE strollers. Never thought I would become that person, but I have.

Christmas day, J and I spent the entire day indoors eating and watching TV alone. It was great. He spoiled me to death (new camera, snow boots, sling for the bean, awesome baby book from etsy.com, a new fuzzy bathrobe, slippers) he's way too good to me.

Posing by the tree.


Making me Christmas breakfast.


Buckeye helping me test out my new sling.


Zero with her Christmas gift.


Two days after Christmas, we met our friends up in NYC for a one night, two day quick trip to the city. It was my first time in the Big Apple, and even though it was one of the coldest, windiest days of the year, we still had a great time. Although I was exhausted by the time we were done.

Our first moments in NYC.


I really need to invest in a maternity coat.










Freezing our butts off in Times Square.










On top of Rockefeller Center.


Central Park.


Empire State.






Of course, there are a million more pictures, but I'll keep it short.

The next few days we just hung out at the house with our friends. I did manage to get a little more of the nursery accomplished, I'll post pictures of that later. Unfortunately, we didn't do anything for New Years eve since we all got sick after running around New York in the cold weather. I've found out that a cold takes a lot longer to get over when you are 8 months pregnant.

Other than that, just back to work, which is starting to take a lot out of me. It's getting to the point where I am looking forward to the 12 weeks of maternity leave almost as much at meeting the Bean. Not quite, but almost. :)

I'm still feeling good. I'm just getting to the point of feeling uncomfortable lately, but it could be a lot worse. I haven't taken any good belly shots for a couple of weeks. Here is my last one from 2 weeks ago.



Hope you are all having a great New Year!!! My only "resolution" right now is to try and update this thing more often.