Week 39

January 20, 2012

Best Moment: Here we are in the final stretch! This week I finished up my job. My company is consolidating most of its positions at the headquarters in Atlanta, so our Austin office is actually closing. This has been a long time coming and wasn't exactly surprising, although I had hoped to return to work in some capacity after my maternity leave. Instead, I'll be able to enjoy a longer than planned "maternity leave" and then later this year I'll start thinking about the next steps in my career. Wrapping up work was a little bittersweet because I enjoyed working with many of my colleagues, but it feels good now to be done. This week I also enjoyed a little pre-baby pampering, including a luxurious pedicure and some eyebrow grooming. I'll be ready for those glamour shots in the delivery room! Haha. I'm still working on sewing an elephant themed mobile for the nursery, but other than that, his room is prepped, our bags are packed, and the house is pretty much spotless. I think we're ready.

Symptoms: I'm feeling all kinds of cramps and twinges in my belly. Some of them are Braxton-Hicks, some of them are indigestion, and some of them are legitimate contractions. Last weekend, I had a bout of contractions every 9 or 10 minutes for over an hour and we were convinced it was go-time. We hadn't even packed our bags at that point, so we spent that hour running around trying to gather everything together. Then the contractions just stopped. Since then, I've had a few minor ones, but nothing consistent. In the last few days, I've also started feeling a lot of pressure and soreness behind my pubic bone. I'm hoping this means the baby's head has dropped.

Cravings/Aversions: Out of the blue, I've started having massive Thai food cravings. In Seattle, there is a Thai restaurant on every street corner (almost literally), and I used to love eating it all the time. In Austin, we've been hard pressed to find a good Thai restaurant, but recently found Titaya's on North Lamar and I was able to indulge in some delicious red curry last night.

What I Miss: Oh, the list is long... But I'm so close to the finish now that it doesn't even matter. I'm just happy to have made it this far with a healthy baby.

What I Can't Wait For: I can't wait to meet him! And I'm looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. I can't even really remember what it feels like to not be pregnant. It will be so strange not to feel him squirming around, to sleep on my stomach, and to just be able to move around without all this extra weight. Who knows? Maybe I'll miss being pregnant.

Milestones: As of my appointment this week, the Bean is now expected to weigh in at just over 7 pounds. He is still piling on body fat to help him regulate his temperature outside the womb and the outer layer of his skin is sloughing off as new skin forms.