Oy vey!

Yesterday and last night was a little rough! Went to the doctor's appointment and had a tiny stroke when I didn't see our doctor's name on the window. I was so afraid she'd gone into labor before me, but turns out they had been too busy to switch out the signs for the day, phew! Well, we didn't make much progress last week, I'm *almost* 4 cm and still about 80% effaced. But Dr. Redden seems very happy with it all and says that we're just waiting to the contractions to get into a regular rhythm. She also said at next week's appointment (if I make it) we'll do an ultrasound and make sure everything's okay and we can talk about inducing if I want. I was hesitant at first, but I feel my spirit weakening with every passing day. I can handle a lot of things, but it's the days when I'm juggling 5 or 6 symptoms at once I feel defeated. Last night after the nausea, the back pain, the painful contractions, lack of sleep, allergies, swelling and now I'm seeing stretchmarks in unappealing places, once my foot arch started hurting I just hung my head and cried. At least Ben was there for the breakdown, he's been wonderful through the painful/uncomfortable times!

Okay, okay, enough of that! I need to stay positive and think good thoughts, right? I was ecstatic to get a call from my grandma yesterday out of the blue. She was just checking up on me and I was thrilled to hear she is doing well for the most part. She has restless leg issues and said her feet have been hurting lately as well, so I told her she really didn't need to have sympathy pains for me. I'm thrilled my sister just found out she's pregnant too! Which means four out of the five of us first cousins will have babies all within a year of each other, so hopefully they'll be great friends. I'm relieved Ben's work has worked out their issues so there will be no problems when I go into labor. (I may have threatened to waddle into his store and demand my husband loudly if they didn't let him leave when I need him and I might bring the 6:00 news with me.) And even better, Ben found out he's got 5 and a half WEEKS of paid time off left this year. So there will be plenty of paternity time plus a week here and there to visit our family members who can't make the drive to us.

Finally took pictures of the finished nursery, just need to dig through them and post them! Soon...

Behold...

My seriously swollen feet! One of the doctors laughed when I referred to them as plump franks. Oy!

I can see why pregnant women feel less smart...

...because once you start to show, nearly every conversation you have starts (or is only) the same five questions.

-When are you due?
-Is this your first?
-Boy or girl?
-Do you have a name yet?
-Are you miserable yet? (or some variation of "Hot enough for you?")

Friday was my last day of work before I'm on maternity leave, and I have to say I'm relieved. Partly because my feet have swollen to dachshund-like proportions once my shift is over and partly because I'm tired of having this conversation with every patient. With the exception of one, we had a woman in who was close to my age and when I went to help her pick out glasses we got to talking. Turns out her due date is the day before mine. It was exciting getting to commiserate with a fellow 37-weeker, especially our poor husbands that just look at us worriedly and ask what's going on whenever we have contractions. Like I have any idea, I'm just as new to this as you are, bud!

Pregnancy bitching moment: I'm all for the bun baking as much as he needs to in the oven, but I've hit that wall: I no longer want to be pregnant. I'm sick of the swelling, nausea, allergies, how painful it is to roll over in bed, sleeplessness and sleepiness, and looking with envy at the normal clothes section of Target. I swear their clothes got much cuter this summer!

Okay, now that I'm done being negative, something positive... our adult gifts! Ben's dad and brother our gifting us a porch swing and some pavers to create a covered patio kind of area. And upon hearing that, Ben's mother and step-dad decided to gift us painting our shed/carport, which right now is close to halfway being done. I'll post a picture in a bit, hm, wish I had taken a before....darn, I never remember to do that!

Well, off to try and get a few more Zzz's before I have to get up. (I've been up since 4 today...blech)