Pregnancy update

No, I have not "had that baby yet." Yes, I know I am as big as a barn. No, it is not twins. Yes, I'm sure it is not twins.

My original due date was April 2, which just happens to be next Friday, Good Friday. A few weeks ago, we heard an odd heartbeat on the doppler at my visit with the midwife. Liz thought it was hiccups, and I'm sure she was right, but I was still a little worried, so she kindly offered to order an ultrasound. At the ultrasound, the baby was weighing a whopping 8 pounds, 5 ounces, (35 weeks) so the radiologist moved my due date to March 5. Funny. Hilarious, in fact, considering I went 3 weeks and 2 weeks overdue, respectively, with my two other kids. I thought it was a little silly to move the due date based on the baby's weight, as an 8 pound baby is nowhere near full term for me. Mercy was 9 pounds, 4 ounces, and Judah was 9 pounds, 12 ounces, so an 8 pound baby would look downright scrawny to me. Anyway, hearing a due date of March 5 galvanized me into action to get some projects and cleaning finished, even though I knew a baby arriving around that time was highly unlikely. Turns out the baby's heart is fine, but the kidneys are the problem. They were both enlarged, which indicates reflux. It is mild, but we have to have a follow-up ultrasound of the baby's kidneys after he/she is born.

I like being pregnant. I am blessed with good, uneventful pregnancies (and as one friend said..."if they're going to be so long, it's nice that they're good!"), and I usually feel just fine for most of the 9 months. But, I admit, I'm getting tired of being pregnant. I'm ready to meet this little one, and I'm tired of carrying the little elephant around now. It's getting hard for me to pick up the other children, and rolling over in bed is pretty much a joke. I'm just ready to be done. I don't feel grouchy yet like I did when one, then two, then THREE weeks passed after my due date with Mercy, but apparently I'm a little more irritable than I thought. Today, Benj blessed me with some much needed alone time, even if it was just to do grocery shopping. I was browsing in a new health food store that I hadn't had a chance to check out because of not wanting to drag the littles in and out of their carseats for a quick survey. So I'm minding my own business, looking at the gluten free food items, and this woman comes bursting out of the back and says..."Still no baby yet?" like we were finishing a previous conversation. Now, I guess I'm not as good a Southern girl as I had previously assumed, because it generally annoys me when people I wouldn't know if I found them dead in my lunchbox ask personal questions. I mean, I'm polite, and say "hello" and "thank you" and all that, but I just don't like complete strangers questioning me about my personal life, my parenting choices, etc. Anyway, back to the healthfood store. I was rather taken aback by this gusty, presumptuous greeting, and I answered, rather testily, that I'd be rather disgusted if I looked like this and had already had the baby. She laughed, but left me alone. For about 5 minutes. Obviously, not one to take a subtle hint, she came back and asked if it was a boy or girl. Um. Okay. First of all, we don't know. Second of all, do people really think that's any of their business what sex child a stranger is having? Honestly. Needless to say, I hurried out of the store without buying anything. Rant over. See, I said I was more irritable than I thought.

One thing I did for myself today was have a pedicure. I've never done that before, and I normally wouldn't even consider paying someone else to do something I am perfectly capable of doing, but my poor puffy feet are so sore from waddling around on them in tight shoes, and being that I can hardly REACH my feet, I had been rather neglectful of them, and it was showing. So, when I should have been doing my grocery shopping while my sainted husband was watching my two wild toddlers, I was sitting in a massage chair with my feet in a whirlpool. Oh, it was 45 minutes of heaven. She massaged my legs and feet, and I even had a paraffin wax dip. I am now the proud owner of beautiful lavender toes and soft, magnificently-tended feet. And Benj didn't mind at all, as I was in rather a happier frame of mind when I returned home.

So that's the update on me and Baby #3. The countdown is on.