it's official!

Over the past couple of weeks, I've definitely noticed some changes...I'm officially in my 3rd trimester, only 10 1/2 weeks to go! It's funny how at the same time, that seems both really far away and just around the corner.

I now officially cannot see my feet when I stand up straight and look down. I also officially have been waking up more often at night because I can't seem to stay comfortable in the same position for too long. We're almost officially done with cleaning out the baby's room, there's just one more box, and a computer, and a small file cabinet to move out. I'm also officially (technically) registered for baby stuff, tho not entirely. We'll have to hit Babies R Us I think next week, especially since people are officially planning baby showers for me now...

The baby is officially very active - the nurse practitioner gave me a chart at my last visit to keep track of movements - I want to track at least 10 movements in an hour, usually counting about an hour or so after eating. I think the longest it's taken so far to reach 10 movements is about 10 minutes. Yesterday, it was 2 minutes. I have now heard that theoretically boys are more mobile in the womb, so that may be a hint of the baby's gender, but I'm not going to be making any guarantees just yet. The baby is also officially kicking me in the ribs, which is definitely less than comfortable. Unfortunately, there's just not a ton I can do about it. Movements in general are no longer cute and gentle, they're more strong and surprising. I can find where and how the baby is laying fairly easily, which I love, and I can generally differentiate big body parts (head and butt) and skinny ones (legs and arms) that's about as definite as we get so far.

Next week is my first appointment for every 2 weeks, instead of the standard every 4, and all of a sudden things seem to be speeding up quite a bit. I've got all my appointments scheduled between now and March, and it really doesn't seem like all that many, even though it's probably pretty equal to the number of appointments I've had in the entire pregnancy up to this point! We finally picked dates for birthing classes, we were having trouble with scheduling, and I was considering just skipping it, but I think it'll be good for us to go. It'll have to be a Saturday and Sunday, all day sort of thing, which isn't fabulous, but better than 6 weeks of 3hr classes on a weeknight.

Overall, I think things are going really well, better than expected. I've had intermittent issues with heartburn and other issues, but it hasn't been awful. I get a little sore sometimes, but that's why I have a chiropractor. Everyone seems to think I make a really cute pregnant lady, and I even still have enough energy to go out on a Friday night from time to time (tho someone could probably make an argument about me needing to take better care of my body and getting more sleep). I'm bummed that my sister won't be able to come up for the baby, but since she's having her own at pretty much the same time, I guess I can let it go. And my brother's going to come visit from Connecticut, so that works out nicely, since we haven't seen him in awhile. There are plenty of plans yet to be made, but I do still have some time left.

It's funny that I'm almost 7 1/2 months pregnant, but I'll still stop myself and find it absolutely amazing that this has happened. I still can't imagine very well what it will be like to have a baby in the house, having to take all those changes into account when trying to make future plans like mission trips or traveling for weddings and things. I don't think we're going to disappear into our house when the baby comes. We tried really hard not to disappear into ourselves when we got married, and it definitely paid off. I would imagine there would be similar benefits in staying (almost) as involved with a baby. At the same time as thinking all of this, I'm also trying to keep options and expectations open, just because I don't know what toll this will all take on my body and emotions and how long it will take me to recover from giving birth, much less get into a routine and become a functioning person again. I had long ago decided that there's no way I can figure out entirely what's it's going to be like having a baby. After walking into marriage with what I felt was a good grasp of the difficulties and challenges (as well as the good parts) and still being entirely knocked off my feet, I'm just going to assume it's going to be the same way with having kids. Awesome beyond description, but also requiring a lot more of me than I can anticipate. Guess I'll find out soon enough!