The home stretch

Less than two weeks to go until my due date! The beginning of the pregnancy seemed to go really slowly, then the middle flew by, and now at the end, things are starting to slow down again. The last few weeks have been quite difficult (emotionally, not physically, for which I'm thankful). It's very hard for me to know that something huge is about to happen but to not know exactly when or how and to have basically no control over it. The waiting is really starting to wear on me, and I've burst into tears for seemingly no reason on several occasions. I'm trying to enjoy these last few days of being a family of two and concentrate on the excitement of meeting our little boy rather than the uncertainty of the process of getting him here, but it's difficult at times. I've just got to hang in there a little bit longer, though!

A few observations/reminders for my future self as I near the end of my pregnancy.

• I should have given in and invested more in maternity clothes earlier. I really didn't want to spend a lot of money on maternity clothes. It seems like such a waste when you only wear them for a few months. However, I also forgot how much I hate the feeling of not having anything to wear. I would have been a lot happier just forking over the money for quite a few good outfits. Additionally, under-the-belly maternity pants and skirts work fine for the first 7 or so months, but it becomes very difficult to find shirts long enough to cover that gap at the end. 
• Disappointingly, I never really had any pregnancy cravings. I was looking forward to the excuse to eat with abandon or send Darby out at 1 a.m. for some random food item. :) There were a handful of times when I really wanted red velvet cake, french fries, and frozen yogurt (separately), so I went and got some, but it wasn't anything stronger than a regular food craving. I think I love food too much normally for pregnancy to make much of a difference. 
• I do have some evidence of "pregnancy brain." This became quite obvious when playing word games with my family over Thanksgiving. Certain common words would just totally leave my brain. While playing Taboo, I could think of the word exhaust, but not pipe.Weird.
• When people find out your due date, there is a universal compulsion to list for you the birthdays and anniversaries of everyone they know that fall into a four-week window around your due date. I'm guilty of this, too. However, in the future, I'm going to try to stop myself. It's getting hard for me to feign enthusiasm when someone tells me their great-aunt's anniversary is 4 days after my due date. 
• I always kind of thought pregnant women were exaggerating when they would expend so much effort to get up from a seated position. I thought they either wanted sympathy or they must have just let themselves totally go to get to that point. Well, I am repenting. I have stayed active throughout this pregnancy, and it is still super hard to get up from sitting or lying down, especially from a soft seat. I now psych myself up for about 5 seconds before heaving myself up from the couch, often with a grunt. It's not pretty. 

Overall, I wouldn't say pregnancy has been "magical" for me. As with most big things in life, ordinary life carries on with its ups and downs. I now just go through all of those things with a 30-pound weight attached. One thing that has been really awesome, though, is feeling the baby move. For the past 6 weeks or so, I have been able to feel him pretty much constantly throughout the day, and I really enjoy that. It's amazing that there's this tiny little person inside me and that soon he will be on the outside. Any time I see friends' baby pictures on facebook, I get so excited I can hardly stand it. I can't wait to hold this little guy and see his tiny feet that poke me in the side constantly. I'm so happy that the time is almost here!