Third Trimester!

Ah, the third and final trimester has arrived! When I think about the time left until little Nigel's arrival in weeks (9-13) it seems really soon. Then I think about the time left in months (~3) and it seems like forever! How can I possibly be expected to remain pregnant for three more months?

Physically, all is going well. Another belly shot has been requested so here it is:
I actually don't think I look that big considering I've gained about 22 lbs and am measuring three weeks ahead, fundal wise. Maybe it is because I have a long torso so the baby is spread out...or maybe I'm just delusional and am really the size of whale but don't realize it.

But just because I don't think I look that big, that doesn't mean I don't think baby is big, oh no, I did not need the midwife's measuring tape to tell me that Nigel has definitely had a growth spurt recently. And his/her head is down already! Of course, if Nigel really wants to be born breech, there is still time and space for more flippage to occur but in general, it's a good sign. But that good sign also means that feet and ribs/lungs tend to occupy the same space sometimes, leaving me with the feeling that I can't breathe. When I calmly relate this to Craig he doesn't really know what to say seeing as how I am normally sitting next to him breathing and not turning blue at the time but he tries to hide his skepticism and appear sympathetic.

I'm definitely feeling the aches and pains of the third trimester already too. Mostly hip pains. The best way for me to sleep without excruciating hip pains is sitting upright with my legs straight in front of me. Unfortunately this often leads to neck pains from being slumped over or a general inability to sleep since I have grown accustomed to sleeping while lying down these last 25 years. So I try to sleep on my side but will inevitable wake up on my back, which is expressly forbidden, then panic that I am depriving my baby of oxygen. Worrying is also not good for sleeping so basically, I'm not sleeping. But my 2-3 hours of napping during the day helps make up for that.

Craig is a fan of my napping too. He often calls me on his way home from work to see if I had a good day and got a good nap. He does this under the guise of letting me know he is on his way but I think he has noticed a correlation between napping and grumpiness and is really trying to gauge my emotions - will I greet him with a kiss and a smile or a evil death glare when he arrives home and asks how I'm feeling? 4 out of 5 afternoons I can give him the thumbs up so I'd say I'm doing good.

I've had an increase in pregnancy brain incidents. I left my keys in the ignition, locked the car and went grocery shopping. It wasn't until I was back at the car with a cart full of groceries that I realized what I had done. It's lucky that we have AAA, and that I didn't buy that ice cream that was on sale.

I sat down on the curb and waited for the AAA man. I was starting to get really hungry and couldn't imagine having to wait 20 more minutes before he arrived home and I could go get lunch when I realized that I had food with me! I felt better after I ate a granola bar :-)

That same grocery trip, I forgot to take the tomatoes out of front of my cart ( I had put them up by my purse so they didn't get smooshed) so even after the AAA guy came and unlocked the car, I had to go back into the grocery store to pay for them. After paying for them at the self-checkout, I almost walked away without the change from my twenty dollar bill - it was a long day.

I took a shower and mid-scrub remembered that my hands contained shampoo and not body wash. This wasn't a big deal but less than 30 seconds later, I proceeded to put a big glob of body wash in my hair. Shampoo washes off skin pretty easily, body wash with exfoliating beads does not come out of hair easily.

I have also had a few panicky moments. Like when I insisted late one night that we needed to order a car seat immediately (Craig talked me out of that) or when I completely freaked out because I couldn't remember the words to any lullabies and how was I supposed to take care of a baby if I didn't know any lullabies? (Craig tried to talk me down from that too by suggesting other less-than-appropriate songs I could sing to the baby instead but I did not find it amusing at the time). These have been few and far between but seem to be increasing in frequency so who knows what's next.