FAQ #3: are you ready?

We're over the colds (mostly) and on to a million other things. The baby shower last weekend was lovely. And the best part was a special treat organized by Susie (my mother-in-law): a surprise visit from my very own mother! She flew out from Maryland/DC just for the weekend. What a wonderful weekend. And a wonderful present. The shower was mostly an "advice" shower, which was perfect since I was feeling a nervous about being "showered" with gifts from folks that I didn't know at all. And there were some lovely used baby items from these women (who were lovely themselves. Apparently I'm also now officially one of the "Mamelas").

We're are now at 35 weeks. It occurred to me today that what this means is that I'm two short weeks away from answering FAQ #1 with "any day now". Which leads me to FAQ #3: "are we ready?" Yikes. That's a loaded question. Fortunately, from what I can tell, there's only a few precious things needed to be prepared for an infant: a car seat (to get the kid home from the hospital), diapers (to catch the poop), warm things (to, uh, keep the baby warm), and working boobs (ie. food). The boobs are clearly working, we've got a serviceable carseat, we've got some clothing items, and they sell diapers in every corner store. So, uh, yes? I think we're ready?

But the question often is phrased with the words "baby's room" in it. On that front, no. Right now that room is a pile of baby gear of many many varieties. But that doesn't matter, right? The kid doesn't need a room to itself just yet (although it's stuff clearly does!).

Sometimes the question is phrased in a more pointed way, as in "are you ready for it to be over?" To that, in general, Yes. From what I can tell there are a couple of general camps that pregnant women fall into at this point in the pregnancy. One is that they are so gosh durn uncomfortable they just want it over. Another is that they're enjoying the pregnancy so much they don't want it to be over. Then there's the different types of worriers: the ones who want to keep the kiddo inside so they know all it's needs are taken care of; and the ones who want the kiddo out ASAP so they can see with their own eyes that everything is A-Okay.

Generally speaking, I'm pretty comfortable (except for that durn round ligament*) so in that respect I fall into the "doin' okay" camp. I also find it super cool all the things my body knows how to do to make a baby. And it's cool to feel that kid inside of me, just rolling around. As for the worrying - I'm firmly in the second camp: until I see the kid I will worry that something could happen at any moment. While there is only a remote chance of something going wrong at this point, that chance is still there. And it's very real for me as I miscarried my first pregnancy (which is sadly so common) and my mother lost her first child at 8 months.

The good news for the week is that everything looked great at our Dr's visit on Monday. She did an ultrasound to check the kids position (head down, facing to the back, ready to go!), we heard the heart beat, and she switched us from the leisurely monthly visit schedule to a weekly visit schedule. (!)


*For the uninitiated - the round ligaments apparently are the ligaments holding up my growing uterus. I find it interesting that these ligaments are rarely mentioned amongst the pregnancy woes, as I have found them to cause some of my worst pains of pregnancy. Basically, as I understand it, as the uterus grows these ligaments stretch. Yes. If you've ever sprained an ankle, you know that ligaments aren't so good at that. Calls to the advice nurse or mentions to the doctor come with knowing nods and reassurance that everything is normal. And no, there's not much that can be done. Except what my wonderful amazing Zach does, which is remind me to breathe, breathe, and everything is okay.