You wanna know what’s even more full of the awesome than the things I described earlier in the week?
Being 37 weeks, 5 days pregnant and waking up (on the first morning all week that does not require an alarm) at 5am to go to the bathroom only to discover that your hips are too sore to lie on them anymore and eventually resigning yourself to clipping coupons in the kitchen while sitting on a pillow.
Full. Of. The. Awesome.
You know that the situation has gone completely outer limits when not only do you have to learn to shave your legs with both hands because you can’t reach the outer side of your opposite leg due to the size of your abdomen but you also discover that plucking your eyebrows has become impossible because there isn’t enough room for your belly and the sink to co-exist in a way that makes it possible to actually see what it is that you’re plucking.
Matt was released from jury duty just a few minutes ago, before the lunch break.
This ensures that I will either go to a full 40 weeks or to an induction date (whichever comes first), but it also ensures that Matt will be present for the birth of our second child. I couldn’t be more relieved.
Yesterday we went to Liam’s introduction to preschool (they called it a “Welcoming Tea” but that was a bit of a misnomer…certainly welcoming, but not at all “tea-like”). His classroom is home to two different classes (one on Tuesdays and Thursdays and one Monday-Wednesday-Friday) so there were twice the number of children (plus their parents) as there will normally be and the result was an absolute zoo. Liam didn’t seem at all phased by everything going on around him and was fascinated by the vast assortment of toys available to him.
The most interesting part of the morning to me (and I’m guessing this is the Sociology degree in me on display) was the distinct division of gender roles among the children in the classroom. The oldest children were “young 3s” and yet even at such an early age these children had clearly picked up gender messages along the way. The only children frequenting the dress-up station were girls happily adorned in princess costumes and hats and the boys flocked to the transportation stations full of planes, trains, and automobiles. I didn’t observe any cues from parents that would have led the children to make any particular choice and yet there was a clear division.
I’ve always been fascinated by the nature vs. nurture argument when it comes to stereotypical gender roles but it’s an impossible thing to completely discern, because no matter what kind of environment is provided by a child’s parents, society inevitably weasels its way into the equation.
It will be really interesting to see what happens as Liam takes part in his first group childcare setting as well as learning to navigate the waters of attempting to raise a well-adjusted girl in our culture. I hope she likes trains, because we certainly have enough of them in the house already!
I think my favorite part of this observation however, was provided by Liam. He was carefully inspecting all the large trucks and other transportation equipment when he came across a little princess statue on the rug. He gleefully picked it up exclaiming “Oh, Mama! I found a princess!” He then proceeded to help that princess drive the tar out of a big-rig all the while chattering away about how much fun she was having and what a great job she was doing.
I just hope that we can help him learn that dressing up can be fun, invite the girls in his class to play with him at the transportation stations, and hold on to the idea that princesses can drive big-rigs (and do a great job).
We went to the library on Monday to do our usual return and pick up of books. When we got into the children’s area there was a new rug on the floor, clearly provided by our friends at PBS Kids. In case someone had failed to notice this addition to the decor, Liam ran into the area, saw the logo, and immediately began pointing and screaming “PBS Kids, PBS Kids! Look Mama! It’s PBS Kids!”
To the uninformed observer it may have looked like he was reading the “PBS Kids” part off the rug, as he was pointing directly to it. Unfortunately, I know better and recognize the ridiculousness that is going to the library to get something good for his brain only to find him drawn to the logo representing what’s bad for it.
I guess it could be a whole lot worse. Right…?
We made it to September 1st. Malcolm Gladwell would be proud. Now if Matt can go ahead and just get released from jury duty, anytime now would be an excellent time to have a baby.
You know what’s full of the awesome?
Being 37 weeks, 2 days pregnant and waking up at 6am in a pool of your own sweat to find out that a tree has fallen in the night and taken with it the power lines for the block (and subsequently the air-conditioning and fan that are necessary for your survival). Also: going to the initial parents’ meeting at your son’s preschool and finding out that not only are you the first family to provide snacks on the rotating schedule, but that this means that you are on the hook for the day before and the day after your due date. Also: finding out that one child has a peanut allergy (and not knowing how severe because this parent wasn’t able to be at the meeting) and another has both dairy and egg allergies (yes, even baked into things).
Being 37 weeks, 3 days pregnant and waking up at 5:15am because your husband has to drive to Davidson, NC for a 10am meeting. Also: spending the entire day crossing your legs and pretending that those contractions aren’t really painful while trying to have a cheery disposition for your son’s introduction to preschool.
Being 37 weeks, 4 days pregnant and waking up at (what I assume will be) 6:45am because your husband has jury duty and needs to leave by 7:15 in order to get there on time. Also: again spending the entire day with your legs (and fingers) crossed all the while knowing that the government doesn’t give two hoots about your husband missing the birth of your child and hoping against hope that he doesn’t get chosen to serve on a jury.
But you know what’s the most full of the awesome?
Being Matt while all this is going on.
Matt trying desperately to finish the final bits of the last home improvement project before we extract Baby Girl
+
Shannon trying desperately to breathe through painful (though irregular) contractions without alarming Liam
=
Liam eating Goldfish for dinner in our bed while watching HGTV
Today I’m medically considered full-term. Full being the operative word.
I’m just plain full. I fill up any seat upon which I put my behind. I fill up the bed at night. I fill up any walkway in which I might be standing to the point that it becomes impassable to others. My bladder appears full to the breaking point at all times, regardless of my hydration status. I am completely and utterly filled to the brim with being finished with this whole thing. On with the pictures.
Week 37 in my pregnancy with Liam:
Wow.
Bonus shot of us with the Williams Family Bassinet:
Week 37 in this pregnancy with Baby Girl:
Bonus shot:
Fully finished.
Since my 32 week appointment I’ve been asking the midwife about the baby’s position (knowing that that early it wasn’t any kind of a guarantee). Also since my 32 week appointment, I’ve been told that she’s head down.
Despite all this reassurance (at least at this point the chance of her flipping to a breech position is relatively low) I have had a hard time believing that she is actually head-down. Part of that has hinged on the amount of movement I feel in ALL areas of my abdomen. I’ve also been assured that the 20 week ultrasound would have shown if she had more than two arms and two legs, but it feels like I’ve got an overactive octopus in there a lot of the time.
The other reason that I have a hard time believing that she’s actually head down is that when she gets the hiccups (as she does several times a day for what seems like extended periods of time) I don’t feel most of the movement in the lower region of my uterus. I feel the strongest motions from these hiccups on my side (I also feel movement down low and up high at the same time).
Last night I figured it out. It makes total sense that I, the woman who was once asked to leave an undergrad English class because my hiccups were so loud that they were completely disrupting the class discussion, would have a child whose hiccups would shake her entire body and that I would feel the most movement where I assume her back is currently resting. I still won’t be completely convinced until we have the ultrasound in a week and a half, but it’s definitely helped to ease my mind a bit.
It’s amazing the things with which I find my mind completely occupied these days.