The Power of Spandex

At 31 weeks, my swimsuit still fits thanks to the amazing power of spandex to stretch over the belly. In this picture, the baby has come back up from the dropped position.

Life Still Worth Living

So the last post came after a couple of really bad days. Things are significantly better now that I discovered that the gym has exercise classes in the pool every morning except Sunday. The classes are almost entirely senior citizens, which is lots of fun. Nothing makes you feel young and beautiful like hanging out with old folks. The instructor was talking about her great-grandchildren. One man was telling me how I could see what I had to look forward to: aches and pains. I told him that I had those already. At least mine will go away in another couple of months.

On Tuesday, the baby dropped. That means he turned head-down and settled down lower (unfortunately, directly onto my bladder). This gives him more room to stretch and positions him better for birth. The side effects are that I have to go to the bathroom every half hour or so and for some reason, having him so low makes me queasy. Also, my stomach doesn't stick out as far, so I can be mistaken for fat again. Some of the old folks said they couldn't tell I was pregnant. Since I've already gained 20 pounds and feel gi-normous, that made me very sad.

Went to the doctor's yesterday for my checkup, which pretty much just means that they check my weight and blood pressure, the baby's heartrate, and ask me if the baby's moving and how I'm doing. It doesn't seem worth the drive most of the time. Anyways, my doctor told me that she's 25 weeks pregnant with her 1st. Thank goodness she's due more than a month after I am. After all the trouble I had finding a doctor, I wouldn't want to have to switch again.

Already Tired of Third Trimester

I'm now at 30 weeks, 2 weeks into the third trimester. I'm already longing for second trimester. Then I had energy and was showing, but not overly inconvenienced. This week I developed sciatica (literally a pain in the butt). I got trapped in the kitchen when it became too painful to walk or even stand. Fortunately, Curtis was due home and could help me go lie down. Since walking seems to make the pain worse, I'm trying to go to more water fitness classes at the gym to get things to loosen up.

Yesterday, I got to go to the hospital to get a shot of Rogam in case the baby's blood type is different from mine. That was loads of fun as no one seemed to know where the shots were administered so I kept getting sent to different desks and of course there was a wait at each one. Hard to believe that I went to so much effort in order to be stabbed in butt with a needle and pay for the privilege.

In any case, between the pain in the rear, the normal pregnancy back pain, and the giant tummy, I'm having trouble getting comfortable enough to sleep. Plus I have a cold. Sigh, another 10 weeks of this.

Will Bleed for Comedy

We got back from Fresno the 27th and on the 28th, my family arrived from Missouri. (7 people in a 2 BD apartment) My mother was flipping through the Las Vegas Review-Journal and discovered the best deal ever. The local blood bank was offering a voucher for 2 free Penn & Teller tickets in exchange for donating blood, but only until New Year's. Tickets are normally $82.50 each.

So New Year's Eve morning found us all at the blood bank. Everyone signed up to donate except me (that whole pregnancy thing making it a really bad idea). Marla was rejected for low iron, but everyone else was accepted. Curtis is terrified of needles, but he braved it stoically. We saw the show on the 2nd. It was pretty awesome and it was one show that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

Kitty Roadtrips

Everyone is surprised that we take Beckham with us on roadtrips. Actually, the cat is quite understanding. We've found that it is MUCH better not use the carrier. The cat yowls for a while at the beginning of the trip but then becomes resigned to its fate. It will lie on my lap for hours and even purr. If the sun is shining on it, it gets too hot, though. Then it likes to lie on my coat.

Snow in Vegas

I at last have a chance to put up some posts from Christmas. As we were leaving for Fresno on Tuesday the 19th, it was snowing on the strip and in Henderson (the south end of town). We only got a little rain in the morning, but don't know about the afternoon. Leaving Las Vegas on I-15 was so gorgeous that we had to stop at some random exit and get the camera from the back of the car. Beckham wasn't too thrilled with the cold, wet stuff. The snow lasted into California, but by Baker grade there was no sign that it had snowed.