40 Weeks to 40 Days

Wow, this pregnancy is going by fast! It's incredible to me that we can grow entirely new human beings in such a (relatively) short time. I have fewer than 40 days now until my guess date, and Baby could really be born at any time now!

I've been on bed rest for a couple of weeks after some (too) early labor signs, but today Jaymz is back at work and Daniel and I are back to our normal routine. Hopefully Baby will stay inside a little longer to grow bigger and stronger, but we're good to go for a home birth at this point and I'm content to allow Baby to choose hir birthday—whenever that may be.

Here's a little update on how we're doing:

Food Cravings: Cinnamon! Yep, this little one still loves cinnamon, so I do my best to have some every day.

Food Aversions: I still don't particularly care for handling raw meat, but I'm not having any specific aversions at this point. Spicy foods give me heartburn, so I'm avoiding those for the most part.

Body Changes: We're still growing right on track. My belly button is trying to become an "outie" but it's still not quite there yet. This didn't happen at all with my pregnancy with Daniel, so I'm finding it rather amusing. It pokes out more when I'm standing, or when I'm coughing or laughing... which (of course) just makes me laugh more!

Sleep: It's definitely getting tougher to sleep through the night, due to heartburn and needing to get up to pee frequently. But overall, I feel relatively well-rested and I can't complain.

Movement: Baby is still very active, but over the past week, the movements have gotten less vigorous and more rolling. I'm sure the little one is just running out of room in there for any major gymnastics, but s/he still wiggles a lot and pushes up with hir bum against the top of my uterus very frequently. Baby remains head down, which is also great.

Other Symptoms: My hips are beginning to ache when I stay in any one position for too long. This made bed rest pretty challenging because I needed to stay horizontal for the majority of the hours in the day. I've also started to have some numbness in my ribs on the right side, which I had for the last several months of my pregnancy with Daniel. Thankfully, it's only intermittent this time, and seems to be relieved with position change and/or applying ice.

I mentioned this one on my Facebook page the other day, but in the world of most bizarre pregnancy symptoms ever, my skin has begun to stain our toilet seats purple. I have Googled this to death and there are no known causes, but it's suspected that perhaps high levels of hormones and/or pH changes in the skin of some pregnant women can react with the materials in some toilet seats to cause permanent color changes. I've read reports from other pregnant folks of pink, blue, and purple staining. This goes right up there with some of the strangest things I've ever heard of, and it's actually happening because of my body. (Have you or anyone you know experienced this? I would love to hear about it in the comments!)

Birth Preparations & Nesting: I've had a couple of home visits with my midwives now, and at the last one we got our birth tub! We're going with the "mini tub" this time, because I felt a little ungrounded in the big tub last time and I'd like to avoid feeling that way again. Jaymz and I still need to inflate the tub and turn up our water heater, but other than those things, we have all our birth supplies ready to go in the room where I plan to give birth.

I'm practicing Hypnobabies hypnosis again. It's been lovely to take that time for myself to focus on the baby and remember all the techniques I learned last time. I suspect that (like during my labor with Daniel) when the time comes, I'll not actually want to listen to the hypnosis scripts, but I still think it helps immensely with preparing to give birth.

Yesterday evening, Jaymz and I strung up all the blessing flags we have so far from my virtual mama blessing. (I'm still expecting a few more in the mail, but we wanted to go ahead and get the ones we have up on the wall in the birth space since I'm off of bed rest today.) When we were finished, we both just sat there and stared at them for a long while... I guess it's a good sign that they're so mesmerizing!

I've still got a few more projects in the queue that I'd really like to finish before Baby is born, but (if I'm being totally honest) everything is essentially ready for Baby to come. We have the baby clothes folded and in a drawer, the cloth diapers are all washed and in the changing table, our mattress is on the floor for safer bed sharing, we have some cooked meals in the freezer, and the birth supplies are at the ready. Jaymz told me last night that I can't use my "To Do" list to trick the baby into waiting longer than s/he wants to, and I know he's totally right about that. Still, I have a powerful urge to make sure everything is just right, and it's only normal for me to give in to that during these last days and weeks of this pregnancy.

Is there anything else you're curious to know about how we're doing? Please feel free to ask in the comments!