Check!

Today, on Hayden’s 37^th birthday, I am 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant. We’ll call that 9 and a half months.

The last couple of weeks have been consumed by a sprint to complete a series of tasks:·      

·        Baby Basics course for Hayden and Jessica, check

·        Breastfeeding basics for Jessica, check!

·        Pediatrician selected, check!

·        Pediatrician protocol understood by Hayden and Jessica, check!

·        Another daycare visited and waitlist added, check!

·        Car seat installed by police, check!

·        All brand new baby clothes washed, check!

·        Newborn diapers, check!

·        Got my TDAP shot, check!

·        Asked the grandparents to get their TDAP shots, check!

·        Bassinet borrowed, check!

·        Baby CPR class for Hayden and Jessica, check!

·        All essential items on the baby registry procured, check!

·        Everyone thanked for essential items, check!

·        Weekly doctor’s appointments, check!

So, we’re ready. Except for that whole, we have no idea what will happen when baby arrives thing.

I’m still going to work.

Having grown up in NJ, I have adopted Italian and Jewish cultures as my own. This is to the point where I didn’t even realize that, for example, “Kapeesh” was Italian. I just thought it was the slang word someone says when they’re demanding comprehension from someone.

So the word of the moment for me is schlep. The last couple of weeks have been the schlep of my life. The schlep back and forth to work has been particularly brutal. Because it’s been so cold (and icy and sometimes snowy), I’ve been taking the X8 to Union Station to the Redline Metro and transferring to the Blue/Orange to ride it two stops to my building. That’s a bus and two trains in each direction. I’ve conceded that I can no longer walk up every single escalator or sprint from bus to train or from train to train like I used to. Rushing has been relinquished to trudging. I trudge through mass transit. In the mornings I don’t always have someone yield a seat to me, which is no longer a novelty but a necessity. On those days, I place the hardest stone-cold but expressionless New Yorker face I have on and dare someone to look me in the eye.

But for a few snowy days, I am still walking the dog. He doesn’t understand the word schlep. I schlep up the stairs to go to bed. I schlep to and from the couch. I schlep around the grocery store…

I still maintain that the hardest moments of this pregnancy were in the beginning. But this last stage is no easy schlep. Kapeesh?!

8 and three quarters months pregnant (35 weeks!)

At this stage I feel a mix of anticipation, anxiety and entitlement. On the latter, I am being bold in my “I am pregnant, either help me or get outta my way” attitude. I raced around Capitol Hill on Sunday morning running errands and acting as if once each errand was complete a round of applause from spectators was on order. I feel that about most things these days:

If I manage to walk the dog, applause.

If I make dinner, applause.

If I put the crib together, applause. Well, on that last one, I SHOULD get a round of applause!!

My movement has slowed considerably. I got a wake-up call 2 weeks ago when my back seized up and forbade me from walking for 3 days. I am carrying a lot more weight these days, although thankfully most of that seems to be sticking to my belly. I pushed it a bit too far with activities and after working most of it out with a 90 minute massage I have vowed to SLOW DOWN and EASE UP.

On a lighter note, we had three very lovely and very different showers in one week. The first was at Jason and Lauren’s new place and was a lovely mix of our friends. The second was at IFES where my colleagues gathered – about 40-50 of them – in the Board room and gave me a very generous shower complete with cake and decorations. The final shower was in NJ hosted by my mom, who did a great job and didn't go too over the top except perhaps in baby clothes department. It was, indeed, very nice until my friend from high school stole the leftover pizza I was coveting for the journey back to DC! My godmother, Denise, was there and Hayden hadn’t met her. It was fun to hear them chat and to see her rib my mom about their college antics from years ago.

So we are ready. We’ve got all the gear. We took a baby basics class and are signed up for baby CPR and intro to breastfeeding.

This has been very me-focused blog, which is indicative of my above points I suppose. I will say that the baby is kicking like crazy and clearly growing as expected. I’d really like to meet him soon (but not too soon!)