38 weeks (and 2 days)

38 weeks and I feel smaller this week, but I don't look it apparently! Haha... that belly is looking a bit crazy at this point. He is all out in front of me. This week people keep telling me that I look fake pregnant or that I'm carrying a basketball around under my shirt.

I kind of feel fake pregnant too. By which I mean that I feel perfectly fine. So fine that I kind of feel like I might never have this baby. Like, wouldn't I feel more uncomfortable if I were about to go into labor? Certainly I feel heavier, can't bend over, have trouble rolling over in bed, walk with a waddle, and am more easily fatigued. But - maybe I've just gotten used to this body - mostly I just feel like my normal self. Sometimes I have moments of almost forgetting I'm pregnant, like when we were heading to a football party yesterday and for a brief moment I was looking forward to drinking some beer because I had some kind of time warping amnesia about still being pregnant.

On New Years Eve Mr. Ibis and I went to bed early and slept for eleven hours. Not only did we sleep for half a day, I slept normally on my side(s) and woke up without back pain. Last night I slept that way again and woke up feeling fine. My belly almost feels smaller I guess because he's dropped so low into my pelvis. A lot of the time I feel as though I've returned to my second trimester.

I enjoyed being the pregnant girl at a party yesterday - it was an afternoon affair centered around eating and talking, with college football on in the background. It was a fun group of mostly people we didn't know but who were friendly enough to strike up conversation. Of course it's always easy for people to think of something to talk to me about, even the men, even the gay men, because everyone at least knows someone who's been pregnant. I know these are my last days of being the center of attention, which is fine with me, since I'm more comfortable being at the edge of the spotlight anyway - but it has been fun to be doted on for a while.

Now I have to point out... on a good day like this I'm all sunshine and I forget the bad days. On the bad ones when I keep dropping shit and my pants won't stay up and my shirt won't stay down and the house is a mess, I'm a terror. Usually those are the days that I didn't manage to sleep so well the night before. Hopefully I will go into labor after a good night's sleep, or at least after a good day.

The last two weeks of pregnancy stretch before me like an eternity. I don't really believe in any of the old wives' tales to jump start labor, but I'll probably try a few. Mr. Ibis and I still have sex per our usual once a week pregnancy frequency and will likely just stick to that. We're trying not to spend money on eating out, but I'm sure we can work some spicy food into the menu. I drink a cup of red raspberry leaf tea a day but should probably step it up to two or three. I do think sitting on my birthing ball is helpful, because I can actually feel my pelvis spreading when I do it - when I stand up I walk like a cowboy for a while. I could increase my birthing ball time too. Walks are pretty much out of the question since it doesn't look like the snow is going anywhere anytime soon and our street is short on sidewalk - not to mention the fact that it's -10 outside right now - but I'll keep doing yoga for exercise.

Things left on the to-do list now... I talked to Judy yesterday and we're all set for daycare! She was happy with our two-day minimum proposal so we're going to send in a deposit and reserve our spot. I'm so relieved to have that set up. The one thing left to do is install the car seat - pretty important since I could go any day now! Mr. Ibis is going to bring my car to work this week because he can bring it inside the warehouse and install the car seat indoors. The reason we've been procrastinating on this is because it's barely gotten into the 20s for weeks and neither of us feels like sitting outside in the cold fiddling with a car seat! Then on Thursday morning I can take it in for inspection.

Later that afternoon is my 39 week appointment with Dr. J. I am anticipating that she might start talking induction, and I think what I'm going to tell her is that I would rather wait until 42 weeks for a medical induction (as much as it pains me to imagine that) but one thing I will consent to trying earlier would be stripping my membranes.