38 Weeks and Still Pregnant!

Hi everyone....yes, I'm still pregnant! I know, it's totally crazy. I've been off of bedrest for exactly one week now and boy does my body hurt! Most of all my back hurts like heck and I feel like there's no strength there to support my belly weight. If I'm on my feet for very long or do any bending over I feel like my back might just snap. My feet are killing me from carrying my weight, and the muscles in my upper and inner thighs and lower abdomen are sore from trying to carry my belly weight. I get exhausted very easily and my muscles stiffen up the moment I rest to recover and I have a hard time getting up again. Ouch! However, I'M FREE!!! The freedom of getting out of the house (I've made it a point to go shopping somewhere every single day) way outweighs the pain of getting in and out of the car and walking around the store. I'll suffer anything for the freedom of going where I want and shopping and even doing some cleaning! Actually, I'm not that free, since I can't drive just yet, but I'm going to start working on it. My mom's a good chauffeur (?). My first trip to Wal Mart in 4 months felt like a holiday! It was so exciting to be surrounded by people and stuff happening and noise! I still have to get pushed in a wheelchair for a very extensive shopping trip (anything besides a fairly quick errand) because if I don't my body gives out on me halfway through. I had to sit in a massage chair at Bed Bath and Beyond for almost 30 mins the other night to recover from walking around the store, and yesterday I almost sat down on the floor in Wal Mart because I was hurting so much. I don't know if I would have been able to get back up!

I still can't pick up Maggie and I haven't ventured to do any real cooking (mostly because I don't want that responsibility yet), but I did actually clean up Maggie's toys last night and that was sooooo refreshing! For once I didn't have to stare at a mess and wish I could do something about it. My body hurt (especially from the bending over) but I kept going because I could! I was so happy to leave my living room clean when I went to bed last night! I also straightened up the kitchen counters a bit (which have been driving me nuts) and I've been doing a little organizing around the house. You just can't imagine unless you've been there how wonderful it is to do something for myself! I'm so excited!! And FREE! I've also been wanting to vacuum but haven't had the energy to pull out the vacuum yet. Maybe that'll be my next project. Oh, and I did my first batch of laundry in 4 months! That was exciting, too. Pretty much anything that I do besides resting on the couch is exciting to me. I even shower every day now (which exhausts me about as much as anything)! Ha ha.

This past week I've been extremely active, eager, and impatient. I want to do anything and everything before I have the baby! Because I don't know how long I'll last (I'm already dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced as of three days ago, and yes I've had a few irregular contractions) I can't sit still for a minute in getting the house ready for the baby. My mom says I have intense nesting syndrome, and I agree and add that I have major off-of-bedrest eagerness, finally-do-something-that-I-want-to-do-when-I-want-to-do-it syndrome, and stage-my-house-to-sell syndrome. I have all these things I've thought about and made lists of and researched online for 4 months and now I just want to get it all done before the baby comes! I simply can't wait for my body to catch up with my brain. I haven't shopped in 4 months and in the last week I went shopping every single day! (except Sunday, of course). I've sold tons of old household items online in the past 2 months and this past week we took all the money we earned and bought new things to stage our house and I must say it's looking awesome!

Phew! Anyway, I'm in pain but I'm so excited to be off of bedrest. I'll be starting some physical therapy soon, too, so that will be nice. I could go into active labor at any time also so I'm scared but excited for that. We shall see what happens!

Oh, another interesting thing about being so pregnant for the first time: I waddle! I waddle mostly because it hurts my back and my sciatic nerve so much to walk around, and to get up and down, but I waddle nevertheless. I was even walking around Wal Mart (very slowly I might add) today with my hand on my back to relieve some of the pain - just like you always see in the movies! Or is that in real life, too? I feel like everyone is staring at my belly when I'm out in public, and I've even had an ecstatic group of girls run up to me and touch my belly and talk excitedly about how pregnant I was. That was weird! I've had a number of strangers come up and touch my belly. I'm certainly not used to this kind of attention - I feel like such an odd duck. But, I guess that's what being 8 1/2 months pregnant is all about! So, I'm finally experiencing some of the craziness of full-termness. However, I've had so little time to enjoy it I'm certainly not sick of it yet, and I doubt I will get sick of it before I have my baby girl. I hope to be pregnant for another week or two so I can gain back more strength and become even a little more independent before having another baby. I'm just hoping to not have her on my birthday (which is this Sunday) because I want her to have her own day to celebrate - okay I'll be honest, I want my own birthday, too!

Allright, that's all I have to report. Most likely I won't report again until we have our baby. But for now here's a picture of me at 38 weeks pregnant, and her are some more cute pics of Maggie!





****************Pictures from HALLOWEEN!!!**********************