"Tattoos" & an Unexpected Surprise: Time for a Pregnancy Update!

It blows my mind, but I am already 37 weeks pregnant. It's a bit surreal to think about how in about a month or so, Baby will be out of my belly! Time has been flying by for me, so I thought I'd take a moment to tell you all about my recent life and adventures as a Fat Pregnant Woman ;) 

37 weeks gestation! 

For months, I knew that the day would come when I would feel hugely, uncomfortably pregnant and be unable to move. Just a few weeks ago, while out with friends, I was remarking that I had not reached that point yet, and was happily enjoying a very active lifestyle. Well, when I reached 35 weeks, I hit that intense level of fat, pregnant discomfort. I literally woke up on the morning of Thursday, May 12, unable to easily get out of bed. That morning, I had an appointment and a few errands to run. I was planning to return home to answer e-mails while eating lunch, before driving out to run 3-4 more errands before picking my husband up from work. Well, once I sat on the floor and started eating lunch, there was no way I was getting up.Thankfully, I have mostly gotten past/learned to deal with this. Being active and getting things done is a lot easier now than it was on that fateful day, but getting out of bed-or out of the driver's seat (which, for reasons unbeknownst to me, is a lot harder to get out of than the passenger seat)-is still a bit of a struggle.  

Baby isn't a big mover (I'm convinced he's a hobbit who  just likes to eat, sleep, and do nothing), but sometime around 30ish weeks or so, I think he just got uncomfortable-and I felt like Stacey, from Doctor Who. One evening, I'm sitting with my laptop, and all of a sudden my belly starts moving around. Naturally, the Adipose pills are what I first thought of. 

This is Stacey, from Doctor Who's series 4 episode, 
"Partners in Crime."

On the rare occasion that Baby likes to poke around and move my belly, I continue to feel like I'm in Doctor Who. Just watch Doctor Who series 4 (episode 1) and you'll understand. It's pretty fantastic :) 

A few weeks or so into the third trimester, I confusedly looked at myself in the mirror: What were these awesome, tattoo-like designs streaking across my belly? Where did they come from? What did they mean? As I started at these super cool designs, I realized that the infamous stretch marks had arrived. I had heard about The Vile Stretch Marks from other women, who encouraged pulling out every trick in the book to avoid them. My midwife and I were semi-skeptical about oils or butters erasing all chances of these marks, but from time to time I did it anyway, just for fun. And, after all, what woman wants stretch marks? 
Honestly? 
I think they look like cool designs that didn't require a painful tattooing process. My pregnancy "tattoos" add more color and variety to my pregnant belly, and I don't mind them a bit, at least for now! 

People keep telling me that once babies are born, they grow up fast since time flies by-and do I ever believe them! Honestly, this pregnancy has flown by so quickly, I can't imagine how fast life will zoom by once Baby comes out. It's pretty insane. I've been learning to schedule everything that I want or need to do, otherwise weeks or months will fly before I realize how much time has passed! 

This epic t-shirt was created by one of my good friends.
Wow, I look huge in this picture. I totally 
gained 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks.
#graduationparties

I suppose some of you might be curious about the "unexpected surprise"? I received an interesting little bit of news at my appointment today. The midwife practice that I've been visiting is closing down next month, but since the last day was marked as June 30, and Baby is due in the middle of June, no one made any fuss about anything. Even if Baby comes a couple weeks "late," the midwives will still be around!...or so we thought. Today, the midwife gave me an update: Actually, the practice is closing down just a few days after Baby's "due date." So, unless he comes early or within a couple days of his "due date," then things will be changed up a bit; either I'll go to another hospital (where 2 of the midwives will be practicing) or I'll stay at my hospital and switch to a physician. It's not a super huge deal, but-while I would love Baby to go way overdue and hit the Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist-I've now been telling Baby that actually, he is totally allowed to come a little early or right around his "due date," just to keep things simple. But this little guy seems to have a mind of his own, so who knows what will happen? 

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my pregnant life over here! Aside from the slight difficulties hauling myself out of bed, I'm thoroughly enjoying myself-I'm one of the rare women who (for now, at least) is still able to sleep well at night and feel relatively energized, which is nice. Though the next month may hold even more unexpected surprises. It shall be a great adventure! And if any of you are so inclined to send up a prayer for the midwife practice and a smooth-sailing childbirth (and that we figure out what to do if Baby comes late in the month), that would be grand :)