Well, at 39 weeks pregnant, we are still yet to be “parents” in the literal sense. Baby appears pretty cozy and is showing no signs of wishing to join the outside world. Considering this pregnancy has been without any significant complications or discomforts, I am hoping this means baby plans to come right on the due date (this coming Wednesday) to continue our “perfect” pregnancy. But, it could also mean baby wishes to remain inside until forced out, which I really hope is not the case. Being induced is not something I am hoping it gets to.
The last trimester of pregnancy has been pretty easy, as compared to what I’ve heard from others. Really throughout this pregnancy I have basically remained feeling much like myself, just with a growing abdomen. I have continued to eat basically the same, without any weird aversions or cravings. I was able to continue to workout routinely, with some tweaks - my elliptical has become even more important with the elimination of running outside as an option. I’ve also pretty much been able to sleep regularly too, with some discomfort in my efforts to switch sides often as I have never been able to stay on one side all night. Even though I am pretty sure the baby has now dropped, I am still able to get through the night without waking to pee. As pregnancy legend seems to go, this is quite rare. I don’t seem to notice baby bothering my bladder much at all. All to say, baby has been very good to me, and I hope this continues and she comes on time!
Speaking of “she”...I struggled a little bit with deciding to learn the gender of the baby, but finally decided I couldn’t just NOT know as some do. I am too much of a planner, and like to be in control of things as much as possible. I was equally excited about either gender, and could think of exciting things about both a son or a daughter. So, at the routine 19 week ultrasound, we asked to know whether baby was a girl or a boy. After a 10 minute ultrasound, baby was still being shy and legs were crossed. I was told I could get up and move around a little bit, and maybe that would coax baby into a different position. After this, and a few more minutes of the US tech looking around, she finally claimed it was a girl! It was an exciting moment to have a better idea of just who was inside of me, fluttering around. I asked “Are you sure?” and the tech was quick to say they never promise perfection, and gave me 85% odds. I left feeling pretty confident about it being a girl, but as weeks passed and we shared the news, I began to be less confident in this determination. I thought about how I had heard about girls being harder to know for sure, how I knew some stories of ultrasound techs being wrong, and how hard it had been for her to get a good view. This led me to lean more towards buying gender neutral items for baby and asking the same of people gifting. Our next ultrasound was inconclusive for gender - legs were crossed again and stayed that way. This made us all the more suspicious (I picture my son in there giggling with his legs closed, keeping a secret from mom and dad)...so, we remain unconvinced and will get to enjoy the surprise of knowing for sure when baby actually arrives! Considering my sister has loaded me down with second hand girl items from her 10 month old twins, it will certainly be a little easier if baby remains a girl!!
Until then!
