Sooooo Big!

When I was pregnant with Nadia, I lamented the fact that although it seemed obvious when I looked in the mirror that I was pregnant, it wasn't until I was about 32 weeks along that strangers would ask me questions like "when are you due?". I think in part people are scared to assume someone is pregnant and find out that they're not. I had looked forward to being pregnant for SOOOOO long, and I wanted the world to know so it was a disappointment to me that it was only obvious for about 4 weeks (since I gave birth at 36 weeks). However once I actually got to the point that strangers were commenting, I realized that being that big wasn't a very comfortable experience physically. As the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for."

I figured that this time around I would pop out sooner since that seems to be true for most women in subsequent pregnancies. I think I was about 26 weeks along when strangers started commenting on my pregnancy this time around and that has certainly been true in the past couple of weeks. I've even noticed students I pass in the hallway (whom I don't know) just looking down and staring at my belly. It actually feels weird since normally it would feel awful if someone was staring at my abdomen (when I wasn't pg). When I was pregnant with Nadia, the OB measured my belly at each appointment once I hit a certain week. My belly hasn't been measured even once this pregnancy. I thought maybe it was something only done during one's first pregnancy, but I have since talked to others who were measured in subsequent pregnancies. In the last week I have had quite a few people make comments about how my belly is soooo big. If you had asked me how that comment would make me feel when I was 30 weeks with Nadia, I would have probably said that would be music to my ears. For whatever reason, I've felt self-conscious when it's been said to me this time. It wasn't ever said when I was pregnant with Nadia. The scary thing is that if I make it January 13th, I have exactly 9 weeks to go. I kind of doubt my belly will stay the same size for that long, LOL. I have been using the almond oil again, and so far I don't have any stretch marks. Hopefully I won't get any. My belly button is stretched very thin, but it hasn't popped out yet. I guess if I do have gestational diabetes that would lead to a larger baby and belly. Frankly since Nadia was so small, a larger baby sounds just fine to me, especially since I'm having a c-section.

This morning Nadia and I went to MOPS. The speaker was a lawyer who talked about legal documents parents of young children should have. We don't have any of the three that he discussed (Will, Power of Attorney, and Living Will). That is definitely going to be one of my goals for 2010. I've been wanting to have a will drawn up since Nadia was born, and hopefully we'll actually get around to it next year. We should at least just write our own even if we don't make it to a lawyer's office. Of course I hope these documents aren't actually needed for a LONG time! When we do make it to a lawyer, I think we'll just do all three documents while we're at it. One of the nursery workers in the room Nadia was in this morning was one of my college students. I had her as a student in fall 2008 and have her again this semester. She's a non-traditional student (probably older than me). She was glad that she got to meet Nadia. I found out this morning that a new MOPS group has formed that is closer to where we live. I need to find out when their meetings are held before I decide if I'm going to switch groups or not.

Nadia's two newest words are "bear" and "ball." It's not surprising that she likes balls, but I do find it amusing that her favorite ball is a basketball. I mean a regular basketball, which is not something you usually see a 16 month old playing with. Sarah said that it's the same when she's at her house - she'll play with other balls, but her favorite is the basketball. Daddy will be happy to teach her how to play if she still likes basketballs in the future. :-)