34 Weeks

Here is my 34-week haiku to document the most recent changes taking place with my body:

Sausage-like fingers
Ankles - pitted edema
Hard to move in bed.

That about sums it up. (Eric says that the haiku sounds uncomfortable and makes him hungry.)

I'm a tad more uncomfortable lately - mostly when I'm in bed and need to roll myself out to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night or to get up in the morning. My fingers swell at night and sometimes during the day at work, but let's all remember that I work in a skilled nursing facility with elderly people who like the temp set at 80 degrees. Add to that the humidity and higher temps here in St. Paul lately, and you have the perfect storm for swollen feet and hands. The good thing is it doesn't hurt, and my blood pressure is normal, so I'm not too worried about developing pregnancy-induced hypertension (which I guess is common for first-time moms).

Some fun things that are taking place include:

• Our nursery is pretty much set up. Eric finished painting the closet in there last week, and I did most of the trim (with a no-VOC paint so don't worry).
• I had two more showers - one with family and friends hosted by my Gehrman aunts and one at work. Both were very fun! Let me just say that the baby is all set as far as clothes go. He has newborn-12 months (most of the clothes are for 3 months - apparently a popular month). Seriously, the kid has more clothes than me.
• We got 5 cloth diapers so far, and we are excited about it! They are so freakin' cute. I gave demonstrations on how to use them at both the Gehrman shower and the work shower. Many people hadn't seen "current" cloth diapers and were expecting safety pins. I thought that was funny. One complaint: people who say things like "we'll see how long THAT lasts." Don't be a naysayer. Common on people. How is our cloth diaper choice hurting or offending you? Don't be rude. Especially at my shower, where I can hear you and your snarky comments. 
• This baby is moving around a lot - mostly stretching I think. Our midwife thinks the baby is head down, with his back pressed against my stomach and his butt up by my ribs. He mostly hangs out on my right side, so I get a lopsided belly. I feel little kicks and pokes all the time - none of them painful, thankfully! Just funny. Especially when I'm working with a patient and he decides to give me a hard jab or two or three in a row. I am always surprised even though this has been happening for a while now. I love that feeling. I can also see his movements sometimes, so I often stare at my belly when I feel him moving.
• And one more thing that is not really "fun" or "not fun": I've gained 29 pounds so far. Pretty sure I'm going to surpass the goal of 25-35 pounds. Meh. What can you do? Most of my weight gain has been in my belly, so I'm not worried about it. 

That's about it for now. I'll get a picture up here soon. It's too early in the day for a picture right now. Maybe I'll post one of my pedicure I'm getting later today with Ashlee.