Moving Along Faster Now

Wow! I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted in this blog. There's just been a whirlwind of activity, in more sense than one, the last few weeks. I've been so busy, now that I've stopped for a moment, I think my head is spinning.

First of all, Anastasia has finally started to move regularly. I don't think I felt her move every day until the beginning of this month. Now, I feel her thumping and bumping around several times a day, in spite of my anterior placenta. She seems to be more active when I listen to music.

I knew that things were going to get busy just before Thanksgiving. Dh and I were pulled between both sets of our parents for Thanksgiving dinner, and amazingly each of them tried to say we hadn't eaten Thanksgiving at their house in three years. Since dh used to work every Thanksgiving at the hospital I would always eat with my parents. However, since he left the hospital three years ago things have certainly become complicated. We ended up eating with his parents since he's only eaten Thanksgiving with them twice since graduating from college 12 years ago. Since I'm the only daughter in-law who cooks, I wanted to make sure I took several dishes with me to try to help out my MIL on such a hectic day.

As I looked at the December calendar in November I was reminded that childbirth and breastfeeding classes were scheduled. As if a typical December isn't busy enough when trying to decorate and shop while still working a full time job. However, I thought we'd manage okay. However, all of that flew out the window when I got a call this week that our baby's furniture had all arrived: a month early!

Fortunately dh and his older brother had moved our office out of the nursery on Saturday, and dh primed the formerly black walls on Sunday afternoon/evening. It was quite a job since four coats of Kilz 2 primer were needed to conquer the job. After Tuesday dh shifted into high gear. Tuesday night he primed the corners of the room and close to the trim. Wednesday afternoon I picked up the pale pink paint, and he painted the walls that night. There's still so much to do though! He has to paint the corners and close to the baseboards pink. Then, the crown moulding, doors, and baseboards will need a fresh coat of white paint. Finally, the border will be placed on the walls.

Maybe this wouldn't all be so daunting if it weren't for the fact that dh had already agreed to operate the sound system for a production at Church on Sunday. Little did he know that he would have to be around Thursday night and Saturday morning for preparations/practice. Saturday afternoon our new couch is scheduled to arrive. Tuesday night we have our first childbirth class, part of which he will miss due to a Mardi Gras meeting.

However, on Wednesday we have commited to picking up Anastasia's furniture. Dh's older brother has agreed to help us haul it all home in his trailer, and I think he's actually excited to help with putting the crib together.

So, it looks as though our nursery will be ready before Christmas. I don't know if I should panic thinking about everything ahead of us this week or squeal with excitement that the furniture is here. Mostly I just tear up because I'm so overwhelmed by how quickly things are moving now.

Not only are we super busy preparing the baby's room, but Anastasia herself seems to have grown a lot over the last month. I've now gained 20 pounds, and over the last couple of weeks I have definitely been able to feel her under my ribs. I'm only 28 weeks pregnant! This week I have started to feel her under the front and back part of my ribs, and basically I wish I could stay home from work and just lay back in the recliner to relieve the pain. Right now I'm just thankful she's not yet bothering my left ribs, which can still hurt periodically since I cracked them five years ago.

My EDD is now only about 75 days away. I guess I need to be going. I'm supposed to be working on guest lists for baby showers. That's a rather complicated issue too...