37 weeks term

Today, Baby Schultz is officially full term. And, according to my husband, the equivalent of a basketball.




He or she is expected to be about 19 or 20 inches long and 6.5 pounds now, and gaining half an ounce per day. He or she spends the day "simulating breathing by inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, sucking on his or her thumb, blinking, and pivoting from side to side." Around now, the baby also probably has a full head of hair.

According to the chiropractor, I've had an influx of the Relaxin hormone, making my ligaments quite loose. It seems my sense of balance is more affected than ever... After several months, I took a chance on the Wii Fit the other night. It was quite a sight, I'm sure, when I stumbled off the board.

I continue to exercise, though -- everything from walking to bouncing on the exercise ball to Denise Austin's "Fit and Firm Pregnancy." Her breathy, perky voice makes me want to punch something.

Braxton Hicks contractions continue on, and only once did I consider there was a chance I could be in labor (obviously, it was a false alarm). After two hours of painful contractions that extended to my back, I fell asleep and woke up feeling fine.

It took me a little while to realize what has changed for me in the last few days. That feeling of deja vu? It's because my preoccupation with finding labor signs is just like my old preoccupation with finding ovulation and pregnancy signs back in 2009. Continuously analyzing bodily fluids and cramps, counting days, Google searching obscure medical terminology...

Sometimes I pause just to "reconnect" with the baby and remember to slow down and stop obsessing, if that's possible.

Walker says, "Mine."

34 weeks album

Today's post is a full-on photo album, starting with a comparison of five weeks to 34 weeks...



We officially have six weeks to go (give or take... hopefully take...). Things are beyond busy, in a wonderful way -- we've had all three baby showers and have a very full nursery!

Here's the pack 'n play from the Simpsons that we set up in the living room, featuring Alex the Lion (we named him after the Madagascar character). The lion serves two purposes. Andy picked it out and bought it for the baby, but also to be my focal point in the delivery room.



Here are photos from the Simpson shower, featuring the belly yarn game, baby bingo... and the last picture is the backseat of the car afterward! Thank you, everyone, for all of baby's amazing gifts.









Finally, here are pictures from the shower at the Stawicki house. The baby shower games were definitely the highlight, featuring the men-with-balloon-bellies first, then blindfolded-pudding-feeding, and near the bottom even Andy got a special shower gift:









One more big THANK YOU to everyone. We're so lucky, and Baby Schultz is certainly going to be spoiled.

29w 2d role models

Remember 9 weeks pregnant, when I felt like a whale?


Fast forward to 29 weeks pregnant. Let me introduce you to the mammoth:


Baby Update: The breastfeeding class was informative but dull, and I apologize again to Andy for making him go. As a dairy farmer's son, he couldn't help but make the comparison between his wife and a cow. "I don't care if they call it a breast pump," he says, "That's a milker." The doctor's appointment went well yesterday -- the heartbeat is good, my weight is good, and no call today means that the diabetes test was also probably good.

As for me, something has gone sour with my patience. Things that may be contributing to the new, irritable me:

• The stranger who shall remain nameless who (not long ago) changed his cell phone number, so that I could end up with his old cell phone number and inherit the daily phone calls from the creditors who are hunting him
• The return of the awful nausea (oh how I missed you)
• Bone-deep exhaustion
• The dry heat in my office
• Waking up in the night from back pain, when sleep used to be my one reprieve
• I'd include the rapid growth of the alien within -- how it's getting more and more uncomfortable with each squished breath I take -- but each kick/stab/jab/stretch is still too miraculous to me

Then I read over that list and realize that I sound like a big, ungrateful whiner, and feel even worse.

This past week, to put it gently, insult has been laid on a mass scale against women who blog about parenthood. I don't actually consider myself among them, since I don't profit from any of this and don't have what you'd call a following, but it doesn't do much for my confidence to know that pretty much every group I do belong to (women, wives, working mothers-to-be, and so-called mommy-bloggers) is under attack. I guess it's nothing new, and not what it may have been once.

So an early Mother's Day "Thank You" goes out to my mothers and grandmothers, you generations before me paving the way for strong women who, despite being told now that they are whiners (because they struggle) and bad mothers (because they work and blog), nevertheless continue to write and work and parent and grieve and love and recognize their flaws publicly, all without ever giving in to the cruelty that would drag them down.

Bravo to:

• Deuce, for blogging on HGTV despite the people who followed her there just to hate;
• Finslippy for being sensitive;
• Redneck Mommy for being bold;
• Mom-101 for taking on the New York Times; and
• Her Bad Mother for receiving the cruelest letter ever sent, and living to write about it.

My own little response to that there sophisticated newspaper: Bloggers are masquerading if they make ad revenue? I will corrupt what a blog should be if I use the things I know about SEO, SEM, branding, keywords, and social media to gain followers, rather than continuing to blog quietly? Thanks for taking us back to the "Quiet Revolution" of the 70s and making bloggers feel guilty, not just for providing for their families, but for being individuals as well as mothers.

The world is full of role models, if you've been raised to recognize them.