Pregnancy Update

This week marks week 34--3 more weeks until full term and 6 more weeks until the due date. Phew! Ready or not...

Here are some brief updates of things on this end:

--The baby is growing lots and weighing in at 2.1 kg, which our doctor says is "just nice".  'Just Nice' is a phrase used all the time here in Singapore. While this phrase is somewhat non-descriptive, it has a positive connotation and hence we are happy that things are going well. As far as I can tell from internet searching, this baby looks to be exactly at average size and that is where we want him.   

--Speaking of internet searching baby info, have you ever noticed that pregnancy websites like to describe your baby as the size of a fruit? This week your baby is the size of a small lime/large lemon/mango/etc..  Well, this week the baby is the size of a cantaloupe (or rock melon for my local friends). What the websites fail to mention is that your bladder will likely be shrunk to the size of a grape at this stage. Sometime I feel like I have to go to the bathroom again before I even get settled back into my desk from my last bathroom visit.  If I didn't think it would be ridiculously inappropriate, I would just camp out in one of the stalls and do my work.

--Speaking of frequent trips to the bathroom, I kid you not that I had to go to the bathroom 4 times last night. And I didn't even drink water after 8pm to avoid this fate. People will tell you that this is good training for nighttime feedings of the baby. I am surprised that Mother Nature, being a mother herself, would enact such a cruel joke on womankind. I mean, waking up to go to the bathroom  every hour is not the same as doing nighttime feedings. It would be like training for a marathon by swimming lots of laps--exercise but not the right exercise. Besides, wouldn't the best training for nighttime feedings be to stock pile lots of good quality sleep that you could draw upon during those early weeks of sleepless nights?? I mean, I don't want to question Mother Nature too much, since she has done a relatively decent job at keeping our species going....but, seriously, she may have gotten this one wrong. 

--Beyond sleepless nights, I have gotten to the point where my tummy is so large that it is hard to ignore. You know, like the elephant in the room, one feels like they have to comment on it.  My, you are looking ripe/awfully pregnant/could be any day now, huh?

--The one place, however, where I can haul that elephant without anyone noticing is the train. The other morning I was standing in front of a young man sitting in the priority seat (priority meaning priority is given to the closest person to jump into the seat when it becomes vacated, despite signs and arrows surrounding the seat that suggest otherwise in both picture and in four different languages). A kindly passenger next to me nudged the man and asked him to get up for me. He, looking embarrassed, said, "Oh, I didn't even notice you were pregnant." Really, if it hadn't been such a disingenuous statement, I would have been flattered. 

--Even people trying to be complimentary have a tough time at this stage. Someone said to me the other day, "Wow, from behind you don't even look pregnant and then when you turn to the side, you look massively pregnant!". I think (?) this was meant as a compliment, although I would just like to point out that there are very few (read: no) occasions in which the adjective 'massive' should be used to describe someone's physical attributes. At least to their face.

--Along the same lines of people making interesting observations about my body, my husband told me the other day, "Remember how after you had Adrienne, your tummy looked like a deflated balloon?". Hmmmmm....Come to think of it, lets add 'deflated balloon' to the list of adjectives that shouldn't be used to describe one's body parts.

--Speaking of the hubby, we are no closer to deciding on a name for this baby than my last update posted here.  In fact, I believe we have not even spoken about names since the last update. He did mention that we SHOULD talk about names soon.  Like maybe this weekend, but for no longer than 10 minutes to avoid a fight. I'm starting to wonder if 'Boy' would make a decent name? I mean, it would be both original and obvious at the same time. 

--Lastly, Adrienne seems to understand that a baby will be arriving.  She likes to ask daily, "Baby, come?". She tries to feed and water and wash the baby through my tummy.  She also pats the baby gear and says "baby?" and looks at me expectantly like 'Why don't you put the baby here like I'm telling you to, Mom??'.  Lets hope she keeps up the enthusiasm once the baby gets here!  

All things considered, we are feeling happy and blessed and nervous  totally ready for this baby to come.