34 weeks and STRETCHED OUT

From Babycenter.com:
"Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.
By this week, fatigue has probably set in again, though maybe not with the same coma-like intensity of your first trimester. Your tiredness is perfectly understandable, given the physical strain you're under and the restless nights of frequent pee breaks and tossing and turning, while trying to get comfortable. Now's the time to slow down and save up your energy for labor day (and beyond). If you've been sitting or lying down for a long time, don't jump up too quickly. Blood can pool in your feet and legs, causing a temporary drop in your blood pressure when you get up that can make you feel dizzy."

From PregnancyWeekly.com:
"Your baby is tipping the scales at about 5 pounds and is 19.8 inches from head to toe. He or she is running out of room in there and you may now be able to tell whether it is a hand or an elbow pushing against your belly. Have your partner touch your belly and feel your baby's movements; it's a playful and loving way for the two of them to get to know each other."

Yes I am officially stretched out. No complaints, but I do understand what other friends mean when they have said they feel like they have no more room left to stretch. I don't necessarily feel like my tummy couldn't get bigger, (bc that would be insanely naive of me now wouldn't it?), but I do feel that unless my tummy grows exponentially over the next few weeks, Bennett just will not have any room left to grow. He is packed in there like a sardine and I can feel every toe wiggle and eye blink. I would like to know how he comes up with his certain forms of contortions. My tummy can look so incredibly bizarre sometimes: with a lump here, a ball there, a hill over there, and a moving pulse on the far left side of my body. And all at the same time. Its unreal, and honestly quite entertaining (despite the slight discomfort it provokes. And when I say slight I mean slightly extreme).

Other than the octopus I am harboring in my womb, I am feeling better than I have felt in weeks. Somehow, the back pain and nerve pain have disappeared, and I am sleeping much better. I didn't even get up to go to the bathroom the past two nights!!! I deserve a gold star (or maybe I should reserve that gold star for Bennett, who graciously took the last two nights off from his Ultimate Bladder Frisbee tournament).

I had to travel to Montgomery today for my last (YES I DID SAY LAST) trip up there until well after Bennett is born. What glorious news. No more 14 hour days for awhile - WORK days that is, I do anticipate and actually look forward to Mommy 14 hour days. More like Mommy 24 hour days. I can definitely handle some of that. :)

Our nursery furniture should be in next week, but we did get our glider yesterday. And I am in love. I told Stephen he could just leave me in it until Bennett is born. I think I scared Fred (Stephen's dad) and probably even Stephen when they set it up in the room - I could hardly contain my giddy childish excitement. The first real nursery thing in his room!!!!!!! It was a very important day and here are some pictures to document: (I apologize for the quality - this is what happens when you take a picture without the flash on a small digital camera [the flash distorted the colors and looked ridiculous, so no flash it is])

The chair and ottoman


My view out the window to our patio and backyard!!!

To update on the bedding: I have now officially finished the dust ruffle, and my predictions were correct. I am a fool. I have this crazy tendency to make many things harder than they really should be. For instance:
Natalie's thinking: "Hmmm I am having a hard time finding something that I like, so I think I will just make it"
Normal person's thinking: "Hmmm I am having a hard time finding something that I like, so I think I will just PAY SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE IT"

But, I admit that I am this person, and even though I have realized that my time is well worth the money to get someone else to make the bedding, I trudge along and will tackle the bumper hopefully this weekend and/or the next. I have enjoyed it though, so in my mind that tips the scale a bit in the favor of "Im glad I decided to make it all myself." (putting: 1. the hurt back from leaning over a sewing machine for hours, 2. the broken needles, 3. the having to teach myself how to sew different stitches to begin with (hours of trial and error), 4. the measuring and coming up with patterns on my own, and 5. the risk that I may completely BOMB this assignment and end up with crib accessories that do not even fit the crib, ASIDE)

Sarcasm and kidding aside, as stressed out as this all may sound, I really have thoroughly enjoyed all of this and couldn't imagine it being any other way. I have to just sit back, relax and realize - I am obviously going through all of this for myself and myself alone (so who else do I have to blame?); for Bennett does not NEED all of this - I know he would be perfectly happy as long as he has something warm to cuddle up in, someone warm to cuddle up against, milk readily available, and a nice blurry someone to change his diaper now and then.

One day though I do plan on sitting him down and showing him pictures of all of this and letting him know how incredibly important it all was that he had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of STUFF in his nursery, whether he remembers it all or not. (Re-enter sarcasm) :)

PS. Do any of my mommy friends out in Blog Land have any thoughts on Diaper Bags? I had no idea they were so expensive! (and of course the expensive ones are the ones I like!! ha)