31 Weeks

It’s appropriate that I am up before sunrise right now writing this because it seems to be my new ruitine.  I wake up around 4:00 am for my first breakfast.  I have tried sleeping through it but that just makes everything worse.  I get up eat something, check facebook (it’s 3 in the afternoon back in NC) and watch an episode or two from our alarmingly huge collection of tv shows.  I go back to bed and “nap” (is it called a nap if it’s 6:00 am?) for a few more hours.  I have been so tired lately that when I wake up for good I have to lay in bed for a while (again…it’s great to have such a huge tv show collection) before eating breakfast and moving my groggy self to the sofa for the remainder of my “wake up” time.  I usually feel awake just in time for lunch.  The good news is I can usually go go go for the rest of the day…well at least until 8:00 pm.  Zachary wakes up around 11 for kickboxing so I try to fall asleep before then.

The words of the week are swollen and sore.  Everything is either swollen, sore or both.  I am really looking pregnant all over…I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I am usually like “oh wow…I am really pregnant” followed by panic then checking my list to be sure I really do have time to get things done before moving to HK.  My toes look like mini hotdogs, my ankles hate socks (which are necessary with ceramic flooring in the winter), I am getting a double chin and chipmunk cheeks, my maternity panel on my pants (which when I started wearing them rolled down from right under my bra) roll down from just around my belly button.  My back hurts all the time (I am carrying very low and way out front), and it takes me twice as long to get anywhere.  I do love that I don’t have to point to my belly for people to know that I need a seat on the train…and it is hilarious catching people stare at me.  I usually get the “OMG it’s a foreigner” look now I get that look combined with the once over, double check then a stop in their tracks turn around.  I think I confuse the ladies here by wearing maternity jeans; at this point Chinese pregnant women wear smocks and leggings (circa 1950) and are amazed when I show them my stretchy panel…and yeah I show them!

My favorite part of the week has been sorting through the baby things which can now be laid out in his room.  I washed (and dried in my new dryer) all the baby clothes.  I have to say I love that baby clothing companies make an effort to make the already cute baby clothes/socks/hats etc, look even cuter on the rack using double stick tape and an unreal amount of plastic tag holders, but it took over an hour to cut through everything.  Since I can only dry a few things at a time and it takes a couple hours I restlessly sat by the balcony waiting for the moment when I could make a switch from hanging on the rack or laying across a sofa or table or one of the many coat racks in our place to the dryer for the final fluff and dry.  Adam came home to baby clothes all over the living room and said “I didn’t know we were having 8 babies”…meanwhile I know that I am way under what most people have, we only have things from 0 – 9 months and it’s actually just under the recommended amount I have found on most websites.  I just google “What does a baby REALLY need the first few months” and pretty much stick to the lists. 

*****Cool Week 31 Fact: The baby is apparently headed for a major growth spurt and should be keeping me up at night flipping and kicking.  Zachary however isn’t flipping so much anymore…actually I haven’t felt him flip for a few weeks now.  I guess that means he is running out of room because he for sure kicks and tries to flip (now that totally knocks the wind out of me).  I had my growth spurt over the last couple weeks so I guess now it’s Zachary’s turn!