Oh my aching ... something in my lower abdomen

So the baby has recently turned (yeah!). This is great news as it means that another obstacle to vaginal birth is out of the way (the first being the potential placenta previa). The only downside is that since turning, the baby has lodged himself against some organ or tissue or something in my lower abdomen and I now have stabbing pain when I roll over, stand, or walk. So if I sit or lay perfectly still, I'm okay but basically anything more than that and it HURTS! To date, the pregnancy has gone pretty smoothly so I really can't complain but I'm hoping the baby just shifts his weight or something because it really sucks. Plus Buddy is getting crappy walks because I can only shuffle along at the speed of a racing turtle. And I feel extra bad about this because Buddy is currently suffering from some allergies and spends his whole day itching and being miserable. Poor little guy.

The other baby development is that I found out today that I am "measuring large" and have to go in for an ultrasound to find out how big the baby actually is. This frightens me more than a little. Labour is scary enough imagining a 7 pound baby, never mind a 10 pound baby. But it makes me extra glad I didn't spend much money on newborn clothing. But hopefully the ultrasound will show a little wee baby that will slide through the birth canal just fine. I have to say though, I'm getting more than a little nervous about the whole labour thing. I mean, have you looked at how small a 10 cm opening is? I have a hard time imagining a baby, even a little small one fitting through a 10 cm opening. It's just not very big. Not very big at all...

The cervix is when you do the pushing, right?

So next week marks seven months pregnant. The end is in sight. And as we get closer to our big day, a lot more baby related things are happening. We continue to add to our nursery, having now bought a change table and heading out this weekend to get a glider. We also started prenatal classes. This has been a frightening experience, let me tell you. Now I know that not everyone is as neurotic as I am. I know many women do not run out and buy every pregnancy book on the market as soon as they start thinking about getting pregnant. Many women do not even bother with this once they are pregnant. Many women do not belong to 7 different baby sites and do not have stacks of pregnancy magazines. But surely, surely people come across an itsy bitsy bit of information somewhere on their nine month journey. Sadly, most of these people are not in our prenatal class.

There have been many fine, informed, thoughtful questions, such as:
** Why is the baby blue when it comes out? Aren't they supposed to be flesh coloured?
** The woman in the video was squatting when she gave birth to the baby. Can you do that? Why would you do that? Do you have to arrange that with your doctor ahead of time?
** What do you mean by "waste products" in the bloodstream?

There is also the woman who confused the definition of the cervix with the definition of stage two labour, the one who "doesn't believe" in diaper rash, and the guy who was amazed when his friend had a caesarian and was conscious the next day (I think he expected her to be in a coma).

And then there's our labour nurse instructor (who teaches the course continuously throughout the year and has been for several years) who says such fabulous things as:

** Where is Edmonton anyway? Is that in Manitoba?
** I don't know that rate of caesarians/epidurals/episiotomies for this hospital even though I work here.
** I don't actually know much about pain relief medications used in labour. I didn't do so well on this part in school.
** You'll have to ask your doctor about that.
** I was asked to leave the room while a patient was having an epidural because I was stressing her out so much.

Anyway, after getting the hospital tour and finding out what happens to our baby after birth, Mark and I decided that we had had enough and aren't going back to our last class. We're just going to wing it on the missing elements. But we did meet one nice couple and exchange emails so maybe I'll have a pregnancy buddy.

I've also been enjoying a pleasant amount of sharp, intense back pain that radiates down to my butt. I think this was brought on by a lot of driving over the course of a few days followed by hours sitting in my computer or therapy chair. Needless to say I am looking forward to my internship ending next week so I can rest my body a little. But there's also been lots of fun stuff. My belly has grown huge and the baby is kicking constantly. He's like a little companion that talks to me all day through morse code. I'm getting very anxious to meet him. I didn't really enjoy the first five months of pregnancy but have been liking this later part a lot more. Still, it's the baby I'm after. October can't come fast enough.

One step closer

So Mark and I went shopping this weekend and I finally got to buy something for the baby!! Those of you who have heard my constant whining will know that I've been waiting since before the pregnancy test came back positive to buy things for the baby. In fact, I had a secret drawer full of baby toys for the last year that only my sister Kelly knew about until very recently. But mostly I have only bought a few onesies and a mini-mobile. So this weekend we bought real things for the baby. We got this beautiful crib and an awesome swing for the baby, both second hand. We are feeling very good about our awesome second-hand savvy. We were all set to buy everything brand new but honestly, some of it, there's just no point. It reminds me a lot of our wedding - things are overpriced just because people are spending emotionally.

Anyway, it took the entire long weekend to change my messy, dirty, cluttered office into the baby's room. There's still a few things in there to go and a few things to add but the basic shape of the room is there, which is very exciting. I even got to take some of the toys out of the drawer and put them on the bookshelf. Honestly, it was all I could do not to run out and buy everything we need for the baby RIGHT AWAY, it just felt so good to do some actual baby planning. Plus, we got stacks and stacks of old papers out of the corners and into the recycling bin - Mark is excited to actually see the floor in that room for the first time in over a year. I feel a little more wary of where all the new papers will go now that I've lost my study... :)