Another Random Update

#1 on the list of things you shouldn’t say to a pregnant woman after you haven’t seen her in awhile: “Wow, you are huge.” I wasn’t offended when I heard it; just thought, yup, that was about the worst thing to say to me.

In new pregnancy symptoms, my fingers were hurting a lot last week. Apparently has something to do with carpal tunnel syndrome and retaining fluid. Joy. But I’ve been drinking more water and trying to sleep with my hands flat, instead of the weird twisty things I do with them normally, and they seem to be getting better.

Last Friday we had some crazy tornado weather. The sky was green and about half a mile away there was a funnel cloud. We heard the power lines snapping. The next day, I felt really odd. Just off and zone-y and when we went to the grocery store I was having Braxton Hicks contractions. We got home, I went to bed, and had more contractions off and on for the next few hours, but they didn’t intensify or happen more frequently. Our birthing instructor told us that barometric pressure changes can sometimes cause women to go into labor.

We’ve had three of our birthing classes. In the first one, as I mentioned before, there was praying at the end. At the second class, the prayerful couple was late and I think they felt a little discombobulated that night, so no request to pray. Last night they wanted to pray again. Nate and I had already decided we would leave if that should happen, which is what we did. They were going to pray for someone specifically, so before we left I walked up to her and told her Nate and I would be thinking of her, and then we vamoosed.

The nursery, thanks to Edie and John, is complete! You should check out the pictures. I’ve gotten almost everything ready. I have a little bit of organizing left and we’d like to get a rug for the nursery, then I think we are done for a while.

I’m having a big debate in my head about cloth vs. disposable diapers. The cloth require a hefty investment upfront, which presumably pays off over time because you aren’t buying disposables. However, everyone I’ve spoken to who has used cloth diapers has said they are a pain. Some don’t like washing them and everyone has said they have problems with leaks and “explosive” situations. Also, I haven’t found a day care that will accept cloth diapers. I think there are difficulties storing the dirty diapers and it’s a hygiene issue. Does it make sense to try to invest in something I won’t be able to use in day care? I can’t decide. Right now I’m thinking I may buy only a few cloth diapers to test out the leakage thing, supplemented with Seventh Generation diapers. I was thinking I could use cloth at home and disposables at day care, but we’ll just have to see how they perform. I’ll let you know how this fascinating diaper debate concludes. I can’t believe I’m freaking writing about diapers. What’s next? Breast pumping?

I’ve been doing a nice amount of freelance work lately and am in the process of trying to wrap up my last few projects. My due date is May 27 (six weeks away!) so my cut off for turning everything in is May 15. I think most of my projects will be wrapped up before then, except possibly one, which would be turned in on the 15th, I hope. We’ll see. Then I’m taking some time off of freelancing to have a newborn and maybe work on my novel. (Hahahahaha. Seriously, I’m going to try to work on my novel. I’ve always done well while sleep deprived.)