I am now 32 weeks pregnant, it is hard to believe that 8 weeks from now is my due date! I know realistically it will probably be more like 9 weeks until he is born, especially if he takes after me. I was late and Jeff was early, so we’re hoping maybe that will average out to a right-on-time birthday for our little guy. I still have an achy back, Jeff is kind enough to give me lots of backrubs which is definitely a help. Other than that though, I am feeling good. The baby is now about 3 and 2/3 pounds, or about the weight of a large jicama. Bet you wouldn’t have guessed that particular produce item, would you? He goes by a few different nicknames…before we knew if it was a boy or a girl, we referred to the baby as Poppy, because the first Babycenter email we got said he was the size of a poppy seed. So some family members still use that name. My brother-in-law calls him Winston, and Shani likes to call him Harold. While I can’t reveal his real name, you can be confident that none of those nicknames will be on the birth certificate! I’m sure we will come up with many more nicknames once he is here.

My friend Laura threw me a baby shower yesterday. I don’t have the pictures from her yet, but I’ll try to remember to post those when I get them. It was so much fun, she did a Hawaii theme since Jeff and I went to Maui on our honeymoon and just love it there. I got a special open lei, which apparently is what pregnant women traditionally wear. It was great to have friends gather together to celebrate our son! We had delicious food, a couple games (one where everyone had to make a baby out of Play-Doh and I got to pick the winner), and of course presents. Baby stuff is so much fun to open! I love bringing it all home and sharing it with Jeff and then putting it away in the nursery. I wish my non-local friends could have been there too to share in the fun.

We awoke this morning to a dusting of snow on the ground, and it is snowing now. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to be accumulating, so I’m hoping it won’t cause commuting headaches tomorrow morning. Here’s the 32 week photo:

We now have 9 weeks left! Well okay, I realize it may be more than 9, but in 9 weeks I’ll be 40 weeks pregnant! The baby is now about the size of four navel oranges. I guess the BabyCenter folks couldn’t come up with one produce item that was just the right size (about 3 and a half pounds). We had the second half of our childbirth class Saturday. We learned a couple of techniques to help with back labor…hopefully I won’t experience that, but if our little guy takes after me, it could happen (sorry, Mom). Jeff did more painting in the nursery this afternoon…I need to figure out what to do for curtains in there, but otherwise I think the nursery basics are pretty well set. And, in very exciting news, I am typing this from our new glider! When we ordered it last week they said it could take up to 12 weeks, which would have put the glider arriving after the baby. But yesterday we got the call it was in, so we picked it up and Jeff assembled it, and it is sooo comfy. Thankfully I have no crazy weather news to report…no snowstorms, no more flooding, in fact we have had SUN the past two days. It is so nice to see all the mountains and even the foothills are covered in snow and are just beautiful. I have lived here for five years now and am still amazed at how breathtaking the mountains are, I never get tired of looking at them.

Here’s the 31 week picture, have a great week!

I passed the three hour test, even with the throwing up drama. Whew! That noise you folks in the Midwest heard was my sigh of relief. So unless something changes, I won’t have to re-do the test. Thank goodness! I’m now 30 weeks pregnant and the baby weighs almost three pounds. We had our first childbirth class today, with the second half next Saturday. There were 12 couples in the class and 9 of us are having boys! Afterward we went to Kate’s in Everett for some falafel. Yum. We are big falafal fans but hadn’t had any in way too long. Then it was off to Babies R Us to order our glider rocker. Many of you know that I had earmarked some of the settlement money from my car accident for this purchase. Well, coming up on two years after the accident, we finally reached that settlement and the glider shopping commenced! Jeff can’t figure out why we didn’t get a glider earlier, as he figures it will be just perfect for football watching. Hopefully the glider arrives before the baby does. Jeff is going to work on painting the nursery tomorrow. It is so fun to plan how it will look and see it all coming together.

You’ve probably heard about all the flooding we’ve had out here, just after we finally cleared out all the snow and ice. For a couple days this week it was almost impossible to get into or out of Western Washington via roads, as I-5 was closed in the southern part of the state, and all three mountain passes were closed due to avalanches and avalanche danger. Things are slowly getting back to normal, and we are very thankful that we live on higher ground and were not flooded.

Here’s the 30 week belly shot:

Well, no pictures to post today but I wanted to update my seven or eight loyal readers on this morning’s adventures in needles. After fasting overnight, I got to the doctor’s office at 8am and had the first blood draw, followed by consuming the glucose solution. It was indeed yuckier than what I had to drink for the 1 hour test, but I got it down. Then I had blood draw number two at 9am, and at 9:30am I threw up the glucose solution and all the water I had been drinking. The nurse called the lab to get their input on what to do next. Thankfully they didn’t make me drink the glucose again. They recommended finishing out the 3 hour test, then if the first two blood draws (pre-throwing up) come back normal, I’m good to go. If those two are high, then they will either make me re-do the test or just diagnose me with gestational diabetes. If I have to re-take it, they can give me an anti-nausea pill to take first, and they said I might also be able to eat a little something beforehand and they can just note that for the analysis. So after two blood draws in each inner arm, they gave me the Rh shot and finally I was free (and able to get some food!). I should have results Monday or Tuesday. Of course I am just really hoping it comes back at normal levels! I will post an update when I get the results. Thanks for checking in!

Happy New Year! We are having a quiet New Year’s Eve with our company, which is just fine by us. I’ll be lucky if I am still awake come midnight. We had a fun late Christmas opening gifts this past Sunday….eight people means lots of presents under the tree! We got some fun baby stuff and Jeff got some oh-so-cute clothes for our boy plus a pair of the smallest, cutest Converse shoes you have ever seen. I also got a body pillow, which has been very useful in helping my back not be as achy during the night.

In non-holiday-related excitement, I got the call that my 1 hour glucose test came back “a little high” so I have to do the 3 hour version (which sounds to me like it takes longer than 3 hours) on Friday. I am really really not looking forward to that. It involves fasting for 10 hours beforehand, then I get to drink an even more concentrated version of the glucose solution (which makes some people throw up, then you have to drink it again) and then sit there all morning while they draw my blood once an hour. Keep in mind I am still not eating anything this whole time. Oh yes, and to top it off, I’m not making antibodies to the baby’s blood (that’s a good thing) which means while I’m there Friday they’ll give me the Rh shot I need (not so fun). A morning of needles, on an empty stomach….not my idea of a good time. I am really hoping that I will pass this round and not have to deal with gestational diabetes!

I’m now 29 weeks pregnant and the baby weighs about 2 1/2 pounds, or about the heft of a butternut squash. Here is today’s photo. Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2009!