one month and counting....

today is exactly one month from from my due date. come saturday, i'll be 36 weeks, with only 4 more weeks to go. next saturday, i'll be 37 weeks, full term!

and i have to say, even for all i gripe about the little things (or at least i feel like i do a lot of griping via this blog) i assure you, i am not all that miserable. more so just trying to keep track of what i'm feeling, all the odds and ends of what my ever-changing, constantly-growing body is going through.

really though, (i'm almost afraid to say it), this pregnancy has been pretty easy. minus the round ligament pain i was attacked with about halfway through, and then the hot flashes on those hottest days when we first got back to minnesota (did i forget to write about those?)... that's been the worst of it. (let's hope i don't have to make up for missing out on most of the miserable come labor.)

and when i think about it, pregnancy really is the easiest part of having/raising children. my child needs food? all i have to do is eat it myself. (WAY easier than trying to convince a toddler that green things are good. "open your mouth, here comes the airplane! ...please?") i don't have to worry about whether my child is too hot or too cold, i just need to keep myself at a reasonable temperature. no poopy diapers to hold my breath for. no fussiness to try and solve. with the baby currently a residential "extension" of myself, i can simply care for myself, and that covers baby's needs as well.

but despite the ease of taking care of my child in this manner, i sure am glad it's temporary... (can you imagine a 6 foot adult still curled up in my womb? terrifying!) it would be no fun if this child didn't get to become their own person, if he/she didn't get the chance to try eating dirt, to sneak cookie dough with me when grandma Z isn't looking, to figure out the difference between what is good and what is bad (in all areas of life - cookies are good, so are vegetables, cherry popsicles in barbeque sauce with seaweed is probably pretty bad; U2 is good, nickelback is bad; and so on...), to find his/her passions and know the fear and courage of pursuing said passions.

plus there are things i'm greatly looking forward to once this baby has made his/her entrance into the world (after taking some time to recover, of course), which include, but are not limited to:

• hot baths - not just these lukewarm-ish imposters i've been stuck with for the past 8 months (and saunas, and even the occasional hot tub, which my mother believes is bad, but i find them to be good, if they are clean and preferably privately owned by friends.)
• being able to eat eggs-over-easy (and the occasional bit of cookie dough) without feeling intense guilt for doing so.
• a full glass of wine or a ginger ale & peach schnapps zinger (for which i know i either need to wait until i'm no longer breastfeeding, or else find alternative means for feeding my child, but still, it'll be a much more viable option postpartum than "inpartum".)
• roller coasters
• jumping off the diving board at the pool
• for that matter, being able to jump at all! (and bend over, and wear shoes, and walk without waddling...)
• sleeping on my back. or my stomach. either or would be fine with me.

the list goes on, i'm sure, but for now, i should really get back to my regularly scheduled programming of eating and trying to get my swollen feet (and hands now, too) to not be so swollen.... among other things, of course.