8 Months!

This is you at 8 months. I had to move away from the athletic shirts because they don't fit anymore...

Well, it appears as though we’ve reached the 8th month of pregnancy. Pregnancy math doesn’t really make sense to me (as is the case with all math) since even though I’m in my 8^th month, I still have 8 weeks to go. I guess it’s because technically women are actually pregnant for ten months…something which was news to me only after the fact. It was also news to me that Ph.D programs take significantly longer than the five years your dad and I signed up for, so I guess I don’t really get Ph.D math either.

Prince William and Duchess Kate are expecting their first baby around the same time you are due. We have noticed that Kate looks remarkably less pregnant than I do. She looks like she may have just eaten a hamburger, while I look like I ate an 8 year old child. I read somewhere that they refer to their fetus as their “Little Grape,” whereas you still pretty much go by Chicken Fry and/or our “Little Uterine Goblin.” If you say “Little Uterine Goblin” in an English accent, it sounds more refined.  Even though you are distantly related to Will and Kate’s child, once you see the apartment we’re moving you into, it will become immediately clear that you were born on the wrong side of that vast gene pool. Sorry about that.

Although things are still running smoothly, this last month I realized that I may have overestimated my physical abilities while pregnant. For some reason, the walk to work in the mornings is so difficult for me that I get a little dizzy and nauseated. I think it’s because there’s an ever so slight incline as I approach Beacon Hill. But for now I can still manage the walk home, so I’ll continue to do that for as long as possible.

Pregnancy insomnia has been a bit of an issue for me as well. Not only am I uncomfortable, but at about 2:30 each morning I wake up with racing thoughts that I can’t seem to let go of until right about 10 minutes before my alarm goes off. Ironically, at night my mind stresses out about virtually everything under the sun except your impending birth. I think it’s because I’m probably in denial about the whole thing, and my brain has chosen not to address it. Instead, my mind focuses on the really important stuff like changing light bulbs and ordering photographs off of Snapfish.

This last month has been spent trying to prepare for your arrival. We picked out a pediatrician, changed over to a better insurance plan, began the horrific packing/purging process to move to our new apartment (which, let me emphasize again, is the least awesome apartment ever), and most importantly your dad has started on the cradle that he’s building for you and your future siblings, and maybe one day all of your children too. Tomorrow we’re going to go get your stroller and car seat, and on Sunday is our first baby shower.  I guess what all of this means is that it’s happening. It’s really, really happening.

As far you go, even though you’re getting more cramped, your movements are also becoming stronger and more coordinated. And sometimes really violent. Occasionally you’ll thump me so hard when I’m laying down that my body actually lurches forward. Each night your dad likes to play “hunt the baby” which involves me lying on my back (for as long as I can, which isn’t long) while your dad pokes around my belly in search of a baby limb. Sometimes you win, which means your dad wasn’t able to find you…but usually he wins because there’s almost always a foot or an elbow or a baby bum poking out.

Usually you’ll poke me, I’ll poke you back, and then you quickly move away. But every now and then you’ll stick your foot out and let me massage it for a while. Obviously you are related to your Nana in that regard. You still get the hiccups all the time—at least once, but usually two or three times a day. And finally, on rare occasions I can feel you blowing bubbles.

Things are still progressing wonderfully and for that I thank you. Every day we imagine what you’ll be like and look like and sound like, and it’s almost impossible for me to wrap my mind around the fact that in mere weeks we’ll finally have all those answers.