Boy was yesterday action-packed…  This here Papa-to-be did a little gym climbing in the morning and then accompanied the Mama-to-be to a couples pre-natal yoga workshop in the afternoon.  I wouldn’t say that I’m exhausted (strictly speaking) but there is certainly a tinge in the ol’ muscles.

The workshop was a good one.  It had been probably about 7 or 8 years since the last time I was in a yoga class like that but many of the poses were familiar.  (Alas! No headstand-based poses…)  It was interesting to be around some other pregnant couples (some as far along as 38 weeks) and there were certainly some useful lessons there.

I think that a lot of the things that the instructor encouraged for the labor process are things I would have done anyway.  But it that bit about applying pressure to the sacrum?  Goldmine.

Yesterday we had our “almost 28-week appointment.”  I’m up a whopping 18 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight!  My blood pressure is super awesome at 102/58.  Baby is wiggling and kicking on a regular basis.  A couple of days ago, he/she kicked me so hard in the diaphragm that it took my breath away!  All good signs of a healthy little critter.  Tomorrow I go for the third trimester glucose tolerance test and blood work to check for anemia.  I blocked out my schedule for the afternoon and will be happily leaving work at lunchtime to get this stuff out of the way.  We will also be meeting with a pediatrician soon.  Our midwife recommended that we set up an appointment with a prospective doctor to establish a relationship with him or her prior to the baby’s arrival.  I also just signed up for childbirth classes, which we are scheduled to complete just 10 days before my due date.  Yikes!  On top of this stuff, I am starting to see the midwife once every 2 weeks instead of once each month.  All of this extra stuff on my calendar is going to force me to cut back on work—which frankly cannot happen soon enough.  Ever since we got back from vacation I’ve been really ready to throw in the towel.  I am feeling a little tired, and I can’t seem to find the motivation to work on stuff for the two classes I am teaching, let alone work on anything related to what is left of my very inactive research career.  I only have 6 weeks left of work, and believe me, I am counting down the hours.  Luckily, my beautiful and amazing friend Deborah will be here to keep me company after I am done with work; she will provide much-needed girl bonding time before my life assumes a drastically different form!    So that is where we stand these days—we are getting increasingly excited, and it’s starting to become more of a reality as we get closer.  It has already been a transformative experience in a lot of respects, and I am so lucky and happy to be able to share it with Rob.  It’s so obvious how much he loves his little baby already—he is going to be a super awesome papa!   

Our last child-less vacation.  A. & I and the gestating organism at Ft. Sumter, Charleston, SC.  One day shy of week 27 in this picture.  Into the third trimester we go…