Verrrrrrry Pregnant - 38.5 weeks

Belly at 38.5 weeks. I have been lucky as far as stretch marks go, but do have two lovely purple ones courtesy of my belly ring compromised derma in the belly button region.

So...there is my giant pregnant belly for those of you who have been eager to see it. I am fairly sure that the baby in there weighs over 10 pounds and I am looking forward to its exit from my body. Although I have been enjoying my new status as an obviously VERY pregnant woman (this means that people offer me seats, stare at me in wonder, and ask me what the hell I am doing still commuting to work), I am getting restless regarding sleepless nights, not being able to get off the couch, having trouble tying my shoes, constantly having to pee, being punched in the sides by the baby, etc.

That said, I don´t really want to give birth. I would rather just fall asleep and magically wake up to my baby, outside of my body. Ideally with no visible damage to my body and 25 extra pounds gone. Hey, I can dream.

When I am not busy dreaming, I am getting ready for a hopefully drugless, natural child birth. We will see how that goes in actual practice, but there is no way I am willingly letting anyone put a needle in my spine, nor do I want an IV, nor do I want to end up with a lethargic baby. I had an unfortunate Noro - virus incident a few weeks ago and the resulting hospitalization confirmed that doctors are not capable of putting IVs into my apparently oh so delicate veins. I was stuck a total of 6 times and had 3 veins give out (they stopped "working" resulting in massive bruising and pain.) Luckily the German midwives seem to be very pro natural childbirth and encourage birth without intervention, so I am in the right place. (Although my motives may not be so pure.)

Progress Towards Birth

For those of you who know technical words - I am partially effaced - 1cm left. The head is engaged in the pelvis, and all things point go. So the baby is ready to come anytime. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that it won´t decide to baste in the comfort of my womb for another 2.5 weeks.

Other big news is that today was my last day of work!!! Now I have no excuse not to do the laundry, clean the house, finish my Dr. Suess paintings, eat healthy food, go for walks, and basically become an improved person. Darn. But I will get a lot more sleep, be less stressed out, and take great pleasure in my "vacation."

Another wonderful thing is that the sun has been out, the flowers are blooming, and spring time has come. April is a wonderful month to have a baby. Hopefully the weather will hold for another few weeks and shortly the baby and I will be chilling on the balcony, drinking fruit smoothies together.