Moving Along

Baby girl is, as I type, jabbing me with a little—elbow?—and making my stomach lopsided and lumpy. It’s fascinating. I’ll miss this part of being pregnant. (Not that I’m doing the almost-end-of-game wrap-up, OH no, not yet.) I’m 32 weeks along now, and she is measuring right on target. If I can keep my blood pressure in the normal range for the next few weeks, I will hopefully avoid induction or C-section.

Walking down the hall just now, I was greeted by the office receptionist with an unmistakable “Oh my God you look huge” gesture involving arms held way out in front of an imaginary giant belly. This same person once insisted—to the point of arguing with me about it—that I was pregnant before I was pregnant, so, okay.

We did the 4D ultrasound even though I’d said I was going to skip it this time. It’s expensive (not covered by insurance), and there are no guarantees that you’ll get a good look at the baby’s face if she decides, for example, to hide securely behind one arm and one leg. Ours did that, and I was duly impressed by her flexibility—knee to nose, no kidding—but we got some good shots, too. Enough to tell that she has chubby cheeks, a full, pouty little mouth, and (!) quite probably not a single strand of hair. (I am a sucker for the baldies.)

In other news, this:

is about to start down the path of Formal Education. I enrolled him in kindergarten yesterday. People keep telling me how emotional the process of sending your first off to kindergarten is, and I am a pretty sentimental sap. Mostly my twinges are of the “Will he miss Clay J.?” (I will!) and “Will he be upset when I leave him that first day?” (I will!) variety. Maybe because he’s been in full-time care since he was 3 months old, some of this is old hat to us. Routine, following directions, working with other kids, listening to teachers, all that stuff is (should be) in the bag.

But be gentle with me on August 13. (And August 14 for that matter; that’s my birthday.)

My fourth nephew (my sister’s third child) will most likely be joining us much earlier than his due date of June 17. She’s on bedrest now for pregnancy-induced hypertension and they’re talking about scheduling her C-section for mid- to late next month. Please spare a good thought or two for her, imagining how impossible it must be to rest and keep calm with a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old running around the house.