Thanksgiving

Today I'm so thankful for my family. For everyone who I will not see today, and for the family that I get to spend Thanksgiving with today. I am especially thankful for my little growing family that consists of me, Robert and Gabriel. It sounds really weird, but I feel like he's a part of everything we're doing today - I mean I feel like he is a separate individual who is enjoying the holidays with us. I know that he's still a part of me, but when I think of us getting ready for the holidays, I view him as being not a part of me, but his own little self. It's really hard to explain. But I'm excited to do all of the Christmas decorating and everything that we have not done for the past five years. It's because of the baby that we'll be staying home, so it feels like this is our first Christmas together. Even though he won't officially be here yet! So maybe that's why I feel like he is participating, when really, he is just along for the ride.
So that may not make any sense, but I wanted to try to convey what I was feeling today. I'm thankful for all of you, and I love you very much! And I'm thankful for chocolate covered peanut butter balls, which Robert is making while I type this!

Breastfeeding Class, and further updates

I know, it's been forever since I updated. But not much to report. Little Gabriel (!) is just loving making his presence known. He's in the same position a lot it feels like. I feel most of the moving on my right side, and I often get kicked up under my ribs on that side as well. Which is great, since that's the side that my ribs are most sore on. It gets uncomfortable, to say the least. And I'm still suffering from all the same other discomforts I described in previous posts, so no need to go any further into that. At least the baby seems to be enjoying himself. I just honestly can't believe that I still have six more weeks of him (and me) just getting bigger! It's a little crazy.
I began a little bit of work on the baby's room, convincing Robert to move the treadmill out of there. It's still in the hallway, but at least now I've been able to do a little bit in there. My next goal is to rearrange all of the bookshelves to my liking, but they may have to wait until we can actually get the treadmill into storage. I know that bookshelves seem tremendously unimportant, and it's probably tough to understand why I need to have them settled before I can set up the crib, but that's just the way my brain is working right now. I still have to discover the location of my missing bassinet for the pack n' play that Chris sent to me. Having someplace for the baby to sleep is important.
And breastfeeding class! We went tonight, and, for me at least, it was really interesting. Most of the info I sort of knew already, having picked it up from various other readings. But it was really nice to get so much information, and to see how super supportive they are of breastfeeding at the hospital. It seems almost impossible to fail, unless there is some deeper underlying, unpreventable something that keeps you from being able to. They really really want you to be successful. So that's good to know.
And in non-baby related news, our dog George was attacked by another dog at his doggie daycamp place. No one saw what started it, but it is speculated that the other dog reacted to a "back off" signal that George gave her, and just snapped and went at him. They were only without supervision for a minute or two, but she was able to do a lot of damage in that time. He's doing okay, but he's looking pretty beat up. Lots of open puncture wounds on his neck and the sides of his face. The other dog was brand new, it was her trial day. She didn't pass. So having someone else to worry about has made me focus on my own discomforts less. Which is good. As I've said before, my complaints are nothing compared to what some women deal with during pregnancy. Or compared to what George is probably feeling now.

32 weeks - That's 8 months people!

Here is the latest picture, although it doesn't really give you a good idea of how large I feel. There is seriously a baby in there - either that or an alien creature, but we're pretty sure it's a baby.
The main stuff I have to report in this post is just how freakin' uncomfortable I've been!! My hips hurt almost constantly, as do my ribs, especially on the right. I keep expecting to see swollen and bruised skin, but it looks normal. It just hurts! The past couple weeks have definitely made a difference, and that baby just keeps pushing everything out of his way. My lungs are compressed so that I am almost always short of breath, no matter what I'm doing. And my poor stomach is squished - heartburn was bad enough, but now I feel queasy a lot of the time as well.
So that's my whine/rant about how uncomfortable my third trimester is. Sleeping has become difficult, but I've perfected my ability to nap, so that's not that huge. I'm not keeping up with school like I was because I really just can't sit at my computer for that long anymore. But that's okay. Now I'm back to how I was doing when I was working and in school. I am super glad that I am lucky enough to not have to work during this part of the pregnancy - I am just not one of those women who could do it!
I have another doctor's appointment this week - soon we'll be seeing her once a week! We'll see how much bigger I've gotten in two weeks. Also, I get my swine flu vaccination today. I think that's pretty exciting. I had decided not to get the regular flu shot, but now I'm wavering on that decision again. I've never gotten it before, and if it were just for myself, I would not be getting it this year either. But it's supposed to protect your baby even after birth, which is good. So we'll see.