Here We Are and There You Go

Welcome to our new world.

In 2010, we decided it was time to try to add another Tatum to this world. After a year of trying and seeing doctors, we got the first, magical positive pregnancy test while on vacation at Walt Disney World. That was the first time this baby messed with our vacation, and I'm sure it won't be the last. I spent the rest of the vacation (mind you, we discovered the wonderful news on the second day of a 7-day trip) avoiding roller coasters, missing out on beer, getting exhausted and having wicked sciatic pain. Way to go, baby. I'm not bitter...

Fast forward a few months, and here we are. The nursery is mostly prepared. My belly is ever-expanding. Craft projects abound. Birthing classes have been taken. Clothes have been washed and put away. Dogs have had breakdowns during all the house changes. It's a wild world.

I am at 32 weeks as of today, and the baby is the size of a squash (15 inches, 3.5 pounds). That's pretty much what he's like, too - squashed. I feel his tiny limbs pushing at every side of my uterus throughout the day, trying to find a corner to stretch into. My belly rolls and undulates while I sit at my desk at work, and it's all I can do not to just stare at it for hours. It's fascinating. And creepy. But mostly fascinating.

This has been a fairly easy pregnancy (knock on wood - hell, knock the wood OVER), with few of the "magical" bits that my friends always warned me about. My feet are just starting to swell for the first time, but that's to be expected as the heat index jumps into the 100s this week. I have been cursed with the inconvenience of gestational diabetes, but of all the things that can go wrong, that one is at least controllable. Though it is somewhat cruel to tell a woman that although she's in the only stage of her life where she doesn't have to count calories, suddenly she's not allowed bread, sweets, milk, pasta, or basically anything that sounds delicious. Awesome.

There are about 8 weeks to go, and we've still got a few things to do. Like pack a bag for the hospital, and choose a pediatrician. But I have every confidence that we will have it all figured out in time. In the meantime, enjoy our foray into the truest adulthood there is - bringing another life into the world and believing that you will probably not screw everything up. Just some things.

~Jennifer