Intrepid Murmurings

Have you ordered your puddle pads, yet?
Holy cow, I am starting to feel really pregnant. Had my first out of the blue "when are you due" comment from a cashier the other day (so far, no strangers rubbing my belly however). At just about 27 weeks, I still have a fair bit to go! The baby is moving all the time, and definitely getting bigger. I think she may be starting the hiccuping stage! My fancy maternity pillow is not solving all of the sleep issues, but it still helps a fair amount (and yahoo, Lonnie is getting used to it!). By morning my hips and lower back can be pretty sore, but it goes away for the most part after getting up and walking around a bit. I've been getting occasional leg cramps at night (a couple nights ago both legs at once, eeowch!) but if I take my prenatals at night instead of the morning and stay hydrated, that seems to help. Whew! Loving the heating pad, that is for sure! Yesterday I took the dog for a walk in the morning, then went shopping (to order our healthy crib mattress and an accompanying mattress pad and "puddle pad", which, yes, does sound quite like an urban yuppie dog product) and then on to Costco. My feet and calves were so sore the rest of the night! I think it was just too much time on my feet. That never used to happen. Bleh! In cheerier news, we are starting our childbirth classes this evening! We opted not for the hospital sponsored ones, but a series offered by a doula here in Seattle who bases her classes of the book Birthing From Within by Pam England. It will hopefully give us a lot of tools for going the natural route, if we can, though is not like some of them that give off the feeling that any and all medical interventions are considered a "failure", which I don't agree with. Lonnie is slightly nervous about the "birth art" activities that are part of the class. Ha! Hopefully it will not be too hippie dippy for him (though come on, he looks the part, does he not?)! He is still struggling through the birth stories I am making him read in Ina May's Guide to Childbirth (a book I devoured in a few sittings and highly recommend, by the way). Sadly, I realized last week our birth classes conflict with the class at the YMCA I was planning on taking. Drat! And it seems there are no other prenatal aqua classes in all of Seattle! What about my beautiful swimsuit!?!? I may have to drag Lonnie along to the pool to do laps in the afternoons since I feel like I need a brush-up in pool lane swimming etiquette and that is totally his element. More soon, stay tuned...