Week 34: April Showers

Most frequently asked questions:
Are you sick of being pregnant? (Answer: yes!)

Uncomplimentary comments people don’t think twice about voicing:
Look how funny your stomach looks! It’s like a shelf.
(From an OB nurse who should know better)

Current symptoms:
Itchy belly
General feeling of hugeness

Current number of friends who are pregnant:
3 (not including J.G., who gave birth to a baby girl last week!)

My pregnant friends are dropping like flies. Or, I should say, are popping out babies like flies … or something. Baby Oliver and Baby Lily have come into the world at last! I got to visit T. and Oliver in the hospital last weekend, where they are keeping him for a little while because he was born almost a month early. He looked so tiny in his little plastic salad bin in the NICU! He’s an adorable, non-squishy little guy with a head of blond peach fuzz.

I was shocked, though, when the nurse picked him up and his little ear was folded over and stuck flat to his head. She just said, “Oh, he was just sleeping on it. The cartilage will stiffen that right up soon,” and nonchalantly bent it back in place like a piece of Play-Doh!

You would think that being in such close proximity to a newborn would sort of drive home the message that I’m next, but oddly, it didn’t. I still can’t quite grasp that the squirmy little being inside me is going to be coming out in just a few weeks. It’s currently part of me, yet soon it will be separate from me. Mind boggling!

After the hospital, my friend L. picked up my visiting mother-in-law and me to bring us to the top-secret location of my baby shower. We pulled up to an adorable Victorian tea house I didn’t even know existed. Inside, they had set up a private room with teapots, flowers, balloons, and all things girly. It was great! Even my SIL was there, despite the fact that she had already attended the shower my college friends threw me a couple of weeks ago.

K.F. displayed her super-creative skills with the adorable shower games she devised. One was to match the guests’ baby photos to their adult photos – tougher than it sounds. Another was to identify various kinds of baby food by taste. Can you say “ewww”?! That stuff is gross, people. Fortunately, we had tea and scones and tiny little sandwiches to chase away the foul taste of the pureed spinach.

The girls went all out on the gifts – the Rolls-Royce of car seats, a stroller, a handmade baby sling, and dozens of great books. You know this kid’s got to be literate, with a writer for a mom. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family.