three-quarters, part two.

So the nursery is three-quarters of the way done, but guess what else is?

Yep! The babe. That's her, two weeks ago. For those of you who have trouble interpreting ultrasound pictures, that's her head and chest - facial profile looking upwards. (Try explaining that to my father-in-law, because I did. And failed.) 

I'm 30 weeks and change now, which seems unreal. I can tell I'm starting to get closer to the end, though, because I have a million little reminders every single day.

1. My co-preggos are starting to pop. A cluster of my friends, my co-workers, and - yes - celebrities have been pregnant at the same time as me, and one by one, they're squeezing out babies. On the one hand, this is really comforting: Here are women I've spoken with personally (well, not so much Princesses Kim and Kate, but, you know) about the triumphs, trials, and tribulations of pregnancy, and they've made it to the other side. That's encouraging! On the other hand, I distinctly remember thinking during my first trimester that I would know I was getting close when this person or that person gave birth...and it's staaartinggg. Yikes.

2. Certain decisions have (finally) been made - like registries, birth classes, and child care arrangements. Naturally, since there's still a good chunk of time left, other decisions are lingering, such as whether or not we can actually afford the child care arrangements we've made, and the small matter of a name for this new human being. If only celeb babies (ahem, NORTH and GEORGE) would stop stealing my top name contenders... (Kidding; I have no name contenders right now.)

3. I started counting down the weeks instead of counting them up. That just started a few days ago, when I realized I have roughly 10 weeks to go. 

4. I've officially hit the stage where something is always slightly uncomfortable. Really, I've loved being pregnant so far, and I know - and am constantly grateful - that I've had a pretty easy time of it. The last two weeks or so, though, random discomforts have emerged, and I can't say I'm super fond of them. My left shoulder blade hurts every time I eat (gas? Heartburn? Stomach being shoved into my shoulder blade? I dunno). If I slouch at all, my whole upper back seizes up. If I'm out in the raging summer heat and sunshine for more than about an hour, I start feeling sick (not so good, considering I spend every afternoon - and some mornings - outside for work). I keep losing most of my hearing in my right ear, which got severe enough (including dizziness, nausea, and disorientation) that I actually saw a doctor about it; his oh-so-helpful prescription was to wait a few months and then give birth, which will relieve the swelling and fluid retention that are causing the hearing loss. THX DR. I've also been having mild contractions, which don't hurt; they're just annoying, and they make me feel like my insides might...fall out or something, you know, NBD. I'm definitely in the pee-all-the-time stage, which doesn't help with sleeping, which was already disrupted by the can't-roll-over-without-waking-up-and-consciously-planning-how-to stage. My sciatic nerve likes to remind me of its presence for about an hour a day. And there are other awesome pregnancy presents that not everyone will mention, but pretty much everyone gets them, so what the hell? Hemorrhoids, milk leakage, and...other fun leakage. Just once, but HOORAY.

5. I'm starting to think less about pregnancy and think more about birth. I procrastinated signing up for a birthing class, so I may end up missing some of the four-week class that I finally registered for, considering it overlaps with my due date. Whatever - the baby's coming (and likely after my due date, anyway), whether I know how to visualize and breeeeathe or not. But I did realize that once the pregnancy is over, we will, with any luck, have a baby to raise. Yeah. Minor detail. Forgot about that side effect of pregnancy for a while there.

6. And the biggest daily reminder that things are progressing? The mirror. Or in this case, the camera.

26 weeks

27 weeks

28 weeks

29 weeks

30 weeks

Thankfully, everything seems to be progressing well. My blood pressure and weight gain are good, and I'm getting used to the shock (emotional and physical) of being almost 20 pounds heavier than I'm used to. Everything went well with the extra ultrasound - the umbilical cord implanted in a good spot, Baby is in the 60th percentile for growth, and there aren't any placental ventricles covering the cervix (which could have caused hemorrhaging when my water broke). The ultrasound doctor guy even mentioned that all other mammals, besides humans, have the kind of placenta that I have - that is, bilobed. Only humans have a boring pancake placenta. Then he cleared his throat and said, "Please don't call my office in a rage, complaining that I called you 'less than human,' okay? It's just a fun anthropological fact." Love it! He cracked me up, which I appreciate in a doctor who surely has to deliver crappy/nebulous news to anxious parents all the time. Obviously, the best part of the extra ultrasound was getting to watch the baby move around again, which is always awesome and reassuring. (Ultrasound tech: "So, looks like she's sitting on your bladder..." MM-HMM THANKS YEP.) Of course, these days, I can sit and watch the exterior show of my belly bulging out with a head or a bottom here and there - surreal, crazy, amazing. The other night, I was reading in bed and put my book down for a minute on my belly while I reached for something, and J.J. was able to see the book move in waves as the baby rolled around inside! Just. Plain. Incredible.

Three-quarters - not a bad place to be, in my opinion. I'm still enjoying being pregnant, and I don't mind waiting a few more months to meet this little girl of mine. Although...it's pretty frightening to think about what my belly will look like three months from now. After all, here's a side-by-side comparison of the difference three months can make:

That's 18 weeks and 30 weeks. How is it possible that the baby still has most of her growing to do?! Picture me gazing vacantly past my computer in a terrified fog of OMG MY BELLY MIGHT EXPLODE BEFORE OCTOBER. Please, belly...don't explode. Because ugh, mess, etc. 

three-quarters, part one.

Three-quarters of the way done.

With the nursery, with the pregnancy. Let's just process that for a minute.

Aaand processing over. Let's check out the nursery for now, since that occupies roughly three-quarters of my mind at any given moment. Truth: I may be a more dedicated room-remodeler than belly-grower...but whatever. Working on this room is just so much fun (she said, after agonizing [a relative term] over fabrics all afternoon). 

Here's where we are with The Crib:

Coming along, eh? Although, disclaimer: That chair is a placeholder for a glider that is on its way. It's the most uncomfortable chair ever, one that I purchased on a whim during freshman year of college and for some stupid reason haven't been able to part with. It's usually in our bedroom, but I wanted to test out dimensions, etc., so it's chilling in the nursery for the time being. Hopefully, the glider will get here soon and the butterfly chair will return to its grand purpose of holding all of our dirty clothes, which are obviously so much easier to throw on the chair than in the hamper. ANYWAY. As you can see in the above pic, the changing table is set to go (minus the, uh, changing pad); we put the crib together (first moment of HOLY CRAP A BABY WILL SLEEP HERE panic); and I found a storage ottoman, floor lamp, and some cute Homegoods picture frames. Also...

...the rug was delivered (although it still needs to flatten out and air out), and J.J. installed a new ceiling light to replace the old, ugly black porch light that used to be there. Side note: the light bulbs for the ceiling light each cost the same amount as the fixture itself ($12.99). No joke.

The other side of the room has gotten some attention, too, having gone from this:

To this:

I finished painting the closet (Benjamin Moore's Blue Seafoam), and I added this shelving unit from Ikea, along with three turquoise fabric bins from Target on the top shelf. Actually, this picture is from a few days ago - now there's a clothing rod and some hangers, too.

What's left at this point? Well, I'm going to make some rain gutter bookshelves - a couple on the dead wall next to the closet, since the door swings open onto that wall and nothing else can really go there, and a couple on the wall on the other side of the door. I'm still hunting down the perfect lamp for the changing table, as well as some cute art and mobile options, which may end up being DIY/may end up being purchased through Etsy or something. I also still need to decide on fabrics for the crib skirt, window curtains, and closet curtain. Current top contenders (the list changes weekly daily hourly) include:

Those three are all from joann.com, but the top one - my long-standing fave - was discontinued while I wavered back and forth. Sad face. 

But moving on...

The lime in this one (from here) looks sort of obnoxious here, but it looks better on the website - who knows how it would actually look in person? Either way, Mamatots, A.K.A. the Fabric Genius, was able to hunt down a more affordable version of it, so it's still in the running. But then this afternoon I found a few other potentials...

(For the window curtains, from here)

(For the crib skirt and closet curtain, from here)

(Another crib skirt/closet curtain option, from here)

Definitely riding the struggle wave in terms of picking out fabric, but at least I'm starting to narrow it down. By widening the field of options? I don't know - it feels like I'm getting close, anyway! 

Speaking of getting close, summer camp - and summer in general - is officially halfway over. In my head, when camp ends, birth is imminent. ZOINKS. I mean, to be real, the birth could still be four to six weeks AFTER camp ends, but still! This is partially why I channel my energy into the nursery; it just seems a tad bit more manageable than a newborn...who turns into a toddler, a preschooler, and grade schooler, a tween, AND BEYOND. Plus, it's just fun to watch progress like this:

Ta-da! What can I say...I love watching (and making) things change like that!

(Stay tuned for Part Two, featuring other things that are three-quarters of the way finished - namely, the belly and the baby!)