The Belly has peaked!

No I have never seen a foot stick out like that on my belly. But I have seen other things indicating lots of motion, rolls and squirms. :) I am 33 weeks today and I think my belly is as big as it's going to get. I would have thought my belly would have been monstrous by now, but apparently not. It still a pretty small belly to be 8 months along. I guess it's just my genetics. I know the baby isn't underdeveloped; he's 4 pounds and 3 ounces as of Monday. And he's head down so he's ready for takeoff! It's getting down to the wire and it's kind of crazy that we will have a little boo chilling in like 7 weeks. I have to start getting/ordering all the supplies for the homebirth. My doula is probably going to let me use her birth pool from her store just to try it out. She says she knows that I am going to have a beautiful birth. I think so too even though my mom and my grandmother have launched full on war against my homebirth. I am not really letting it get to me though. They should respect my choice, end of story. I don't plan on discussing it further with either one of them. I had a 5 minute discussion with my grandmother on saturday about it. Boy did she bring the drama! "Your mom told me some disturbing news..." Save it for the stage Granny! Anyway, I haven't heard from her since. I think when I brought up the whole water birth thing, that just pushed her over the edge. My mom knew what she was doing when she told my grandmother. I wasn't even going to tell my grandmother because I knew she would panic and worry herself sick. So my mom launched the sneak attack by tipping her off, knowing damn well she would call me and bring the drama. Unfortunately for my mom, that little stunt is definitely not enough to dissuade me from my planned homebirth. It will go ahead as planned. B and I love our midwife; she is a real sweetie and she keeps it real. I love her nurturing/bossy side too. I was cracking up when she schooled B about how it wasn't just me having the baby, but "we" who were having the baby, hence his attendance during my prenatal exam was mandatory. You should have seen his face, so classic!

A Day at the Beach

Here's me at Long Beach yesterday. I will be 7 months this coming Wednesday. As you can see, I am still rocking my bikini with pride! It was fun yesterday getting out of the city. It definitely made me think about how much I really don't want to raise my son in the city. I want to have a lawn and backyard for him to play in. I want him to be able to ride his bike in the street. I want him to be able to roll around on grass. I really like city life for just me but for me and my little family, I want a house. I would love to live somewhere kind of country, with fruit bearing trees and a garden. Or it would be nice to live on a somewhat cosmopolitan island, the best of nature mixed with access to arts and cultures. I hear St. Martin is pretty diverse and has a lot of stuff going on. Hopefully in the next few years B and I will have an idea of where we may want to go from here.
Anyway, the beach was fun! We got the one day getaway package to Long Island which included a round trip ticket on the Long Island Railroad and beach admission all for 18 dollars each. We ate junk food on the boardwalk and then hung out on the sand. We only went into the water like twice because it was REALLY cold. Refreshing, yes, but you wouldn't want to just hang out in water at that temperature for long periods of time. After we left the beach, we found this cute little diner across the street from the train station. B had a grilled chicken caesar salad and I had a veggie burger and salad. We both got dessert to go since we didn't want to miss our train. Overall it was a lovely day. I was so pooped when we got home, I went to bed around 10pm. Woke up this morning and went to the gym. I was feeling so good on the elliptical machine, I ended up doing 65 minutes of cardio on it! This week I went to the gym 4 times so I am feeling cool about that. Five times would have been better but oh well. I find myself getting concerned about my every changing figure but I am like "Hey I am pregnant, I can't wear the same things I used to." But I definitely want to keep up the exercise until the day I go into labor and start up my postpartum fitness game plan shortly after delivery. Gradually of course. I will start with walking on the treadmill and eventually build up to running. Weights will be added probably a month or so after the delivery. Anyway, the little boo in my belly wants to eat breakfast so I need to honor his wishes! Later y'all! Oh and by the way, I passed my glucose challenge test with flying colors! Yay! I don't have gestational diabetes!

An Emerging Bump

My bump has officially emerged. I feel like it just grew a lot in the past week actually. Now people don't have to look at me and question whether the bump is just too much red velvet cake or a baby. LOL! It's an undeniable baby bump that would have the tabloids buzzing if I was some sort of celeb. I am eventually going to take a pic of the bump for anyone who is interested. So now that the baby is making his presence known more and more, I have been concentrating on getting my baby registry together. I actually finished it last night, it seems like everything we need and some of what we want has been covered. My mom looked at it this morning and I am sure she was rolling her eyes at all the "organic" items but she didn't mention anything in the e-mail reply she sent. I used the book "Great Expectations", a complete guide to pregnancy and childbirth as my guide in what I absolutely would need before little Bojangles makes it on the scene. Today I didn't make it to the gym because I was so sleep deprived. So I plan on going to the aquatic aerobics tonight, forcing myself to go because exercise after work has always been a struggle for me. That's why I normally go at 6 am before work to get it out of the way. And I normally feel energized for the day after my morning workout. But I woke up around 3am and didn't fall back asleep until 4:45am so the thought of getting up an hour later to hit the gym just seemed cruel and unusual. I try to workout at least 4 times out of the week, 5 being optimal. I will still be on point as long as I go tomorrow and friday. But I am hard on myself so I really will probably end up pushing myself out the door tonight at around 7:10pm. I mean once I am there and in the pool, I feel good. It's just getting myself to go. I am so unmotivated in the evenings. It's like sitting in my cube at work in front of the comp just drains my brain so by the time 5pm rolls around, I am like a zombie. So hungry right now, but what's new? I've been so curious about how the baby is going to look. I almost feel like cheating and getting one of those 4d ultrasounds that show what the baby actually looks like. It would be fun to have the photos at the baby shower. Everyone says that they think I will be a great mom. Really? I mean I guess they wouldn't tell me if they thought I would be a crappy mom, lol! "Oh you're pregnant? I feel bad for that baby!"...Can you imagine if someone said that to your face? I mean I know people who would probably say that about someone but not TO them! But who knows, I've known some bold tactless people in my time. I mean I am old enough that it is not like my life is ruined and I am an afterschool special, but I am also young enough to be considered a "young, hip" yummy mummy whose body(keeping my fingers crossed!) will snap back within 6 months of delivery. I plan on being in the gym up until the day I go into labor so that should help my cause! Okay, time to pick up my lunch! A bientot!