Lots has happened since I updated on September 2. (I don��t know why someone who is so bored and has so little to do to entertain herself wouldn��t write in her pregnancy diary just to stave off death by inactivity, but for some reason, I couldn��t get motivated. I have a serious case of inertia, which I sure hope goes away after the baby comes �V I guess it will kindof have to �V because inertia is really not a good thing.) Carole and Valeri Bishop had a baby shower for me on September 12, which was a ton of fun. Lots of friends from Schwab were there, and my small group members and Al��s sister Gloria and her daughter Tremaine and Tremaine��s daughter Adrianna came too. Aunt Kristin came all the way up from Florida to stay with us for several days prior to the shower, and we hung out and did girly things and had a blast. We shopped lots �K well, we window shopped�K neither of us made any major purchases. I can��t wait to see how quickly I��m able to get back into ��normal�� clothes, and am so excited about buying some new stuff to wear this fall and winter!!! I do sometimes wonder how I��m going to fit that in between feedings every two hours tho�K but I��ll figure it out with Al and Mom and my friends who want to babysit. But it��s funny that you can live in your own body and still be extremely curious about what it will look like in different conditions which are right around the corner!

I am still pretty comfortable pregnant and almost 38 weeks along�K my only physical complaints are the awkwardness of the belly, the breathlessness and the tiredness. Mentally, the waiting is tough and I am very anxious to actually have a baby, now that everything (and I do mean everything, plus plus) is ready for her. The belly is pretty big, tho people are really surprised that I��m so close to the end of the pregnancy bcs I think pretty big for me is small vs. the ��norm.�� My maternity clothes still fit but I am BORED BORED BORED with them and want desperately for the weather to cool off so that I can start wearing the very few cooler weather outfits I have bought. Like my jeans and my khaki corduroys, a pink baby cable sweater, a long sleeve white t-shirt and a neat black top with a built in white shirt collar and some black/white checked drawstring pants that I already had.

The hospital bags (one for labor/delivery and one for post partem) are as packed as they can be for now, the cute baby seat is in the car, the stroller is parked near the back door, the nursery is complete, clean, and gets rearranged nearly daily just bcs I keep going in there to play with everything and end up moving it all around�K I think my feelings about that room and its occupant to be are bordering on obsessive, and I get kindof ashamed, but then I think, Hey!! What better to be obsessed with than one��s own little child??? And she��s not here yet, so I go with what I��ve got and obsess over her room and all of her little possessions!

Food continues to pose quite the challenge for me. I know I need to be eating, and I WANT to eat, but I just don��t feel hungry and not many foods seem appealing to me, so I struggle to choke down much of anything. I don��t feel sick�K I just don��t have any appetite. But, and this is bizarre for me, I am always PARCHED and can down liquids faster than anything, and I find them sooooooooooo satisfying!!!! Coke is especially yummy, and cherry coke sends delighted shivers through my whole body�K un-pregnant, I don��t really drink much Coke, so I guess you could call all of this a pregnancy craving? Anyway, I am just a beverage junkie right now�K Gatorade, Coke, Shirley Temples (sluuuuuuuuuuuurp), apple juice, lemonade�K you name it, I want to drink it�K 24/7. I wake up with my lips stuck to my teeth and my tongue and the rest of my mouth just dusty dry and all I can think about is beverages!!!!

Something feels different about the location of the baby, too. Off and on, she creates more and more pressure on my bladder and does things that make my cervix hurt a little, too. Maybe this means she has dropped or is in the process of dropping, but these symptoms seem to come and go from day to day, so maybe she��s just bigger and certain positions bring on these feelings. The doctor didn��t comment on the whole dropping issue at my appointment Monday, tho she did say she could feel the baby��s head during my FIRST internal exam since we started this journey 9 months ago. My cervix was still long and closed - *sigh*, but I guess the head being in a position to be felt must be a good sign of progress. Oh yes, I started to have infrequent but noticeable period-like cramps about 8-10 days ago and they continue to come and go �V mostly in the evenings. The doctor didn��t seem at all concerned about those, so I assume they are just my body getting some practice contractions in so it��ll know what to do when the time comes.

Still sleeping pretty well most nights�K I only have to get up to go to the bathroom twice a night, even considering the huge amounts of fluids I��m taking in. I��m not swollen and don��t have constipation or hemorrhoids although my bottom does kinda hurt (pressurey hurting) most of the time. I��ve been trying to walk in the mornings as frequently as possible, which hasn��t been that frequent since it seems there are always hurricane remnants on their way thru Georgia from Florida, so lots of rain and wind!

Al continues to be wonderful to me. Being the independent and determined person that I am (probably to a fault at times) I still am doing the housework and shopping and cooking, but when he gets home, he is always ready to pay attention to me, wash the dinner dishes and clean up the kitchen, and generally make me feel like a princess for the rest of the day, right down to a very nice backrub each night as I fall asleep. I think we do a really good job of taking care of one another and appreciating what each of us does for the other. He��s a great husband and I think we are going to have fun being parents together �K I don��t see us having the standard resentment towards one another that I hear about quite a bit, bcs we have already established a really good system of give and take and a deep appreciation for each other. He just makes me so proud �V he is so smart and good and kind and unselfish, and other people recognize and love these things about him, which reminds me (not that I really need reminding) of the reasons that I love him and makes me feel like the luckiest woman in the world to be his wife. Plus, I get to see the parts of him that he saves for the people he loves and trusts most �V like his silly side and his creative side and his sweet, loving, vulnerable side. So I get the total package! No one is perfect, but he is awfully darn close, in my opinion. �� I can��t wait to watch the little one grow up and find out which of his characteristics she��ll have �V hopefully all of them!!

Birth classes were fun �V we went on one weekend (Sept. 17 & 18) �V a Friday night and then all day Saturday, and we enjoyed them, laughed a lot, and learned some good things to help us remain on the same page during labor and delivery. There were lots of other couples there and we were all expecting our first babies, so I enjoyed meeting them and hearing their questions and concerns, too. The breastfeeding class I��d planned on attending was cancelled due to one of the hurricanes, so we��re just going to do some reading about breastfeeding and then rely on the lactation consultants at the hospital to help us with what we don��t learn in books. I still feel pretty confident about the process, I just want to be armed with tons of information so there are fewer things that could happen that would take me by surprise or discourage me.

I think that��s all for now. I hope I remain motivated diary-ward for the next few weeks so I��ll have good documentation of these last few weeks prior to birth!