35 weeks

I only have about 3 weeks left.  We will find out officially on Thursday morning.  I can't wait!  It will be an interesting appointment.

Tomorrow night we are taking a "babycare basics" class.  Darren is definitely coming to this one.  I hope he survives it.  I have a feeling there may be pictures of poopy diapers and other possibly unpleasant things that Darren may not be able to handle.  Oh well, he has to get used to it some time. :)

Darren mentioned in his post that I have been obsessively watching baby shows.  Its true, I have developed a baby show obsession.  I watch "Babies:Special Delivery", "Birth Day", "A Baby Story", and "Deliver Me: Home Edition".  I record several of these every day.  It's all a part of my need to be informed about what is going to happen to me.  After watching hours and hours of labor and delivery shows I feel like I am mostly prepared for whatever might happen during the birth, including induction, epidurals, episiotomies, c-sections, all technical terms relating to labor and delivery, and just about everything that could happen to me or the baby and how they fix it.  Being this well informed about it all makes me completely confident about the whole process.  I've been asked if I'm nervous for delivery, and I have to say that I am not at all nervous about it.  I feel totally prepared for whatever might happen.  It's the baby raising after delivery that makes me nervous.  As much as I can prepare for that part, it is still a mystery as to how our baby will behave.  Every single parenting experience is different because every baby is different, and I feel like there isn't much I can do to prepare in advance for that.  We will just have to learn that as we go for the most part.  If I were to guess based on our personalities I think our baby will probably be easier than a lot of babies are.  Darren and I are both pretty laid back people.  He is a bit more high maintenance than I am, but we are both pretty relaxed and go with the flow easily.  I'm hoping our baby will have a personality like that, but she could surprise us.  There's just no telling how she will be until she arrives.  I'm just glad I am able to take a full 12 weeks off to get used to it all.

I've been feeling ok this past week, but I'm still battling a bit of swelling.  Its really only bad when I get home from work every day.  I didn't notice swelling at all over the weekend.  I am extremely uncomfortable with all of the movement inside of me though.  I have a very strong child apparently.  She is constantly kicking and pushing on the inside of my ribs.   It's absolutely unbearable at times, and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it but just deal and count down the days until it stops.  Every time it happens I am reminded  of that part in "Breaking Dawn" when Bella gets her ribs broken.  If you've read the Twilight series you know what I'm talking about. :)

Back to my baby shows, I heard a doctor on one of them say something very interesting the other day.  I have heard so much talk about how it's so good to have a "natural" labor and delivery, and it really can make a person feel bad if they opt for an epidural or even a c-section.  This doctor was talking about epidurals and said he couldn't understand why people were so adamant about not getting one.  He said a person would never go get a tooth pulled and opt for no pain medication because its more "natural" without it.  We have this modern medicine and technology that allows us to go through this relatively pain free and without a lot of risks or side effects, so why not get it?  It makes sense to me!  If I had to go through this all with no pain medication I obviously would, but if relief is easy and readily available I will absolutely take it! :)