Premature Nesting?

Here I am at thirty-one weeks.

I'm feeling pretty great, for the most part.

Exceptions to the above: It's suddenly much more uncomfortable to bend over, for example, to pick something up. And I go to the bathroom with ridiculous frequency. And I've now altered my commute -- I go to a further subway station to avoid having to climb an insanely steep flight of stairs (now I go downstairs instead of up... much better), because it was getting embarrassing, how slowly I climbed said stairs. But that's about it.

I'm still sleeping really well (hopefully I don't jinx myself for admitting that), for which I am eternally grateful.

Girlfriend's movements suddenly feel a lot less like kicks and punches, and a lot more like the shifting of tectonic plates. It's pretty cool, in a somewhat startling way. It's extremely difficult to ignore it, say, when I am with a patient, and not to stop what I'm doing and rest my hand on my stomach.

Tonight I went into premature nesting mode.

I just saw my friend Catherine's baby room, and it looked fabulous. She did such a beautiful job. The rug, dresser, crib, and walls, contrasting colors with amazing tree decals, all go together perfectly. It made me a little wistful for having my own baby's room... but then I remember that the baby doesn't care... or rather, that she wants to be with me (what I would prefer, down the road, remains to be seen).

So I contented myself with poring over Etsy tonight (for the first time in my life), and finally picked out wall decals of my own (this is where Catherine found hers). I decided yesterday to order a rug from Overstock.com (also following Catherine's example)... but now that means I have to decide if I care whether the rug and the decal match. The answer to that is probably not, but I'm tired enough that I am deciding not to decide tonight. (The rug is not for decorating purposes -- I much prefer the look of my hardwood floors -- but to keep my extremely fussy downstairs neighbor from going completely apeshit on me about the sound of the baby crying. Hopefully.)

I also stripped the linens off the bassinet (in order to wash them), and organized the few remaining new baby clothes to be washed, and scrubbed the bathroom, and put my skirt in to soak (totally busted for eating chocolate before 9 am by the dark spots on my white skirt!) and cleaned and organized the freezer (thanks, Obernon, for the inspiration), and baked the rest of the batch of meatballs I made last night, and swept the kitchen floor, and cleaned the kitchen... and generally felt a little hyper about suddenly wanting everything cleaned, organized, and put away. Yesterday I stocked up on maxi-pads for the post-partum period, no pun intended. A confounding experience, since I haven't worn pads since high school.

Anyway, this all felt quite a bit like what I imagined nesting to be like... maybe it's good to nest now, when I still have some energy and maneuverability? Scrubbing the tub at 39 weeks will be a lot more challenging, I am sure. I have this slight paranoia about having the nesting impulse this early... hopefully the next appointment with the midwife will be a little more reassuring, and I can stop worrying about the possibility of Intrauterine Growth Retardation (to be clear, the midwife never uttered these words... it's just, I used to work in the NICU, and I read between the lines). I feel quite sure the girl is growing... she feels so much more wedged in there than she did two weeks ago. But some validation from Catherine (my midwife)... or from an ultrasound... will be very reassuring.

Oh, and on a final note, I figured out one of my dreams (from the last post). My sister is dropping off my niece at camp (my old summer camp) on July 24, and then will spend a day or two getting my younger niece settled with my cousin before heading to Brooklyn to be with me in preparation for Lentil's arrival. I realized that I have been worrying about "waiting" for her, and that she won't get here in time (I will be 38 weeks on July 23rd)... So I talked to her, and she reassured me that she can get here more quickly if need be, and could even come before my niece leaves for camp, though she will have to leave for that first day of camp. So that was comforting.

Of course, she has to leave on August 12th, at the latest, a mere 6 days after my "guess date," to pick up my niece from camp. They leave the following day... to move to Florida! So that's one more thing to worry about... but luckily my brain hasn't locked on to that one just yet. I think I'm in denial about the possibility of my pregnancy going longer than 40 weeks, though of course it is a distinct possibility.