33

Hello, 1:40 a.m. How you doing, old friend? Oh, I'm fine. Can't sleep as usual. I'll probably drop in on 2:15 a.m. tonight and possibly even 3:25 a.m. if the spirit moves me. And by moves me, I mean prevents me from retiring to sweet, sweet bed with a reasonable amount of fatigue to get the job done.

I've gotten maybe 10 hours of broken sleep the last two nights. This is mostly due to vomit and such creeping up my throat when I try to lie down. If I cough, that's all folks. Goodbye, stomach contents.

I have pretty much, like, no torso. I'm 5'2" and the Dude is 5'7" and our legs are the same length. Yeah.  He has five extra inches of torso than I do. He should be carrying this baby. He'd have room.

It's all out in front. I'm lucky about that, at least visually. It's cute looking. And I have no stretch marks (yet). But damn, if it's not a hassle to lug myself around and Jebus help me, getting comfortable is harder and harder all the time.

I'm fielding all kinds of guesses about the sex based on the way I'm carrying. It's a boy because I'm carrying high is the most popular. But I have really strong abdominal muscles, this is my first (only baby) so I'm not really stretched out anywhere from previous use, and frankly high is the only place for me to carry because there is no low. Any lower and I'd be hauling a fetus around in my actual vagina. Because I have no torso.

It's such an odd thing. I do look very healthy right now. I can see that. My skin is lightly flushed, my hair is thick and lustrous (though I have no hair talent and I'm rather overwhelmed by the immense volume of it), my weight is under control and I'm not swollen or anything. How very deceptive it all is. I kind of don't remember what it's like to feel good. Like, properly hungry and able to eat comfortably and be tired and able to sleep like a normal person, and all without aches and pains and spasms.

What is nice is that now that I'm in the home stretch, I'm getting excited about meeting my baby. Before it was all very abstract. Now at 33 weeks and change, my baby's movements are intense and hard. The nursery is coming together and we have about 80% of the stuff we need all ready to go. I'm going to hold a little person the Dude and I created, and continue to help him or her grow with my own body. I'm going to meet someone who's going to be deeply important to me. I'm going to meet someone I know I will love.

So it's not all grumpy pants.

A couple days ago our friends came over to assemble nursery furniture for us. I'll post about that in full really soon, with pictures, because it deserves its own post, and I haven't taken any snapshots yet. What I can say now is I have amazing friends.