I had Dee, the midwife (remember her from when we first found out?- little scattered, but nice and showed me my baby a lot on the ultrasounds) who had just gotten back. It was her first day because she was out for knee surgery. Jay didn’t make it to the appointment. Not that he wasn’t trying, but my appointment would have been over by the time he got there thanks to traffic. It wasn’t a big deal. We reviewed the questions I was to ask before I went in- I just forgot everything else. His heartbeat is good, measured good, and I weighed in at 181. I can’t even remember how much I’ve gained, and they didn’t tell me. I forgot to ask. She didn’t check for the baby’s position, but I knew last night he was still head down because I could feel his big butt in my ribs and him hiccuping in my pelvic. He’s so wedged in me right now that Jay says if he didn’t know better, he’d think I was having twins because when you look at my belly there are just two lumps- one under my right rib and one left of my bellybutton (or navel- whatever you prefer). H e better think about dropping soon, my ribs are so sore and it feels so odd having him so high up inside me. You’ll get to see when Jay takes the 8 month picture on the 26th. She asked if I still feel movement, I said yes it’s just less big movements. Not that he’s kicking any less hard, just no huge movements from left to right. Sometimes it worries me because it seems like he’s moving less, so I eat something and wait for a few wiggles and feel better. I finally remembered to ask about that sharp pain I get sometimes low on my left- she said probably ligament pain- be slower, drink more, rest more. I asked about the swelling which seems worse and the arthritis like pain- drink more, rest more. I asked about donating cord blood and I think what I understood was that we need to pick a company online or whatever to get a kit from. We bring the kit to the hospital, make sure the doctor who is there is paid $200 ahead of time, he/she will collect the blood before the placenta is delivered, and then we have to get the kit back to the company. I’m going to let that be Jay’s project since he wanted to donate it. Dee thinks it’s a great idea. Her son works in cancer research and works with the stem cells a lot. She’s all for it and wish she was allowed to promote it more, I think. Other than that she asked if I was working until the end, I said yes and that I had great coworkers who have helped me carry things, take field trips for me, and are coving activities like field day. She said I need to teach on my ass a bit more to help the swelling. I don’t get it. I keep reading that exercise helps the tiredness, but I’m supposed to rest more? In any case, the tiredness just gets worse. I make it through the day and that’s about it-maybe. Jay just came home and started doing all the chores. He did the dishes, watered the plants, tended the gardens, took out the trash, cleaned out the litter boxes, picked up, made dinner, and did the laundry. I’ve been meaning to do it, I try to get to it, but I just don’t get it done. I’m exhausted when I come home. I rested on the couch and he did it all. He said he knew it was coming. Have I mentioned before how wonderful my husband is?

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