37 weeks

Tomorrow we'll be 37 weeks...3 more weeks to go before the due date. Yesterday, Mat and I hiked out to Mt. Craig. It was a beautiful day for a hike and Mat didn't complain about how slow I was going.



We went to the doctor on Monday and all appears to be well.  The baby is head down, which is great, so we don't have to worry about a breech baby.   Mat finished up his season last week and it appears he let his defense down long enough to pick up a cold, which he so kindly shared with me.  It doesn't help that we've been having somewhat crazy weather.  One day is a beautiful fall day, the next being a chilly, rainy day.  So we are drinking lots of tea and Emergen-C and blowing our noses a lot!

35 weeks pregnant

Some pictures Mat took Friday out at Mat's parents house.  I definitely have a pregnant belly now!  Check out the nice profile shot of me.  I know I'm not the first person to be pregnant, but it's amazing how the baby takes over the body.

prego photos

Thanks to a friend for taking these photos that I've stolen off facebook...I thought I'd share some of my growing belly.  This is at the first MAMAgroup gathering at the park a couple weeks ago.  It was a lovely afternoon.

Check out that belly on me.  I think I've surpassed Jess and she's due 3 weeks before me!

Can kind of see my belly in the family photo taken when Mat's cousin, Laura, was in town visiting.

This is a picture of Jess and I from a few weeks earlier.  We are both growing baby girls!  Yay!

34 Weeks and hello, heartburn...

This past week, heartburn has come to visit me and seems to have decided to settle in. I really can't complain too much, as I haven't really been too uncomfortable this whole pregnancy. Sure, I didn't enjoy throwing up and still don't, but for the most part I've been very healthy and have been able to work my job with not too many accommodations. (Other than alternating between sitting and standing at the visitor centers in hopes of helping my swollen feet and hands out.)

A visitor suggested papaya enzymes as something to chew on that will help out heartburn.  Has anyone else heard of that?  I think I might have to stop by a health food store soon to get them to at least try out.

While I might have only 6 weeks left of pregnancy, more or less, depending on the baby's mood I am trying not to focus too much on the actual due date.  I know someone who bought concert tickets for a festival that is happening the weekend she is due, because she figures if she doesn't then the baby will be late and she and her husband will just be sitting at home waiting for the baby to come and it probably won't.  So I guess I need to plan something big for around the time the baby is due...other than working.

***The cantaloupe is the size the baby is this week...I forgot to mention that.  On average she might be about 4 3/4 pounds (cantaloupe size) and 18 inches long.  I believe that.  She's stretching and getting bigger in my belly.  More and more people are coming up and saying "oh, it must be soon now for you."  Maybe they think 6 weeks is soon, but I still feel like it is a some weeks off!  I know it will go fast, but I think I still have some growing to do.

blueberry picking...

Our timing was off this year or we went to the wrong place, because we weren't able to find hardly any blueberries to pick and this was a couple weeks ago. It was still a beautiful day to be out...and we did find some to munch on.  I love my job, I'm able to go out roving to talk with visitors and pick blueberries with friends who were in town visiting.  Not a terrible day!

My Monday

I worked at the VC on my Monday and pretty early on in the day the fire alarm went off.  Since I wasn't aware of any fire drills or that maintenance was working on the building, I went around and rounded up the visitors to leave.  As the last group was leaving and older gentleman and his wife were walking up from downstairs and he mentioned that he'd "bumped" into the fire alarm and set it off.  So we silenced the fire alarm and let people back in.  I don't know how he "bumped" into it and set it off because it's not at hip level nor is it just one action, you have to to push and then pull out the fire alarm.  But hey it woke us all up!

feeling good

I did do the 2 epsom salt bath regime and woke up yesterday morning feeling great. Went down for a fantastic hike at Richland Balsam. We had a good crew of people and it was a beautiful morning for a hike.

I learned a couple of things from my co-worker, Carl.  This is lungwort and the darker green has been rehydrated by Carl and the grayish blue is what it looks like normally.  It was pretty cool to see the difference.

These are dead flies attached to the bottom of the leaves, they have eaten a fungus that have caused their brains to explode!  It was pretty gross, so I had to take a picture.  :)

After the guided hike with people, I had a rove for the rest of the day so I hiked up to the Frying Pan Lookout Tower.  It was such a beautiful day.  I couldn't actually going up the tower because they are restoring it and it will be closed off until the end of October.  (Good thing to learn!)

rear ended...

This evening on my drive home from work, I got rear ended. I was at a stop sign, thought that 74a was clear to go, but then quickly realized it wasn't so didn't continue. The person behind me decided not to come to a stop at the stop sign and instead was gunning it and ran into me. It jolted me and I guess according to a guy who saw it happened pushed my car out further. Luckily for the lovely corolla and the woman's car who hit me, no damage was done. The woman just wanted to continue on our way, but I was asked for her information just in case something happens to me! When she said our cars were fine, I told her I wasn't really worried about the cars, but that I'd taken quite a hit and jerked forward and I was worried more about me and the baby, so I'd like to trade information just in case. The guy who saw it happen was awesome and told me that if I needed a witness here was his card. That was awesome that he stopped.

Then I got in my car and had to pull out across 2 lanes of traffic in order to make it to my chiropractic appointment. Which I did and by that time, I was a blubbery mess because I couldn't believe that had happened. It's been about 10 years since I was in my last accident and that was some guy who rear ended the car behind, but was going so fast that it hit me and wrecked the bed of my truck. Anyway, my chiropractor told me to have 2 epsom salt baths tonight, one when I got home and another just before bed to help my neck not tighten up. Hope that it works, because I am doing a guided hike tomorrow morning!   I'm sure I'll be fine, it's more shocking than anything.  And I thought the craziest thing that was going to happen to me today was that I had to ask a woman who's pet bird was pooping in her hair that her pet needed to remain outside in accordance with the sign posted on the window "Pets Not Allowed".