Twenty-one weeks...

...pregnant, that is, and approximately 17-21 weeks left, if all goes well. This time I'm trying not to focus so much on the "due date." One day at a time, yo.

What's been going on around here? I've been feeling the baby move more and more, which is so interesting. As I mentioned before, this is different for me since my placenta was in the front last time and I couldn't feel movement as well as I can this time. I had another ultrasound, and I might as well announce it, the baby is a girl. We think. The first ultrasound wasn't conclusive about the sex. The second one, the technician kept saying she didn't think she was going to get it because of the baby's position. Then, towards the end, she said flatly (she was lacking people skills), "Oh. Looks like a girl." She didn't say she was guessing, and all evidence so far points to girl, so we're just going with it. One of the few upsides to having a higher risk pregnancy (because of the diabetes) is that I will have more ultrasounds and I'm sure if they're wrong about it being a girl we'll find out at some point.

I finally got to meet with my maybe-doula, who is I guess my definite-doula now. We'd made plans to get together a few times, but illness and flooding kept getting in the way. Last week we met at the park and discussed a few things while the kids played. We haven't signed a contract yet, but we have a verbal agreement and plenty of times to work out the details. I'm also planning to take Hypnobabies classes (a friend is sending me the home study, plus I won a 6-week series of in person classes in a silent auction at the Atlanta BOLD event). I'm starting to think about the rest of the pregnancy and learning things I didn't know last time. For example, at our ICAN meeting yesterday we talked about optimal fetal positioning, which I didn't even consider last time. I know it sounds like a lot of learning, but I'm actually much more relaxed about pregnancy overall than I was last time. I enjoy learning more about how my body works, and at this point in my life find pregnancy, birth, and babies fascinating. So I'm really enjoying the mental work of being pregnant.

One thing that I'm not focusing on much these days is the more concrete aspects of bringing a new baby to our home, like the fact that we're going to have to rearrange almost all of our major living spaces in our home. To most people this probably wouldn't be daunting, but organization is not my strong suit, and it's not Jason's, either. We're also procrastinators. I know all of it doesn't have to be done immediately, but I will feel better once we start making some headway. Like, the baby won't be sleeping in the nursery the first few months anyway, so technically moving Nora into the other bedroom could wait until then. But I know myself well enough to know that I won't be in the mood to do any packing, painting, purging, or furniture moving (sorry for the break in alliteration!) when I have a newborn around. So, we'd better hop to it.

Enough about me.

I don't think I mentioned it, but Nora started Sunday School for the first time about a month ago. Our church uses a curriculum called Godly Play. Here's a YouTube video about Godly Play, if you're interested.



Jason and I taught Godly Play about five years ago, and this morning we assisted with Nora's class because the main teacher was out of town. We were a little--okay, very--rusty, but there was another teacher there and we mostly let her lead. The story for the day was Noah and the Ark. One thing that was great about assisting was that we got to observe Nora in Sunday School! I had been really curious about what it was like, and how she acts in class. It's like with her preschool, how I often wish that I could be a fly on the wall. I found that Nora knows the routine of the class very well. I was impressed with her comprehension, too. (I'm a proud parent, so I'm always impressed by Nora. ;) I didn't know how she would respond to us being in the class, if she would pay attention or if she would want to wallow in our lap and ignore the lesson, but she did very well. Yay, Nora!

Jason is asleep. Nora's ready to get up. I want to go for a walk in Piedmont Park this afternoon, so I'm going to get Nora and wake Jason up. There are other things that need to be done (groceries, anyone?), but this afternoon is too beautiful to be missed.