an "all is pefect" diagnosis

Today we went in for our 32 week check up. My official weight gain is now about 13.5 pounds, which Dr. Maurus said was just perfect. He also gave a "perfect" to my blood pressure and fundal height, so we were very pleased with our check up! We talked for a while about the epidural, and he made the little apprehensions I had about it dissolve away so I am very glad I asked about it. He said the problems people run into with epidurals usually come when people come in undecided about it and make the decision with too little time to do in, when people are obese, or when people have rare bone abnormalities. He said because we are going in knowing what we want, we should have no problems at all. He also expressed no concern for my lost sense of feeling resulting in trouble pushing during labor, saying it very rarely becomes an issue and when it does there are options to fix that problem. Travis and I both left with a nice peace of mind.

Despite the doctor's assurance that the baby's size is just where it should be, SEVERAL complete strangers took it upon themselves to ask me about my due date today (and some not so complete strangers haha). It started with one of my students from last year asking when I was due because I looked like I was going to pop, and was surprised I had 8 weeks left to go. That was quickly followed by my friend Sylvia, whose mouth dropped in amazement when she saw my belly (apparently it grew over the weekend??) Then when I got to the doctor's office, the other lady in the waiting room said, "Wow, you must be just counting days now!" And I said, "Well, we're getting there. Still 8 more weeks!" And she said, "Oh wow! I never would have guessed!" That comment was soon followed by the floating nurse that weighed and measured me, saying "You must be getting close!" when she saw me come around the corner, looked at my chart, and then said, "Oh well, I guess we still have a ways. I hope I didn't offend!" And then lastly, standing in line at the grocery store the lady in front of me asked if I was just having one, or twins, or triplets. I laughed and said just one, and she replied, "Are you here with someone? You seem too far along to be taking chances carrying groceries by yourself and being out and about by yourself." So, after coming home and changing into pajamas, I have concluded that the cute maternity top I wore today shall be retired. However it hung on me, it was wrong.

Speaking of maternity tops, one of my students in 10th hour today raised her hand and asked, "Are you going to keep wearing your maternity clothes after you have your baby?" And I, not understanding where she was going with this, replied, "Well, for a little while. But I'm hoping to be back to normal by the time school starts again." And she said, "Oh, well I was just wondering because you just have this whole new wardrobe now and you have such nice clothes and I was just wondering if you were going to like, keep wearing them." I laughed and replied, "So you're saying I dress better now than I did last year? That's probably because I'm wearing my sister in law's maternity wardrobe, and her fashion sense is much better than mine." Hoping for a chuckle, instead I got the reply, "Yeah. Tell her to pick out all your clothes."

So there you have it. My myriad of compliments for the day.

In other news, on the baby front: our baby girl is now 17 inches long and weighs over 4 pounds. She is roughly the size of a pair of knee-high boots (my mind automatically jumps to Pretty Woman).She spends her days blinking, looking around, grabbing things, making faces, practicing her breathing, peeing and listening to everything around her. I can definitely believe that she is busy in there, because it seems like she is always on the move. Today at the doctor's office she poked some sort of body part out so far Travis noticed it from across the room!

We also had a very busy but fun weekend as the whole Kershaw clan came up (and down) to see Travis join the Lutheran church. Grandma and Grandad came up Friday through the icky weather and Uncle Adam, Aunt Molly, cousin Alex, Aunt Angie, Uncle Trevor, and Aunt Ashley came on Saturday. We enjoyed some tacos, homemade salsa, and board games (well, some of us enjoyed the board games. Others*cough* Molly *cough* just complained their way through the rules and then continued to complain their way through the game... hahaha). Sunday morning was an early start with 9 people trying to get ready in our little house, but we got there on time, Travis renounced the devil, and all was well. Then the Kershaws and the Parcherts went out to Happy Joes to celebrate with the lunch buffet! All in all, it was a great time!