18 days until the baby is born … and counting

On Monday, I hit 37 weeks.

37 Weeks

I haven’t gone for a run since the middle of May. I remember reflecting on this last winter and it made me very sad to think there might come a time that I couldn’t do this thing I loved. But this forced rest is different than when I’ve had an injury, because I’m so tired and creaky and cranky that I’d happily settle for many simpler comforts before running. Like not having this 24-pound weight on my abdomen.

Still, like a creeper, every time we drive by someone running down our street, I say to Tony, “look how happy she looks!”

I’ve been very uncomfortable and stressy. Not having my go-to stress relief is not helping, but knowing that pain is temporary and it will be over soon does.

In other news, that nesting thing? Maybe it’s kicking in. We moved in to our new beautiful house at the beginning of June and our landlord/interior designer finished our nursery last week.

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Penguins! That’s the theme we picked out. She doesn’t have a name yet, but she has a nursery. I’m so glad we had Lisa design it for us because she did a beautiful job, and it was one less thing I had to worry about. I love walking into the room and sighing at how beautiful it is; I don’t know if I would have had the ambition to do it all on my own.

My form of nesting? Lying on my shiatsu pillow and pinning things to my baby board on Pinterest.

Meanwhile, the pugs are settling into the new place. They’re getting to be pros at this moving thing.

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I had all these milestones to think about before the baby got here —this trip to visit family, or my brothers’ wedding, or this project to finish at work, or moving, or finishing the nursery — and now they are all almost done. (Almost. I’m on the last big project at work). It’s starting to sink in that now the next thing to do is patiently wait for Baby Runs arrival.

I’ve had a very healthy, uneventful pregnancy so far and I hope the birth is the same way, but my many hours of reading and classes causes me to approach this with cautious optimism.

I was able to be regularly active for most of my pregnancy and my total weight gain at this point is 24 pounds (much of that in the last month). While everyone tells me I look great (and that feels pretty great) I don’t feel like I did much special, other than rely on the healthy habits I worked on before I got pregnant. I’ve read the blogs of other women who seemed to do a lot more than I did while pregnant and gained much more weight. I think a lot of that must just be genetic.

I have had this countdown on my phone since 93 days. Seriously.

I have had this countdown on my phone since 93 days. Seriously.

 

Pattie Reaves

About Pattie Reaves

I'm a new mom and renegade fitness blogger at After the Couch. I live in Brewer with my husband, Tony, our daughter Felicity, and our two pugs, Georgia and Scoop.