38 weeks

I haven't posted recently because I do not have much to write about. I have been on maternity leave from my job, and frankly my life hasn't been too exciting. My day starts at 6:00 am after a night of waking up nearly every 2-3 hrs due to indigestion (I usually wake up coughing from the irritation of my digestive juices coming up to my throat). I usually wake up at 2:00am and then 4:00am to go to the bathroom. By the end of the day my feet are pretty swollen, so all of the fluid returns to my vascular system during the night and then I have to pee several times during the night. So, after waking up at 6:00 am, I usually get out of the bed by 7:00 and eat breakfast and watch the news. I play around on the computer and then return to bed for a couple of hours before finally getting up at 10:00am. I usually watch "A Baby Story" on TLC before I get ready for my day. I run some errands and then return home by 3pm and rest on the couch. I usually hit the wall in mid-afternoon due to fatigue and swelling in my feet. I start to make dinner by 5pm, and Alfonso leaves for work just after 6pm. I clean up the kitchen, dust, do laundry, sweep the floors and do some kind of housecleaning chore. On Tuesdays I take out the garbage and recycling so that it can be picked up Wednesday morning. I used to watch "Dancing with the Stars" on Monday and Tuesday night, but now that show has ended. I usually channel surf and sometimes I go to Barnes and Noble (if I have the energy) and read books and magazines. I have been reading "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger. I highly recommend it. Sometimes I will take a bath before going to bed, and I am usually in bed by 12midnight, 12:30 at the latest. And then my day starts over again.

I recently changed my name, so that was a little project that lasted for a week. Then I prepared my hospital bag (that took 2 days since I had to make a run to the store for mini-toiletries). I also wrote thank-you cards to everyone that has given us a baby gift. I still have weekly doctor visits, so that takes about half the day. Last week Julie and I had our nails done in Studio City and then we ate a late lunch together. We also ate dinner at Diego's mom's house with Diego, Julie, Diego's daughter and Lucy (Diego's mom). Lucy made enchiladas with rice and beans and they were really good. Earlier this week, Alfonso hung up the curtains to the guest room and to the balcony. He also hung up Christopher's window valance that I found in the clearance bin at BabiesRUs (I was sooo excited to find that it was in the clearance bin- someone had opened the package so the store had to rewrap it and mark it down.) Christopher's room is coming along very nicely. I am looking for pictures for the walls (animal/safari theme), so I am still searching for items that look nice and do not cost very much.

We finally bought our plane tickets to see our families in August. We are going to GA for four days and then to MI for a week. I am so excited to go home and see everyone. My mom is planning a family get together- a celebration of our wedding combined with Christopher meeting his family.

I have my next appointment tomorrow at 11:00. The appointments are pretty brief; checking the fetal heart tones with the doppler, measuring my stomach, and palpating my abdomen for positioning of the baby. She guestimated that he will be about 7-7.5 lbs for delivery. I am officially due next week! Yaaay!

Here are some recent photos of my belly at 38 weeks: