Those people who say they enjoy being pregnant are lying. We are now in the third trimester, otherwise known as the longest 13 weeks ever. I'm tired, and have heartburn most of the time, I waddle when I walk and my hips and back are sore all the time. I have very little space for my lungs to expand so I'm always out of breath. Picking up Anja is really difficult and a little painful for me now. Until the last few weeks I was still wearing a few non-maternity shirts that were just really stretchy, but that's not possible anymore. I've gained 15lbs so far but it feels like much more. Interestingly, it is exactly the same amount I had gained at this point last time, within .5lbs. Yesterday I picked up some decidedly tent-like shirts that should fit me until June. I'm supposed to start keeping a "kick count card" of daily baby activity. I wish there was just a box to check for "moves around constantly like a bag full of kittens". Luckily, sleeping has been pretty good lately, so I'm feeling much better than I could. And although the sleep deprivation will be hard, I'm looking forward to feeling physically better once the baby is here. I want my lungs and stomach back!
Jay has started planning some races he will run in the near future. It's exciting to me, because these are races I can potentially run next year! I have a few in mind I would really like to train for, but I'm going to be much more conservative in my approach this time, since my recovery was very slow last time, and I just ended up disappointed when I couldn't meet my goals. I'm trying to remember that I have many years of running ahead of me, as long as I'm smart about training, and there's no need to rush.
We keep trying to arrange time to go for a hospital tour of the place we'll have to go for delivery. We can't bring Anja, since kids are banned from visiting hospitals right now (H1N1 season), and that makes it difficult for us. After many many weeks of trying to arrange for a babysitter, a friend volunteered to watch her today. But we decided to go out to a movie during that time instead, since that sounds much more rewarding than a hospital tour. It will only be the second time we've gone out on our own since we moved here over a year ago.
I'm much less concerned about the details this time around, having already been through this once before. We never went on a tour of Sparrow Hospital before we ended up having Anja there, and we had a wonderful experience. We don't really have a choice in hospitals due to our HMO anyway, so it isn't totally necessary to check it out ahead of time. It seems like an okay place. They are completing a brand new labor/delivery wing of the hospital sometime around June, so we may even get to be there for that. The one bad part is the distance from where we live. At best, we will have about a 30 min drive to the hospital. If it's rush hour, the drive could be much longer. I sometimes have fantasies that we can use the freestanding birth center in Santa Rosa that looks wonderful, but at over $6500 (not covered by insurance), it's not going to happen. Maybe we will "forget" to go to the hospital until it is too late and end up with a homebirth. Just kidding, Mom!
Yesterday we went to San Francisco's Aquarium on the Bay then downtown to meet a friend for her birthday lunch. Anja loved the aquarium and did pretty well at the Indonesian restaurant, considering how tired she was. Here she is at one of the touch tanks, petting a live starfish!
We have a yearly pass to this aquarium now, so we can go whenever we want. The bay area is expensive, if you want to go to any museums/zoos/aquariums, but the yearly passes are pretty reasonable. We are really lucky to have so many great places to visit that are so close. The aquarium has some amazing tanks of sea jellies. These guys are actually sea nettles. The still photo doesn't really do them justice, since they are in constant motion. Amazing.
Here are a couple of bat rays overhead in one of the underwater tunnels. Anja really likes the tunnels. Actually, she likes all of the exhibits.
The tunnels are always popular. There is one for primarily predatory fish and one with schooling fish and other less dominant creatures.
Anja and Jay in the tunnel.
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