Time flies...

It's hard to believe my beautiful little niece is about to turn a year old this weekend. She has lit up our family's world in ways I don't think we truly knew was possible. She is a funny, smart and energetic baby and we all love her more than we can say.

Now, we're only a short 12 weeks away from my bebe's entrance into this world and our family, and I can hardly wait to see who he will be when he gets here. My parents are over the moon excited about having a grandson, and I've been surprised about that - mostly because having a granddaughter has been so wonderful for them. But we are all so excited to meet him and also to see how my niece responds when she meets him for the first time.

For me, I'm feeling pulled in a lot of directions these days. I feel the anticipation creeping up on me - I want to meet this little guy! And, at the same time I feel the anxiety of the time moving so fast. I have so much to do, but I'm having less energy than I'd hoped.

Physically, getting heavier is really wearing me out faster now - and I definitely feel the pull of the couch or really, anywhere I can lay down for a bit each day. I have had a couple of 'headache' days that I can only relate to feeling like what I hear a mild migraine feels like. I wake up with pain that won't go away for something like 15 hours and about 1/4 of the way through the day I start to be completely overwhelmed and seriously agitated by the noises and light around me. There is little to do but go away from it all and lie down. Luckily it hasn't happened too often and I hope that continues to be the case. And the relentless numb and tingling hands continues to drive me crazy! All of these things, I have been assured, will go away once I am no longer pregnant - here's to hoping.

I am also in the process - what feels like a huge process - of filling out paperwork for my birth plan, hospital registration, wills, insurances, birth certificate, etc, With all the reading I'm doing and all of this prep I feel like I'm at least somewhat in control of something I really can't control very much. I'll schedule my c-section, but don't know if it will happen as planned or early - so my plan (love a plan) is to have most everything that I can, ready by mid October, about 4 weeks in advance of my actual due date. That way, if I am on time, I'll still have some weeks in there when I can rest without the additional anxiety of not being as ready as possible.