34 weeks

It's been a while since I've done one of these updates! It's been busy busy here for the Hogans, as December always seems to be. The last update was at 27 weeks, whoops. How time flies! The holidays are swiftly approaching (CHRISTMAS IS A WEEK FROM TOMORROW?) and that's always a chaotic mess of happiness. There's a big change this year, aside from me being knocked up. We won't be going home for Christmas this year. I've hit my "stay within an hour of the hospital" marker, and thus being two hours away from home in New Braunfels a month or so before she's due is not a good idea. Mostly for my sanity. Also, traveling in the car is torturous. I'm definitely bummed about not being able to go home from Christmas. This will probably be the first time, ever, and Christmas is my thing. But that's life huh? And growing up? And I think all our parents are going to try to come up to see us so that will be good! And we usually do four different Christmases in about 24 hours, sooooo it's probably for the best. Aaaaand not traveling also means, I had my last day of work yesterday. Cry face! Y'all don't even know how much I enjoyed my days sewing in Austin. It brought me sanity from running a coffee shop when we lived down there and then it brought me sanity from well, being pregnant and alone in Temple. That commute was always worth it. Susi and Eva, thank you so much for unknowingly being my support system through growing this Seahorse. I don't know what I would have done without you guys. Thank you for listening to me complain, for providing an excellent distraction, and for being generally awesome. Get that workroom nursery ready, me and the Seahorse will be coming down to sew as soon as we can. ;)

Sooo here we are, near the end! Thirty-four weeks. Gasp! Only six weeks left until the Seahorse's due date, which is pure insanity. This pregnancy has inched by in some ways but overall, it's gone by pretty dang fast. I've totally left the land of  "comfortable", I think I said farewell to those days around Thanksgiving. I am pretty much always uncomfortable now in some fashion. Sometimes I feel like my body is going to just fall apart, that my skeleton will just be like, SORRY, I'M OUT and I'll just be a mass of bleh on the floor.

Back and rib pain are my constant companions. I didn't really expect the back pain. It's nothing like I've ever dealt with. I've had plenty of aches and pain from running, but dang... this back pain is something else. And baby girl likes hanging out on my right side almost exclusively, with what I'm guessing is her feet under my ribs. So I've got very definite one sided pain. Sitting for long periods of time is pretty much torture, as is standing. Walking is actually excellent. Laying on my side is okay, but eventually my hips start hurting and that means rolling over. Which is basically the most pathetic maneuver ever. Think of that scene in a Christmas Story where Randy is bundled up to the point of immobility and he falls in the snow and can't get up. That's me trying to move while laying down. Lots of grunting.

Heartburn is still here, but I've gotten pretty good at controlling it. Acne is still here, but I've just about given up on caring. Hormones are better than they were last time I checked in, but gosh, every now and then I just get this WAVE of emotions that I'm so not used to feeling and I just want to come to pieces. But thankfully it seems to pass quickly. I heard it's a riot postpartum, so I'm attempting to mentally prepare myself. But honestly, I think I've still got it pretty good. Some ladies have it real rough and I'm still able to go about life pretty much normally. Just slower and with more complaining and a constant companion stealing my food that loves to kick my bladder.

We just finished our child birth classes and are touring the hospital this evening. Those classes were wonderful. Super informative, but if you're like me and are a huge weenie, they are also terrifying. I almost lost my cool during the C-section part, especially when they said in an emergency C-section your partner doesn't get to go with you. WHAT? I can't even. We are a package deal. Team Hogan. It doesn't work when one of us is missing!! But let's just keep our fingers crossed that she comes out... the normal way. Ha! I am in no way ready in any shape or form to give birth, but I will definitely be more prepared when the time comes thanks to that class. I've got no definite birth plan (basically suffer through as long as I can and then give me them druggggssss) and am going to attempt to be as flexible as possible. I think the biggest benefit of the class was finding out how they usually do things, and how supportive they are. I'm very happy with our hospital. I was a little nervous at first since Scott and White is the only option in Temple, but I feel like we are in good hands there. It's a big relief to be comfortable with who will be taking care of you.

Obviously aside from attempting to prepare for actually bringing the Seahorse into the world, we've been doing a lot of getting our world ready for her. Her room is pretty much set up and I think we've got most of the essentials. If she was born tomorrow we'd be just fine. There's a few things we need to buck up and purchase, but mostly we've been spoiled rotten by friends and family and are ready to roll. Thinking about actual day to day life with a newborn consumes a lot of my mental time these days. I am terrified. Naturally. But I am also so so so excited. Anxious is the perfect word. I can't even imagine what it will be like. That's the scariest part I think, that I have no clue what I'm doing. But does anyone with their first kid? I'm all in though, I'm ready to get my ass handed to me. And I think that's important. I'm ready and willing to suffer, haha. Bring your best, Seahorse.

So that's pretty much it! We're just wrapping up the last month and a half of waiting. Brendon is excited too. I know he's nervous about juggling a residency and a baby, but I have faith. I am so so fortunate to be able to be a stay at home mamma for a while, so I'm hoping that will make things easier for him. And I say he's nervous, but you'd never know it. He's such a winner. Kissing my belly, talking to the Seahorse, saying he can't wait to meet her! I die. That boy is so damn good. He's beyond supportive and even though he's a busy bee doing important pharmacist things, he's always present in anything that has to do with the Seahorse. The VA is a big part of this. They have been truly wonderful and so flexible throughout this whole thing. I know I dragged major ass moving to and accepting Temple, but it's been such a good place for us to be during this adventure. I couldn't have picked a better place for him to have done his residency. NOTE THAT EVERYONE. I am saying I'm glad we moved from Austin to Temple and that shit is cray. I'm not a huge fan of how alone I am here (or how there's nothing to eat if you're vegetarian), but it has been very good for us.

Was that a long enough update for you? Yeesh, huh? I could talk about being pregnant all day long because IT HAS CONSUMED MY LIFE. Parenthood, huh? ;) One more picture of me and our basketball of a Seahorse, because I can.