The Waiting Game

I am now in my second week of maternity leave and it feels like a waiting game.  Just waiting for this little girl to decide to make her arrival into the world.  Last week I planned all the things I really wanted to get done and was just hoping she would give me at least one week of maternity leave to accomplish these things.  I got a haircut, went to the dentist and even had lunch with some new friends….all that stuff I had been putting off until I had more free time.  And luckily I got through that week and was quite productive.  Besides catching up on appointments I’m trying to get as much as I can prepared for Christmas as well.  My parents arrive on December 10 and will be here for the holidays to celebrate with us, which we are so looking forward to.  And since I have no idea how our life will be after Baby Ross comes, I’m trying to get as much done and purchased as possible. I’ve slowly marked things off my to-do list and now I feel like I’m just waiting.  This little girl could really come any day now so I hate to plan anything else.  

The tree is up at Galeries Lafayette

I’m feeling great, or as good as can be expected.  I’m getting up every 2-3 hours at night and I definitely get tired more easily after a few hours walking around.  And this bump seems to get in the way….bending over to put on my shoes or even just dry off after the shower is all sorts of work now.  But really overall, I can’t complain.  I go to the hospital now once a week so they can monitor the baby’s heartrate and check on me.  And everything looks good with the baby (although she is still on the small end of the normal range).  I’ll be 40 weeks on Sunday, which I have determined to be my US due date (November 24).  My French due date is December 3.  I think I’ve finally figured out the system here as the due date confused me for some time.  The French go off of a 41 week system while the US uses a 40 week system.  So if I make it to December 3 with still no baby, it’s highly likely I will be induced that day.  Let’s hope this little one makes her appearance though before that happens!

Maternity leave has been great so far.  I’ve definitely enjoyed the free time and the chance to be out in Paris in the middle of the day in the middle of the week.  It feels like a whole new world!  But it’s also a strange feeling.  Because I’m not on vacation and I’m not working of course so really my only purpose is to wait for this baby to come.  And I of course get tired after walking around for 2-3 hours so I try to remind myself that I can’t do all the things I would normally love to do if I had all this time in the city.  

It’s crazy to think that pregnancy will be coming to an end soon.  It’s been quite the adventure doing this here in Paris and we’ll follow up with another post after the baby comes to sum up this experience.  Overall I feel that I’ve been really lucky with my pregnancy and how easy it has been and can only hope that extends into labor and delivery and then to an easy baby.  Am I asking too much?  :)  

One last tidbit to leave you with before I finish.  All of the wine bottles here in France have a picture of a pregnant lady with a line through her basically saying that you shouldn’t drink while pregnant.  Well ever since I got pregnant Nate has been wanting me to re-create this picture.  And now that I’m probably the biggest that I’m going to get, here goes.

Until next time….when we will be a family of 3!!!  Eek!