incidents and accidents, hints and allegations

Quick pregnancy update, here with four weeks theoretically left.

The mug shots:

( the traditional pictures )

How I'm feeling:

( all things considered, not bad )

In related news, as I mentioned on FB yesterday, we have the crib reassembled, the new dresser scheduled for delivery, and a lovely generous stack of boxes full of clothes to put into the dresser. So while this is not (not!!) permission for FutureSibling to come out early, I feel much more relieved at our basic readiness. We have also decided on legal names (which, like the sex, will be a surprise), though I think the nom d'Internet options may still be uncertain.

(We are also very close to being ready for the book purge! Watch this space for details.)

Oh hey, medical folks: if my engagement and wedding rings needed to come off in a hurry, it would take some effort. If the fingernail on that finger is pink and regains color after being pressed at the same rate as the other fingers on that hand, and if the rings themselves aren't causing me discomfort, is there any reason I shouldn't keep them on? That is, is there any reasonable scenario in which I'd need the third finger on my left hand to be ring-free in a hurry, or in which the rings would cause other problems?

ETA: thank you, I am answered, and off they shall come (not today, though, we are having unusually warm weather and even the ring on my right hand, which came off fine the other day, is being stubborn).

As always, no unsolicited advice, no horror stories.

At the start of week 28, the beginning of the third trimester, I thought I'd do a quick update.

First, the mug shots:

( two pictures )

Second, how I'm feeling: ( basically okay, with some hormonally-amplified anxiety issues )

Finally, allow me to share with you two actual things said to me today, so that you may know not to say them:

First: "Don't run, you make me nervous!" (Pronouns! Autonomy! Fuck you!)

Second: "So are you excited?" (What would you have done if I said no?)

(With regard to the latter, "Best wishes" is a good safe acknowledgment of someone's pregnancy.)

Taken today. I am making a weird face, but that's not the important bit:

( cut for two pictures )

The shirt says, "Yes, I'm pregnant. NO, you may not touch my belly." Because I am, and you may not.

Items of note:

• Due early November [*];
• Sex, as before, to be a surprise (ditto potential names);
• Symptoms objectively worse than first pregnancy, but getting better;
• So much more protruding than last time (look at the first page of the old mug shot gallery, where at a week later than this you could barely tell);
• If you saw me recently and are wondering where I was hiding that, the answers are (1) under looser shirts and (2) either sitting down or sucking my gut in. Yes, I felt very awkward about it;
• I botched giving the news to SteelyKid today [**], but she seemed quite matter-of-fact about it by bedtime.

( notes )

And if you don't care about pregnancy and/or babies, a major book cull in honor of FutureSibling (more specifically, the need to make room for FutureSibling's nursery) is coming soon. Ish.

As always, no unsolicited advice, no horror stories.

ETA: Chad has an ultrasound picture and a SteelyKid conversation.