Pregnancy again. :) part 24

Preparation...

Yes, trying to be prepared for this new little life to come out of me. Preparing our house, preparing my body, preparing our time and schedule... I tried to nap today and I did for a little bit, but it wasn't as long as I would have liked it to be. I was up again last night from about 3-5:30 then woke up at 6 to tell Ben to get up. :) I was able to go back to bed until about 7:30 when I was forced out of bed by Levi's cries to get out of his crib. If only I had a child who slept until 8 every day. He's usually up by 7 but sometimes it's earlier, sometimes later.

It's definitely more challenging to be pregnant and have children, that's for sure. I'm trying to count my blessings in that I'm probably getting a good amount of exercise by chasing him around, picking him up, things like that. I was reading the other day about how a little bit of stress during pregnancy is good. I'm wishing I could go on more walks but time and energy keep alluding me. I think the best time I could go on a walk would be in the afternoon when Levi is napping. But I'm not going to leave the house with him alone and sleeping in it, as tempting as that is.

I'm still doing yoga at three in the morning when I wake up in the middle of the night.

I'm knee deep in laundry, washing adorable little clothes for Aria some friends have given me. I feel so blessed. Girl clothes are so different than boy clothes... everything is pretty or cute... I love it. It's like she's surrounded by beauty from her first moments in life. In a way I guess we are training them to love pink and hearts and flowers. I'm thinking about how different she will be from Levi and how she might want to wear dresses and tutus and have dolls and just all the little feminine things. I'm really looking forward to that.

My neck is still hurting and my lower back often hurts after a long day. I think she's definitely dropping. She's head down and loves to kick and press her little legs against my abdominal muscles. I'm very excited about the fact that she's head down and always paying attention to when she wiggles around. It's crazy to have a separate being inside of you. Not that I have huge amounts of control of what goes inside of me anyways, but it's like she just decides that it's time to exercise when I would like nothing more than to sleep. This is why I didn't get much of a nap today.

Everything else is looking good. My doctor approved my birth plan, with the exception that if Aria is not handling contractions that I would stay monitored just to make sure she's okay. I can totally understand that and I am okay with it.

I have been practicing/listening to guided relaxation CD's, I'm not sure I did this much with Levi, but I really enjoy them. I hope they help my labor... I think they will.

I have a few more things to do this afternoon, so I will get going. I can't wait to share Aria's birth story on here... maybe some pictures too. :)