Late Pregnancy

Late pregnancy is super glamorous.  It’s 3:30 in the morning, I was awoken by heartburn so bad it was in my nose. Once I got vertical, I realized I had to go to the bathroom anyway.  Once I waddled down the hall to the bathroom, I noticed I also had a nosebleed. 

So yeah, that’s what I’ve been up to. 

But mostly the hard part is fighting the boredom.  My maternity leave started weeks ago – which is good because I feel too swollen, acid-laden, and exhausted to really function as a new intern.  But it is also bad, because I have nothing to do.  And as anxious as I am about being a new intern, part of me just wants to get it over with already.

Even without the anxiety of eventually starting this whole new career, I don’t do well with unstructured time.  This is the understatement of the year.  I really, really don’t do well with unstructured time.  I get bored and depressed and lonely and become basically worthless to everyone around me.  I’m sure I will be begging for some unstructured free time once I am an intern with an infant, but I wouldn’t know what to do with it anyway.

So the main problem of being a million years pregnant and having so much free time is that the repertoire of things I can do to entertain myself is pretty limited.  Normally, I would be trying to plan this time chock full of Habitat for Humanity builds, camping trips, hiking, kayaking, horseback riding, etc.  I would be off to the beach and the zoo and aquarium and the amusement park.  But I just can’t do those things.  I did two laps around the mall today and then tried to go grocery shopping and nearly collapsed. 

Benjamin has been doing a great job entertaining me and taking care of me despite the fact that I haven’t exactly been a bundle of joy to interact with.  He’s working on starting a video blog about being a stay at home dad.  For his first video, we are doing a montage of natural ways to induce labor.  It’s good to have a project.  Today (after a crucial afternoon nap) we filmed “driving on bumpy roads,” “eating spicy food,” “walking,” “eating licorice,” and “galloping.”  We’ve got some other stuff on deck for tomorrow.  Or rather, later today.

It’s now 5:00 in the morning.  In between writing this I have read everything worthwhile and most things not worthwhile on the whole internet.  I have eaten a fistful of Tums and several pounds of papaya tablets.  Benjamin, who was failing at sleeping downstairs on the couch, has come upstairs and is now snoring adorably into my ear.  Baby Zuses is practicing his acrobatics.  Abby-dog is snoring downstairs.  I’m going to see if I can join this log-sawing chorus.