Irrational exuberance.

[rivka]

I feel strangely good.

God knows I shouldn't. Weird stressful crazy stuff is going on at work, and it blew up today, and there will be fallout. Stressful fallout.

Also, I am big as a house, a condition not normally associated with feeling good. Here's how I was feeling at this same point in my first pregnancy: more or less constantly tired and in pain, and unable to sit comfortably at a desk. In fact, this was the point in my first pregnancy at which I gave up working because I couldn't tolerate it anymore.

This time around, it's different. I sat my assistant down today and warned him that if I go past my due date I won't be willing to go to the clinic anymore. (Four blocks walking, each way.) He suggested that maybe I shouldn't be going to the clinic now. I told him that was silly.

My back doesn't hurt. My hips don't hurt. My belly only hurts occasionally and in the most negligible of ways. I am not cramping. I am sleeping moderately well. My very frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions are not painful. I don't feel like crawling into a cave and refusing to come out.

It's weird, you know? I'm 39 weeks pregnant! Shouldn't I, you know, be finding it unbearable? Shouldn't I be counting down the days and wondering whether I'm going to make it?

Since the Niblet flipped back into a head-down position, he's been descending. My belly has visibly moved down; even mere acquaintances have commented on it. Last night and today, I've felt a few pangs that felt like baby-settling-into-pelvis pains. But that's the first thing I've felt that carried any kind of suggestion - and it's definitely just a suggestion - of impending baby. Otherwise, I've felt just like I have for the rest of the third trimester: unwieldly and easily tired, but not unbearably so.

So this evening I've felt irrationally happy and energetic. I came home from work and decided to whip up a batch of cornbread to serve with dinner. I happily played two games of Hi Ho Cherry-O and two games of Go Fish with Alex, instead of trying to coax her into playing independently so I could rest. I've just felt... cheerful and talkative and energetic. For no reason. Just good.

I don't trust that these good feelings are going to last, or that I will continue to feel relatively comfortable up until the Niblet comes. But I'm certainly enjoying this while it's here.

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I have to say, para before lest sounds like "nesting impulse" to me. (Go ahead, prove me wrong!)

In any case, glad you're feeling good.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

It's good to see you feeling so good. I hope it lasts a while.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely no desire to clean the house. ;-)

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Also, I am big as a house, a condition not normally associated with feeling good.

I beg to differ. I am as big as a house, and I feel great.

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you are going to have that baby real soon now!

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Hurray!

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Yay!!! Sometimes those Lady Hormones can just be damned good drugs. (It almost makes up for the times when they're so very not...)

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I absolutely *thrived* on being pregnant. Even my first pregnancy was great (and I have since been made to understand that this is not the case with most people :)).

I'm so glad you're feeling so good.

[acceberskoorb.livejournal.com]

This is so wonderful to hear! Yay!

[graceo.livejournal.com]

Nesting doesn't have to involve cleaning. Whipping up a quick batch of cornbread and then having lovely bonding time with an older child sounds pretty nest-y to me too.

But regardless, it's nice to be pregnant and feeling good.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Hey! Most of us don't get to feel you.

And besides, you have a pretty small house.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Nesting nesting nesting!

K.

[ailbhe]

I like being pregnant so much that when I feel ill or depressed it's the first solution that comes to mind.

But it sounds to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee like nesting. Settling in, getting happy and emotionally rested and re-grounded, affirming your various roles, underlining them. Now You Can Birth.

I'm glad it's nice though :)

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my mind went "neeeeeesting!"

Of course, didn't "nest" with either of my kids. But you sound like what people who do nest say they feel like.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

I agree with all the people who said nesting! Feeling good and happy, puttering around the house...... yeah. :)

BABY!!!!

[kate_nepveu]

Ditto to that, except of course only one.

OTOH I felt remarkably well up until I went into labor too, compared to your first pregnancy, Rivka, so who knows?

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

I think some people forget just how many generations of our species arrived without modern medicine.

Trouble is, a lot of people died.

If I've Googled right, there's modern medicine you need. But you don't need wrapping in cotton-wool just because of pregnancy.

I hope your luck holds. And be careful.

[bosssio.livejournal.com]

My second pregnancy was much easier than my first, esp. towards the end. I think it was because my body had already made the big changes to accommodate a baby and birth it, so everything was already all stretched out...

Baby watch!!!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Okay, point taken. But I think there's a big difference between being naturally fat and being temporarily swollen, don't you? My big-as-a-houseness is all in one place, instead of being distributed over my body. And it's new, so I don't really have the architecture to support it.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I never had a nesting period with Alex, maybe because I was in prelabor for sooooo looooong. (Three full weeks!) I was just continually worn out.

I did have a wonderful period in the middle of labor when the endorphins kicked in and I got all happy, giggly, and talkative for a little while. That was fun. This feels a bit like that, but much less extreme.

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

And another vote for nesting! And I blew all my nesting energy for David on an Arisia concomm meeting, so it definitely doesn't have to mean housecleaning.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Here's my theory, worth every penny that you paid for it... :-)

When you're pregnant the first time, it's The First Time (tm). It's crazy. It's the hardest thing you've ever done. All you can think at the end is "get this baby out of me!" in some desperate wish for sleep/comfort/sanity.

Why? Because you don't know what's coming. :-D

Once you've HAD a baby before, you know that while your sleep is bad now, it's still the last chance that you have! Riding in a car is uncomfortable, but still easier than bundling up a car seat and lugging it around! The ninth month is brilliantly easy!

(Given as a completely tongue-in-cheek commentary, as having a newborn can be the most wonderful thing in the world, but those of us who have been there also know the difficulties involved.)

BTW - The night before you had your fall, I had dreams ALL NIGHT that you were giving birth (and I was lost in town trying to find your house, and there were clowns and an ice skating rink, but that's neither here nor there). I'm so relieved that you didn't at that time, but once you wrote about the fall I couldn't mention it that day.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

One thing that is definitely different this time is that I am keeping a long-haul perspective on the end of pregnancy. Last time I focused on every single twinge, and I was convinced that I would go early, and I was overinterpreting every perceptible contraction. It was EXHAUSTING. I mean, the three weeks of prelabor would've been exhausting anyway, but my overinvolvement in them definitely made things worse.

This time? I'll believe that labor is imminent when I'm having painful contractions five minutes apart. Period. Until then, NO SPECULATION.

[shandra.livejournal.com]

Okay no actual speculation but I felt that way for th 36 hrs before going into labour with my second. :) Enjoy it, whether it lasts a day or a week or whatever happens in between!

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Sure; I was merely objecting to the equation of bigness with not feeling good. I'm not without sympathy for your condition, honest.

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Hey! Most of us don't get to feel you.

.con event!