I'm a blog slacker

It's a rainy Labor Day afternoon, and I'm trying to get motivated to clean out my studio. I won't be using it for a while, and Nate needs a place to put his stuff when he cleans out our spare room, which will become the nursery. But this is about the time of day when I start to slow down. I rarely make it to 9pm anymore before I fall asleep, usually on the couch (Nate is accumulating a small collection of pictures of me slumped over the sofa arm!)

Last week was rough. I had a little scare early in the week. It started out with a cramp in my side on Monday, which got so bad I went home from work after only being there for an hour. After resting the entire day, I thought I was okay. Tuesday morning I went to work and the pain came back again, just as bad as before. I called the doctor but she couldn't see me until Friday! By noon I was totally freaked out. I seriously thought I might have appendicitus or a kidney stone. I called the doc again and she told me to go to the ER. Luckily Nate works at a hospital right down the street from both our home and my workplace. He met me in the ER and they ran some tests. We were there for 5 hours! Everything turned out to be okay, and I'm glad I went, but I hope I never have to do that again! Luckily the pain subsided as the week progressed.

I seem to be having a more difficult time the further along I get in the pregnancy. Not necessarily physically, but emotionally. I find I have more expectations now...how big I should be, when I should feel the baby move and how often, etc. I worry constantly about everything. Am I eating enough? Gaining enough weight? Is the stress I'm under at work affecting the baby? I feel like I'm never happy anymore and I hardly ever smile. Thank GOD I have Nate to help cheer me up. If it weren't for him, I'd probably spend my days staring off into space. This morning I was frustrated because I thought the baby wasn't moving enough. I have been feeling little movements in my lower abdomen for about 2 weeks now, but not very consistently. At first I didn't believe it was the baby, I thought it was just a muscle twitch. Now I'm realizing it must be the baby. Nate put his cheek up to my belly this morning to see if he could hear anything and he actually felt the baby nudge him! It was pretty cool, and totally made my morning. Still, I only feel movement when I'm very still, like when I sit on the couch or sometimes when I'm in bed. I guess at 18 weeks the baby's still pretty small.

Well, I'll end on a positive note. I better get up and do something before I get too sleepy.