39 weeks!

Hello, Internet, yes, I'm still alive!
I'm also still pregnant.
And I'm still settling in to my new apartment.  People are calling it nesting, but I feel that nesting is a sweet baby-oriented activity.  What I'm doing is days upon days of domestic drugery.  It's nearing an end, though. If Baby came tonight, it wouldn't suck to live here.  I couldn't have said that last week... it was terrible then, despite all the wonderful help I've had. My estimated due date (EDD) is Oct 22 or 23, depending on who you ask, and I'm hoping that the babe will arrive a few days or a week late so I have some time to chill out, put my feet up, do crafts and maybe actually get to the pool or a yoga class.  My self-care lately has been cooking stuff for the freezer (which is hard work that I'll appreciate later), unpacking and going to weekly acupuncture.  I'd love to swim more and get a massage too. My maternity leave payments haven't started yet and my finances are painfully tight, so the massage will have to wait a bit. Swimming is affordable, though, and there's a lovely community pool near my new apartment.

Pregnancy details update:
- Foetie is still head down, as s/he should be. :)
- The head is not engaged yet, so I don't feel much pelvic discomfort and don't waddle very much and I'm able to move about fairly comfortably (if you ignore the Cabbage Patch Doll swollen feet as an issue...)
- I think Foetie has developed CORNERS in the last week or so. Either that, or his/her feet, knees and elbows are now super strong and pointy.  It hurts sometimes when s/he moves inside me. It feels pointy and a bit like bruising.
- I (finally?) got some stretch marks.  I was wondering if it would ever happen and it has. So far, I don't find it to be particularly upsetting. I feel like it's my roadmap... just part of being the woman that I am.  Future proof that I've made a baby.
- I already mentioned the carpal tunnel.  It's completelt horrible.  Most days I cannot do anything until noon because my hands are so swollen when I wake up.... I can't turn a key or butter toast. I have to hold a cup with 2 hands to drink. My fingertips feel numb exactly like as if they were all shot up with dental anaesthetic. I wake up several times every night because when they are half-numb they hurt like the same pins-and-needles feeling that you get when you're defosting from frostbite. I am really really looking forward to losing the edema (swelling from water retention) so that this goes away.

I don't have wireless Internet or a comfy place to type and have this weird pregnancy-related carpal tunnel syndrome that has made all my fingertips numb, so typing isn't a great treat these days.  But I really miss sharing my journey here - it's like journaling for me. I'll try to do a little mini update once in a while. I think it's good for me.

I'm very happy to be back in Ottawa.  This was the right decision.
Having a baby was the right decision.
I feel really good about things.

Here's a few pictures of me & my world from the last week or so:
(once again, they're kind of random on the page because I don't know how to better post them.)

Me + Hazel: 37.5 weeks.

Me on Canadian Thanksgiving day: 38 wks!

This is my favourite part of my new apartment.

This is a beautiful park near my new place.