The Dog Days of Pregnancy

The only people I've ever heard refer to the "dog days of summer" are baseball announcers. As Wikipedia helpfully confirms, the phrase is used to describe the hottest days of the year, generally the period from approximately July until early September but "Dog Days can also define a time period or event that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress." It's a pretty good description of the month of August in a major league baseball season; whatever excitement was generated by the All-Star break is over and the playoffs (and cooler temperatures) are still nowhere in sight. Every day is sort of the same, hot, uncomfortable and, for the most part, remarkably unexciting.

I've never pretended to be overly fond of any part of pregnancy, but at least in the beginning there is the excitement of the newness of it all, telling people and finding out the gender (and also the bigger boobs without the bigger belly). The "playoffs" is a pretty freaking exciting time (and the only party I enjoy), namely, having the baby.

But that stretch from about 20 weeks until ...well, the end...I would say it's a time period "that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress." And I'm stuck in it for the next several months. Luckily, this pregnancy is flying by and I have a very cute toddler and a demanding job to distract me from the dull moments. But I still find myself occasionally flabbergasted that I still have many months to go. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not ready for a new baby to be here right this instant. But I'm already sick of being pregnant. And this time, I have the misfortune of knowing that physically, it's all downhill from here.

The thing is, so much of pregnancy is just waiting. It just sort of happens while you go about your normal life, and there is very little you need to do to prepare (especially when you already have a child and have most of the stuff that goes with a baby). PJO and I have tentatively decided on a name and I bought the going home outfit on impulse one day.

Pretty much the only thing left to do is make a place for her in our tiny apartment. Because there is no nursery to decorate, this involves clearing out as much space as possible from the master bedroom and Timmy's room to squeeze in the miscellaneous items where we can (and hope we move before we need a crib). I am packing up all my china and crystal and getting rid of the china cabinet to make room for our glider that's been in storage. We've gotten rid of old toys and anything we don't REALLY need. I've started clearing out both closets to make room for bins/drawers to store baby clothes. Basically, it's an organizational dream come true until we have to actually clutter everything again with baby paraphernalia. This reorganization will probably last most of the rest of my dog days of pregnancy...if only I could enjoy a nice, cold beer while I do all the work!