Nesting, My Husband's Favorite Part of Pregnancy

Pregnancy....there are the awesome parts, like finding out you have a living being inside you, feeling him move for the first time, getting lots of attention and consideration for your "delicate" state, and people giving you extra servings of food at church pot-lucks because they think you need to eat for two, or in my case, when I was pregnant with the twins and nursing a 17-month-old, for four.

But then there are the not-so-awesome parts....the fatigue, the nausea, the hormones (oh, the hormones, probably John's LEAST favorite part of pregnancy), the aching back, not being able to sit on a soft couch, having to spread your legs apart like a giraffe when you have to pick up something off the floor, and the weird cravings, especially when you live in a tiny farm town in Mexico, where they are no stores open past 7:00, and all you can do is call your babysitter/Friday maid, who happens to make the best salsa in the world, at 10:30 at night, and say, in broken Spanish, "I need a big favor," and she answers, "Digame", which means "tell me" and you say that you really, really need to send your son over to her house to purchase one of her bottles of salsa, and she says that she will just give it to you and you say "thank you, but I'll pay you", and she says no, and the conversation continues in that vein, with polite arguing back and forth for 5 minutes, but you do end up getting the salsa and you add a large tip to her paycheck at the end of the week.

Okay, a deep breath....

So, as I said in the title, John's favorite part of pregnancy is the nesting. Even though I am due to deliver our 10th child in 8 weeks, he has only had the privilege of experiencing this once, as he was part of the conception process with only the last three pregnancies. With the second pregnancy, however, the twin pregnancy, I was as big as a 6-month pregnant woman when I was only 4 months along, so by the time the nesting instinct hit, I already looked like I was 10 months pregnant, and couldn't really do anything about it, except the bare necessities of raising the other seven kids and sleep and eat.

I am now 32 weeks along, and look somewhat like a woman who is 7 months pregnant this time, as you may remember from THIS post, although there are some dear souls at church who look me up and down and say things like, "You look like you're ready to pop any day now!" Don't say this to a pregnant woman...ever. We don't like it when we still have 8 or 12 or 14 weeks to go. And don't say that we look like we're retaining water....ever.

So, yes, the nesting instinct has begun, but what with getting ready to turn 40 in 3 weeks, and with 8 birds still in the nest, I can only accomplish a little each day. When we moved from our two-person apartment, all ten of us, into our larger home last fall, I had our co-sleeper transported into my bedroom without collapsing it, as I was too confused to remember how that was done. In turn, it has sat in our bedroom for 15 months now, and, because I am prone to stuffing things, it became filled with coats, jackets, hangers, packages of diapers, toys, a bottle of shampoo for some reason, a bag of cornmeal for another unknown reason, a lot of other things I can't remember, and a few small bits of trash. In my nesting enthusiasm, I not only cleaned it out, but I set up the top bassinet designed for newborn babies, and thoughtfully arranged soft baby blankets in sage, blue and yellow. Isn't is cute?...



I also cleared off a ledge in the 3 three and under's bedroom and placed this tiger, which has a small hole in his back in which stuffing is departing, and which I haven't gotten around to mending, on the ledge, artfully arranging him so that as he lounges, he looks over the 3 three and under while they slumber. Now, when the twins enter their bedroom, they enthusiastically grunt, ahh, coo and point when they see him, so it was all worth it...



I'll keep you posted on any further progress I make with the nesting. Wish me luck.