Almost done! I'll be 39 weeks tomorrow. It's hard to believe Baby E will be here in just a few weeks (or if I'm on a time - ha! - a week). Eeeek! I suppose I'm as ready as I can be considering I've never done this before. The nursery is almost done, diapers are purchased, baby clothes and bedding have all been washed and hung or folded, the house is much more organized than it was a few weeks ago, and I set up our family blog, This Coastal Life.

(Side note #1: If you're interested in reading our family blog, shoot me an email at thiscoastallife @ gmail dot com. I'm keeping the blog private and open only to invited readers.

Side note #2: The url is a .net instead of a .com - when I originally came up with the blog name way back in December .com was available, but when I went to buy it last weekend, it wasn't, so .net it is. Should have bought it right away. Sigh.)

As for other news around here - the past month was pretty rough for us since a few of our dogs had nasty GI infections and kept us up several nights in a row (with messes to clean up, too), then one of the beagles hurt her back and we have to make sure she rests for the next week. The medicine she's on makes her drink and pee a lot, so we've been up several times in the middle of the night to let her out and get her a drink of water. I think these dogs are just getting us ready for newborn life. How thoughtful of them. Fortunately, everyone is on the mend now and I hope we're done with the vet visits for a good while.

I've been getting really anxious these past few weeks to finally meet Baby E and to be honest, be the only resident of my body. I can't really say I've enjoyed being pregnant (I don't understand women who say they love it), but really, short of a few hiccups like all-day sickness through week 19 or so, the weirdness with nearly passing out and having to visit the heart doctor in the second trimester, and a few other issues that popped up in the third trimester, this has been a pretty smooth pregnancy.

I was able to run well into my third trimester, including several 5Ks, a 5-miler, and a half marathon in the first and second trimesters, and now even though I stopped running a few weeks ago, I'm still able to work out on the elliptical and doing barre workouts at least 4-5 days a week. I'm uncomfortable (and definitely feel way bigger than my normal self), but I'm not miserable. My weight gain has been minimal but healthy with no concerns from my doctor, and so far, no major swelling (or cankles) and I've still got my wedding rings on and my shoes all still fit just fine (no foot growth or fallen arches!). And I feel extremely lucky for it. I know it's not like this for everyone and I'm so grateful for how this pregnancy has gone. I can only hope that labor, delivery and recovery all go as smoothly and that Baby E arrives happy and healthy. And according to the ultrasound tech, he'll also be arriving with a head full of hair (and I've definitely had the heartburn to back that up)!

The fact that I'm still doing the elliptical at the same pace I did it prior to pregnancy makes me hopeful that getting back to running won't be so rough. Back when I started running, the first run I did was after about a year of elliptical training and I went out and ran 3 miles without stopping. So maybe I'll rebound from this fairly quickly, too, since my time off is significantly less than more than a decade this time around.

Other things I'm looking forward to (or in some cases feeling anxiously hopeful about): being able to sleep on my stomach again, figuring out life with the new normal of a newborn and how to not totally lose myself, my interests, and my identity but still be an awesome mom to this little guy, introducing the dogs to their newest family member (we've been working with them and getting them ready - I hope it all goes well!), and racing! I've missed racing so much over the past few months. I cannot wait to get out there and back into it.

37 weeks, dress from Swell.com (not maternity)

38 weeks - Dress from Teal, a local boutique (not maternity), shirt from Target (not maternity), necklace made by me

I'm just now really feeling like I need maternity clothes, but it seems so incredibly silly to buy them at this point. I know I'll still look pregnant for a few weeks after giving birth, but I'm sure I'll be smaller than I am now and won't need maternity clothes then, either. So I'll just be scrounging around for clothes over the next week or so. I am so thankful for my job's flexibility that's allowed me to work from home starting last week and up until I go on leave, which makes the clothes scrounging a little easier since I don't really have to get dressed up on most days.

Otherwise, things are going well around here and we're just playing the end-of-pregnancy waiting game. Here's hoping I don't go too far past my due date. Although, D and I did place bets on Baby E's arrival date - today was his pick and my pick is June 21, which is a week late. Unless anything happens in the next few hours, D's date has come and gone. But as much as I like winning bets, my due date is Father's Day and a Father's Day baby would be pretty awesome for D.

Pregnancy: weeks 36 to 38