busy week

I had my 32-week check-up on TU, and we're "cruising right along," to quote my OB-GYN. I am 33 cm, and I've gained 4 pounds since the last visit which is interesting because I had not gained anything for almost 6 weeks. The baby's heartbeat was good, too. I asked the doc when I would be able to resume my exercise plan, post-baby, and she said it all depended upon how I feel and if I have any stitches but generally I should be able to start right back in to my cycling and/or walking. Great news considering my Easter conversation with my sister-in-law-who-knows-everything. She's especially annoying with this stuff, of course, because she already has two kids. So, she comes up to us and asks - with this real serious, lets have a heart to heart manner, "what's your biggest fear?"
I wasn't being glib, but since getting past the fear of labor, I am pretty much fearless. I know things are going to change, and I also know the changes will be so fundamental that I cannot even fathom them at this time, so why fear it? Sure, there are many changes/things I will not relish - some I even dread - but that's a far cry from fear and I am just snarky enough that I would not give her the satisfaction of acknowledgement. However, social dictates being what they are, I came up with one fear, and that was about the workouts, and that is bonafide, Blair Witch horror for me.
To which she replied, knowingly, "Oh, you won't be able to work out for 6 weeks, either C-sec or vaginal birth. The bleeding is horrible! I tried to take a walk after my second because I was feeling good, and I made it halfway before I had to turn around for all the bleeding." And so now I am panicked. She asked Mr. R the same question and got the same answer, sans the workout woes, and I think she was generally disappointed that we denied her the opportunity to teach us about parenting (but I can't really be sure because I was obsessing about the workout-thing.)
Also, her kids are insane. They are like savages at the dinner table. One would think their behavior would chasten her somewhat in the parental-advice department, that and the fact that she is wrong so much of time, like with the workputs. My doc says it mostly depends on the women's level of fitness and the difficulty of labor. Pity that I am in twice the shape , at 39, as my 28(?)-yr-old sis-in-law.
Today was the hemotologist appointment. The platelets are stable at around 110,000 which should be enough to greenlight an epidural, but I have to go again in 6 weeks in case the platelets tank and an intervention is necessary. It was a moment of reckoning to realize it might be for naught: I am 8 weeks from my due date, and going in 6 is a very real possibility. It also becomes clearer to me that I really do not want the epidural . . .
My mother asked me if I had any "premonitions" about how the birth would go. I don't, though I wish I did. When I think about it, I get nothing. I asked Mr. R the same question, and he thinks it will be a C-section because I have a very small pelvis (yes. he really said this.) This whole pregnancy has gone like butter - so much better than I anticipated - maybe that fact has the greatest predictive value.
Someday soon I will write a post about missing my pregnancy as that thought continues to pop into my mind.
Still to come this week . . . a not-baby-shower-baby-shower thing given by Mr. R's car friends and their wives. I'm not supposed to know about the shower aspect, just that it is a reunion, of sorts, for the car guys. I'm a really crappy liar and hope that the kindness of the gesture is compelling enough to make my feigned surprise seem authentic. Certainly, I am authentically touched. That's on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, my friends from work are throwing a real baby shower, and that should be a hoot. Thus far, no one has tried to touch my belly (except my mom); I have a strong feeling I won't be able to say that much longer.