the final countdown

With about a week left to go, I've started reflecting more and more on this pregnancy. It's almost over. What a weird feeling: excitement, of course, mixed with reservations about how ready I really am to be a full-on mum. People keep telling me that the last month or so you just want the baby out, but to be honest, as elated as I am about finally meeting him, I've really enjoyed the process and am almost loathe to let him go.

Of course, there are a few things that I won't be sorry to give up. Here are some of them:

- Swollen feet
- dwindling energy - feeling wiped after our less-than-3K morning stroll, which used to be a 4K brisk walk and was once an almost 10K jog
- People I don't know assuming that, because there's a baby in my belly it's now in the public domain and there for the rubbing or patting
- This irritating ear thing that's happened almost daily since the first trimester, where everything sounds echoey and hollow and I can hear myself breathe really loudly until I start yawning and yawning which eventually cures it for a while, but everyone thinks I'm showing signs of visible boredom or sleepiness, which I'm not - I just want to hear properly!

Things I will miss:
- Despite the belly-patting irritation, the attention I get everywhere I go has been quite pleasant
- Feeling Baby Pear Tree move inside me - even when he practices his drop kicks and roundhouses, or uses my insides as his own personal trampoline, which I swear he was doing last night.
- When I eat too much at dinner now, I don't have to worry about trying to suck my gut in. No one can tell the difference now, anyway. I'll really miss that!