Home Stretch

We're ending our 36th week now - so that means we're 9 months! And at the end of this week, we'll officially be considered full-term - so after that, it can be anytime now. Any time now!

Yup folks, near the finish line, and so you would think by now, I've escaped any other unpleasant pregnancy surprises since I'm almost there. WRONG! Up til now, I've enjoyed 35 weeks of successfully evading, escaping and avoiding those dreaded stretch marks. But now, ugh, they finally caught me!

Of course I would get them, I'm very tiny to begin with, and so with all this stretching, and with the baby experiencing his major growth spurts these last couple of weeks, I'm a fool for thinking I could get through this pregnancy without them paying me a visit. I was in denial.

I've read it in several places, but still I didn't believe it, but let me tell you all now: Even if you lather yourself in oil, even if you cover yourself in lotions, creams, and tummy butter, the stretch marks will come. And they can appear in a number of places, not just the belly! I was so buttered up, I was worse than a bucket of AMC's popcorn, and still, the stretch marks found me!

Fortunately, I read that some stretch marks will fade post partum, and hopefully will not be as visible. Even now, I really shouldn't complain, mine are not that bad, nor that evident. I've seen several belly pics of other moms-to-be, and their stretch marks are really obvious. Maybe buttering myself up every day did pay off. =)

And really, I don't predict that I will be wearing bare midriff tops or anything, I think its safe to say that my clubbing days have long been over. And I don't plan on belly dancing any time soon. But of course there are tropical, island and beach vacations to still enjoy, and so those stretch marks better be gone!

Now I know why they call these last couple of weeks the home "stretch!"