Many things

1. Our only shower is in a state of disrepair. I have two grab bars in the shower to help with balance, and a little over a week ago Jeff was washing his feet off and used one of the bars to help stabilize himself as he swung his feet out of the shower. As he pulled on the bar, the bar, the tile, and the wall behind it started to pull away. At first he was concerned that he had done something to break it, but right away it was clear that there was something serious wrong – he shouldn't have been able to break it even if he tried. There was definitely water that had gotten behind the tile, possibly a long time ago, possibly beginning before we even moved into the house, and in order for it to be even minimally safe for me to use the grab bar it needs to be fixed. We had one guy come in and take a look, and his "estimate" of how much it would cost to fix (which he said was not really an estimate, and don't hold him to any of it, because it could end up being quite a bit more) seemed outrageously high.

We had another company come take a look, and they gave us an exact price (assuming they do not find any additional damage) which was less than half of what the first guy said was "just a ballpark." They were very professional, and gave us a number of options for what we would like done and how, and we generally like them, so this is who we are going to go with. However, they have a backlog and so it could be 10 to 12 weeks before the shower gets fixed, and it is only thirteen weeks until my due date. Meanwhile, I have a grab bar that allows me to get in and out of the shower but not to move around once I am in, so I have to use a bath chair temporarily (which I already had for using in certain circumstances). The timing of this is not great, since my balance will just get worse and worse as I get bigger and bigger, but I suppose with all of that I might have needed to use the bath chair anyway.

2. Sleep is a constantly changing struggle, but we are adapting. Probably almost immediately after writing the blog post about sleeping on my back, it became uncomfortable to be on my back for very long. The baby has just gotten too heavy. I was lamenting that I might have to figure out how to sleep on my side after all, but my doctor suggested getting a wedge pillow to put under my right hip so that when I am lying on my back I am at a slight angle, which changes how the weight is distributed. There was not a single store in town that had wedge pillows in stock, so I had to order from Amazon and wait (I ended up ordering two different kinds because they were each less than fifteen dollars and I had to get up to twenty-five for free shipping, so I figured it couldn't hurt). It turns out these pillows are currently amazing for me. I put one under my right hip as suggested, and one next to my belly on the left side. The one under my hip changes the weight distribution just enough that it is comfortable to mostly be on my back again, and the one next to my belly makes it more comfortable to roll onto my side if I need to change positions. They are small, don't get in Jeff's way too much, and for the time being make it so that I can sleep. So I currently have five pillows either in bed with me or right next to the bed so I can access them easily if needed – one for my head, the two wedge pillows, one to go between my knees and ankles if I do roll onto my side, and another one to hug with my arms if I end up rolling onto my side. It is working for the time being, but it seems that things constantly change related to this!

3. On Friday we had the biggest hail I have ever seen:

You can't really tell from the video, but the diameter of each hailstone is about half an inch, maybe more. There was damage in the garden, but it seems like most of the plants will recover.

4. Koshka may be wary of how things are changing, but Maddy appears to like the new size and shape of my belly:

5. Yesterday we went to Regina's pride parade. It was bigger than Jeff thought it would be, much less crowded than I thought it would be, but a good time. I am a big fan of parades :-)

6. Yesterday evening we went for a walk at a park that is about a ten minute drive from our house. I had never been there before, and Jeff had only run/biked past it. It turned out to be a very lovely park and a nice walk.

I was reminded that when the conditions are right (the ground is reasonably level, there are no huge obstacles, the sidewalks are not deteriorating) going for a walk can be very nice in the summer (always while holding Jeff's hand for stability). The winter is always rough because it is so icy, and our neighborhood has patchwork sidewalks that mostly slant toward the road and change materials (concrete, asphalt, deteriorating concrete, gravel, concrete with big rocks in it, etc.) about every 10 feet. Going for walks can be something of an ordeal, so I had forgotten how nice it can be. With this reminder, I'm going to try to get out on walks as often as possible!