Four weeks from today...

Okay, okay, I'm a lousy blogger. By now I have heard from a number of you that I should post some new stuff, so I thought I'd try to get it done while on lunchbreak at work, as our internet connection at home is spotty at best. You get what you pay for. We need to take care of that before the baby is born.

I pee too much. I have insomnia. I cannot take a deep breath. I cannot get comfortable in most positions. I am always hungry. I am tired of maternity clothes, none of which are long enough to cover my belly. And my right sided ribs hurt. (After spending several days sure I needed to have my gall bladder removed, I concluded that it is her butt settled ever so snuggly against my ribs that is causing the pain.)

There. You asked for it. I figured I'd get the complaining out of the way early, so I can focus on all the wonderful parts of pregnancy instead, including how well Clifton puts up with my complaining. Seriously, how did I get so lucky to have him?

We are officially 4 weeks from our due date. Of course since our child will be perfect in every way, we fully anticipate that she will arrive *on* her due date. I have been doing our weekly OB appointments for the past couple weeks. At the first one I was told to "start watching my weight"--I did that... for a day. Then I gave up on it. Which is okay because at my visit the next week the (different) OB commented that I have "the cutest little belly." I think we all know who I will be going back to see.

At these visits they put me on the monitor for 30 minutes to monitor her heartbeat and watch for contractions. Typically when babies sleep their heart rate is relatively constant. When they are awake it tends to fluctuate a lot more, and this is what the doctors like to see. Apparently our little one has decided to sleep every time she and I make our trip there. So after observing her flat heart rate for ten minutes, they wake her up. This is done with a "vibroacoustic stimulator" which is a little device that vibrates and makes an obnoxioius sound that they put on my belly. Within a few seconds she is flailing inside me. Clifton and I have affectionately named this apparatus the tazer. At the last visit she got tazed twice. I think before my next visit I'll drink a non-diet soda to get her going.

I am still amazed by the sensation of her moving inside of me. The strength of her actions is becoming so powerful that they will often catch me by surprise and make me laugh out loud. It is such a beautiful reminder that she is growing inside me.

We started our childbirth class two weeks ago. We've been doing breathing techniques and reviewing what happens in labor. Last week was a video explaining what happens, but the scary stuff was only shown for a couple seconds. This week I believe we are seeing a video with no parts cut out. Clifton's being a trooper.

This past weekend we packed my bag to have around just in case. And put a waterproof mat under our sheets to protect our mattress in case my water breaks in the middle of the night. While there is a part of me that is sure we will go past my due date (I was only 1cm dilated at my last visit), there is the little part of me that says daily, "It could be today." That is a little scary, but we have everything we *need* so when it happens, it happens.

Okay, I just realized I have a patient waiting in a room for me (when did that happen?), so I'll stop here. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. I'll try to post at least once a week until the big day. Clifton will take over after that.