due date

9:15 am
Due date: Today. My feeling as I sit blogging at 9:18 am? Baby's not coming today. Baby's not ever coming out, actually. It's so comfortable in my tummy, seeing as how it's made so much room for itself, that it's just decided to stay in there forever. It just can't understand why mommy was whimpering and crying this morning when the world slowly rotated (mommy was trying to turn over in bed) or put itself upside down again (mommy stood up). Or why those cries became sharper "Ows" when the world slowly advanced a few steps (mommy was trying to walk and crying out in pain because the baby is sitting so low and the pressure was almost unbearable). The world seems like a scary place to baby with all of those noises going on, so it's decided to stay right where it is. FOREVER.

Okay, that was when I moved from the recliner where I had been sleeping since 1:00 am (it was easier getting out of the recliner than the bed), tried to move back into the bedroom near 6:00 am, and had to get up and move back to the recliner, asking Al to let the dog out/in and feed the animals before he left. Mercifully, Mya didn't ask to be let out again until I was ready to get out of the recliner again around 8:00 am. And since it's not muddy out, I've been able to lean over to attach her collar to the tie-out and unattach it (without wiping her paws) when she comes back in. So far, so good since I don't know if I'd be able to get up again if I went down on my knees to the floor (the reason Al asked me to carry my cell phone on my person all day--I think the "I almost didn't get up" story the other day scared him a little). After a quick brownie breakfast (I'll miss being able to eat like this when I'm not pregnant--at least, miss the guilt-free feeling), I got on the computer and have been here ever since. But I'll be writing this blog throughout the day just to give an hours-by-hours accounting, so I'll be signing off fairly soon here and doing...something else.

I can't believe it. Snowflakes, again. And just last Friday it was almost 70 degrees...

12:23 pm
Multitasking: Managing to do laundry, watch Ellen, eat Wheat Thins and slices of American cheese, and love on Mya all at once. Okay, so none of it was actually that hard, except maybe the discomfort in my ankles when I was walking back up the stairs from changing out laundry loads. But that's what I've managed to do since I got off of the computer, along with a few other things.

One: I showered for the second day in a row. This hasn't happened frequently in the past couple of months since standing around for an hour (the amount of time it takes me to shower, do my makeup and hair, and brush and floss my teeth and use mouthwash) has been getting a bit harder. But since I've been growing my hair out and pregnant, my hair surprisingly looks better the second day rather than on the first. Normally (when I'm not pregnant) going without showering would mean my thick mane of hair ended up in a grease pit the second day. But (and I'm thinking this is the baby effect) it hasn't done that until the third day for a while now, and since I can wear it down the second day if I've put it up with a clip the first day, I've been showering every other day. Anyway, these long explanations are all to say that the only reason I showered today is that Mya has managed to eat most of my hair clips, meaning yesterday I didn't find one until about 4:30 pm and my hair didn't look good down today. So, I decided to shower.

It must have been fate, because I had just finished the shower/hair/makeup/teeth routine and was getting dressed when--Oh!--I think my water's breaking! It's that slow leak instead of a gush (this happens when the baby's head is really low and blocks it from gushing out), and since I haven't had any contractions yet, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I was just a bit surprised (and happy!) that it's happening exactly on my due date. I got on the phone to my doctor first, and he said that since the fluid is clear (no blood, a good sign) and I'm not yet contracting, that I should wait four to six hours before heading to the hospital. So I got on the phone to Al and told him while (multitasking again) walking downstairs to change out the laundry again (this way I can wear my black pants and--you guessed it--slippers, which I washed this morning, to the hospital). Of course, even though my phone has been charging for hours, it died while I was talking to him. I just finished switching up the laundry (remember those stairs?) and waited til I was back upstairs to plug in the phone, turn it on and call him back. In that time, Rick had managed to tell him that his wife's water broke before contractions and they made her walk around, which caused contractions to start coming strong and fast. I'm not going to start walking, though, until Al gets home and ready...don't want to beat Al to the hospital!

The funny/ironic thing is that just as I was writing this blog, Beth texted me: "Baby coming today? Talk him into it!" Her latest hunch is that it's a boy. We don't know that for sure, of course. I had to call her and talk to her.

Well, I'm going to start getting fluids and foods into me and make sure I have everything I need in my bag and the diaper bag. It helps to have something to do to pass the hours, especially since I don't have to suffer contractions yet. Oh, and I should call my family members. Looks like I might have a Friday the 13th baby after all...

4:24 pm
I'm pretty tired right now. Remember, I didn't sleep very well last night, and I've been pretty excited for the past few hours. I also started contractions around 2:00 pm, and from what I can tell (I'm not being very successful at keeping track myself, and since Al's been home he's vacuumed, helped finish the laundry, walked the dog, finished putting together the changing table, cut his hair, and is now taking a shower) they're between four and seven minutes apart. Right now they're like really short, bad cramps. Not too bad. I know they'll be getting worse.

Since last blogging, I have done a bit more laundry, eaten Taco Bell (seven layer burrito minus guac) drank lots of water and some orange-peach-mango juice, and sat and watched television.

Where was I? I was suddenly interrupted by gushing water (probably from sitting straight up to blog), a fairly strong contraction, and a sudden urge to vomit (I didn't). I was thinking about popping in (ow...another contraction...) a movie, but I think we'll probably head to the hospital soon instead. It's been almost five hours since the doc said four to six. But since I'm going to stop blogging, I'll go ahead, post this, and the next post will likely be in a couple of days and include baby pics. Happy Thursday!