OK, this is ridiculous!

So its been 13 days and she is still hanging out in utero. She must be really comfortable, which is more than I can say for myself.



I went to my doctor's appointment last Monday and found out I was 2cm dilated and 25% effaced. And then come to find out that some women stay at that point for a very long time. Go figure.
So after losing sleep in anticipation of the events to come, I have given up all hope and am continuing on with life as usual, with the exception of not traveling too far from the home and hospital, and not hanging out in bars.
At least the nursery is finished.

LET THE BLOODY SHOW BEGIN!!!

Yeah, well, all I can say is "Big whoop."
I was so jazzed up! I mean, it was like, "This is it, folks! She is coming!"
I got up yesterday, had some breakfast, did a few things around the home, called a friend to help me with the grocery shopping and then went to the potty.
Talk about slimey gross-ness... so I wiped it up, flushed the toilet and got going.
After the store was done and the groceries were put away, I went to the potty again. Its about 1pm.
it looked like I started my period, only slimy-er. Geeze.
I woke my husband and we concluded thru reading books that this wass the mucous plug/bloody show portion of the birth process. So I called my doctor and the nurse practioner and was told to come in when contractions are 5-10 minutes apart.
Wha?
Labor? So soon?
So then I remember that since last Sunday I have been having mild alternating with strong contractions. At night. And the funny thing is? EVERYONE said, "Oh, you mean Braxton-Hicks contractions?"
Hear this- THEY ARE NOT THOSE. Not even close.
So anyway, we were told to expect labor within 48 hours. Or so it usually goes. Could go up to a week or so, but prolly not.
Hmmm.
So last night I did not sleep, had some painful contractions, then just had a band of pain around the middle of my body.
Fell asleep for an hour and 9 minutes.
And now I am drinking coffee and getting ready to take my shreddables to the shredder man, get a pedicure and finish setting up the nursery.
And so it goes.
Still leaking stuff from my nether regions.
I will keep you posted.

It's not the Virgin Mary, exactly, but...

...its definitely something.

The baby shower is tomorrow. Should be lots of fun. Lots of women getting excited about babies, and a few token men, watching it all. Who started the whole baby shower thingy anyway?
I have not been able to get a line on that. Wikipedia has a huge section on it, but nothing definitive. In some cultures its considered bad luck to buy anything before the baby is born. I did find it interesting, however, that in some places like Africa, Latin America, and India, its become more common to hold baby showers for women because of the influence of western culture.
Scary to think how much influence western civilization has over other cultures. And what makes it worse is that we rip off these cultures first, then present it back to them. Or sell it back to them. I think just found my new business venture. I am going to rip you off, then sell it all back to you with a 300% mark-up, because I will have convinced you that you need it in order to live.
Yeah. Watch out.

Well...

I can no longer see my feet. It makes me walk funny, especially if I am on uneven terrain. My but kinda sticks out at an odd angle and and my arms swing out in order to compensate. I trip ALL the time. And I am at that point where my belly knocks in to almost everything.
And it hurts to sit down... for reasons I will not go into.

Entertaining reading, I must say.

I picked this up in Hawaii about 5 years ago. Its currently out of print and was being discarded.
Lots of interesting stuff. Lemme know if you want to sit down and look at it sometime. It makes the whole process of pregnancy very scary, especially if you are not a white person. When you look at it you will see what I mean.
Check out the first copyright. 1902? And the last is 1964. 62 years of progress documented right here in this book.
There are quite a few pictures like this one, and they call the babies monsters. This was the only one I could bear to post up. Maybe I will get more brave later.
I have been told by my birth attendant, or 'doula', if you will, not to look at myself in the nether regions after birth for awhile. This picture is the first stage of the head getting ready to come out. I am sure you can imagine all the other stages. Need I say more?
And finally, this is my husbands newborn photo that I wanted to share. Cute, isn't he?

Latest purchases.

Being pregnant can be expensive. And weird. I was getting ready to take a shower the other day and I noticed one of my boobs was leaking. WTF?
This has totally thrown me off. I now have to wear an official nursing bra. And the lady at the store told me that once the baby comes, I am going to want to sleep in one as well. I am going to want to sleep in one? Wow.
Pregnancy and birth and babies is so... sexy?
Do you see the size on those puppies?
I mean, I know there are women out there who are much bigger... but I am not a big girl. Just average, maybe on the smaller side of average. I never imagined I would wear an E cup.

Getting fatter...

My mother has left and I swear, just from the stress, I grew, like, 3 sizes bigger. No joke.