+ VDay +
Happy Valentines Day, baby girl. Can you feel how much we love you in there? Probably not, but you'll know soon enough, I promise. Daddy gave me the sweetest card today. He's such a wonderful person. You're so lucky you get to grow up with him as your daddy.

This morning started off better, other than really super-bad heartburn again. I've never had to take Zantac right when waking up, but I had to this time. I had it all night. But my back and tummy were feeling great. Well, it's 10:40 now and my back is practically in spasms. It's been like this for about an hour now. I simply can't get comfortable. Standing is better than anything, but even that's not comfortable as my hips and feet start hurting. Boy am I glad it's Friday.

Anyway, we've got less than 4 weeks till the due date. When will you really be here? 2 weeks? 6 weeks? Right on time? Who knows?! As soon as I pack your bag (probably tonight), you are free to come on out. Not that I'm hurrying you or anything, because I really do enjoy this whole pregnancy shtick (well, except for the recent back pain and persistent heartburn. Heh). I'll try to take some pics of myself tonight if I can figure out the timer on the digicam. Daddy's working, so it's up to me!

+ Holy pregnancy, Batman! +
This is the one I've been waiting for. Look at the last line...

Your Pregnancy Calendar
Today is Friday February 14th 2003.
You conceived on Thursday June 20th 2002 and your due date is Thursday March 13th 2003.
239 days have passed since the conception, and you are 27 days before your due date.
You are 36 weeks into your pregnancy, and you have 4 weeks to go.
You are in the 3rd trimester.
90% of your pregnancy has passed, there is 10% left to go.

+ Happy news +
I just ran into an old-ish friend, who had some happy news. Remember the girl I used to work with who was pregnant with me at the beginning? The one who shortly thereafter miscarried, not for the first time? Turns out she's pregnant again, 13 weeks this time. Things look good for her, but she's on bed rest. She's not been working, and debating whether or not to work. Her husband is mid-level in the Air Force, though, and who knows how current events will impact them. I'm keeping all of them in my prayers. She's due mid-August, I think?

+ Contractions? +
This whole late-pregnancy thing is weird. Now, I know that everyone experiences labor differently, and I know that you can feel contractions and pains for weeeeeeeeks before actually going into labor. But this back pain, tummy pain, etc. is kind of disconcerting. I am really trying not to be hypochondriac, I swear. I was sitting here, and I felt a really sharp pain in my exteme lower back, really practically on my butt. It's not the first time. I felt my tummy and it was harder than usual, though not rock-hard like I figured it should be (and like it often is with BH contrax). Still, I have a sneaking suspicion it was a contraction. I think I've been having them every once in a while. NO, don't get excited. Remember, people can do this for weeeeeeeks. I just want to chronicle what I'm feeling and when. When I posted my "Ow!" post yesterday, it was just after one of these. I think it might have been my first really noticeable contraction. But of course, I'm dense and confused and it might be nothing at all. It's not like I've ever been through this before.

I really would like to finish out my last week of work first. Though the thought of sitting here another 5 days is excruciating.

+ More craziness +
You're due in 28 days. Twenty-eight days. I'm really glad I'm sitting down.

+ Amazing +
I'm 9 months pregnant. Isn't that wild?

+ Yay +
Nothing like waking up and starting the day with horrible, awful, curl-your-toes heartburn.

+ OW! +
Okay, hello? What are you doing to me today? You're more active again, just kind of squirming around in there. All morning I've had really painful pokes and pressure in my pelvis (like the alliteration?) And about a minute and a half ago, I got this really sharp pain/ache in my extreme lower back on both sides. OOOWWWW!!! Now it's kind of dull, but it really still hurts. I think maybe you're trying to wiggle lower in there or something and pinching nerves. Not fun.

Last night, I did a few thank you cards. This is going to take me days. You got so much wonderful stuff, it's going to take a while. I also got a couple of good leads on daycare, so I'm going to look into those soon too.

+ Misc. +
I didn't have a temperature. You're definitely head-down, he said. You've not dropped, I don't think, just getting bigger. You really do like to lie on my right side, with your butt (or feet?) under my right ribs. Dr. thought that was amusing. My feet are starting to swell up, just enough that my fitted shoes really don't fit anymore. My complexion is completely out of whack.

+ 35 week Dr's appt +
So, last night was a partial success, I suppose. We had our Doctor's appointment. BP was mostly unchanged, still at 110/70. Weight was down a pound from what I thought it was last week, but the nurse had written down a pound less last week, so it was technically unchanged. It makes my total weight gain 14 pounds, not 15. The Dr's fine with that. I measured right on, and your heartbeat sounded great as always. We did the Group B Strep test which wasn't as bad as I was afraid it might be. I asked him about all the cramping and aching I had yesterday, and basically he responded that I was lucky I hadn't had any until yesterday. Great. Thanks. I asked him about heartburn during labor, because it gets bad enough I'm afraid just that will make me throw up during labor, nevermind the epidural. He said that was a good question, and I should make sure to take my normal pills before I leave for the hospital, and let them know when I get there that I want Zantac or Pepcid in my IV. They'll call his office and get the okay, which he said he'll give them. Good to know.

So, that's the appointment. Now, the baby care class. I feel horribly guilty about this, but you see... We didn't go. I know, I'm awful. We paid good money for the class ($20 I think), and I really think there would have been some good information in there. I feel horrible about it, but I just felt absolutely dreadful last night and didn't want to go. Plus, it was at 6:30, and I didn't know how I was going to stay awake that long, hurting the way I was. So I found a comfy position on the couch (which took a while, I should point out), and watched trash TV. I really hope we didn't miss out on anything really important, and I'm going to read lots and maybe look for a video at the library or something. Grandma Laurie suggested this, and Daddy concurred. So I'll work on that when I go on leave.

Anyway, there's our exciting night. I'm feeling much better this morning. Still not fabulous, but I think that's an almost-9-month problem I just have to deal with. As long as I don't ache like I did yesterday all the time. Oh, yeah! And I almost didn't have my appointment at all! Somehow my appointment got deleted in their computer system, I'm guessing from last time when I was trying to see if she could schedule it for later in the day. Anyway, he had a few minutes to work me in, which made me very relieved since I was feeling so awful and wanted to talk to him about it. Next appointment: Tuesday 2/18. I made sure that one was still in there! Ha!

Daddy and I had a good chat as we were falling asleep last night about what exactly to expect when I go into labor. He wanted to know how much time we have (who knows?!), what he needs to grab, etc. I think I'm going to make up a nice list for him this week to make it easier, plus finish the phone list and pack your bags. Yippee. More to do! :)

+ And... +
I feel like I have a temperature too. This bites.

+ Dunno +
I don't know what's going on, but my tummy hurts quite a bit and my back is positively killing me. I keep feeling for contractions, and I don't think I'm having any. I don't know if you're sitting in a weird position, if I'm having some intestinal issues, or if something's happening that shouldn't. I'm glad we have a Dr's appointment today. Lately you've been moving less, but today you're moving a little bit more. That part's nice.

+ Shower and decisions and stuff +
Baby O., I have no way of explaining to you how incredibly blessed you already are, to be born into such a loving circle of family and friends. Would you believe 50 people showed up to your shower on Saturday? You got so many absolutely wonderful gifts, I can't even summarize them. Here are pictures. Your daddy had such an awesome time, he was just glowing from ear to ear the whole day. He was a great sport, letting me put the bows all over him. Ha! But the most incredible thing was seeing our family and friends together, having fun and celebrating your impending arrival! I wish we could do this more often, but obviously logistics inhibit that.

So, now that the shower is history :-( it's time to start really getting ready. I sorted and organized most everything yesterday. A couple of toys go into storage because they're all for older than 12 mos., and we don't have that much room in your bedroom. We put the travel system together, so we are ready to go with that! You can officially arrive now. We have a car seat, diapers, and a few newborn clothes. Those are the immediate concerns. We have LOTS more, but I just mean what we have to have to bring you home. You have SO many clothes, I can't believe it. I'm going to wash and sort those while I'm on leave. It should take the better part of a day!

We also made a decision about diapers. This is probably the one thing we have been waffling on the most, and delaying decision-making. You see, with Daddy's undecided work future, it results in an undecided daycare future. I'm going to have to make decisions about this very soon, and that will be the last undecided thing. But for diapers... We are going to use both disposables and cloth. I just can't bring myself to use 100% disposables. I can't. Daddy understands that, bless his heart, but he's also worried about the cost, the convenience, etc. Plus, if we use daycare, we can't use cloth. So, we've decided that we are allowed to compromise. For daycare, and for outings, we use disposables. We were given some as gifts anyway (including 2 HUGE newborn packages, so we have to use those up), and we've got our warehouse club membership for future purchases. When we're at home, or at a receptive grandparent's house (i.e. Grandma Laurie), we'll use cloth. But we're not going to get a service. We're going to buy quality cloth diapers (Daddy wants to spend a little more to get good ones, which is okay by me), and liners to minimize the "poop factor" and we're going to wash our own. He's going to help in this, and I think we'll be really happy with our compromise. We have the Diaper Genie, and now we'll buy a good ol'fashioned diaper pail to go next to it. It was Daddy's idea to compromise this way, and I'm really really happy with the decision. I feel good that I can minimize the load on the environment even a little, and still be able to compromise for daycare, etc.

So, that's what's new. This afternoon we have an OB appointment, checking for Group B Strep. I do have some things to talk to him about that are worrying me (like you moving less), so we'll see how that goes. Also tonight, Daddy and I have a Baby Care Class. That should be fun. More tomorrow!