Getting closer....

Andy and I were at a party last night, and I noticed something kinda funny. After explaining my constant contractions and the ever closing proximity to my due date, people keep saying to me "Looks/Sounds like you're getting closer!" Well, yeah. It's not like I can back track at this point!

We are one week out from my due date and getting more excited than ever. Our last doctor's appoint was last Wednesday and I was dilated to 1 centimeter and 80-90% effaced. I've been having contractions about 15-20 minutes apart since Tuesday afternoon, and every time I stand up I feel like the bottom is about to fall out. (TMI for a lot of you, I know... but those of you who have been through this understand.) Everyday I feel like, this could be it, this could be the day! and, so far, it hasn't been. I've been through random bouts of nesting, needing to get every single item in this house where it belongs. I even ran a load of laundry with 2 things in it because I couldn't stand that those two items were not clean and put away. Yesterday, I had more energy than a squirrel and found myself dancing the night away at a friends graduation party, only to intensify my contractions to the point that I really thought I wouldn't make it through the night.

I made it. Clearly. And today, I feel like crap. I'm exhausted to the point that I can barely keep my eyes open and I can't spend more than a few minutes on my feet without wanting to collapse. I've taken 2 naps so far, and I'll probably take another one as soon as I'm finished with this post. I don't feel like eating anything (which is highly out of character for me), and I can barely get a full breath of air comfortably. Maybe this is it..... probably not.

2 more weeks! .... maybe.

I'm officially 38 weeks pregnant today. Someone asked me today if the time and this pregnancy has just flown by. Honestly? No. It's crawled, and I imagine it will continue to crawl until the day our little Brittney arrives. I feel a little guilty about this, but I really don't think being pregnant is any fun, and I've probably had the easiest pregnancy in the history of pregnancies. No swelling. No trouble sleeping or eating. No problem shaving my legs. No blood sugar problems, or any other lab-work problems for that matter. Sure, I have stretch marks (everywhere!), but they don't hurt and they'll fade. I've gained exactly the right amount of weight. At 38 weeks, I'm still up on my feet going shopping, spending time with friends, going to the pool.... believe it or not, I can still touch my toes! It's a little awkward getting out of bed in the morning, but really that's no big deal. And I've only had a handful of emotional breakdowns, none of which have caused my dear husband to run to his man cave! I'm grateful for such an easy time, I'm just getting anxious for her arrival and for some semblance of control over my body again. We've been very blessed!

Andy has even taking this whole pregnancy thing very well. He's taken to calling my hormonal weepy moments my "allergies." He'll catch me crying over a new stretch mark and ask, "Are your allergies acting up today?" He's been a really good sport.

He even went with me to Prepared Childbirth classes at our hospital, classes we've decided not to go back to. The lady teaching the class is also the lactation consultant at the hospital, and she's a little too much of a "natural-hippie-give-birth-in-the-recliner-at-home-and-nurse-until-preschool" kind of woman. During the class we had to practice breathing, and she had the mothers and partners sit face to face, 3 inches apart, going "hee-hee-hee-hoooooooo" in each other's faces. Andy and I had Mexican for dinner, so that was a less than relaxing experience. Besides, why does he have to breath like that? That's just weird. Then, we watched a video of a woman giving birth, and she was COMPLETELY NAKED! Yup... head to toe, bare all, nude... and squishing out a child. Andy's only comment was, "do you have to be naked?" when I told him no, he asked, "Can I be naked?" That's why I love my husband! Honestly, as disruptive as we were, she'll probably be glad when we don't show up tonight. I don't really think I need classes to have a kid anyways... evolution pretty much took care of that.

Hello World!

In light of recent events in my life, I've decided to deactivate my Facebook account. (But Lisa... how will we see pictures of your baby? How will we know what happened to you at work today? I MUST know the last time you took a crap?!?!) Before you chastise me, let me tell you why I've decided to do this.

Number 1: Drama. I live in a small (REALLY small) town, and as a teacher, I cannot be "Facebook friends" (I refuse to call them all "real friends") with certain people, such as students or potential students of mine. This causes hurt feelings and angry kids, which doesn't make my job any easier. Also, coworkers and community members will air their dirty laundry on the site, which I think is a tad inappropriate considering it is a "social networking site," and should have absolutely nothing to do with one's job/career. I cannot tell you how many phone calls of received (OK, I admit, I've made a few of these calls too) saying, "You will not believe what so-and-so posted on so-and-so's wall!" It's very easy for things to get out of control, and I'm not a huge fan of everyone being all up in my business, analyzing every single status update and every single wall post. I know, I'm guilty of it, too! I easily get caught up in quotes people post and who posted what where. It's terribly exhausting, and there are much better things I should be doing with my time, which leads me to....

Number 2: Time. Oh, the things I could accomplish if I wasn't wasting so much time on Facebook. This is not productive, people! And the last thing I need to be doing when our new baby is hungry, I've got lessons to complete, papers to write, and laundry to fold is Farmville. It's addictive... and I'm going cold turkey.

I have been wanting to ditch FB for some time now, but always found an excuse. My favorite of which is that I want to keep in touch and share pictures with family and friends who are out of town. This is my solution. Enjoy!