In order to avoid going totally crazy in procrastination nation, I am updating constantly. I mean constantly.
Today marks the 30 day countdown. As if he was really going to come in exactly 30 days. Last night after I'd had my little parking lot fiasco, I called sweets on the cell phone. He's at a wedding in San Francisco, and was visiting with friends when I phoned. Apparently he saw that it was me on the caller ID and said something that triggered action at the table. He had to interrupt our conversation to inform the friends that I wasn't in labor and they could end the phone call they had initiated on the other cell phone to the airline to try to book him a ticket home. Every time I talk to anyone out of town they with inevitably end the phone call by insisting I call them when "anything changes." This sort of flies in the face of our plan to keep quiet about things until after the birth, but I can understand their need to feel part of the loop.
New developments: In the past four days I have developed a new pain. This time it's in the groin, and I am pretty sure this particular pain is related to the increase in the hormone relaxin making my pubic symphysis all loose and ready for birth. I can't really describe the pain, except that it doesn't really go away and seems to be worse on one side more than the other. I am trying to welcome this pain both as a distraction from the mysterious square inch and as a sign that my body is preparing for the birth.
Today I am very very excited. I can't wait for this little guy to come out. I so want to see his little face and call him by name and celebrate his presence in a more tangible way. I'm trying to prepare for him by being productive, but the most productive thing I did today was buy extra hair goop because it looks as though I may run out sometime soon after he is born and I can't trust sweets to buy the correct stuff at the market. These things are important!
So in preparation, we have an extra casserole and a big pan of enchiladas in the freezer. There are many jars of pasta sauce in the cabinet. The hospital bag has: extra toothbrush, bottle of gatorade, two energy bars and a red bull for sweets, his swim trunks and flip flops (so we can shower together during labor), and my nightgown. That's all. You can see I am very ready for that trip. The crib is set up but the sheets are still folded up after I laundered them. There are drawers and drawers of baby clothes, but few of them are newborn size, so we may have to do a little trip to the baby store after he's born to supplement. We have one package of diapers and a bin of baby wipes. We have about five different baby shampoo/soap samples that we will try out in the first few days. And we have new curtains on the windows so we can sleep the days away after he comes. We have a car seat and stroller, but have yet to install the car seat. We need to get on that, actually. We have friends who discovered when their baby was 10 days old that they couldn't fit both the car seat and the stroller in their car- they had to go out and buy a new car that day. oops!
I feel about as prepared as I can. There really isn't anything else we HAVE to purchase to have a baby in the house. Mentally, I am ready for him to come. I think there will be a period of adjustment, but I welcome that time. I'm not afraid any more.
What I AM afraid of is the mountain of homework I still have to complete. Three assignments for statistics and a final exam. a paper and presentation for my methodology class. two more assigments and a paper for the ethics class. At least some of the work is done, but I'm nowhere near ready for the semester to end. AND I still have end of year comps scheduled four days prior to my due date. Note to self: crunch time is not a good time to be 9 and 1/2 months pregnant.