Single digits!

We're down to 9 days and counting! I saw the doctor for the last time yesterday and had one of the few NST's I've had so far where the Pad did not move either too much or too little. One more NST on Monday, and that's it!

I've been convinced for the last few weeks that I'm about to go into labor any second, and keep changing my mind. I've had a bunch of what could be taken as signs of imminent labor (upset stomach, crampy feelings that come and go, more Braxton-Hicks, mrandom bursts of energy) but they always go away and leave me sure I'm NOT going into labor. Either way it would be OK at this point. Aside from the occasional random bursts of energy, I am ready to be done with pregnancy for now. No matter how early I stop taking in liquids, I'm still up 5-6 times a night to pee. Also, the period around 10-11 pm is apparently Party Time in my uterus; unfortunately it's also the time I'm trying to fall asleep. I love feeling her move, but she's so low now that it can really hurt. (I have to say, though, it is so cool to feel her different parts. For the last few weeks I'm able to feel definite feet over on my right side, and a little baby bottom keeps poking out just to the left of my navel. Poking WAY out - when she arches her back, that side of my belly will stick out at least a few inches farther than the other side.) Luckily for my sleep-deprived self, Friday is my last day of work. I was originally going to work up to Tuesday the 11th, but last week as I dragged myself in after another night of crappy sleep, I realized that I didn't need to be such a hero. I'm ahead on everything and have planned well for my leave; two more days isn't going to make a difference, and I'd rather have the 5 free days this will now give me to catch up on sleep...before I found out what sleep deprivation really means.

I did the hospital tour last week; it makes the day seem so much more real now that I can picture where I will be. I'm getting sort of nervous - not even so much about the baby, but I've been so focused just on getting to D-Day that I haven't really thought about what that actually means. I hadn't really focused on the "major surgery" part of it until recently, and it's freaking me out a bit. I know it's something that is done every day and very few people have major complications, and I know what to expect from it in may ways, but still - major surgery! I still haven't let myself think much about the actual BABY part of the equation - still self-preserevation, I guess - but I'm starting to think about that a little more. I'm nervous for her, but I'm also nervous for me - I'm starting to get a bit of that "Am I ready for this? What's going to happen? Will I ever sleep again?" freakout that I got before Joseph. I know we're ready, I just don't know exactly what to expect.

Finally, I got a call from my brother last week. He has to be in Chicago for a bachelor party the weekend I have the Pad, so he and my sister in law and Emma weren't going to come visit until a few weeks after the birth. Last week he called and said that he decided that he wouldn't be able to go away without seeing us and making sure everything was OK, so he wanted to come up on Thursday night to see us in the hospital, and was that OK with me? I was touched - things have been a lot better between us, but that did surprise me. Of course I said yes, and then he told me that one of my stepbrothers and his wife also wanted to come that night. So in addition to six parents (Andy's parents, my mom and stepdad, and my dad and his wife), we'll also have two brothers and their wives (and two babies, although they won't be allowed in to see me). I have no idea how I'll be on Thursday night - probably kind of drugged up - but I'm glad they'll be there, and the brothers will be leaving Friday morning to go to Chicago, so it won't be too many people for too long a time. (I did let my local friends know that, while I'd love for them to visit me in the hospital, they should probably not come Thursday night.)

Sorry for the rambling...just a lot going on in my head today.