Update at T Minus 2 Days!

Yes, there are now only 2 days until my due date!

And no, the baby has not arrived.

A couple of times in the past week or so I've felt what I thought could've been early labor, but it either petered out or wasn't anything to begin with. Just some crampiness in my lower abdomen, lower back pain, feeling "weird" and having no energy, etc. Friday night I actually said to my mom, "I'm not convinced that I'm in labor, but I'm not convinced that I'm not in labor, either". I think I didn't drink enough on Friday, so I really tried to hydrate on Saturday, and that helped.

Early in the day on Friday I tried to figure out what to do about stopping work. I emailed the woman from HR to try to clarify the whole leave thing, because she'd sent me an email saying I would still have 12 weeks after the baby comes, but the explanation didn't make sense. Of course, I got an auto-reply that she was out of the office for the afternoon. So then I tried calling HR to talk to someone else, only to reach a voicemail message that said they were all out of the office for the afternoon. Lovely. I was scheduled to work on Sunday and Monday, so if I couldn't get it all figured out by the end of the day Friday, I couldn't just not show up. I ended up getting so stressed out and worked up over it, that it was easier and less stressful to just set it aside, let it go, and just go to work!

So, I did work on Sunday and Monday, and it was tough, but I was able to get it all figured out on Monday, and that was my last day of work. I turned in the letter from my midwife stating that I should stop working (even though it said as of last Friday), and began my leave. I will still be able to have 12 weeks AFTER the baby comes, which is all I wanted to make sure of before I stopped working. People were starting to make comments and ask why I was even still there, so I think it was time! Plus, the Brax.ton Hic.ks contractions were coming fast and furious when I was running around the emergency department where I work.

My parents came over on Friday afternoon, and we got the curtains hung up in the nursery, and new handles put on the dresser, and a cool shelf hung on the wall that my sister graciously painted white for me (it used it be a kind of weird shade of yellow). So, the room is really starting to come together, finally, and it's helping me feel like I'm more "ready" than I was before. Even though the baby will be sleeping in the bassinet in my room for a while, it helps to walk past her room and see it look all put together and ready for her. I'll try to get some pictures posted one of these days. My one frustration with her room is that I got a used breath.able baby bumper for $7 (instead of $30 new), and it doesn't fit right - the smaller piece is too small to do what it's supposed to do. I don't know if my crib is longer than average, or it's an old version of the bumper or something, but I know I'm following the directions correctly, and it simply doesn't fit. I guess I may need to buy a new one after all.

I've been reading a lot about labor and childbirth - In.a May Gas.kin's book and online - and watching you.tube videos of childbirth - and I just absolutely can't believe I'm going to be doing it, and doing it soon! If I let myself think about it at all, I tear up. Not in a bad way, necessarily, just a completely-freaking-out-nervous-energy kind of way. I just can't believe that's going to be ME, that I'm somehow going to be doing all of that, that my body can and will do it, that a baby is going to actually come out of MY body. Soon. Really soon. It's just so surreal. I can't even begin to wrap my head around it.

I'm a little concerned that my throat started to hurt tonight. That's usually how a cold starts for me, and I SO do NOT want to have a cold right now! I'm going to do the usual - fluids, rest, etc. - and hope it doesn't turn into anything...

Meanwhile, Baby Watch 2012 continues!