Timeline

June 26
4 a.m.
Well, I made it to the due date provided by the "dating ultrasound" I had in December. The difference between that and my official due date wasn't statistically significant enough to alter the original ... but, still, I can hope I've made it and that this little guy will show up soon.

I'm up, not because I can't sleep, I could probably get there if I wanted to, but because I am hungry. And I have an idea for a book. I've had the idea for a while. It's starting to rapidly unfold, though, so i need to jot down my thoughts now. With Wesley, I wrote Mohammad's book. With this child, I will write my own. And maybe that will pay off Patrick's student loans -- it'll certainly help ;)

June 25
8 a.m.
Wesley had a lovely morning with his Tu-tu (Emily's mom) and is ready for our trip to the midwife where he will listen to Baby Brother's heartbeat. He knows that if he is obedient today we will go to the Botanical Gardens -- wish us luck.

Had BH contractions for about 2 hours yesterday and of course, they stopped :)

June 24
6:57 a.m.
I've been awake since 3:30 a.m. I didn't fall asleep until 12:30 because Patrick and I were up reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons and of course talking about life, our dreams, and our plans for the near future.

It's been a while since we've gotten into a book together. Now that he's graduated from this residency and masters program and will finish up this week, we'll make more time for reading together. We'll likely finish this book soon and then search for another one to read during the wakeful nursing hours that are about to come our way (my way at least, but I have a feeling the doting dad will be up too, it's hard to tear your eyes away from a newborn). Too bad we're not waiting for another Harry Potter book to come out -- those were fun.

I didn't feel like reading or writing last night, I just walked around every 30 minutes or so to check the clock on the oven and try to walk out the sciatic kink that originated in my back and radiated down my left leg. It's the same pain I had right before I delivered with Wesley and all during labor (minus the 6 hours of relief I had from an epidural).

Right now I am reading for my supervision session later this morning. I didn't read earlier because I kept thinking I was going into labor and would be otherwise occupied, but I'm glad I didn't and that I'm not.

Honestly, I hope that I wait to have the baby until my due date. Why? Because of my iron levels. It's only been a week since I started to take the inch-long pills that will increase my red blood cell count (in four weeks ... so every day toward that time counts big) and I already feel a difference. Let's put it this way, I don't need to stop and take a break while cutting up watermelon! And birth, (or dropping a watermelon as my friend calls it) from what I remember, is a lot more demanding than cutting a watermelon.

Back to reading my articles for today's discussion. Hopefully I'll be able to take a nap this afternoon and get to bed early.

Random fact of the day:

The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird on record reaching horizontal cruising speeds of 65-90 kmh.

Pairs of Peregrines mate for life, usually setting up housekeeping high in the cliffs. (http://www.extremescience.com/fastinworld.htm)

June 23
6:50
Oh well ... all that pain and now everything has stopped. Back to our regularly scheduled life.

4:43 p.m.
Walking through some frequent contractions. Not getting hopes up, as I've done this four times already. I will say that these are more intense with more pressure.

9:19 a.m.

Everything stopped suddenly yesterday.

Braxton-Hicks contractions are a cruel joke to a person with obsessive-compulsive tendencies (note, I said tendencies, not disorder).

Today is different though. I've conquered the mind over matter thing and have put myself in a new mindset. I am relaxing today and making the most out of the time I have before the demands of caring for a newborn arrive. So, some strength has come out of this.

I'm reluctant to drive places, though. I never know when these strong contractions are going to come and they are quite inconvenient while driving.

Rather than see myself as stuck, however, I'll take the opportunity to do some online shopping for last-minute things and to nest some more in our joyous little home.

Here's to baby brother coming when he's darn well ready -- I'll be ready for him no matter when it is.

June 22
4 a.m.

I woke up this morning to a strong surge. Another followed. These, I noted, were "different."

My lungs exhaled. I relaxed in an effort to fall back asleep.

Another contraction came, my excitement surged along with my uterus. I didn't want to get all twisted up with excitement this early, though, so I picked up my iPod and scrolled to the play list "Labor and Delivery." I listened to a relaxation exercise and then to my favorite visualization. Right as I was visualizing the labor, I remembered that today is my friend Keri's wedding. She and Tom are uniting at the beach.

Then I remembered that my cousin in Germany got married on the day Wesley was born. My second cousin Sigrid calculated that at the moment of my son's birth my German family was singing "All You Need is Love," in the church. (Shortly thereafter, the new bride somehow managed to nurse her baby in her wedding gown while sitting in a horse-drawn carriage on the way to the reception.)

As I thought of Ker'is anticipation on her big day and how she'll be surrounded by her closest friends and family just as she is circled by water on an island, I thought about how I might, just might deliver on the very same day, I started to laugh. If so, Keri will definitely be wearing a wedding dress in one of my other visualizations, the one where I surround myself with the strongest women I know -- I'll be the island, and the women my sea. I tuned back to the visualization and realized that at that moment I was to "reach down and bring my newborn child to me," I'm sure it was said more poetically than that, but that's the gist. My laughter quickly turned to tears.

Patrick reached over and asked what was going on. "Pure joy," I said, "today just might be the day ..."

If it does happen today, it's started just as I had envisioned: Waking up after a good night sleep on a Sunday morning to contractions.

I've washed my hair and am off to dry it and soak my feet a bit. I'm trying to do what "they" say to do and ignore the damn things ... but it's hard for me. I tend to obsess a bit, especially when I know something big is about to happen. It may not be today, so don't go getting in your cars and heading this way and don't make any airline purchases ... just stay tuned.