The Final Stretch.... Literally

Yes, I'm in the final stretch. It seems like baby will never come and yet, she may only be 2 weeks away. We are terribly excited and yet, sort of living in denial. It just never seems real until the baby arrives and then, like a punch in the gut ( ha ha ), life is forever changed. How exciting will it be to watch Annaka meet her new sister! I think I am most interested in how this introduction will go. I'm sure Annaka will be quite fascinated with the new baby but, disappointed when Mommy is so busy with the new one. It will be a crazy week, I'm sure!

Yeah, I'm insane, but I think this baby will be early as well. I've had a good number of quasi-painful contractions and even one visit to L&D to make sure that one two hour stint of contractions weren't actually being productive. (FYI, never underestimate how a little dehydration can affect pregnancy.) Secondly, Annaka couldn't wait to bust out either. Unfortunately, she and I both, had a pretty tough first week together. I'm guessing it would have been nice if she had a little more time to pull some of her coordination together before making her entrance (or exit depending on your point of view). Annaka had a bit of a tough time feeding for about three days. This probably could be attributed to a few different things and being born two weeks early is one of them. I, however, tend to think it was because of the stadol that was administered during labor. The reading I have done after that time indicates that babies can suffer some difficulty latching on and feeding when this drug has been used within so many hours of delivery. Lesson learned, no stadol this time around. So, to make the experiment valid, I need to have this baby two weeks early as well. LOL Yes, it makes me a little giddy to think about it. I'm getting big and tired. I would like to be able to bend over and put my socks on, get down on the floor and play with Annaka, wear a pair of underwear that doesn't look like a climbing harness that's about to give, and not have to chase dinner with a couple of Tums.

Just for fun I decided to include a pregnancy ticker here for all to admire. So, if you don't catch this post for a few days to a week, the time should still be accurate. Notice that I have not included any pictures of myself. To post my own picture precariously close to this freak of nature in the ticker would be delusional. This caricature of real life is depressing to say the least, but it's better than posting one that shows the development of the baby and "what it's supposed to look like" at that point in gestation. Besides they are always accompanied by some stupid saying from the baby like, "I'm big enough now to kick the air out of Mommy's lungs and starting to wonder if I'm going to fit on the way out!" Who writes this crap?!?! Yes, I'm sarcastic. I'm 8.5 months pregnant.