month 10

I can't believe our daughter is now full-term and could (technically) be born any day.

Evan, Eva and Brandy were here for the weekend. Evan and I spent the day running errands and going to the Pedersen Auto Museum on Saturday, which was a blast. Then Eva & Brandy arrived on Saturday night late and we had some adventures. A crazy guy tried to run Eva over and then smashed in her van window about 5 minutes after they got here over a parking space. The next day Brandy chatted up Mary-Louise Parker while she was walking her dogs across the street from my house (she lives on my block I think.) Then Brandy & Mark were extras on set for some filming of a TV show. My favorite was "An actuary, an accountant, and a attorney were sitting at a table..." jokes at lunch. Rarely does life provide so much laughter. I think it put me into labor a little bit. I had Tuesday off. Eva and Brandy came to my doctors' appointment and got to meet the other Mark in my life. He showed them the baby on ultrasound - we could only make out parts since she is so big... and listened to her strong heartbeat. He also checked me. Last week I was not really doing much, but this week he said that I am as ripe as a Trader Joe's Avocado and that my body does not have much laboring to do. My bishop's score was an 8 and I was 80% effaced (2 days ago.) I had been having a contraction every other day, sometimes every day. But the last few days it has gradually increased to several per day. Yesterday they got up to once per hour before subsiding overnight.

I made the difficult decision to opt out of my exam sitting. Yesterday was the last day for a refund and with all the contraction activity and my doctor saying he'd probably see me in a few days, I decided not to keep pushing so hard. So, I forfeighted the remaining study time and started my maternity leave today instead of waiting until after my exam/due date. It was too much to do and I need to take some time to rest. I came home today a few hours early and found myself exhaustedly out of breath just laying down on the couch. I think I did the right thing.

Especially since this morning I woke up with a powerful urge to move furniture around.

We got our delivery of cloth diapers from the service. They are so soft and cute all folded up. We are just going to do a 3-month trial to see how it goes because Mark is a little skeptical of how well they will work. I expect it to be just as convenient as disposibles (or more so) since they drop them off clean at your door and pick up the dirty each week and you just set out the pail on the day - no rinsing, no buying (they are rentals), and no losing your parking spot to run to the store. The technology has come a long way from rubber pants & pins.

Happy birthday Saturday to my Mom and yesterday to Brittany and Jennifer - who all celebrated milestone years (75, 16 and 29, respectively.) Just think, you were all conceived around Valentines Day. (Guess how I figured that out.)

Just think: next time I blog it will be to post pictures of my sweet little baby and give you the details of her birthday story. Incredible.