36 weeks

So I intended to do an entry a week like I did with Miss N and am already falling behind on that, too!

My doula is out of town this weekend. She gave me the information for her backup, but I fully expect not to need it. If I go into labor between now and Tuesday, I will have to go to the hospital. There's no reason for me to think I'll be going into labor in the next few days. I did wake up with some lower uterine crampiness last night and pondered getting up to bounce on the exercise ball, but the fact that I would have had to walk upstairs to get it kept me in bed. They went away and I went back to sleep - no big thing.

Miss N and I spent the morning walking - we went to Walgreens for pull-ups (and had to make a potty stop for her), then to the bank (drive thru ATM), then to Michaels, then to the mall to ride the horsies, have a snack of Chick Fil A fries (a rare treat for her), then to the playground, then to Children's Place to buy jeans...but while standing in line to pay for said jeans, Miss N says, "I need to go potty." UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH. All childrens' stores should be equipped with a restroom. I abandoned the jeans and we trucked over to Sears, went up the escalator, and then made it to the bathroom. I'm glad she tells me when she needs to go (especially because she was in big girl panties and her change of clothing was in the bag in the car), but sometimes it's so dang inconvenient to drop everything and rush to the nearest bathroom. Oh, well!

Anyway, we came home and ate lunch and then took a nap...well, she did, but she coughed in her sleep the whole time, which kept me from going to sleep and staying asleep. And when we got up, Keiki was so low in my pelvis that it was excruciating to walk or even stand up. I called Brad and asked him if he could come home early. He was able to get home around 5, and a little bit later I took a nap.

We have a bunch of stuff to get done this weekend, since I'd like to be prepared as possible should Keiki make his appearance next week. Sunday's the full moon, but I don't want to go into labor until Tuesday at the earliest! We have thunderstorms predicted all week, and apparently there's something about stormy weather that sends women into labor. Anyway, our top priority is to fill the birth tub and get the heater running so it's a good temperature. We'll have to change the water out every 4 days, but that's not a big deal. I want the Amby bed assembled, I need to finish the baby's laundry and put it away and lay out the first-day outfit, I need to figure out which blanket fits the Moses basket (or go buy some nice fleece fabric for it, if we don't have a blanket big enough! I need to get some blankets out of the attic. I need to go pick up a blue Miracle Blanket from a local baby store just a few miles down the road. We have a pink one, but I'd rather use a blue one! And of course there are lots of other house maintenance type things that need to be done...vacuuming, mopping, clearing off the kitchen counters for the umpteenth time, etc.

So while I'm HOPING he'll come next week, I am not holding my breath and fully expect to be painting my big preggo belly in bright orange and black, a la jack-o-lantern, come October 31. I guess if he's born in November it'll at least give us a family pattern for our birthdays - November, December, January!