The Eve Before My Last Week

I spent all of last week wondering if I would still be pregnant today, the eve before my last week of work, and I am. The baby rocked his ultrasound on Friday afternoon. Even the twitchy-eyed tech felt comfortable telling us how great things looked and how the fluid had magically increased. (Whoever told me to drink incredibly disgusting amounts of Gatorade, you win a big fat sloppy kiss.) The baby has grown, albeit on his 'small curve'. No one called the doctor or sent me up to Labor and Delivery. Phillip and I went out to dinner instead of spending a trillion dollars on newborn supplies at Target. We did haul the car seat out of the trunk and install it in the back seat, but only because we'd be driving our friends and their baby around later that night. Baby Cheung is still turning somersaults and hiccuping when I'm trying to fall asleep. I'm back to thinking he'll be late, but maybe when I see my doctor tomorrow she'll still be worried and bring up this whole not-making-it-to-my-due-date thing again. At which point I will stick my fingers in my ears and imagine I'm sunning myself at the Fairmont Orchid. (Did I tell you last time I mentioned the Fairmont Orchid I got a very nice email from their PR person? I am gunning for a free trip, people, I have no shame. A trip I won't be able to use until this kid is done with his doctoral thesis and supporting Phillip and me in our old age, but still.)

So anyway. I have made it to my last week of work. Starting tomorrow morning I am going to be one very annoying girl, as I will be making sure everyone knows tomorrow is my Last Monday. That peanut butter and jelly sandwich will be the last time I eat at my desk on a Monday. Those phone calls will be my last Monday phone calls. It will be the last time I drive home on a Monday. All culminating on Friday, when everything I do will be the last time I do ANYTHING. The new girl asked me where I'd be sitting when I come back, as she's going to take over my desk, and I just batted my eyelashes and said, "Oh, but I'm not coming back!" And smiled prettily and made my other coworkers glare at me with the force of a thousand stinkeyes. It's not that I don't like where I work and what I do, but I will like it so much better when they are not requiring me to sit at a desk eight hours a day and talk on the phone and, you know, expect me to do all the stuff I don't like doing. First I will have a cute and delicious baby. Then, a few months later, I will hand off the baby to someone else for a few hours and work on all the stuff I do like doing, which I can do remotely, from home, which is where my pajamas are, and I AM SO PLEASED ABOUT THIS TURN OF EVENTS I CAN BARELY STAND IT.

Tomorrow, when most of you are reading this, I will be shoving off everything I used to do to the new girl, while I read blogs, I mean, learn how to put a drop down box on a website.

I suppose, now that I am 38 weeks, anything goes and I could potentially go into labor at any time. But people, I feel nothing. I'm pretty sure the baby is lodged way up there, if his bothersome little feet are anything to go by. I haven't felt one single contraction, even a Braxton-Hicks, and even though I look ridiculous getting in and out of the car (and bed) I feel pretty good. I don't think this kid is coming out any time soon (without chemical intervention, at least) but who knows. I think I'm okay either way. If he's slow, that's fine, I still have to clean the bathrooms and who knows when I'll get around to doing that. And if he comes tomorrow, at least I have enough onesies.

Phillip is downstairs figuring out how to upload video to the picture gallery website he put up for baby viewing purposes (we are two nerds in a pod) and I've been trying to finish up the random piles of Things To Do on my desk. It's almost eight and it's still light out. How I love daylight savings time. I love spring. I have flowers in my yard, thanks to my sister who did all the dirty work, and we have the windows open. The house is quiet right now. No one wakes us up in the middle of the night, there are no plastic things in our living room, we had salmon and asparagus for dinner, we'll probably watch a lot of TV before we go to bed and we are oh so aware that we should be appreciating these things to the fullest extent possible. But today I wanted to buy the baby a sun hat, because later on this summer I will be out watering the flowers while he's sitting on a blanket in the grass chewing on a rubber spatula. And, I can't believe I'm saying this, but that sounds like way more fun than TV.

Comments

[Christina]

you sound so happy and content right now. Must me labor is imminent! ha ha, kidding! Seriously, I'm glad to hear the baby is doing so well and I hope you have lots of fun on your Last Monday of work. :-)

[Christina]

okay that's supposed to say, "must MEAN labor is imminent" not "must me" ... cuz that would just be weird and not make any sense. yi, I am too tired, sorry! :-)

[SHannon]

I won! I won! But I think I'll take a rain check on the big sloppy kiss, lol. My friend with a phd told me about the gatorade thing, so it must be true, right?
Glad you are still hanging there! I was beginning to wonder!

[Katie Ann]

I'm so happy for you! You sound so content! Eeek, this is your last week of work and my last week of freedom, how sad.

[Arwen]

Good luck getting your baby to sit up before the end of the summer, you crazy lady. Milla is just now sitting up at 6.5 months; even if your baby is a sitting-up rock star, you're looking at September at the earliest.

Don't you love how I take a post full of happiness and love and positivity and negativate the one thing I can? You must want to punch me right now. :)

FWIW, my mom is a major birth guru, has read pretty much everything on the topic, not to mention having given birth six times, including four of them at home, and she thinks you're probably being given the runaround on the whole low-amniotic-fluid/need-to-induce thing. As long as the NSTs keep turning out okay, and considering that the baby is small, it's best for him to stay in there as long as possible to keep growing, because it won't be as easy for him to thrive outside the womb. Some doctors are very induction-happy for no good reason; yours might be one of them. Stay strong!

Oh, and I'm totally convinced that I got my baby to move on down and start the whole labor process by being very active after I hit 37 weeks. So you could try that.

Man, I can't wait to see that beautiful little guy.

[Laura]

So happy for you! Staying home will be such a blessing..oh, and give you a ton more photo opportunities! Not much longer until the grand entrance! Sending you good vibes.

[Maureen]

I didn't have any Braxton-Hicks contractions worth speaking of. Occassional crampy feelings was all. The one time I thought I was having B-H contractions, it turned out I was having actual contraction contractions. So, you know, you don't HAVE to have B-H contractions.

I am in a contrary mood. But! I will offer this to counter Arwen: Jack is only just now beginning to sit up, but he is quite happy to lie on his back, and was even happier about it at 3 months than he is now. And if he can't roll or sit, you don't have to worry about his rolling off the blanket and eating dirt!

[piesbonitos]

I want flowers too!!! :( We had snow 3 weeks ago though, so no flowers in sight.

I'm so happy that you sound so happy! Not much longer! haha That totally sounded like you wouldn't be happy any longer, which is not what I meant in the least. I meant that you are probably happy that you won't be pregnant for much longer, and will be able to kiss that adorable wee person that's coming out!