home stretch.

ok. so looking at the little thingy on the right side of this page that says i have 11 (ELEVEN!!!!) days to go is a bit surreal.

most things that need to be done are done. the remaining things can wait, if they need to.

we went to a friend's for a cookout on saturday...for those who don't know, i have a group of friends from high school that are still quite close. we get together whenever we can, but it can be difficult because we've spread all over the country (with one in maryland, one in idaho, one in washington state, one in louisiana, and others in ohio) and one in london. so when the london boy (or any from out of state for that matter) is in town, we do what we can. it was a great evening and made me miss how often we used to all see each other.



while finishing up dessert, i started having some lower abdominal pain that just didn't stop. as time went on, it started getting stronger from time to time and then ebbing away. seemed like the beginning of labor. we headed home and CALMLY worked on packing some things for the hospital since we hadn't done that yet.

the contractions lasted all night, got stronger sunday morning, and fizzled out around noon. since then, we have had a few recurrences, but nothing substantial. i do feel better having things mostly organized and packed for the hospital though, that's for sure.

monday night i met with three other girls from our bradley class...one had her baby about a month ago -- a girl named norah with the most amazing head of hair i've seen on a newborn, like, ever. we all sat and chatted at caribou for several hours and had a good time.

today i have my 38 week exam, followed by the chiropractor and a massage. hopefully that string of events will get things moving for real this time (well, all the contractions i've had are real, but maybe tomorrow i'll progress into full labor). the false alarms this weekend have made us incredibly anxious for ... (insert name here)'s... arrival :) it's nice to be close to revealing her name, because it does get old not telling. we are ready for her, though, and i think if we had our way, we'd have my water break (naturally and on its own, of course) any minute so we could get this show on the road. just to have some definitive sign that says YES YOU WILL HAVE A CHILD IN YOUR ARMS IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS would be lovely. you know, if that's not asking too much.