The Waiting Game

Friday, Jan. 20, 2006
5:41 PM

Let me forewarn you, this post is self-indulgently all about being pregnant. There's not much new to report, though. Here I sit, waiting. I'm not champing at the bit to go into labor, just yet, but I admit to beginning to feel a smidge impatient. I've got 19 or so days left until my due date, and I think it will be at least a good chunk of that time before anything happens, probably another couple of weeks.

Physically, I'm not doing too badly - no backaches, still sleeping pretty well - but my belly is fairly sore off and on from the skin being stretched. Right over my belly button is very tender. I'm getting the occasional Braxton-Hicks but nothing painful or regularly timed. (Braxton-Hicks contractions are basically practice contractions, for those who may be wondering. It's just the body getting ready for labor, but they aren't any indication of the big event happening in the near future.)

No, I'm just really ready to meet this new little person in my life. I'm so close to the due date that I'm getting anxious to have all my questions answered, the most obvious being, are we having a boy or a girl? What will he or she look like? What kind of temperament? Will I drop the baby on its head? Will we have a hard time breastfeeding?

I guess another source of my antsiness is that, developmentally, there's nothing much new with the baby either. No new organs being grown, no neural pathways being formed. The baby's just basically maturing his or her lungs and putting on weight (and God, I hope not too much!). One of the fascinating aspects of pregnancy is learning about the amazing new stuff the baby's doing as it grows. That's pretty much over now, so again, we're just... waiting.

Really, when it all boils down to it, it's the fact that I could go into labor pretty much at any point from here on out, and I have no control over that. I have no idea when it's going to happen, and that makes me antsy. I've got some things packed for the trip to the hospital, but a lot of things will have to get thrown in the bag at the last minute, because I'm still using them (like my hairbrush, for example). That's slightly frustrating, too. I don't feel ready in that respect, but I'm guessing that once labor starts, it won't progress so fast that I won't have time to put those last-minute things together.

I hope to God I don't go past my due date.