The last post for a while, maybe

For those of you who live in a bubble or maybe haven't been paying attention; I'm pregnant. Not just slightly pregnant, but "can't tie my own shoes" pregnant. Our little one is due May 9th, which is (not counting today) 9 days away. We are excited and have all of the major things ready for a baby. We're also taking birthing classes.

Birthing class is a really nice informative class. I took it mainly for the tour of the hospital, but they did show us the different things that could be used on me and the baby during labor (forceps or the vacuum suction thingy?). They also had a "video night" where we watched actual labors that had been taped. It was gross and graphic. John kept looking @ me and telling me that the waiting room looked better and better. Ya know what? I agree, if it weren't for the fact that I was the one pregnant I would totally be in the waiting room.

An interesting development from being so hugely pregnant is the way people answer the phone when I call them. It's never, "hey how are you?" or "what's up?" it's always "are you in labor?" or "are you having pains?". Most of this is from my parents. John can say what he wants, but I come by my drama queen-ness honestly. I get it from both of my parents.

I did take a picture today to show off my very large belly. I didn't realize I was so big, but then again, I am 9 mths pregnant. I guess this just goes to show how vain I am. I saw pics that someone had taken @ my baby shower and was shocked when I noticed I had more than one chin! This really shouldn't surprise me, yet it does. Well, I take solace in the assumption that I'll not have more than one chin after little one appears.

As for names, we have a name, but we aren't telling. This drives my parent's up the wall (dad has decided that we are naming her Temperance), but both of us have known too many people who have announced the name before hand only to change it last minute. We'll announce the name when the ink is dry on the birth certificate and we won't take forever to name her, either. She'll be named before we leave the hospital. I've heard of people who want to "get to know" the baby before naming them and end up taking 2-3 months to do so. I know it would drive John nuts if I did something similar. I try not to annoy him too much, so we've got a #1 name and a couple of back ups, just in case.

Here's a pic

When I wrote about poor old Sammy Joe, I wanted to add her pic, but since I was @ Mom and Dad's house and the only pic I have of her is on my desktop @ home, I couldn't. So here is Sammy Joe in the trunk of our Honda going to Don Petry's house. This was taken right after John and I got engaged, so she was still pretty spry. Now that I get a good look @ it, she looks a little on the chunky side.

37 weeks and ready to explode

John had to travel out of town this week for work, the last time before the baby comes. Since no one feels comfortable leaving a hugely pregnant woman by herself mere weeks before her due date (about 18 days, not that I'm excited or anything), I'm spending time w/ mom and dad. Coming home after being married for a while (4 1/2 yrs) is kinda weird. I'm sleeping in a twin bed, which is something I'm not used to. It is nice for mom b/c she's been able to see my stomach move as little one moves around trying to find room and feel body parts as they jab me.

Spending time here is kinda fun. Today, for example, dad and I watched 3 deer eating grass in the field not far from their house. We actually watched 2 yearling deer grazing across the street. While deer are beautiful, my dad could only think of 2 things: hunting and how he is going to keep them out of his garden this year. I still remember the year he read that human urine would scare deer away. Mom got really mad when she found out that all of her "boys" (including dad) were peeing in the garden.

Today was also a day that I scared mom. Mom and dad are super watchful over my belly. I got in minor trouble for opening the garage door. I decided to get into the candy bar stash tonight after dinner. I apparently sat down too hard on the rocker arm chairs that mom got from Granny's house. I say apparently b/c I ended up going head over heels. Thankfully I fell slow enough to be able to arrange it to where I landed on my upper arms and not my belly, but it was too fast to stop it. Mom was up and by my side in a second. She still thinks I hurt myself more than I'm admitting, but not true. I actually thought it was funny. Dad thought I didn't need the candy bar (he was wrong, king size Kit Kat bar, I mean, Hello!), but the pregnant woman prevailed.

Dad and I also figured out how old their cat, Mamasita, is. I found once an old vet bill for her from 1993 and it said she was 1 1/2 yrs old. That being, she is somewhere around 17 yrs old. She is really getting to the point where she wants to be loved on almost all the time. She forced me to love on her for a good 15 mins. She later got into the house and settled on my belly (apparently it's a good spot for a nap). When I kicked her off of me, she settled on mom's chest and they engaged in a staring contest. Mom won. Mamasita is not a good sport so she settled giving us dirty looks thru the picture window after she got put back out.

The End of an Era

On Sunday a sad event took place. Mom and Dad's faithful dog, Sammy Joe, was found dead in the yard. She was over 13 years old, deaf, going blind and generally old. Sammy was a purebred chocolate lab that was given to my parents by friends of ours kid. They were dog breeders, but Sammy's whole litter ended up getting some sort of disease that didn't clear up until they were 6 months old, too old to sell. No one wants to have over 13 puppies, so they were just giving them away to good homes. Mom was the one who "picked" Sammy out. Mom went to the breeders to pick one out and as she stepped on the front porch, she was swarmed by a whole pack of puppies. The first one to get to her knocked her down and ended up being the one she brought home.

Sammy was a fun puppy. Being older, she was able to do more w/ less of the awkward puppy stuff. Our dog, Chowey, wasn't really sure she liked having a puppy in the house esp one that wanted to play and not leave her alone. Eventually they became good buddies. Ben was surprised by Sammy. He was on his mission when we got her and no one thought to tell him about her, so when he came home he was shocked.

As w/ all dogs, Sammy did have "Marley" moments. The first Sunday we left her alone to go to church, we came home to discover she had trashed the living room. Since it was spring time, mom and dad had left potting soil (in their bags, of course) in the living room. Sammy fixed that. Thankfully, that was the last time she did that.

My favorite Sammy "Marley" moment involves Marsha and Larry Denzil. Since Sammy spent the majority of her first 6 months outside, she was a little slow understanding the whole housebreaking deal. Mom was sure after a while that Sammy had mastered this skill. Marsha and Larry Denzil were over and mom was bragging how she had finally housebroke Sammy. The most natural thing in the world, of course, was for Sammy to squat down and pee right in front of them. I thought (and still do) it was funny, but mom was so embarrassed. I can understand, having owned dogs of my own.

Don Petry loved Sammy Joe. He would always bring a treat for her, usually Mug root beer and would not bring anything for anyone else. Don would always try to get her to smoke cigarettes (she didn't), but during the time he smoked a pipe, she would knock people down to reach him in time to eat some.

Sammy was also a good dog for kids. When Marsha was in John Hopkins waiting for lil' Larry to be born, Savannah would stay w/ us while Larry Denzil was working. We actually trained Sammy to let Savannah to "ride" her like a pony. When she was tired and didn't want to deal w/ kids, she would walk to the door to the downstairs and wait to be let downstairs. Even when she got really old, she never snapped @ anyone, she just got up and moved away.

Sammy liked to go on walks w/ anyone who would go. The only time she didn't, Jacob decided to take her running. She was over 6 yrs old and starting to show her age. Jacob took her for a long run and in the middle of it, she had enough. She laid down in the middle of the road and refused to get up. Jacob was not thrilled that he had to almost carry her home. He got in trouble for "nearly killing Sammy".

Sammy will be missed. She was a good dog and died peacefully in her sleep.

more baby news

I had another drs appt today. I'm far enough along to be seen every week. Last week the dr I saw noticed I was measuring small (according to my dad, you can hardly tell I'm pregnant). He ordered an ultrasound just to make sure nothing was wrong. We're starting to see the light @ the end of the tunnel and I like to know about things in advance so I can wrap my Drama Queen mind around it.

B/c today's drs appt included an ultrasound, I invited mom and dad to come w/ me. Dad decided to stay in the car stating he didn't like all this "girly stuff" while mom was practically dancing to see her newest grandchild. We were taken in actually pretty quickly for the ultrasound (Mom made sure she had a VHS tape to tape it). This ultrasound wasn't like the last one I had, little one actually stayed still as the tech measured (and she didn't even laugh when mom squealed "Look, she has a femur!"). My only complaint (which isn't really a complaint) was the fact she was facing my back hiding her face. The tech assured me she's "assumed the position".

The one burning question I've had for a while, how much does she weigh was answered today. As of 2pm today, she weighs 6lbs 10 ozs. That's a pretty hefty size for me. Mom assured me she would grow @ least a pound more before she makes her big entrance. The tech also told us she has hair. We hope (or @ least I do) that she has red hair, but chances are she'll have black hair just like Daddy.

She's due May 9th, so we only have maybe 1 month left until we see our new little girl. It's scariest and most exciting thing to happen since my marriage.