Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Due


Woo hoo!, originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

I found this on a roll that was missed in my camera bag, so I decided to spend the afternoon of my due date walking around Walmart for an hour and wait for it to be developed, hoping it would launch me into labor.

It didn't.

But, there are new photos on Flickr, so click that one to go there, if you like. There's a few of the nursery (in progress--the finished room is on the roll that's currently in the camera), some of the April shower, one of the May shower, a few taken this last week when my cousin visited, and some Dr. B took to record what I looked like during my last trimester of pregnancy.

I am smiling, so obviously those were taken before I got completely fed up with the whole being pregnant thing. My due date has come (and nearly gone) and I am still here, swollen, bloated, crampy and waiting. Unfortunately, a due date is not an expiration date.

So, I have been trying to keep busy. This week, I said I'd only work if they requested me specifically. I guess most people have either not needed a sub, or they know my time is close, so I haven't gotten any calls. Thus, my surfaces are dusted, floors are swept, floors are mopped, laundry is (mostly) done, bathroom is clean and the dishes are done.

The nursery is ready, there is extra toilet paper in the closet, the fridge is stocked (except for fruit, yogurt and eggs which we keep eating), and there are even new tomato plants and eggplant plants on the porch (though I haven't potted the eggplants yet.) Lucy has had an excursion to the country for exercise, gotten her rabies shot, and even got a new bag of peanut butter cookies in her Boîte à Toutou.

The finished and overdue library books are returned, my hair is freshly cut and styled, and I even finished knitting that scarf I started for my stepsister a long time ago. Even Lucy is freshly trimmed (thanks to Dr. B with the clippers on the porch).

The new-to-us baby stuff is 409'd and washed, the G diapers are loaded and ready, and there is a brand-new crib, with freshly ironed dust ruffle, lined with a duck and frog sheet and waiting for its occupant to make her appearance.

But we are still waiting. On the job for him, and the baby for both of us. Feels a bit like suspended animation--difficult to keep busy, not get too bored, and try to keep the house clean for the visitors that will come as soon as we make the announcement (though we know they love us and don't care if the bathroom is spotless.) We get a lot of "have you had it yet?" phone calls. It's nice to talk to people, but if I hear that question one more time, I think I'll scream.

Maybe that will trigger labor. One can hope.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a friend who has written 3 books. When she wrote her first book, she was pregnant for the first time, and she finished the book and gave birth to a son about a month later. She said it was like giving birth to the book as well as the baby.

When she was pregnant the second time, she was working on a second book. Then she found out she was having TWINS. She finished the book and a month later, the twins came (boy/girl). (Apparently it takes the same amount of time to create a book as to create a life.)

When she decided to write a third book, I kept waiting for the announcement of triplets. Which fortunately for her, didn't happen (no babies at all, that time around). But her third book was her best yet, and her personal favorite of the three. Now she's working on a 4th which is in a whole new genre/direction (and no pregnancy in sight that I know of). But she has described finishing each book and seeing it published as being like a "birth" as well.

So maybe what is happening with you waiting on Dr. B's job AND the baby is: you are not just giving birth to a baby, you're giving birth to a whole new chapter in your lives, on every conceivable level.

And that is a very exciting thing.

Scream away if it helps. It will be good practice for being in labor. I'm thinking good thoughts for you!

Anonymous said...

Like you said...a due date is not an expiration date.....unfortunatately not everyone gets that. I am wondering now....just how many woman ACTUALLY have the baby ON the due date?? Not many I would guess.....good luck...B

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