Baby Business

This carryin'-a-baby business is hard stuff, folks. I really had it made with the boys. Hardly any weight gain, no morning sickness, just a tiny bit of indigestion, and then boom!, two babies at 33 weeks, before things got uncomfortable or too hot in late spring Mississippi.

Now I am at 37 weeks with Charlotte and absolutely desperate to do anything to make her come NOW. I walk everywhere and make up silly cheering chants with the boys that sound something like, "Come on, Baby Charlotte, get here now!" I am still contracting fairly regularly and sometimes very strongly (and painfully), over two weeks after being admitted to and then released from the hospital. During my brief stint at Riverside Medical Center, several nurses, my doctor, my husband, our family, some friends, and I all firmly believed that she was going to make her appearance within mere hours. I was dilated two centimeters, contracting hard every two minutes, and totally at peace with her early (35 week) arrival. Then the contractions began to dissipate and I was sent home, a failure at making my baby appear. After two full weeks of contractions, I learn this morning that I am three centimeters and ready to "have that baby at any minute," to quote my doctor. Geez.

I am sorry to complain. I am just very, very uncomfortable and very, very ready for some straightforward sign that this baby is in fact coming, instead of weirdly spaced, sometimes strong and sometimes faint muscle spasms that keep me stressed and on edge. I look like I have stuffed a basketball under my shirt, and perfect strangers keep making irritating statements about how very pregnant I look. (Duh.) 

Also, above all, I am ready to meet my girl. Maybe just by putting my frustration into words I will make her come... we'll see.