The final countdown has begun. Today marks 38 weeks, and the baby has been considered "full-term" since last week. We're no longer checking Denise's many symptoms against the list of "Signs of Preterm Labor." Denise is still
having her many symptoms, of course, ("My toes feel all tingly! I think the baby is coming!") it's just that at this phase of the game, there is no preterm labor. Only labor. The paradigm has shifted.
The doctor informed us that due dates are actually plus or minus about two weeks. My response to this fact was, "Holy crap! We could have this baby tomorrow!" Denise's thoughts were more to the tune of, "Holy crap! This could take four more weeks!"
As far as I can tell, Denise's biggest fear continues to be that she will go into labor and
somehow not realize it. Given the limited experience I have with the birthing process, this does not seem a very likely scenario to me. I've heard women talk about labor, and I've never heard anyone say, "It was so easy, I barely noticed it at all!" A somewhat different theme usually emerges.
Denise is now done with work, and she spends the bulk of her time in the bath tub eating muffins. Feeling hungry? Sleepy? Happy? Sad? Anxious? Take a bath and have a muffin. In fact, have two muffins.
The strangest part for me is having all this built-up anticipation without a definite end date. It's like waiting for Christmas, only you're not really sure what day Christmas is going to be. Also, you're pretty sure that "Christmas" is going to entail changing diapers in the middle of the night.
Merry Christmas, and please have a muffin.
