50 Days

Okay, really I have 49.5, but who is counting?

This baby will be "fully cooked" in 49(ish) days. 7 weeks.

Nesting has still not kicked in. I haven't done more than surface clean in several weeks (other than the bathrooms, since I've had a slew of house guests who are fortunately quite tolerant of the random non-organizational chaos of the 70s Palace). I haven't cooked a meal all week. And I just realized that the ground beef I took out for dinner tonight got left out all day, which means we won't be eating anything fabulous tonight either.

I did get to check one thing off my very long ridiculous list of things to accomplish yesterday: Buy coming home outfit for baby.

If baby is a boy, we're in big trouble. It's pink and has fuzzy bears.

The list of things to accomplish in the next 49 (ish) days however, looms long, including:

We do not have a name for Baby. Not even a list to narrow down. We just can't seem to motivate ourselves to discuss it. And the semi-proposed middle name isn't the most user-friendly name, further limiting choices. Baby does, however, have a screen name. We're happy to announce that Sara, Himself, Grover and Woodstock will be welcoming Pebbles to the family.

We also don't have a clue where Pebbles will be sleeping when she arrives - other than in her bassinet - because wherever she goes requires re-arranging furniture, and I'm too tired to think about it, let alone actually DO it.

I have not taken any childbirth classes. Ever. Yes, this is my second child. The first one I kind of winged it. I don't have that luxury this time. I do not want to be induced, which means I cannot have an epidural, even if I decide 80% of the way through labor that I want one like last time. I hated the way it made me feel, so I have no regrets about limiting my epidural options, but I am a bit clueless in the pain management techniques of labor. I've read a lot of books. I will be reading more over the next 7 weeks, I believe.

I'm torn as to whether I'm ready or not for this to be done. This may well be it for us. It may well be my last pregnancy (my body is rather hoping so, but the rest of me refuses to commit to any decision regarding further children for a minimum of 2 years post-delivery). Given that, I'm loathe to say I'm ready to be done, but I am ready to no longer feel as if I'm carrying a bowling ball between my legs. Woodstock never dropped until I was in transition. Pebbles has been riding with her head practically engaged for the last four weeks. And, if I'm being totally honest, after 5 1/2 months of injections twice a day, I really could do without the needles. But I want a healthy, happy baby, so I'm not ready to have her quite yet.

Besides, I still have 49 days and at least that many things on my list.