Am I In Labor Yet?

Only 6 more days to go until my due date! I've gotten some of the craziest comments during this the homestretch of my pregnancy. While out at the grocery store I was asked by a well-meaning (I think) individual if I was having twins. Twins?! After I fetched my handbag which I had hurled at his head, I replied, "No. It's just one. Why? Do I look that big?" (I'm just kidding about the handbag bit. Although since I was thinking it, perhaps it's just as bad.)
I will say that while most people have been so kind about telling me I don't look 9 months pregnant, I'm really feeling very pregnant. Especially at night! I drag myself around the house in a most ungraceful manner, sometimes with my big belly hanging out of my shirt like some drunken potbellied man. I used to really care about trying to look cute and somewhat stylish as a pregnant woman. Now I think to myself as I get dressed in the morning, I wonder if running shoes would look good with this skirt? Of course I don't really wear the sneakers with the skirt-not for fear of making a fashion faux pas but for the simpler reason that I can no longer bend down and tie my own shoelaces!
I think Vicki Iovine said it best in her hilarious book, The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy. I was reading it last night and had to haul myself off the couch to catch my breath and wipe away tears of laughter it was that good. I have to quote from her chapter entitled, Coming Into the Homestretch. For my pregnant or previously pregnant friends, this will probably ring very true. This is from the section of the chapter called, "I Can't Walk".

"Everybody knows that you can recognize a pregnant woman from behind whether you can see her big belly or not. The first giveaway is usually her choice of shoes; they are large and roomy and definitely flat. In fact, they may even be scuffs or house slippers if the woman is really beyond caring anymore. The poor dear's extremities may be retaining so much water at this point that nothing else fits. Her feet, in these big shapeless shoes, drag and shuffle into position between steps, creating a locomotive sound. These feet are generally not within shouting distance of each other, with one supporting one hipbone and the other about three feet away, supporting the other. Topping this all off is the traditional maternal swayback of the very pregnant woman, where she looks as though she is pushing her belly ahead of her in a wheelbarrow.
Before I ever got pregnant, I looked contemptuously upon these slouching, scuffling women, wondering how low their self-esteem had to be to allow them to present themselves to the world in this condition. The least they could do, I thought with indignation, was to keep their legs together when they sat down."

Thirty-five

That is how many weeks preganant I am and how many days are left until the due date. Mark keeps a count down calendar in our kitchen of how many days are left. I just can't believe that I'm almost in my 9th month! As I was telling one friend, I think that before this pregnancy, I was concentrating so hard just on getting pregnant. Now that I'm almost at the end, I think I'm having a hard time realizing that this is only the beginning and that an actual child is going to be the result of all this time and effort! That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense since what else could be growing inside of me? I guess those who have also struggled with infertility can understand exactly what I mean by this.

This week also marks the last week that we will have the cats with us. I am torn between feelings of sadness and relief. I have loved them and I have hated them. They were basically thrust upon me one Monday morning five years ago and we have taken care of them ever since then. Han will be going to a fellow teacher's home to live what I hope will be a long and happy life (he is such a sweet cat!). Chewy, unfortunately, must go to the SPCA. He is only nice to Mark and me. I feel really sad when I think about his fate but I also know that I couldn't bear to think of him scared, confused, and mistreated in someone else's home. He's had a good life. Better than most cats in this world if you think about it. And afterall, it's for the best-Emie's best. No injesting bits of kitty litter for my baby girl!

Hello all! I hope you enjoy this my first blog! I'm now 30 weeks pregnant and thrilled to become new mom in a few months. I want to use this space as a way of keeping family and friends (especially those of you not living near me) in the loop about Emie and about our adjustment to life with her. I also see this as a great way of documenting our firsts together in the modern way. Any suggestions you have as to what I should add would be greatly appreciated since I am brand new at this blogging thing!