One week

I think I’m officially the most pregnant lady I know of now. Everyone else has gone off and had their babies leaving me pregnant and wishing. I’m trying not to be too impatient, honest! After all there is still a week left until my estimated due date, which is a rather poorly defined date to be counting down to since the baby isn’t tied to a schedule at all. Still, I can’t help but think of how nice it would be to have Miriam on the outside.

She doesn’t seem to understand that as her quarters get cramped she’s supposed to move less. Instead she decided to kick it up a notch, quite literally. But at least I don’t have to worry about my cervix getting jabbed anymore since her head has effectively plugged off all access to that area; her flailing limbs can’t reach there anymore. That doesn’t mean I’m comfortable.

The funny thing is that Miriam seems to be getting younger and younger. My friend Amy’s baby is ten days old now (although his due date wasn’t until today) but baby Miriam is still zero days old. It’s kind of funny…they just keep getting further apart in age. Not that it makes a huge difference, but it’s kind of funny to think about. Tomorrow they’ll be eleven days apart and then twelve and thirteen and then two weeks! They could be more than two weeks apart! There’s a lot of difference between zero and fourteen days when you’re that little. Baby Thomas will have experienced so much and she’ll just be brand-spanking new.

And to think, it could have been the other way around! What if I had had the luxury to deliver a week early and Amy had gone a week over due? Then Baby Miriam would have the upper hand on Baby Thomas. At least, as much as an infant can have the upper hand.

You know, she’d be doing all sorts of wild and crazy things like nursing and trying to keep her hands from flying up into her face. Shoot, if she was a week old her poop would have finished being tar-like and she might even be sporting a fully fledged belly button.

There are a ton of developmental milestones to be reached those first few weeks. It’s strange to think of these other babies getting older while my baby isn’t aging at all; it’s a fountain of youth of sorts, I suppose.

So, for those of you wondering…I’m still pregnant. No baby yet.

And it’s not for lack of trying. I mean, I thought all that wandering around in hundred degree weather yesterday would be good for something but all it effected was some false labour.

During our ultrasound on Sunday, the doctor asked us if I was experiencing any Braxton Hicks contractions, to which I answered yes. She then said, “Have you started walking?”

I wasn’t really sure what she meant or how I was supposed to answer that question so I just said, “I walk, yes.”

Was I supposed to stop walking? Did she think I had stopped walking?

We were wondering if perhaps pregnant women don’t walk here because the Egyptian members in the branch are always telling me to take it easy and relax. Like walking to church is going to be harmful? I don’t think so.

We really haven’t seen a lot of pregnant ladies around, though I know there are a lot of babies being born. So where are all the pregnant ladies? Do they not go out? Do they wait until their doctor tells them to “start walking?” Isn’t exercise during pregnancy supposed to be good for both mother and the baby?

I’m pretty sure that it is, although I haven’t been nearly as vigilant about exercising through the summer as I should have been…but still…I was at least walking!

Maybe tomorrow I’ll try some stairs…because you know, Miriam, if you go past your due date I will hold it against you until the day you are born!