Mid-Wednesday update: 40w3d

-- The first paragraph could be just about the same as the last entry. No-one's goin' nowhere, if you know what I mean. There is more crampiness, but it's just not organizing itself into anything effective.

-- Monday my sister-in-law's blood pressure was up, and she'd put on 5 pounds in a week, so there was a brief pre-eclampsia panic. Her bloodwork came back fine, and now they want to see her Thursday. No 4 a.m. e-mail about contractions in my box this morning, so I hope things were calmer for her last night.

-- Somehow the excellent plan of my mother-in-law staying at her vacation cabin (6 hours away) until we called her, and then staying for two weeks, got changed into, my father-in-law grabbing a cheap flight out of Rust City on Monday, and my mother-in-law coming here after dropping him off and staying through September 12. Hmmmmmm. We love her, it's fine, but it does add to the deadline pressure a little. If anything drastic happens with my sister-in-law, she may leave, and rightly so; neither my brother-in-law nor his mother-in-law can take off work if that baby comes early.

-- The freshmen are arriving! I'm always fascinated to watch them with their hovering parents: it's not often that one gets to see adult-size, adult-shape people, grown out of infant blondeness and baby fat, actually walking with both of the people who contributed to their genes. This year I'm the pregnant lady in the ratty paint-stained T-shirt, not the professor, so I feel a little safer just gawking. Of course the matching postures and gestures, accentuated because both sides are new to campus, and generally a bit lost and a bit nervous, just add to the amusement.

And, and this is perhaps a bit awful of me to admit, but, the last couple of years, there had been a pang: will I ever be one of those parents? If I am, will the child be both of ours? One of ours? None of ours? But now, we're so much closer to having a chance to answer "yes" to the first question someday, and, yes, there is a little streak of joy that breaks through when I remember that yes, this child is Beaker's, it did work, and we're almost there now.

Comments

[Karen F.]

I'm so excited for you! My daughter was 18 days late, but worth the wait! Everything was fine and that was just her time to be born. Since I can't call you to tell you that bread and milk went on sale, I'll just keep refreshing my browser! Thinking of you often...
-Karen F.

[xilerui]

This was my first year near campus without actually being involved with camppus things myself; I parked myself and the baby in the Starbucks at Target and watched the parent/freshman madness for awhile. It was so sweet in its own way - all the kids trying to seem so adult, and all the parents fending off anxiety by organizing dorm room supplies reconnaissance.
It won't be much longer now - get all the glorious sleep you can while you can! :)

[Cecily]

Oh boy... I'll be hitting refresh often too!

[Moxie]

Is your MIL going to help or hinder? I hope she can help you guys. Still predicting Saturday as the day.