Here, Kim!

At the behest of my friend, here is a blog post about The Baby.

Hmm. What should I write?

The Baby seems to be doing well, as far as I can tell without being able to look inside. He or she has been head-down for at least six weeks, which makes me wonder, in fourth-grader fashion, isn't that uncomfortable? Why doesn't all the blood rush to its head?

I think the Baby's butt is facing my left side because its feet are all up in my right ribcage. Which isn't too bad, actually. I have the feeling this kid is going to be fairly mellow. Instead of kicks and punches, I get stretches and wiggles. I think, to Brian's great disappointment, that I am growing a little yoga master and not an MMA champ. Sorry, Bri! But thank you, Baby.

And me? I am feeling fine as a spring day in North Carolina. I believe that I have discovered the perfect time to have a baby. MAY! (But maybe wait to ask me when I'm trying to lose my baby weight by pushing a stroller in two-hundred-degree heat.)

Pregnancy has been pretty easy on me. The worst I've had to deal with is a blocked nose, some hip pain that comes and goes, and frequent guilt about eating candy. Actually, no. I take it back. The absolute worst thing I've had to deal with is a dang double chin! Oh, would that this double chin were a hemorrhoid, gestational diabetes, or preeclampsia! Anything instead of its matronly sag!

(With all due respect to my pre-eclamptic friends, that was a joke.)

Are we ready for the baby? Not quite. We have a few things to finish and a couple things to buy, which I'm waiting on our registry completion discount to do. My birth center bag isn't packed yet. And - OH yeah - I'm not ready mentally. It's still in the process of sinking in that I'm even pregnant. I need a mean old coach to come over and scream, "Get your head in the game!" The truth is, I thought being pregnant would sort of ease me into Life with a Baby. I thought it would act as a little trial run. But somehow I am still sleeping through the night and feeling fairly normal. (Albeit slightly huge.) A trial run, this most certainly is NOT.

The only thing this pregnancy is preparing me for is life without wearing high heels. My feet look like dough blobs after a few hours of wearing cute shoes.

So the closer my due date gets, the more I'm feeling a bit panicky that I don't know how I'm going to do it! I'm going to go from carefree Baby-less living to being a MOM in one day! (Gee... I hope labor's not any longer than that. Maybe we'll say two days, just to be safe.) My recent dreams include me grilling hotdogs at midnight in a tired fog, holding my baby floppily in one arm while my mom tries to wrestle me back to bed - "Maegan, what are you doing?" Or finding myself, with the baby upside down in the stroller, on the other side of the neighborhood, taking a sleepwalk at 2 AM while my mom drives around trying to find me.

(Can you tell I am glad my mom will be here?)

So suffice it to say I am hoping the next six weeks do something to prepare me. Because at this point I'm not as curious to know whether it's a boy or a girl as I am to find out if I can actually take care of it!


Speaking of whether it's a boy or girl, it might look like one of these:

GOLLY! We are pretty cute, if I do say so myself. I just love Brian's little chin. I suppose MY current chin is a worthwhile burden for a cute little one like that on my baby. My current CHINS, I should say.

Anyway, since you've read all this blather and blah, and since you've mustered the courage to peer into the dark, swirling cavern of my anxious mind, I will hereby reward you with a picture of pregnant Maeg.

Bedhead, morning face, ugly striped socks, and all.

Sincerely, I love this ride. When I think life can't get any better, I get pregnant. I mean it when I say that this has been the most blessed time of my life so far.

Chins and all, I'm extraordinarily thankful.