38 weeks bomb

They say that the average (healthy) birth takes place between 38 weeks and 42 weeks of pregnancy, and the (meaningless) due date is merely the day in the middle of those four weeks.

So we've officially entered our due... month. Ah, the agony of unpredictability. As I was telling the family yesterday, I am no masochist -- I'm not interested in spending a large chunk of time anticipating a great deal of pain. It would be nice to get started on the good stuff. But there's no avoiding the fact that this is my first pregnancy and statistics are not on my side.

From 8 weeks to 38 weeks.

A message from outer space. Or Alyssa.

We received all the photos from our maternity photo shoot, and I couldn't be happier. Thanks again, Jenna!

Andy: "Are we really ready for this?" Me: "This is awesome!"

In an effort to straighten out our priorities and get the cats ready for the changes ahead, we've started locking the cats out of the bedroom at night. This is difficult for everyone. Nighttime has been the biggest bonding time for Bella and me. And now, not only is she being blocked by a big door, but if she dares to meow she gets sprayed with water courtesy of Andy, who only has my best interest at heart.

It all makes me sad. But as Andy reminds me, we don't want the cats near the baby when we aren't there (awake) to supervise. So I'm telling myself to suck it up.

Practice contractions haven't changed in frequency or strength. Probably the only thing that has changed physically is that I'm actually in better shape than I was a few weeks ago, thanks to all this walking and exercising. My only hope that labor could be coming (and I never thought I'd put hope in something like this) is a comical amount of gas bubbles that suddenly made an appearance today. Just gas? Or the work of prostaglandins, meaning labor is hours or days away? It isn't a good idea to hope when statistics say I've got AT LEAST two weeks of nothing to go.

I think anyone who's ever been in this position knows what I'm talking about when I say, I'm getting that "look" from everyone now. Like I'm a time bomb and, "Oh, are you at work again today? I bet you wish you'd gone into labor by now." Yes, thank you, helpful.