12 days.

Well, I didn't want to risk forgetting to actually post again. So, here I am early in the day, posting it up! I may actually be nesting. At this minute, I am watching A Baby Story (a really irritating couple is on today). But, overall, today I've reorganized Eleanor's room, cleaned all the floors, and done two loads of laundry. That doesn't seem like a lot, but the little lady's room was a HUGE task. (I was moving furniture, etc. because either I am nesting, or not, but I wouldn't mind labor at this point.) I am just so anxious and excited to have Baby J. here and I want our house to be clean and ready for her!

Below, I am reposting something I wrote when I was even less pregnant than this with Sophie. In just the last few days, my sleep has been eluding me. It's been easier than the other pregnancies, but it's still getting to be a bit rough. And, all this I am remembering from before...

The Worst Part of Pregnancy
The sleeping, or more accurately the inability to sleep, is surely the worst part of pregnancy (in a close race with the complete emotional instability). I once remember having a healthy appetite for sleep. Used to sleeping mostly through the darkness, I now am awake for nearly half of the night. I am constantly exhausted - I can assure you that is not the problem. The problem is surprisingly not one of emotional unrest, although that surely can't help, but more so one of sheer physical discomfort. I employ a system as I lay down for the night - a system which seems only to help on a minuscule level. A body pillow runs the full length of my shoulders and back, down to right around my ankles. Another long pillow extends from my chest, around the curve of the now-bulging belly, and stops around my upper thighs. There is another pillow of the fluffy variety between my knees and an entire posse of pillows insulating my head. I sleep in a pillow prison. This must make things easier - otherwise it would surely be a waste of immense effort. However, I am still up half the night with surging pains from my spreading hipbones to my knees, which can hardly support me any longer. There is also an incredible and irritating pain in either side of my tummy - where the ligaments are straining and, in my best estimate, very nearly about to snap. The worst part of it all are my trips to the bathroom each night, which average somewhere in the teens. I actually have to scale the great wall built up around me with my nearly 30 extra pounds of cargo and shuffle noisily to the bathroom. Upon my return, there is a sideways flop back into the straight jacket of my sleeping life. "Tossing and turning" have slipped into obsolescence. A six-point turn is required to get me from one side to the other - right leg, right hip (as the hips are now totally disconnected from the actual body), left hip, left leg, and a great heave of the shoulders, all followed by the gigantic pulsing stomach. And fucking forget about "tossing". And then, there is the near constant and crippling fear of the charlie horse. I wake up daily with one or the other calf sore and swollen from repeated and painful muscle spasms. For most women, a single solitary charlie horse would be enough to send her running for the hills, but this is merely one of the mundane trials of pregnancy. I must remind myself often that at the end of this dark and terrifying journey, there will be a great reward - hurry out Sophie - mommy needs a nap. (An evil laugh rises amongst the mothers reading this who know that no nap is to come. Ever.)
(PS - Let us not forget to pay homage to big, hairy and exhausted baby making partner huddled blanketless and clinging to the 1' x 5' rectangle of mattress that now constitutes "his side of the bed".)