Reality check

We're in Ventura for the weekend visiting Dan's parents one last time before the baby comes. Gary, Dan's dad, is afraid I'm going to pop while we're here. I keep telling him, Nah, no chance...but then again I have noticed a slight increase in mild pressure waves ("contractions" for all you non-hypnobabies folks)...

I brought my pregnancy photos and album when we came up here because Abby always ends up running off with Greena to play dress-up with all Greena's jewelry, and since we're not home I don't have to worry about the dishes in the sink or the messy living room or the laundry that still hasn't been folded from the beginning of the week. So when she pulled Greena off to the bedroom--in about three minutes flat after walking through the door--I pulled out my materials and started to work.

I've had the album and coordinated papers and photos all ready and waiting for ages. It's just been one of those projects that I was afraid to undertake because I thought it would take me hours and hours to complete. I couldn't get the inertia going. But I figured I'd be happy if I could at least get the pages and photos laid out; I could always come back to it to finish the journaling.

But here it is, not even 10 PM on the first day we're here, and the album is complete. Laid out, taped down, journaled and everything. I'm stunned! Why do things always seems like they're going to take longer than they actually do? If I'd known I could whip through it this fast I'd have done it ages ago.

'Course as I was doing the page for week 36, it dawned on me that there was only one pregnancy picture left to be taken--the one from the day I actually go into labor. And then I realized, oh my heavens, in four days I will be 38 weeks along. THIRTY-EIGHT WEEKS. That's officially full term, folks. And then I thought, Oh crap.

Another baby.

Midnight (and 2 AM and 4 AM and 6 AM) feedings.

Sibling rivalry.

Labor.

Actually having a natural birth.

It's this last one that's really getting me. I have no doubt that I'm going to end up with my VBAC, which makes me really happy on the one hand, and completely scares the you-know-what outta me on the other. I know I'm prepared, I know I can do it, but that whole fear-of-the-unknown thing is really starting to get to me.

So I'd like to ask for your prayers. Pray I don't freak out. Pray my hypnobabies practice pays off. Pray nothing happens that necessitates a transfer to the hospital. Pray it's a textbook delivery that takes less than, say, 18 hours. And pray that, between now and then, I'm able to maintain the peace I've felt for the majority of the pregnancy. It would suck to start to lose it now.