Baby Update from Hannah

No signs of labor yet, we’re thinking baby will be cooking a few more weeks. I have one more week left of work, and then I’ll be nesting at home full time! Have been getting regular chiropractic adjustments, and had a WONDERFUL massage yesterday, and I’m feeling much better than I have any reason to feel at this stage of the game. I do still have a big ol’ belly to lug around everywhere, though. The physical processes of pregnancy are pretty astounding to witness firsthand, but I will sure be glad to see my toes again in a couple months!

I’ve also been doing some research into the Pregnant Mind. Now, I didn’t know much about this before I was pregnant myself, so I thought I’d reveal the results of my research for the benefit of humanity.

First and foremost, the Pregnant Mind is quite unstable. Not in a dangerous way, of course - I just seem to have lost at least half of my sense of humor and good grace (not that I was tremendously full of grace to begin with, mind you). I bring this up here because it seems that the most common trigger to upset the delicate balance of the Pregnant Mind lately is the simple question, “when’s the baby coming?” or its variant “have you had that baby yet?” I know it’s just an innocent expression of concern/interest, but the Pregnant Mind tends to overreact to these particular stimuli. So here’s your fair warning: call and ask this question at your own peril. I am taking calls on other questions though! The estimated due date is December 20, and yes, many babies are born before they’re due (many more are born after), but we promise we won’t forget to tell you about it when the day comes! We’ll be sending out an email with pictures and kicking off a phone tree just as soon as the baby is born. If you want to make sure we have you on those lists, send your info to Kaleb at kcasplund @ yahoo . com.

The Pregnant Mind is also obsessed with lists and their completion. I think we’re pretty close to ready, although there are a few more things I’d like to take care of around the house before baby comes. We’ve got a closet full of baby stuff assembled – seats and play gyms and other tools of the trade. Kaleb and I visited the baby store today and saw some great cloth diapers for nighttime, so we updated the felicite.com registry to include those. The diaper service will drop off our first set of regular diapers next week! I’ve been folding and re-folding everything, trying to imagine a little body to put in these tiny clothes… I don’t know if there’s really a way to prepare for another human to join our family. I’m trying to just be ready for anything.

Kaleb has been wonderful throughout my whole pregnancy. He seems to have more of an intuitive grasp of the unstable workings of the Pregnant Mind than I do. He knows when to get out of the way, and when to offer a hug… He indulges all of my innocuous crazy impulses and talks me out of the insane ones. We’re both looking forward to experiencing birth together, and I am truly grateful for his solid love and support!

Well, that’s about all I’ve got for now. Time to get back to that list…
Love, Hannah