Tuesday, January 24, 2006

36 weeks

Today officially marks the 36th week of my pregnancy. I know, and you know, that full term consists of at least 37 weeks. Our little man, Shepherd, doesn't seem to get that. My hunch is that he was so excited about the Steelers winning on Sunday, he's trying to make a run for it so he can watch them in person for the Super Bowl. Forrest's step-dad is currently trying to convince us to change Shepherd's middle name to Ben or Roethlisberger or perhaps to knickname Shepherd "The Bus". We even got the cutest little onsie in the mail from Cathy and Jim yesterday... for next year of course, but it's a Steelers outfit... :) And they sent a bib, which he WILL wear for the Super Bowl if he comes that early.

I had planned on writing an incredibly witty post about some of the funny things that happened to us last night at the hospital, but for some reason, I can muster up any wit today. All I know is that the whole experience has made me more confident in myself for delivery, and has brought me incredible strength in knowing that Forrest will be by my side the whole time. We make one heck-uva team, y'all. :) I was so relaxed that at one point, I was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down my face, and I simply couldn't stop laughing... just because Forrest was there. :) Well, that and the self-proclaimed "short-fingered" nurse was trying to do yet another pelvic exam on the girl in the room next to us, and gave the same shpeel about having short fingers and not being able to feel the cervix. Seriously, nurse? Don't be stickin' your fingers in our girly bits if you know you have short fingers. And plus? It doesn't help to jam your hand even harder up there... seriously... just get someone else to check me please? I shouldn't have laughed when it was the woman next door's turn, but I got tickled when I heard the nurse say, "I just wish I had longer fingers". Y'all, do you know what happens when you laugh while attached to a fetal monitor? Everytime my stomach moved w/ laughter, there was this scratchy sound from the heart-rate monitor, and the contraction monitor would spike up and down. I tried so hard to stop laughing, but it's like when you get the giggles in church and you know you shouldn't laugh, so you try to stop... but it's impossible, because suddenly, it's hilarious that you're even laughing, so you begin laughing at yourself for laughing... and it's a vicious cycle. I almost had to ask Forrest to leave, because as soon as I'd almost stop laughing, I'd look at him, and he'd be giggling, and I'd simply melt and start laughing all over again. Anyways... after this, they wanted me to give a nice urine sample for them to check out, so I waddled across the hall, with Forrest hissing at me to close the back of my gown. I totally did not hear him, and totally forgot that the gown? opens in the back... so yep, all those other dad's waiting on their pregnant wives got the FULL MOON last night. :) When I returned to the room, Forrest told me he'd been hissing at me to close my gown, and informed me that I just mooned the entire triage area... to which I shrugged, and said, Big Whoop.

But seriously, y'all. I can't tell you how much confidence this gave me. I know that I'll be able to handle anything that comes our way because last night was prime time to freak out, and we didn't. Just one more week little man... one more week! One more week and you can make your way out and into our world. Until then, just cook a little longer, get fat, and try not to kick mommy's bladder so much.

2 comments:

Avorie said...

Hillarious. I can't believe we have had such similar experiences!

If we get the same nurse next time, I'm going to request someone else.

Isabel said...

I am glad that your trip to the hospital made you confident. You should be confident....you can do it!