I'm still here.
I woke up this morning and my first thought was, why aren't I in labor?
I think I am going to stop taking seriously what those doctors and nurses say... You'll be in labor before July. You'll be in labor before July 8. You definitely won't make it to your due date. You'll be in active labor by morning time.
Hmmph.
I'll believe it when I see it.
I think my contractions have actually mellowed out a little bit. Maybe it's the Tylenol I took for my headache that makes it seem that way, but I'm definitely not in full labor. I'm watching Sunday morning TV and I am bored.

Its 1:30 Saturday nite/Sunday morning and we just got back from the hospital. Andrea was having contractions all day and they were getting stronger. The nurse practitioner says that Andrea is more than 70% effaced and dilated nearly 2 cm. Also, the nurse is convinced that Andrea will be in full labor by the morning.

Wow. We might have a little Junebug! We are very excited!!!!

Andrea is in the shower right now. I'm gonna go help her out.

Cross your fingers, toes, and nose and pray for a safe delivery.

So where have I been?
I haven't posted for a while. Like I tell Andrea, nobody wants to hear from daddy, but since we're so close to labor day I thought what the hey, lets give a little updoodlydate.

It hit me last week that we are going to have a child. This fact may have been obvious to everyone else, but I thoroughly avoided the subject with great success. I was prepared for an abstract "baby" coming "someday" but looking at my beautiful wife now so plump and full of fidgeting, hicuppy child...

I am humbled and nearly ashamed of myself for ever complaining about anything. She is amazing.

Most nights I fall asleep thinking about all of the profound moments Evan and I will share. I dream of the long talks we will have about life and history and civics and our role in the universe. I can't wait to show him how to tie a bowline knot or how to get that last pickle out of the jar. I hear his voice so clearly, giggling and joking, yet very serious when he needs to be. I hear him saying poetic things, perhaps an actor/writer type, the type of sensitive boy that can make you cry with a word or make you laugh with a look. He's a good-looking lad, takes after his mother, and people will like him because he will be filled with joy.

That's my boy, Evan.

In the end though, I just can't wait for him to get here.

Who's the baby 'round here?
This is a video test.

slow progress
I went to the Dr. yesterday and I am still about 1-2 cm dilated, but closer to 60% effaced (last Friday I was 50%). So I am making progress, slowly. However, the baby is engaged! This means he has “dropped” and is in position, ready to go. The doctor estimates that as of today, the baby is 7 ¾ pounds.
I asked if he could predict when the baby might come, and he said he "wouldn’t be surprised" if he saw me at my regular appointment next week (7/2). Wrong answer! He then followed that up by saying I could go into labor this weekend, but he didn’t seem so confident about this second comment. Based on this, my guess is July 4th at the earliest... he could even come on his due date of July 13.
He also said I was showing a little big in the abdomen (2 cm bigger than average) but he said it felt like excess fluids, not an oversized baby.
Basically, I can't go into the hospital until I am at least 4 cm dilated. I've been told that I will know "it's time" when the contractions become painful enough that I can't talk. At that point, we should start timing them and if they are 5 minutes apart, we'll go to the hospital.
Over the last few nights I have been awakened by contractions, but they have not been painful, just uncomfortable. By morningtime, once I start moving around, they are gone, and I'll only have one every few hours or so.

update
Nothing new today... I've been taking it easy the last 5 1/2 days. Jerry is treating me like a queen and taking great care of me, which I admit I like a little too much. Every couple of days I will have contractions (not regular ones, and not very painful ones) but they are usually gone by morning time.
My next pre-natal appointment is on Wednesday the 25th. I'll find out there how much progress we are making.

nine-month appointment
Today I had my 9-month prenatal appointment. Exciting news: I am 1-2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. That means the process has officially begun! I have not had any contractions (at least not the kind that I can feel) since last Tuesday (three days ago), but my body is obviously having contractions since I am dilating (they are just painless contractions at this point). From what I understand, it could still be 3 weeks or so until I am dilated enough to go to the hospital... everyone is different. My due date is in 3 weeks and 1 day.

The baby is also head down, but not engaged (which means he's still floating around in there). Often the baby becomes engaged at the beginning of labor but other times it doesn't happen until right before, so this doesn't necessarily mean anything.

The doctor predicts the baby is now about 7 1/2 pounds. If I carry to my due date, he would be 8 1/2 to 9 pounds... but the doctor doesn't think I will carry that long. She predicts we have 1 to 2 weeks left!

I don't want to get my hopes up, because I know these predictions are sometimes wrong. There's really no way to guess how quickly my body will get things going. But still... the possibility that we could be parents in a week is pretty amazing. That means we only have 1 more weekend (minimum) to sleep in instead of 3.

Could it be almost time?
Last Tuesday I didn't feel quite right. I was having contractions all day which I assumed were Braxton-Hicks (normal practice contractions), but I got suspicious toward the end of the day because they had lasted all day by that point and they were starting to hurt (they aren't supposed to hurt). That night Jerry and I had a newborn care class (where you learn about swaddling and taking temperatures and other types of infant care.) Jerry looked over at me, saw the furrow in my brow, and knew something was wrong, so he talked me into seeing the doctor that night. They monitored me (one monitor on the belly which checks the baby's heartbeat and another one which measures the strength of contractions). The doctor confirmed I was having contractions, and that they were coming pretty often, but not regularly.

What they weren't able to tell us was whether the contractions were false labor, or the beginning of real labor. They told me to take a muscle relaxant before going to bed, and if the contractions were false, the relaxant would calm them down -- if the contractions were the real thing, I could wake up in real labor. Considering we were still 3 1/2 weeks away from our due date, this freaked us out a little.

After going home and staring at the pills for a couple hours, I decided not to take them. If it's the real thing, then it will happen. I didn't want to take drugs unless I really had to.

After a full night's sleep, I felt like a new person the next morning. No more contractions. I was also put on disability leave by the doctor, which became effective Wednesday, so I am off work now. I am so relieved. It was hard to make it through the day since I always felt I needed a nap. Now I can take it easy.

I have started to pack my suitcase for the hospital just in case. I was going to wait a couple of weeks, but now that doesn't seem like such a good idea.

Month #9: lamaze classes, sleepless nights
Last weekend Jerry and I attended our first lamaze class. Along with about 20 other couples, we learned about the different stages of labor, breathing and relaxation techniques, availability of drugs and their side effects, and other fun things. The other half of our class is this coming Saturday.

I couldn't help but notice that out of the whole class, I had the most rotund, round, basketball-like tummy. This Friday is my 9-month prenatal appointment and I will ask the doctor if my tummy size correlates to the size of the baby.

The last couple nights I have not been sleeping well. I'll fall asleep fine and then wake up either tossing and turning, hot, unable to get comfy, or whatever. It's making it hard to stay energetic at work. I have 12 more work days to go (roughly 2 1/2 weeks).

I think I've reached that part of the pregnancy where I feel impatient. Jerry seems to be there too. At least once a day we ask each other (in appropriate whiney voice), when will he be heeeere? Or, Is it tiiiiime yet?

baby showers!
A couple of weekends ago (May 31) we had the family shower, hosted by my sister Suzy and sister-in-law Katie. It was held at the lodge where my parents live. It was great! Family came from all over the greater Sacramento/Bay Area/Central Valley and it was a little like a family reunion. I saw long lost aunts, uncles and cousins. Jerry got to meet many of my family members he hadn't met before. Unfortunately, his family is in Atlanta and Washington state, so the attendees were all from my family.

We received some great gifts for Evan -- lots of clothes for all different ages, and other baby necessities like blankets, a monitor, a dresser from Jerry's mom. The games were fun. We played the string game (where each person cuts a piece of string that they think will fit around my pregnant belly). My aunt Pat won, as she was within about a tenth of an inch of my tummy circumference! My niece Sophia thought to hug me and then measure the length of her arms (creative, eh?) and she was within about an inch. Not bad.

All in all, a great day.

Last weekend (June 7) was the friends shower, hosted by my friends Robin and Nicole. That was also wonderful, and it was held at my parent's house. It was great for all my friends from different places (current workplace, former workplace, college, high school) to all get together. Once again, we received some wonderful and much-needed gifts, like a jogging stroller, items for the car (sun shades, mirror so parent can see baby while driving, car seat cushion), items for feeding (bottles and some unmentionables), more clothes, booties, hats, etc., etc. etc. It's amazing how many things a baby needs!

Our office is finally no longer an office, and looks more like a baby room. Even though the decorating is not complete (we still need to put up the wallpaper border and do some other things), it obviously belongs to a little guy. This is starting to feel more real!

Yesterday I started having pain in my hips/pelvis. I was walking around like an old lady, complete with moaning. I read in my "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book that this usually happens 4 weeks before delivery (I'm 5 weeks away). This doesn't really mean that I'll have the baby early, but it means my body is preparing! It's really starting to feel more real. We're completely excited.