Random Contractions

I'm having about 2 contractions per hour. It's been this way for about 3 weeks. Last night, I had 6 or so in a row, about every 12 minutes or so apart.

I'm ready for this baby to make an appearance. A little apprehensive too. The recovery after Kate was so painful, that I'm a little afraid of another C-section. I'm hoping that this one goes into labor all on his own, that it's a short labor, and that he's perfectly healthy (of course).

He was breach 9 days ago. This week he's back to head-down. Breach=c-section no matter what. Head-down is the only way that I get the option to NOT have a c-section. Nothing like keeping us all guessing.

C-section date is officially scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 10th at 8:35am PST. I'll be 39 weeks and 2 days by then. We'll have to be at the hospital by 6:30am. That means that Kate will need to sleep over at Auntie Deb's the night before. Her first sleep-over! Without her parents! I'm worried that she'll be ok and will be able to sleep.

I find myself worrying a lot about Kate lately. Will she adjust ok to a baby brother? Will she feel left out? Will she get angry over how much attention the new baby will need? Will she be able to tell how much her dad and I still adore her?

She seems like she's doing ok so far. She talks to the belly button many times per day. "Did you have a nice nap, baby brother?" "Hi baby brother!" But we've noticed a lot more testing of rules and boundaries this past month. Yeah, I know, she's two. She's supposed to be doing this, but parts of it feel like she's checking to see if we'll still keep her around after baby, even if she's a pain. Going to sleep has turned into a painful process for all of us. She cries, she whines, she tries to manipulate and delay the process of going to bed. I whine, I complain that she won't go to sleep (because pregnant mommy NEEDS her nap and her sleep). She's often waking up at 5am to terrorize her father with Dora the Explorer TV requests. She doesn't like going to daycare when mommy gets to stay home. But I just can't run upstairs/downstairs a dozen times a morning and do the trips to the park/bike ride/scooter that a 2 year old needs every day to exercise. So she's wanting Mommy/Katie time more and more.

Otherwise, she's still the same sweet adorable girl that we know and love. She's talkative, funny, artistic.

So do us and her a favor. If you see us, please make as much a fuss about Kate as you do the new baby. And please make the fuss about her, not her being a big sister to the new baby. The new baby won't notice - I promise that he won't be offended. And I'd be grateful too!