Tick Tock

If you have been paying attention to the ticker in the left-hand column, you know we have less than 30 days until Peanut's arrival/grand entry into this world. Less than a month, and the pressure's on.

Us
We're ready and we're not ready.
Bill and I have both focused on mainly ourselves for the past 36 years. Even when we were dating... okay... living together... we constantly struggled to balance being a couple and keeping our individuality. It was quite a tug of war 'cause we're equally flaky and stubborn. Unlike other couples, we spent the majority of our dating time dealing with major medical issues. In fact, our journey through cancer and the aftermath helped solidified the idea of "us". Just when we thought we got a hang of being us, we got married. About a month after the wedding, a little person came into our life... and in less than a month, the definition of "us" is about to change forever.

The little one
The little boy has been very busy poking, stretching, and swirling around. He's also been having the hiccups -- at least one hiccup fit every day. In the evenings, we watch in awe as he changes the landscape of my belly. I also think he has dropped a bit in the last week or so since my breasts no longer appear to flop happily on my belly. Oh, I've started experiencing longer and stronger Braxton Hicks contractions, during which my uterus tenses up and gets hard as a rock for a good long while. Those are some powerful muscles! As I told Juli in the latest message I sent her, "I started feeling sorry for the baby because he's gonna be squeeeeeeeeeeze tight for as long as I'm in labor. I guess it's labor for both of us."

Well, I'm already in love with the thought that it's gonna be labor for the three of us, and our first task as a new "us" is to bring a little baby into this world. It's quite romantic and comforting knowing that the three of us will have to work together to complete this task. I'll try to hold on to that thought while I"m in pain and keep my (mind's) eyes on the moment when we say, "Good job! We did it!" -- it's the three of us for the rest of our lives.