Dear Flu: Stop it.

Yeah, so, being sick with a flu/cold thing when you're 37 weeks pregnant? Not fun. The list of acceptable/safe medications you can take is very short, and includes only medications that have never, ever worked for me in the past (i.e. Sudafed and Tylenol Cold). Why even bother taking them, then? I've just been inundating myself with Emergen-C, cough drops, fluids, and sleep. Coughing brings on minor B-H contractions, which is just so, so, so much fun. And everyone keeps saying, "Oh, the baby could come at any time!", which just freaks me out. I'm so ready to be done with pregnancy, but the knowledge that parenthood is the next step makes me totally fine with her hanging out in utero for a little while longer. I'll just keep maintaining that she's not done baking yet. Gotta get a little more golden brown and crispy 'round the edges.

It's a Catch-22, what can I say.

Every time I feel a twinge or a cramp, I think, "Ooh, is this it, is this it?" but then it goes away quickly and I know it's not time yet. I don't think I've had any actual, for-real contractions yet, as it all still feels like Braxton-Hicks and people keep saying that when it's a real contraction, you KNOW. Will I? Or will I be one of those women who randomly wake in the middle of the night to find a wailing, vernix-covered baby in their pajama pants? Oh, would that be strange. I seriously don't know how that happens. How do you not feel a baby emerging from you? Jeeeezum Pete.

I have one more week of work, and am nearly done training my maternity leave replacement, & am working on getting everything tidied up neatly on all the projects I'm a part of. People are like, "You're STILL working?" Yes, actually, I want to feel that I've left for maternity leave having done the best possible job that I can do, pregnant or not. If someone hires me to do a job, then darn it, they're going to get my best work, period. I can't do it any other way.

And once 5pm on Friday, 10/7 hits, I will leave knowing I've set things up to run smoothly in my absence, and then I can relax until labor hits. I'll go for walks every day (with my ID/health insurance card & cell phone on hand, just in case), get a pedicure, massage, and facial, and finish tidying up around the house. I have a ton of DVDs I haven't watched yet, plus lots of shows stored up on our DVR. Hopefully, tiny miss Thorberta gives me at least a few days to enjoy being "unemployed" before she decides to make her grand entrance. And when she does... I can't wait to meet her.