Day 1: Audrey 1, Maggie 0

As I said, Feb 15-21: Fair Game.  I believe Valentine's Day had a strike through it, Audrey Charlotte.  I recognized my false sense of control but were you really greasing the wheels as I was writing that?  For shame.

After posting to the blog, I watched some TV, got in an argument about dishes with my husband (a long one about where Dirty Dish Overflow should live), did some squats as a joke, and then went to bed, where I could not sleep.  Instead of cleaning my house - which should have been a clue - I read the book I got from the Army Maternal Care Unit, a "Goal-Oriented Guide to Prenatal Care" and no I am not kidding.  I read the whole section on labor and delivery, since I hadn't gone all the way through that before.  Then I went to bed.

I woke up with a contraction at 4:40 AM.  I decided to be goal-oriented and breathed until it was over, telling myself "It will only last 60-90 seconds."  Then I went back into a deep sleep.  Another one hit at 4:51, the 5:02, then 5:09, and every 7 minutes until 5:44, when I got up to walk around and tell Aaron I was in real labor and was going to take a shower and edit the Care Sheet for our friends who were taking Sebastian (shout-out to the Jacksons - thanks guys!).

"...You stay in here and do some squats while I'm gone..."

My husband did not learn from last time.  Well, he did, and then he unlearned it.  The week Sebastian was due, I was eating spicy foods, pineapple, we were going on long walks... eventually I took castor oil and BAM, went into labor.  We've spent 39 weeks saying we'd sleep instead of trying to speed things up but suddenly he wants here here like right NOW.  This consists of telling me to jump up and down in an elevator, do as many squats as I can, or just go to Sears and shop for a portable belt sander... and walk around a lot.  Yeah, he snuck that last one in there.

I, meanwhile, have been struggling with a false sense of control over the situation.  Like I have any say when she gets here.  I've been "hoping" for or against certain birthdays, now that we're on the homestretch.  Sebastian's birthday is Feb 22, George Washington's birthday.  I have a C-Section scheduled Feb 24th.  Audrey can arrive anytime before then.  This has left us with a number of options:

2/11 - Would be 2/11/2011

2/12 - Lincoln's birthday

2/13 - Means Friday the 13th, not good

2/14 - Valentine's Day, not fair to future boyfriends

2/15-2/21 - Fair game

2/22 - Sebastian's birthday and our legal anniversary

2/23-2/24 - Fair game

Does it really matter?  Probably not.  My birthday is the day after Christmas and yet somehow I have survived.  I guess I'm ready now, but there's still some laundry to be done around here before we head to the hospital.  Maybe if I put it off, she'll stay in a little longer.  I mean, it would reduce the amount of squatting I'll do anyway to "help things along."