He ain't heavy...

Our little man is still measuring small, but there is nothing to be alarmed about. I repeat, do not be alarmed! His growth is still progressing, he's just not a ginormous kid (hi God, I owe you). At this point, the measurement of my abdomen should correspond to the number of weeks I am. So in theory at 34 weeks, I should measure 34 cm. But yesterday I measured 32 cm at 34 weeks (a couple weeks ago, I was measuring 29 cm though, so there is growth.) They gave us an ultrasound and did a biophysical profile and all North's stats look good. He's about 4 lbs. 8 oz currently and he has hair (hairdo currently undetermined). They roughly put him in the 25 percentile, so nothing to worry about. Now I just need to make sure I have a good supply of small cloth diapers on hand for our teeny bummed boy.

So it looks like we've made it to 34 weeks according to yesterday's doctor visit. I was so confused after my visit a couple of weeks ago, that I didn't even want to say how far along I was or wasn't since my calculation versus the nurse's calculation was over a week off (and with her being a nurse, she kind of trumps me you know?) But it turns out, I was right all along---take that medical professional! So according to what the doctor told us yesterday, I've got about 40 days to go. If I had to put my emotions into two words, those words would be "holy poop."

There's nothing to get too worked up about though, we're as ready as we're going to be. Dave's parents came over a couple of weeks ago and helped us move our bedroom downstairs beside the nursery (thanks guys!). They also helped us set up an office/craft/play area in the old bedroom where we will spend most of our home work hours with the baby. And last weekend when my mom and step-dad were in town we used up most of the gift cards from our baby shower on an awesome sale that Babies-R-Us was having. This being our first child, it was nice having my mom there to help us figure out what we needed and what worked for her. So we're looking good in terms of having the basic supplies on hand.

In other preparation news, we've got a meeting set up with a pediatrician next week and I've also set up a tour of Rex Hospital, where we'll bring the little man into the world. I've even been keeping up on my reading to prepare for labor so I don't feel like such a dimwit walking into the hospital.

I had somewhat of a scary realization about not knowing squat about labor early Sunday morning around 2:30 AM. I woke up to horrible cramps and went upstairs so I didn't wake Dave or our guests. As I lay there in a cold sweat on the bathroom floor writhing in pain, it occurred to me that this could be labor. (A bit later, it became apparent that I had some sort of stomach bug that has been going around.) But my point is, I've never felt a contraction before and when I've spoken to women about labor pains in the past they almost always use the description of horrible cramps to explain the sensation.

That's when it occurred to me that my recent fantasies of giving birth naturally are probably not going to come to fruition. Not that I'm declaring any sort of birth plan either way. But if my little stomach bug is any indication of my threshold for pain, I will be demanding an epidural the moment I step foot in that hospital. As a matter of fact, I may even ask about epidural procedures during the hospital tour next week just so I am well-informed going into this. Do you have to ask for it a certain way? Is there a secret handshake or do you have to know a cryptic key phrase in order to earn one? Can I have one now to see if this will be the best decision for us? Can I have several? Inquiring minds want to know.