a quick post

I threw out my back pretty good this weekend, so I have to keep this short, or risk excruciating pain when I get up off the chair...

We saw our midwife again Saturday, and she's satisfied that I'm only carrying one. It's a big relief for us. Everything else numbers-wise still supports the one-baby theory, so I'm finally relaxing about this. The phantom kicks I get in odd spots must just be due to the extra room this baby has to stretch out in thanks to the extra fluid. I haven't asked for a size guess yet- I don't know if I will, or if I'll let myself be totally surprised.

This back pain has me in some major stage fright regarding labor. You'd think I'd be over this, having labored twice before without drugs (once against my will, of course), but no. I'm not as keyed up as I was waiting to go into labor with Allie, but I'm still genuinely nervous about it. One thing I'm thankful for as far as homebirth is that I just won't have access to drugs. And I know the idea of going to the hospital for them is enough to get me through the most impossible contraction. Both my hospital experiences with the other two births were mostly pleasant ones, but I really don't like hospitals. At all.

For now, Blinky is stubbornly insisting on remaining posterior. It made it really hard to hear heart tones Saturday- what can you do when you have to listen through the arms baby has crossed on hir chest? And, incidentally, when those same arms are being used to punch the fetoscope at every opportunity? What is it about my body that makes my kids gestate in such weird positions? Allie was actually born posterior, which only happens in about 1% of deliveries, and Gabe and Eva were breech and transverse, the most uncommon position pairing for twins.

This is honestly a most uncooperative child...s/he will probably insist on starting my labor during church, which will mean we'll have to leave early (probably on a night we have story time duty, too) and miss all the fun. I wonder if it would be bad form to grab communion on our way out, even if it's not "communion time" yet? I suppose we could just come home and have toast and grape juice instead...

Have a lovely week, all of you. And go visit the Yarn Cafe up in my neck of the woods...I went Sunday morning with my oldest friend (we're going on something like 24 years- hey Mel!!), and it was buckets of fun.

a reason to be happy and a reason to be in suspense

For anyone who cares or might be curious, Over the Rhine has a new album coming out at the end of the month. If you preorder it, you get a signed copy and a nifty mystery treat! Last time they did this (that would be the release of Ohio in 2003) I got two lovely stickers, seen here (I know, the link is to some t-shirts, but that's what my stickers look like, ok?). I haven't ordered yet, so if anyone wants to go in with me and split shipping, let me know. The preorder is through pastemusic.com, so you could actually order anything on that site, not just Over the Rhine.

Two free songs from the album can be heard here.

Still no tour date scheduled...this child will be the only one of mine born that did not get to attend a great concert in utero. Allie got to go to Sunny Day Real Estate on their final tour (The Rising Tide), and Gabe and Eva went with me to Over the Rhine's Films for Radio show. It just doesn't seem fair. But then, we don't get out as much as we used to...

Two people asked tonight at the Porch, so in case anyone else was wondering but didn't ask, no, we're not 100% positive there's only one baby in there. I go back and forth on what I think, but Jeff's pretty sure it's one. We'll see, I guess...I just have to hope that the baby (babies?) aren't born on April 1st, or I'm going to have a hard time convincing anyone I'm not kidding when I call. When s/he or they arrive, I'll make sure something gets posted, even if it's only a link to more info on Jeff's blog.

And on another note...

I'm so happy to see guys commenting on my blog! Not that I don't love it when girls do, but I like knowing that I have guy readers, at least occasionally :)

So much happening...

I don't know where to start. The big news of the day was that I put Gabe and Eva back in cloth diapers, hooray! They're going to wear a disposeable at night until I figure out a night-time diapering system, but even only using cloth during the day has made me very happy. And my mom said I'd never be able to keep up with cloth diapering two babies!

I'll see my midwife for my last biweekly appointment early this week. Yes, it's already time to move up to weekly visits, which is very scary- everything is going too fast! In about 20 days, I'll be full-term and ready to go anytime. Birth kit is almost completely assembled, and I'll feel better when that's done. Still have to wash the birth pool and clean the house. Ugh. I cleaned quite a bit (for me) today with Jeff gone, but I have half the house *plus* to go. Allie has been helping quite a bit- reminding me to buy things for the birth kit, deciding what stuff can be thrown away, being generally entertaining...actually, all three kids have been really cute, but Gabe's insistence on bouncing on my gigantic belly is wearing thin. Of the three, I think he's the only one who has no concept whatsoever that I'm going to have a baby soon. Or that I have the feeling he's about to become the lone boy in a tribe of girls (since this is our last, there's no chance of a brother in his future if this baby's a girl, as I suspect).

Beyond mundane domestic matters, not much to report. This pregnancy is still idyllic enough that I feel incredibly guilty watching the other moms-to-be at church suffer. The simple fact that I can still comfortably carry a crabby, sleepy, 40-pound Allie from the van to the couch is a blessing I would never have expected to have this far down the pregnancy highway (34 weeks, if you're counting). Especially as enormous as I seem to be.

Still no baby dreams for me. The count for other people's dreams about this baby is one boy dream, one girl dream, one boy/girl twins dream, and one girl/girl twins dream. Can we try for a little consistency here, people? I'm begging you!