Lucky me, I have three doctors appointments tomorrow. The first one is at 9am, MD and I go in to see the pediatrician and get all set up for her to check Muffin out at the hospital after he is born. That one should only take 15-20 minutes.

After that I have an appointment at the OB/GYN. They’ll tell me how my Group B strep test came back, take my blood pressure and weigh me. So far I have gained a total of 14lbs during the pregnancy. It has really surprised me that I didn’t gain a lot more than that. I eat like a piggy, but I guess Muffin is in there stealing all my nutrients.

After the OB/GYN, I have another NST at the hospital. Hopefully Muffin is a good boy and moves around a lot so I can get out of there in a decent amount of time. The last two times I’ve gone, Muffin has been very good. MD has been having talks with him while I’m hooked up to the monitors. MD’s been talking to my little baby Muffin about all the girls he’s going to date after he’s born. He sits there and gives him tips on picking up girls, and all that crap while I stare in horror. And the funniest part of it is that Muffin responds to these types of conversations. At my last NST, Muffin wasn’t moving around a whole lot when we first got there. I was talking to him and telling him to move for me and he sat perfectly still until MD started telling him about all the “hot chicks” Muffin could “get with”. MD says just those few things and Muffin is rolling around like a deep-sea diver in there.

I try to tell myself that maybe Muffin was just responding to MD’s voice, but when MD talked about something else it didn’t have the same effect. I’m going to have to have some serious talks with Muffin, and MD about this whole “hot chicks” thing. For one thing, there will be no dating of lots of “hot chicks”. I’ll kill them both if I catch my little baby Muffin out with anybody.

I already know that I’m going to want him to stay my baby forever. Part of me says that’s not possible, but the other part says that the first part is full of crap, that I’m his mother and I can do whatever I want. I think I’d like to believe voice number two :)

So, after all the running around to the doctor’s appointments, I’m going to go home and take a nap. After that I think I might start on my second painting for Muffin. The first one I did was of a little monkey. The next one I start is going to be a lion, and then I’m going to paint a giraffe. I’m never satisfied with my paintings, but MD and Mommie really like the way the monkey one came out.

There isn’t too much left to do to prepare for Muffin. Not that I’ll ever feel prepared, no matter how much time I have, how many things I get and get organized, I’ll never feel totally prepared to become responsible for another human life. I think that’s normal. It’s a huge responsibility to care for someone else’s well being, but I am so excited to do it.

**

Someone asked Mommie if I’d be getting an epidural and Mommie told him she didn’t think I planned on one. He said, “Oh, she’ll get an epidural” and Mommie told him that I wouldn’t if I didn’t want to. He doesn’t believe her.

It’s not that I won’t get an epidural, and it’s not that I plan on one. The doctors have been telling me to write up a “birth plan” that I can bring to the hospital with me. I’ve read online at a lot of sites and they all say the same thing, to put together a birth plan about whether you want pain medication or not, how you want the birth to go, so on and so on. I told Mommie today, my birth plan (and forgive me, but I don’t think I need to write this one down) is to go to the hospital and have a baby. That’s my plan.

Step one of the plan, go to the hospital when I’m in labor
Step two of the plan, have a baby.

I’m not even trying to plan any other part of this whole thing because I know that I have no control over what will be happening. That is someone else’s area. My job is to help Muffin get born, that’s all. The other thing about coming up with a birth plan is that I don’t want to get my expectations up for a “perfect birth” and then be disappointed if it doesn’t go that way. I would rather remain flexible and ride the whole birth thing out than plan the whole thing and feel powerless and scared because the actual birth isn’t going according to the plan.

And, of course, I have this thing against making plans anyway. I’ve said it many times, I don’t make plans because planning to make plans ruins my plans.

I feel like making a plan is an invitation for things not a part of the plan to take place.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t know if I’ll be getting an epidural, it depends on if I feel like I need one. And that pretty much goes for anything else that happens when I go to the hospital. I will just take every situation as it comes and decide the best course of action at the time.

Mommie and MD will be there with me too, so I’ll have support and love and other people who can pay attention to what the doctor says while I’m imagining pushing a watermelon out of a standard garden hose.

Sometimes I wish I didn’t have such a vivid imagination. :)