18 Years Ago: May 3rd--Full term

~ 40 weeks, 1997

I'm trying to remember what it felt like to be pregnant. Especially to be 40 weeks pregnant. Here's a photo from about that time. I remember how hard it was to roll over in bed, that I needed to plan the movement and hoist my large, hard belly ahead of the rest of me. I'd turn down kind offers of a short ride around campus, preferring to walk-waddle a few blocks than to attempt sitting in the seat of a car and strapping on a seatbelt.

Look how red my face seems in the photo--as red as the stretch-knit maternity pants. I was pumping full of blood. From the back, I was told, you could not tell I was pregnant. The baby belly popped out frontward. At this stage, I frequently felt a tightening at the top of my uterus--the Braxton-Hicks contraction, warming me up for labor. I had continued working on the University of Michigan campus through then end of week 39. Sometimes those contractions would ball up while I sat at my computer. Sometimes they'd happen while I was walking around. Part of me got excited: something's happening! Part of me played it all down: perhaps this is me overreacting--just wait until something's actually happening. Remember, my mom and my sister both went past their due dates. I'd better be prepared to do the same.

May 3, 1997 (a Monday): My notes in the journal on this day say: "felt lots of pressure from baby's head on cervix during the night." Otherwise, I can only guess what I did on that day. I probably pushed a tape into the VCR and followed my pregnancy workout. Denise, the same neighbor who gave me the Kitzinger journal, had loaned me her tape. A lovely midwife from New Zealand narrated the tape, which showed a pregnant woman doing the exercises, alternating with re-enacted labor scenes. It was informative and trained me on many levels for birth. If I can figure out the name of the tape, I'll post it. Perhaps it still exists somewhere.

May 3, 2015 (a Sunday): Another rainy indoor day, the end of a three-day weekend. What's the best thing to do? Sleep in a bit. We bounced ideas around for possible vacation trips. Then we went to our upstairs neighbor for her birthday open house. Every year she follows a German tradition of inviting friends and family over. The birthday girl is the hostess and spends most of her time bringing drinks and food and generally spoiling her guests. Heike keeps it pretty simple: Weisswurst, pretzels, beer, champagne, cookies. It's a relaxing way to hang out with people--except for the hostess! Down in our place again (on the ground floor), Markus and Miriam worked on physics, and I did a little email. Dinner. Blog. Back to making plans.