countdown

10 days from now our lives will be turned upside down once again. We'll finally get to meet this little mystery person, welcome him into our family and start to unravel just who he is. We'll once again subject ourselves to sleepless nights, endless laundry, messy diapers, and inevitable worry. And I can't wait!

Remind me I said that in a couple of weeks when I'm boo hooing at four in the morning ok?

We are in the home stretch now, and I'm so glad. Not just because I'm eager to meet the little guy, but also because it gets more and more challenging each day. Physically. I'm just about over the cold I picked up over the weekend. And then this morning starting at about 6 AM Braxton Hicks contractions started. I spent most of the day in bed, hoping that would help them ease off, but it didn't do a darn thing. About 50% of the time my belly is big and round and hard as a rock. Not painful exactly, but a little uncomfortable. And tiring after being that way all day. Ironically, it's the body's way of preparing for labor - a labor that I more than likely will not experience. Wish I could tell my uterus to take the day off.

The physical and emotional challenges of pregnancy remind me so much all the time of the Appalachian Trail. I'm so grateful to have that experience to draw on, to help keep me going. One main parallel is the constant low level discomfort of the AT. It was surprising to me then how a consistent low level of pain can be such a drain on you - not so much physically, more emotionally. It's just frustrating to be uncomfortable all the time. The other parallel that keeps coming up is how so many days on the trail - most if not all of them - you would push and push yourself, and feel like you'd given all you had, and you still wouldn't be there. Over and over there was the sense that you give all you have and then you still have to give a little bit more to make it to where you're trying to go. I'm glad to have had the experience of drawing from the well after you already thought it had run dry.

One thing I'm glad is NOT a parallel in pregnancy is the terrible hygiene situation out on the AT. I will never forget that feeling of being covered in filth from each day's layers of sweat, dirt and sunscreen, one over another, day after day, with no shower in sight. I can waltz down and take a soak in the tub or a hot shower any old time I please!