ok... let's get this party started!

i decided that since today would probably be the last day for the next 20 or so years that it will be just jon and me (mom arrives tomorrow to stay for a few weeks) i wanted us to blow off chores and go for a walk. i chose to do that walking at the mall because there's good people watching there and, more importantly, there's snacks (namely, "teacakes bakery", maker of DE-licous, but spendy cookies. oddly enough, they don't sell teacakes, but i digress).

my belly button poked out today farther than it has ever been. back in late september or so, i noticed that it would poke out, but only if the baby moved. this kind of freaked jon out. he was convinced that when that happened that it meant the baby was coming immediately. i kept having to tell him that we still had several weeks to go. "relax. it's not like a turkey timer!" but today's belly button protrusion has been constant ever since i got out of be this morning. so maybe it is like a turkey timer. i guess we'll see...



i also felt contractions like i have never felt them before whilst we were out and about. i felt one that lasted longer than a minute that started at the top of my belly and worked it's way down (unlike my braxton-hicks contractions which seem to just involve the bottom of my belly). this one had a lot of downward pressure. i could keep walking but it wasn't easy. but then that was it for an hour or two. we went to dinner and as we were leaving the restaurant i had another contraction unlike anything i've ever felt. it started at my back and worked it's way around to the front with plenty of downward pressure. it probably lasted about a minute or so and then it went away. driving home, about 20 minutes later, i had another one. (even the braxton-hicks contractions seem to come more often when driving in the car... go figure.) i felt less downward pressure but i was also sitting. we've been home for a couple of hours now and i haven't felt anything since. tomorrow morning, i plan to go walking around a different mall with jenny (party of 5!) and we'll see at my dr.'s appointment tomorrow if any of this walking is making true progress. i'm not going to outright predict that i'll go into active labor soon since i've read that these kinds of early labor symptoms can last for days... if this is in fact early labor.

in the meantime, since marianne (my stepmom in wisconsin) has been complaining that there have been no new pictures in some time, we took some today by the christmas tree. jon also wanted a picture of me next to one of the "snowmen" at the mall today. we had pretty comparable girth, me and that snowman, but he was able to strike poses i don't dare try...




anyway, it was a fun day. i'm glad we had one last hurrah as a duo before the baby comes.