Things to Look Forward To

Here are the things that I am dreaming about, knowing that they will immediately get better upon delivery of Segunda:

- No more heartburn. It's pretty rare that I suffer from heartburn in a non-pregnant state, so it's not something I'm used to coping with in normal life. And this pregnancy has been killer on the heartburn, consistent, persistent, always there. Around 30 weeks or so, I started startling awake in the middle of the night, having burped a large amount of bile into my mouth in my sleep. Not only was this gross and uncomfortable, but it was also scary, as I kept flailing awake, convinced I was about to drown in my sleep. A couch cushion has propped me more or less upright ever since then. I hate this stupid couch cushion. It's all only gotten worse since being more or less confined to bed. I hate heartburn. I positively loathe the taste of the various antacids I've been taking more or less constantly. I well know from Caetlin that heartburn stops almost immediately. Can. Not. Wait.

- Being able to breathe deeply. You never realize how much you take that one for granted until you can't any more. I routinely gasp for air, especially since my nose doesn't work as well as I wish I did in the aftermath of my cold. I try to clear my passages of the nasty infernal post-nasal drip and halfway through I realize my available oxygen has run out and I better breathe in quick. My lungs, located as they currently are somewhere around my collarbones, just don't have the capacity I think they do right now. Halfway through a big bite of food or something, I have to stop and open my mouth to breathe. Yeah, that's lovely. For me and my dining companions. This too, as I well know, will improve almost immediately on delivery.

- Being able to move around more freely. I might not want to get up and take a stroll right after delivery, but I will be able to turn over without the aid of heavy machinery. And though the belly will still be there, I'll be able to actually elbow it out of the way in order to get comfortable. A related bonus: I'll be able to lie comfortably on my back for longer than about a minute. When I am ready to get out of bed and move around, it will be minus 15 pounds, give or take, all from my immediate abdomen, so my center of gravity goes back to normal right away. I can bend over without danger of falling. Heck, I can bend. That will be a big improvement.

- Better sleep. Stay with me here- I know what sleep with a newborn means. But all I am able to do right now, even with Ambien's help, is to doze often, rarely sinking down into the depths of a dream-filled sleep. I was sleeping so well this morning, and the City of Atlanta decided to start some road maintenance right outside our window at precisely 7:00 a.m. this morning. I still slept through half of it; that's how tired I am. I drowse all afternoon unless I am sitting up. I get sleepy in front of the TV at night. But it never leads to deep, refreshing sleep. It's not that I am counting on the quantity of sleep to get better, but I am pretty sure the quality of the sleep will improve, especially minus all the other things I have mentioned above.

Did I mention no more heartburn? That's a big one for me. Though we'll see if the old wives' tale about excessive heartburn meaning the baby has lots of hair is true in my case.

Anyway, I'm reduced to dreaming about these things right now as diversion for the last day and half or so. I go back to the doctor tomorrow morning to see if I should check into the hospital tomorrow evening for some preparatory measures that ought to help Friday's induction, specifically Cervidil (a drug suppository that stays in overnight that helps ripen the cervix and make it more amenable to labor) and possibly a stripping of the membranes. If I haven't made any progress since Tuesday, my doc will likely suggest I meet him back at the hospital tomorrow afternoon to take these measures, with the actual induction scheduled for 7:30 Friday morning. I actually want to be in the hospital, for a change of scenery, for being able to forget about anything happening to my kid or house as being out of my hands, for feeling like we're getting somewhere, finally.

Not much longer now. Thank goodness.