The final countdown

Just 7 days...then 6 weeks

In exactly one week from today--if not sooner, should my water break unexpectedly--our third and final kid will be entering the universe via scheduled c-section.

Not being a huge fan of life as a human incubator, it's been a long nine months. I have unapologetically whined through every moment of heartburn, back pain, false labor contractions, insomnia, exhaustion and hysteria. Those women who revel every kick and every extra pound? I'm not one of them.

But finally, in this last week, I'm experiencing the true elation of pregnancy, for two reasons: (1) because it's really and truly ALMOST OVER!!! and (2) I can't wait to meet our little guy (or not so little, going by the size of my belly).

I'm so excited, I can barely sleep. And I don't blame the hourly bathroom trips for the insomnia, either. At night, I roam around the house like a ghost (big, clumsy, waddling ghost), peering into my kids' rooms to watch them sleeping...and to wonder.

I look at my 7 1/2 year old son and almost 5 year old daughter and wonder if the baby willl look like them (at birth, they had identical faces, and you can still see the similarity when they are asleep).

I wonder if he'll be introspective like his brother, strong-willed like his sister, playful like his father, intense like his mother...or none of the above--or a "combo platter" of all or some of these traits. (An intensely playful, introspective, stubborn little boy, perhaps? Sounds like he'd fit right into our crazy clan.)

And speaking of things I can't wait for, I also can't wait to run again, which, if memory serves, I'll be able to do in exactly seven weeks from today (six following delivery).

I stopped working out at about seven months when I got hit with paralyzing hip and leg pain (pelvic girdle pain, if you've been so lucky to have experienced this pregnancy condition yourself) and during that same month, in the most blatant example of "retail therapy" I can think of, I scored myself a BOB running stroller, in chic baby blue and chocolate brown, which I'm just itching to break in.

I can't wait to see how my little running buddy looks strapped into this bad boy.

And I can't wait to move quickly again, to feel my feet hitting the pavement, to break a sweat from actual physical activity not just from trying to heave my body in and out of the car, to feel my heart race without worrying if it's going too fast for a growing fetus.

See you all on the road soon.