Well, most have probably given up on me. Now that there are two little girls in my house, not much time to blog.

But I intend to make time to share wit and wisdom when possible for the betterment of the world and, well, me (who else wants to hear about this besides the world wide web).

Finnley Grace missed Leap Year by a mere 3 hrs and 45 mins. That close and labor didn't even start on Leap Year. She shot out of me like a snot rocket and it wasn't because she was small by any means. She was 8 lbs, 9 oz and one tall stack of pancakes at 22 inches.

Yes, it's THE day but I never thought babies are actually born ON their due dates until I talked to TWO new colleagues and both happened to say that their second child was born ON the due date. So while I am keeping my legs crossed just in case (I'm not ready!), I think I'm safe for the next 10 hrs.

I've been thinking some more about the "Worst Mother in the World" comment from the BPN post I mentioned yesterday.. In short, hubbie thinks the wifie should be thrown in prison for letting her kids eat breakfast unattended while mommy showers.

While no longer living in Berkeley, I still subscribe to the Berkeley Parent's Network newsletter. And for good reason - they provide so much wit and wisdom that I just couldn't live without.

And they haven't let me down. While there haven't been posts nearly the quality of "Crockpots for Homebirths" or "Burying the Placenta", I can still read the posts and feel better about my plight.

Some may have thought my abstentia from the blog-o-sphere is indicative of a post-birth status. Oh, no, no, no. You forget that that is the response I had from the birth of child #1. Child #1 being still with us, when child #2 arrives I guess you can expect that I just plain fall off the face of the earth. I literally cannot imagine what I'm in for. Second-time mom friends of mine have warned me of how incredibly hard it is. THIS is coming from people who don't have full time jobs. From the other side, I have many new-ish faculty friends telling me how incredibly hard the first years are. THIS coming from friends without ANY kids let alone 2 under 2.

I admit to giving Noa a hard time. I am keeping track of everytime I've saved her life. Not just by donating every cell to her body (well, minus Jim's singular contribution) until she was 9 months old but by diving to save her from falls, holding her hand on the stairs, and preventing her from ingesting any number of dangerous items.

Yes. 10 days to go. It's a great feeling in some ways since I'm feeling like IT is going to cling to my uterine walls long enough to get the essentials done. It's a horrible feeling in other ways because, well, have I mentioned how ridiculously HUGE this thing is (even though no one else seems to think so)? I guess I have mentioned that more than once.

Yesterday was another chance to check IN with Itch. Another week, another chance for the poor kid to get a good old "knock, knock" on the noggin.

So, doc sticks his fingers up "there", telling me to "RELAX!" the whole time (uhh, you've got two wide fingers crammed up a tiny hole, relaxation is not an option). Gets them in and says, "Oh yeah, you're agood 1.5 centimeters." Then he yanked his manual "instrument" out and said, "But that doesn't mean much, so I wouldn't worry." Ok, so if it "doesn't mean much" then WHY THE HECK ARE YOU STABBING YOUR FINGERS UP MY HOLE? For the heck of it?

I like to think it happens to everyone - a trial run to the hospital. I never thought it would to ME though. No, didn't think I was in labor, just concerned for #2.

Yesterday I woke up with the flu and fought it with sleep and no food all day. By 5ish, I was realizing that Itch had been noticeably immobile all day. I downed a ginger ale to "probe" it. Usually in response to sugar, this thing will flip summersaults. I was reassured at first with a few little foot pokes, but I didn't get much more than that. So, after a bit of worrying, I called the on-call doctor for some reassurance. And, as is required by all doctors to say, he said "well, we can't really know without looking, so why don't you come in."