Beware for those with weak stomachs or of the male (father) persuasion, or who have never been pregnant, the following could be too much information for you...

On Wednesday, while I was resting all day on the couch, recovering from my nasty cold, I noticed more discharge than usual and had to change the pantyliners more often. That night I woke up feeling slightly damp and had to change again, in the middle of the night. This is a new occurence. By Thursday morning, early, around 5ish, I realized that the reason was due to a rather thick mucousy discharge. Oh dear. Some asking around confirmed thoughts that it might just be my cervical plug dissolving and leaving my cervix all alone. I wasn't too worried at that point, as you can lose that plug up to 3 weeks before going into labor. It wasn't until the white mucousy discharge turned pink that I started to worry. That didn't happen until Thursday evening. Thursday night, trying to sleep, in fact, had just dozed off when I was awakened by a contraction. Took me a little bit of time to figure out what had happened and once i realized it, I got up, went to the bathroom to check the discharge and then went back to bed. Dozed off only to be awakened by yet another contraction, at which point I lay awake, just waiting for the next one to come, and the next and starting to freak a little.

Around 2am, I got up. As soon as Igot up, the contractions stopped. I stayed up for about an hour and around 3am went back to bed where I slept fairly soundly until 9am. Discharge had turned slightly bloody, not just pink and I got worried. Called my midwife this morning and she offered to come by and check things out this afternoon. What a relief.

She arrived early this afternoon, talked me down, explaining that all the symptoms were normal and did not mean anything was wrong, nor necessarily, that labor was imminent. She then felt my belly, pressing in on all sides to find out just how G was lying in there, telling me when she'd found certain body parts, and showing me where to press as well, so that I could feel them too. The first thing she found was G's bum, nestled in right under my ribs, a few tiny moveable bumps, either feet or hands were down low on my right, her back, facing out towards my stomach and her head nestled in my pelvis. Her head was the one thing I really couldn't feel, her bum is what I feel most often when she shifts around. MW also said that her size was completely normal for her gestational age.

After the belly-feel, she got out her little mini-doppler and we listened to G's heartbeat for a little while. G was somewhat disconcerted at having been poked and prodded at (that was new for her) but she didn't hate the doppler as much as the CTG machine they use at the doctor's and was good and held still and let us listen.

Then the midwife checked out my cervix (fingertip dilated) and the pH balance of my cervical environment: acidic. Had it been alkaline, that would have been an indicator of amniotic fluid leakage, but there was none and it all looks good.

So, the contractions caused a bit of cervix dilation, which caused the mucus to be slightly bloodied, but none of it is an indicator that labor will start any time soon (though nothing is certain). I am relieved, as G is supposed to be an October Baby and I'm not yet mentally prepared for her birth, or her being here yet!

Thanks for the kind comments. I've been pretty much out of commission since Monday Afternoon. Feel awful, can't get the rest I need because I can't breathe or get comfortable while lying down (achey legs, ow!), can't drink lots of OJ because OMG, ouch on a scratchy throat! Feeling somewhat restless and worried, don't like sitting around knowing I have TONS to do but unable to do them because of a severe lack of energy...and the weather is so gross. Like, curl up with a book and a cup of tea gross, but I can't curl up and I can't drink a cup of tea (want black with milk and honey but that doesn't appeal at all with a scratchy throat). So. I'll stop whining for now. Just updating. don't want anyone being worried that we've headed to the hospital!

Sick sick sick sick sick. Again. Pregnancy sure plays a number on the immune system. Going back to bed, just wanted to check in.

The past weekend was gorgeous, 24° and sunny, so of course Sven wanted to get out of the apartment and do something. He really, really wanted to drive out somewhere in Southern Germany, like to the mountains and walk around...I think. Or maybe he would have been happy to drive to Starnberger See...whatever, I did my best to explain that in my present situation, I would be happy to go somewhere with bathrooms and benches, but he was not dragging me out on an all-day trip into the wilderness. My suggestion was the Zoo. I love Hellabrunn and have the hardest time getting him to go with me. He seems to enjoy it when we are there, but I don't think he likes giving them all that money. But hey, the money is what helps keep the animals living in good conditions, right?!

So anyway, unable to think of any other ideas, he finally gave in to going to the zoo and off we went. Boy was I disillusioned! The zoo was not relaxing, not when going with Sven! It was packed, everyone who was NOT at Oktoberfest, must have been at the zoo that day, with and without children! Plus, Sven (as always) wanted to get the most for his money and so we trekked the whole time in order to see every last possible animal. There wasn't much with sitting on a bench and relaxing, nope, from one animal to the next we went. Well, that's only a partial truth, Sven would have been MORE than happy to sit down in the Zoo Biergarten for a cold beer. That just didn't appeal to me!!

By the time we were half-way through, my back was hurting so bad, my only relief was to lean over, support myself on a railing and stick my butt out in the air...yah. I'm sure I looked great. By the time we were walking back to the car, my feet hurt as well as my back, my bladder was acting up and I was starving, in fact, i was in so much pain, I was literally waddling!

We went from the zoo to 'Alter Wirt'. Sven was only too happy to take up THAT suggestion, as he loves eating there!

Anyway, a few shots. We didn't get many (I wasn't in the mood and most of the animals were playing hard-to-find) but here are a few anyway.

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A few notes on the Monkeys: The 'Totenkopf Affen' have a free reign from their 'cages' into the rest of the zoo. There are ropes that extend from the area of their cages over the water surrounding them and into the zoo itself. As we walked by, a few wer erunning around, seeing the people gathered, they thought they might get fed. Smart monkeys, of course the dumb humans threw food at them, it was bread though. Monkeys aren't birds - they don't eat bread! The little monkeys sat up just out of reach and caught each piece of bread perfectly, gave it a quick look and immediately let it fall to the ground. The dumb humans kept on throwing the bread and the monkeys kept dropping it. Um, get a clue?!

Another post about bellies. Dragged Sven back out into the garden for some belly shots. I really like them in both color and black and white, so I uploaded my faves in both versions...although I'll link up with a black and white as that matches my blog better right now!

So, 37 Weeks, according to my calculations, 38 according to the doctor's. Yes, I'm still sticking to my own, will make it much less painful when I go over!

The measuring tape idea came from a gal at twopeas, though it was so cute! The flower, well, I was being silly. The garden hasn't been mowed in a while and there are all kinds of little white daisies, so I plucked one...

Haven't done a blogthings in a while, mostly because none of them really appealed to me, but this one, well, this one I like. I think it has to do with the boy vs. girl thing and gender roles and the fact that through a silly little quiz, it told me that I fight traditional gender roles. I hope that's true, I hope my little girl grows up doing just the same. She can play with dolls, put on makeup and play dressup, but hopefully she'll be just as likely to climb a tree, catch frogs and play with matchbox cars!

I want to thank everyone who responded to the question: What do I NEED? and expand upon it with a new question. For those of you who said a breast pump is not necessary I ask you this: how do you ever leave baby at home with your husband if you have not expressed milk to feed her with while you are gone? If I do not have a breast pump, I am literally stuck lugging baby around with me EVERYwhere I go until she is weaned, right? What if I want to go to the movies one night with Liz? I wouldn't even be able to leave G with Sven because he'd have no way of feeding her!

Feel free to tell me there is no way I am ever going to want to go anywhere and leave her with Sven. Remember, I am new to this whole thing and rather naive!

Yes, the new header is G's closet. As you can see, there is a good variety of colors, I don't think we'll be overwhelmed with pepto-bismol pink! I wanted to do a picture of her closet eons ago, but her room is in the Northwest corner of the apartment with only one window, facing North. Basically, that means no good light ever comes into the room now that summer is over. Plus, the closet doors don't open flat and throw shadows on the contents. So I was fighting those factors while trying to get a good angle. And for some unknown reason, I cannot get my header to be the same size as my blog-body.

No matter, now you can see (until I change it again) what all G has to wear in the coming year. Look closely, you might even see a few things you gave me! A quick glance shows me something from Linda, from Kim, from Barb, Ute, Carol & Tracey O. Hm, Stacy's sweater from Australia is barely viewable right after the faux sheepskin jacket and just before the yellow knitted sweater from Auntie Kylene...All the rest, filling up the spaces between those outfits, are of course from Mom! Most of the red and denim things were Zane's.

Sven looked at this picture yesterday and thought G had way too many clothes. She probably does, but I explained to him that the row contains sizes from 0 all the way to 12 months. And not to worry, she has plenty of onesies and jumpers, folded in pull-out drawers beneath the hanging clothes.

Oh yes, well-dressed indeed. At least for the first year!

This is totally not my book, my success, my anything...but I am so excited about it, and cannot wait for the book to be out, so it had to come up in my blog.

Erin's book: Supply Savvy Scrapbooking is being advertised in all its glory (with cover!!!) at CK. The cover looks awesome, and the description of the book has my fingers itching... Who amongst us scrapbookers does not have stacks and stacks of 'old product' we are afraid to use?

Check out this description:

FROM THE BACK COVER

Ever wonder how to use your favorite scrapbooking supplies in a whole new way? In this book, CK Hall of Famer Erin Lincoln challenges you to create beautiful scrapbook layouts using the supplies you already have on hand! In this book, Erin will teach you how to:

• Find new ways to use patterned paper, stickers, metal embellishments and more
• Think outside of the box with paint, ribbons, die cuts and more
• Reinvent your idea of what’s trendy and hip Turn something “old” into something “new”
• Discover your personal scrapbooking style in your supply stash
• Creatively combine your favorite supplies with the new supplies you love today
• Select the best page accents to tell the story on your page

This book is beautifully illustrated with over a hundred brand-new scrapbook page layouts from Erin Lincoln. Find out how she challenged herself to create ALL of the layouts in this book with scrapbook supplies she already had on hand. And then take the challenge for yourself!

Hat's off to you, E! I'm so excited, I don't know HOW I'm going to wait until Feb. for your book!!!