"Mrs. Rife, I have to say, you are gigantic"

Such was the word from one of the secrataries at our school this morning, after I ran in to make copies. Now before you get too hard on her, she is a very nice person and I wholeheartedly agree with her. Most pregnant women would make a sour face at such a comment, but frankly, she is only stating what everyone else is thinking of.

Indeed, the recent prediction on the part of many is that I will not be making it all the way to July 11. Both Glenn's and my own dad believe that little Jamie will be making an early surprise appearance sometime in June. Frankly, I wouldn't mind him being a little early. And then at school this morning, several people asked me when I was due. Upon hearing that I was due in July and still had roughly two more months, one woman said, "Hmm, you are looking pretty big for July. I'm not sure that you will make it."

I guess we will see, won't we?

For all those, though, that know that I had a pretty easy pregnancy, I am definitely floating into the really uncomfortable part of it all now. Those last two months, when the thought of moving too much is just annoying. After another baby shower this past weekend, I am left with another living room of items to be put away. And yet, every time I look at all that stuff, I just think, "Oh, do I really need to move all of that?" The biggest frustration is the memory of how fast I usually scoot around a room, putting things away. Carrying things here and there and zipping up the stairs. And as much as I would like that to happen now, and as simple to put away all these things would have been even two months ago, now I know that heaving it around will make me out of breathe and take about 3 times as long. Which makes me just look away and go to another room.

And the ankles? Can we talk about the ankles? If that is what those stumps actually are that are attached to my large and swollen feet. For the first time this past weekend, I noticed that my ankles were about twice as big as they should be. Last night, when I pushed on the lump of fluid on top of my foot, I was strangely hypnotized by the fact that it left a little dent for a moment or two. So amazed that I had to demonstrate the concept to two students who hang out in my room after the final bell. Needless to say, those two boys sympathize greatly with me and ordered me to go straight home and sit down.

That is actually, the same prognosis that Glenn has made in the last few days. Seeing how swollen I am becoming, he has ordered me to the recliner for the last two nights. In fact, last night, he yelled at me when I got up to get pillows to prop my feet up further. "You need to say to me, 'Husband, I need some pillows. Go get me some pillows.'" And yes, that is what he said word-for-word. When I came home early from school today, he said the same thing. I was sent to the recliner and he went to the kitchen to make my after-school snack of banana and Nutella on graham crackers, which by the way is fantastic!! And tonight, in light of some nagging belly pains, he helped me make dinner.

The teamwork we show makes me feel confident in our ability to make it through the sleepless nights and rough days full of crying. Not to mention the whole labor and delivery thing.

But before you get all worried, know that by the time I wake up in the morning, my ankles go back to normal (ready to swell again another day).