This has been a short week (or at least it feels that way). Only 20 more days to go! Elena and I are so excited. Elena completed her first week of Maternity leave at home to rest-up and make final preparations for Emma's arrival. Emma continues to be super active, kicking and squirming in Elena's belly. It is no longer difficult for me to see or feel her movements. This Saturday we reached another milestone. Thirty-seven weeks! The significance of this milestone is that Emma is now considered "full term". That means if she pops out tomorrow she is not considered a preemie and is good to go. Developmentally, Emma has all that she needs to survive on the outside world. All her organs and vital systems are in place. In short, you can stick a fork in her cause she's done! For the remaining days Emma will continue to bulk-up and fatten so she could have good chunky cheeks for us to squeeze. But other than that there is no real reason for her to stay in her Mommy's tummy.

We are as ready as we will ever be for her so we are encouraging her to come out already. Well almost. Friday night Elena started experiencing a sensation she had never felt before. We believed they were contractions. They were light, and happened approximately 19 minutes apart. I was kind of exhausted that night and asked Emma to wait another day before making her debut. Preferably Saturday morning between the hours of 12:00PM and 6:00PM. I want to be well rested and alert for her birth after all. The sensation (contractions?) stopped after two cycles and I got a good nights rest. My biggest fear is being exhausted when the real contractions start. I have stopped gaming late Saturday nights for three weekends in a row (which not too long ago was my "sacrifice the body" night where me and my buddies would game from 10:00PM to 5:00AM). I would be a zombie the next day but I didn't really need to be alert for anything so it was OK. Needless to say, I am now on a constant schedule that puts me in bed by 10:30PM every night. I am now in "minute man" mode. Ready at a moments notice.

Elena got the results of her Group B strep screening this Friday during her Dr.s visit. The results were negative. There are no signs of effacement or dilation at this point either. I have added this important birthing stat toward the top of the page in purple so you can know at a glance how far along we are during these final stages without having to dig through the text.

On Wednesday we completed our last Lamaze class. We got to look at the "tools of the trade" used during the delivery process in a very up close and personal way. Like the "fetal monitor" (a wire spring connected to a machine) that twists into the baby's scalp when only the crown is showing. We didn't like that and joked at how if the nurse dug that into Emma's scalp, Emma's tiny little arm would reach out to rip it out and throw it at her. Hopefully they will not have to use that on Emma. I don't want them piercing her beautiful little head. We also got to touch, feel, and examine the IV they use to administer fluids and medication, as well as its bigger brother the Epidural. I had never really looked at either of these barbaric tools before (probably because I am usually looking the other way when they are being installed) but it turns out that once the skin is pierced, the needle is removed and a plastic, flexible, catheter is all that remains beneath the skin and in the vein. OK, I think I am going to faint now... Alright, I'm back. Where were we, oh yes, the different tools used during delivery. The instructor also showed us the tool they used to break the amniotic sac should the need arise. It looks like a crochet hook. There are no nerve endings in the amniotic sac we were told, so all one should feel is the gushing of warm liquid (probably the blood from my head) when it is ruptured in this manner.

We watched two more films of actual child births, one of which was an extremely sugar-coated version of a c-section. I say this because the camera angle was from the position that I would be seeing it if we had to undergo this procedure. That is, from the mother's head looking at the curtain they drape between her face and the procedure. Unfortunately, it doesn't adequately convey the magnitude of the procedure. It's no picnic, that's for sure.

So interestingly enough, Elena and I heard some strange gurgling sound coming from our backyard today and low and behold what do we see, but two storks walking in our backyard. OK, so I don't know if they were storks, but until someone tells me otherwise, they are gonna be storks. I grabbed my camera and snapped some pictures of them so you be the judge. My sister Jennifer had given me a book on local wildlife a few years back but we could not find an entry for the species that we saw, which means they are not indigenous to Florida. Hmmmm.... very interesting my dear Watson. So by the process of deductive reasoning it would be logical to conclude that they must have traveled from far away. Perhaps on a reconnaissance mission of some sort or a training flight. Needless to say, it did not take long for us to see through their feeble disguises to determine what they were up to. They are clearly the storks that will be delivering Emma to us and just wanted to get an eyeball on our house. They probably thought it was a mistake when they got the address (because they are not used to delivering babies here) and wanted to send a crew out to visually confirm that the destination does indeed exist. Well, now that they got that out of the way, you can rest assured that Emma will be here shortly. That's my story and I am sticking to it.