About to Pop!

Thanks to the generosity of Gram and Gramps Bickford, we now have a car seat installed in the back of our car! It is fun to drive around imagining our little one riding along with us. We can not wait until we can take Baby Bickford up to Maine.

It proved to be a bit of a challenge to get the car seat secured. There were so many warnings printed in the instructions that we could not find the actual directions. After looking at blurry pictures and Micah's seeking help from a co-worker, we finally got it properly installed. It was actually a lot simpler than the directions made it out to be.

Eileen seems to get a little bigger everyday. She continues to go to work -- her last scheduled day is February 22. She can hardly believe that after that she is done. Everyone at work is taking good care of her. When she comes home, she spends most of her time nesting and napping. At night she can be heard waking up and shouting, "I need to roll over and I can't move my belly!" Micah has not been getting as much sleep as he would like. But this is just a foretaste of things to come . . .

Eileen has been having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions -- which are signs that her body is warming up for the big day. On Saturday we drove to visit Eileen's mom in Lancaster. On the way she began feeling a new sensation -- one that she had not felt before. Rather then being a random tightening of her uterus muscle, she felt as though she was "opening up." This was not painful, but came at regular intervals. We began to wonder, "Is today the day?"

Once Eileen had a chance to stand up and walk around the sensations stopped. We would have to wait for another day. We are both anxious for the little one to come -- but we still have a lot we want to accomplish before he/she arrives.

We have also chosen our pediatrician. We are going to a team of doctors at Kid's First. Kid's First is The Birth Center of pediatrics. They are interested in educating families and not over-medicating. One of Eileen's favorite aspects is that they have separate waiting rooms for sick and healthy patients.

Well, that is all for tonight. But who knows, maybe our next post will say "Welcome Baby Bickford" . . .