In a couple of weeks, I'll have little flowers blooming in my office! How cool is that? I believe that I'll consider it a late birthday present.

Speaking of birthdays, it went as well as could reasonably be expected. I got the usual assortment of trinkets, Little Bit got his first chance to horn in on somebody else's holiday and got his own share of presents, and I somehow managed to rake in a fair bit of money, which will be applied toward - ta-da! - a brand new king-sized mattress set. We did a little shopping over the weekend, since a local chain store was having a huge sale, but Eric decided he wanted to do a bit of comparison shopping. I was disappointed, but asked, "Okay, when do you foresee us purchasing a new bed?"

"By next Saturday, definitely."
"Then I don't care where it comes from. You do the shopping, I'll help pick out a comfy one, and as long as we get it soon, I'll be all right with whatever you pick."

Soon, very soon, I'll be able to stretch out my arms and not whack Eric in the head with my elbow! And since we know that this baby is going to end up in our bed with us, this is definitely a worthwhile purchase.

I helped my own sanity by deciding ahead of time that I was going to stay blissfully uninvolved in any conflicts. I figured that Eric knew what my preferences are in important matters, so I could safely leave everything in his hands and pretend to nod off or daydream rather than argue. Keeping my stress level down was a priority for me and the Bit; additionally, I don't want our child to ever be concerned over Mommy not getting along with Grandma, so I figured that now was as good a time as any to just start getting over my own issues.

On the whole, I almost made it through without headache. When they picked up two dinners in a row, despite Eric's vehement arguments that we should be allowed to at least pay for our own meal, I excused myself to the restroom for a minute and came back when I felt more in control. I kept my mouth shut, though; that was the important thing. Perhaps later I'll be able to focus on the mental component.

On the second morning, though, Rita brought up the birth issue. She began repeating everything she had already said to Eric on the phone. I was quivering inside with hormonal surges and mood swings, but was completely surprised to hear my too-calm voice say a few words of assurance about homebirth, and then, "The fact of the matter is, this is the way we've decided to bring our child into this world. That's all there is to it." Bravo, me!

Of course, it wasn't; at least, not for her. She still had many more thoughts on the subject, and Eric and she bantered back and forth for a while. I think that I did admirably well at remaining calm and unstressed. In the end, I offered to arrange it so that their next visit would coincide with a midwife appointment, so that she could meet Barbara and Joy and have her questions answered by them. My ulterior motive, or course, is to allow Barbara and Joy to take over trying to convince Rita to lay off our backs over this.

At one point in the debate, Rita asked how my mother felt about the home "delivery," as she called it, and I took great (hidden) delight in announcing that Mom was perfectly happy about having her grandchild born at home. Rita seemed a bit stunned, but recovered nicely. I think we should all be proud of our performances this weekend.

I think it's safe to say that I'm focused on how to do my job right now and still take care of myself. I've been worried about carrying crates of books and performing other mundane aspects of being a librarian; what if something should happen? Perhaps I need to relax more. In the dream, I was the only one who could see the baby; maybe that's a reflection on the secret nature of the pregnancy at work right now. I don't want to tell anybody yet, in case something were to happen, and in case the library should decide to replace me before I'm ready to go. Still, it's hard to not be able to mention the baby to anybody yet. December, and a burgeoning belly, can't come soon enough.

Of course, everybody had to continually ask me my age, and then groan upon hearing that I've only just reached twenty-five. I remember teasing older friends when they reached "a whole quarter century!"; someday soon, I will be able to look back on it as a young age. For now, it's a very good age to be, I think; fantastic things are set to happen this year - pregnancy, birth, and motherhood - and I can't wait to experience them all! Twenty-five will be a landmark year for me, and for greater reason than that it makes a wonderfully round number. Twenty-five is a great age.