the final countdown

This is it! The week I've been looking forward to for nine months. My due date is ten days away, and the baby has, thankfully, not arrived early. Everything is--mostly--ready for her arrival: the infant seat has been installed and checked by a certified car seat technician, the cloth diapers are washed and I've made peace with the uncertainty surrounding Charlie's Soap, the crib has been assembled for months and is filled with frivolous stuffed toys that we'll have to remove as soon as it's time to place Gracie in there.

Oh, did I not mention that we've decided on Grace for the baby's name? But I reserve the right to change my mind when I see her. Maybe some name we hadn't even considered will pop into my head and seem utterly fitting. Like Epidurlene, for example?

Anyway, all of my obsessive list-making and recent frantic preparations were all in service of this final goal: having a week before my due date when I would have nothing else to do besides watch TV and movies, read Sue Grafton's new book, V is for Vengeance, and eat things that, by my twisted logic, I am only allowed to eat while pregnant: root beer floats, a butterscotch sundae, and Dick's burgers and fries. So every day for the past few weeks has been driven by an undercurrent of fear that I might go into labor early and miss out on this blissful, self-indulgent week. But so far, so good! V is for Vengeance arrived at the library on time, and I was in the first round of people to get it on reserve, ahead of hundreds of other cheapskates! If only it weren't such a quick read. I'm having to ration it out so it lasts a couple of days, since I've looked forward to it for so long.

I am just about finished with the last ridiculously time-consuming sewing project that I burdened myself with, though I'm tempted to start another one, just to keep things interesting. After all, if I don't have this to worry about late at night (whether or not I'll be able to finish embroidering little flags to hang over the crib), I'll just worry about something else, like the unspeakable fears that every pregnant woman must harbor about the birth. 

So, I'll only be leaving the house when absolutely necessary: trips to Dick's, and maybe Jo Ann for fabric. Now I just need to choose my next series to watch on Netflix. Any suggestions?