hurricanes, earthquakes, and pre-term labor?

Sunday's forecast for Philadelphia? We get the left over hurricane coming up the coast. And yes, this time we'll go prepared to Church with umbrellas, a stroller rain cover, or perhaps just taking a zipcar.

Stephen was quite excited to feel the earthquake earlier this week. I would have been excited too, but I didn't feel it since I was in our sturdy kitchen and not sitting at our not so sturdy desk we put together ourselves like Stephen was.

(thanks Brittany for passing along the picture)

As if hurricanes and earthquakes weren't enough movement for one week, it seems that my uterus has decided to join the party of wanna-be big, but only mild movements.

Yup, Rachel is having contractions and is dilated to a 2 (when you hit 10 is when you start pushing the baby out). But actually lots of women are dilated for weeks and weeks and are just fine and it appears that my contractions are lamo contractions (and yes we want lamo contractions at this point) so hopefully I can stay at a 2 for a while yet). They gave me some shots to develop little Simeon's lungs just in case. But since I'm only just 8 months pregnant today and have two more months to go (they don't tell you this beforehand, but 9 months of pregnancy means 9 full months) we're being cautious and taking it easy. What does "easy" mean? It means Stephen makes me one-eyed jacks at 11 o'clock at night and I sit and read books about Indian cuisine (it makes me hungry even if I just end up eating PB&J's), browse Craigslist for kitchen tables, and write blog posts about my justified laziness. Granted the doctor didn't put me on bed rest so perhaps it isn't justified, hmmm. Still when she tells me to take it easy, but that I'm not on bed rest I've deduced from these instructions that I probably shouldn't walk 5 miles in one day like I did on Wednesday and that this is as good as time as any to enjoy Stephen's previously hidden cooking skills.

p.s. There are a lot of pregnancy symptoms no one ever tells you before you're pregnant, but just in case you're wondering I'll share the secrets so you can't say no one ever told you they didn't and at the same time use this opportunity to complain to the world:
-nose bleeds
-feet grow (even if they haven't swelled up)
-eyesight worsens (and though they say it should go back to normal, I don't think mine ever did)
-when you drink water, it goes through immediately and then the nurses tell you that you might just be dehydrated even though you just drank more water than it takes to put out a forest fire.
-leg cramps that hurt more than childbirth in both legs and feet simultaneously
- You might have already guessed this one, but: a preoccupation with your own pregnancy to such a degree that people stop reading your narcissistic blog.