It's official!

The baby has dropped...repeat...the baby has dropped! Confirmed by side by side photo comparison, the baby is officially "much lower" than she was before (hasn't been confirmed by the doctor yet but photos don't lie). The dropping in question occured at 9pm on Saturday night. I was having Braxton-Hicks (big surprise there...) and decided it was time to walk. Walking usually makes them feel better. Dan came around to help me stand up, and as I was in the process of standing I had the absolute WORST pain in my lower abdomen, this horrible stretching pulling pain. I, of course, sat back down. Once it went away and I stood up, the butt lump was gone from under my boobs and had dropped a good 3-4 inches down, and my lower belly then felt MUCH heavier. We have been looking forward to the dropping for a while now, as it is supposed to alleviate breathing problems, make eating easier, and signal that the baby is coming. Well... it hasn't really alleviated breathing problems, especially not when laying down, just gave her more room to stretch her legs out and get underneath my lungs. I think I definately ate more yesterday than I have been able too, so I guess that's true. And according to the book, in a first pregnancy, dropping can occur right before, or up to 4 weeks before delivery...helpful! At this point if I have to wait 4 more weeks (2 weeks past my due date) I am going to give birth to a 15 lb baby...NO THANK YOU! Other downfalls to the dropping... stairs suck! Going up stairs has become nearly impossible, going down isn't that much fun either but at least I have forward momentum helping. I can't sleep again for 2 reasons, lack of a good position (the belly is completely different now so I have to figure out again how to get comfortable) and constant dreams about my water breaking (and therefore constant wakenings to check and see if my water has broken). Another downfall, hemorrhoids...'nuff said. And my lower belly feels so much heavier. Good thing, munchkin definately has more room and has become quite active again, still just squirming, not a lot of kicks anymore...which is a good thing, if she'd kick she'd probably kick right through at this point!

Yesterday was the 4th of July party at MIL's. The usual...the 10 of us go to Holly's, sit in the back yard, eat the same food we had 2 weeks ago at the Father's Day party, Dave and Kathleen talk about how horrible Devlin is right in front of him. Everyone babies Amber to the point that she has become a whiny crying infant anytime she doesn't get her way (for example, she got out of a chair to go play, I sat down in said chair, and she cryed and threw a fit, so much so that she tripped up the stairs and actually bumped her legs and then started actually crying). My child will not be babied. When she falls (assuming she is not really hurt) we will pick her up, dust her off, tell her she is OK, and send her back out. None of this "oh you poor thing are you ok let me see oh you poor little girl" crap. They have completely made Amber into a helpless, hopeless little being who can do absoultely nothing for herself (she cried for 20 min yesterday because her hotdog was on a bun and not cut up like she wanted it, and she can't cut it up herself...she's 8). I refuse to let this happen to my daughter. She will be strong, she will be independent, she will be in charge of her own actions, and she will take resposibility for them (once she is old enough to understand of course). And they want to have more kids...lord help us!