My body is a wonderland?

Question: What works great as a pre-natal punching bag for a 22 week old fetus?
Answer: Me!

It's been a week or two since Dan could first feel the tiny flutters in my belly, and several weeks since I could feel them from the inside, but now there is just no hiding it. Like a scene from an Aliens movie, my belly is often dancing around on its own. I have to admit, the first time I saw it my only reaction was "Geez, that's messed up," but now I have come to appreciate and enjoy the baby's wild punches that greet me throughout the day. I hope it is an early indication of her love for wild, unchoreographed dancing when she thinks nobody is looking (just like her mama's).

In other news, Dan and I went on the hospital tour yesterday and I registered to give birth there! Wow, it's official now! The hospital tour was very eye opening for me. For example, did you know that most first time moms take an average of TWELVE hours of labor before they have their baby? Or that when you give birth, after the baby squishes out, buckets of slimey blood/extra no-longer-needed body parts come out (gag gag gag gag)? There is a special bucket thing at the end of the delivery beds to catch all of it (gag gag gag). I also learned that after the initial 2 hour or so recovery from birth, they move you to a different room where you have to stay and be monitored (and the baby stays and is monitored) for approximately TWO DAYS!? Somehow I wasn't imagining spending up to three days at the hospital. Needless to say, I was a little woosey after the tour, but luckily I have four more months to learn to visualize birth as a beautiful, sacred, enabling experience instead of something fantastically disgusting.

And, in case you were wondering, all of the labor and recovery rooms have internet - yes, that was Dan's only question on the tour. But if he's on the computer while I'm in labor, heads are going to roll!