I tried to get up this morning for an entire hour and a half (6:30 – 8:00) and failed miserably.  Mostly I just wound up rolling over the opposite direction whenever I felt like I should get out of bed.

Before Joey left for church, he came back in and discovered me still unable to get out of bed, started laughing, and tucked me all back in like I was supposed to go back to sleep.  Then he turned off the light.  ”Noooooo, leave the light on or I’ll never get up,” I hollered after him, but it was too late.  He had shut off all the other lights and was walking out the door.

After a mental rundown of what I need to do today (walk Henry, wash sheets, grocery shop, make Focaccia, write birth plan, finish birthing class homework, and figure out what’s for dinner) I was so stressed out that I could no longer just lay around in bed anymore.  Even if my legs were killing me, which they were.

The baby had decided to wake up just before 8:00, and she was doing her morning calisthenics.  It seemed like the optimal time to have a listen to her heartbeat, so I got the stethoscope and held it up to my belly very lightly.  Five seconds later, she punched it, dead on. (Her aim is super good for being 50% genetically Laird.)

Um, it hurt my ears.

Even through all the fluids, muscles, tissue, and skin, IT WAS A SUPER LOUD PUNCH by the time it traveled up the tubey parts of the stethoscope and made it to my ears.

Then she did it again about five times.

And I was barely touching her.

I switched spots to try to pick up her heartbeat, which was kind of hard to find with my ears still ringing after being punched in the eardrum so many times, but never did pick it up.  Although, it was pretty obvious she was alive in there.  Then, I found something.  It was weird, kind of slow and loud and rhythmic, but not so much like a heartbeat.  And I could feel it outside my belly, too.

Then I realized what she had done.  She’d worked herself up so much punching out the stethoscope that she’d given herself hiccups.

Nice.

I called Joey to tell him, and he laughed really hard.  ”Yeah, I’m going to laugh about that all day,” he said.  ”Pretty sure she’s going to be just like you.”

Heaven help us.