I have noticed several similarities between Ethan and my cat, Bagel.  In a way, I think all babies and cats share many qualities.

* They are soft and cute

* They will sleep anywhere, for a majority of their day

* They will sleep in cribs (one of Bagel’s favorite sleeping spots is in the blanket drawer underneath Ethan’s crib)

* All they do is eat, sleep, and poop with a few alert moments during the day when they like to play

* They’re moody, acting sweet one moment and then thrashing out the next

* We would never eat the food they do, but they seem to love it

* They are entertained by simple things

* We can’t resist holding them

So I ended up having a fun little unexpected adventure at the doctor’s office this morning.  After experiencing some uncommon intestinal distress over the weekend, I started paying attention to the muscular goings-on in my belly area and realized that I seemed to be getting quite tight on a fairly regular basis.  These two things coupled together appear on lists of “preterm labor warning signs” so I figured I’d finally slip into the persona of the overanxious preggo and check in with the experts.  (it’s been over 34 weeks– that’s pretty good, right??!)  After reporting my symptoms to an advice nurse, I got a call back that they’d “double-booked” me into an appt with my doctor at 8:30 this morning.  Off I went.

After the doctor confirmed that I was not at all dilated, I ended up being strapped to a fetal monitor machine and watched for awhile where it was determined that, thankfully, any tightness was not due to actual contractions.  The machine’s output got far more interesting when I stood up–which is what I’d been noticing at home–but apparently that’s due simply to Baboo rearranging himself in a new position based on me being vertical and the lack of space in there could be construed as tightness.  The intestinal distress is a whole other issue for which I’m supposed to take it easy this week to get back on the mend there, but appears to have nothing to do with preterm labor.  So that’s good news!

It’s so great to have expert friends– Gen sat next to us in church yesterday so I could pounce on her with my symptoms since she’s a Labor and Delivery nurse.  She admonished me to go home and drink 3 liters of water and just rest, which I totally did and greatly enjoyed my 10 hours of TV watching and reading!!  I imagine there will be plenty more of that in my future.

Oh– as for the title of this entry.  Poor Seth has been putting up with my, “do you think this is something bad?  should I call the doctor?  But what if…??” for several days now and, per his usual laidback demeanor, has assured me that everything is okay.  He mentioned last night that he couldn’t help but think of the Friends episode where Ross blows off Rachel’s complaints of contractions but Joey rushes her to the hospital, where even though they’re diagnosed as Braxton-Hicks, the doctor praises him for taking action.  So yeah, Seth is more of a Ross.  But in the grand scheme of things,  someone who is less prone to panic is exactly what I need for balance!