It’s official.  The doctors have confirmed that Siobhan is going to have a little monster on or near January 26, 2012.  Scary, ain’t it?

That’s two days before my oldest brother’s birthday.  A month after Christmas.  And a month before MysticCon.  Apparently we’re a little further along than we thought… at approximately 7 1/2 weeks now.

How am I?  I’m scared shitless…thanks for asking.

Let me tell you right now… raising a teenager is NOTHING compared to the freakish anticipation of having a newborn.  At least the teenager is somewhat self-sufficient.  I don’t have to feed her and wipe her butt.  I don’t have to barricade her into one spot to keep her from getting hurt.  And I don’t have to worry about her waking me up screaming every two hours for the next however-many-months.

I’m already not sleeping well – whenever I lie flat, my sides cramp.   I’m a stomach sleeper, and that is an insanely hard habit to break.  Half the time I end up sleeping on the couch, propped up on pillows because I can’t get comfortable otherwise.  I’m just under two months… I can’t even begin to imagine what the next seven will be like.

I have a massive bruise on the inside of my right elbow where they attempted to take blood from the wrong arm yesterday.  It hurts.

Plus, I learned something at my appointment.  The 40-week human gestation period is not registered from the point of conception, but from the first day of the last cycle.   I can tell you with almost absolute certainty the date of conception, but that might be a little too much detail for the internet.

Anyway… it would appear that everyone I know is excited about this.  My dad is serious about having the camper to put in my yard.  And I’m pretty sure that the majority of my family will be at my parents’ Christmas party just to watch me waddle around.

The sickness hasn’t started yet, thankfully.  Everyone keeps asking me how I am and if I feel okay.  Other than being completely freaking exhausted, I’m mostly fine.  I do have the occasional cramp in my side, and I get really laggy around lunchtime, but I think I’ll make it.

People in the Unfortunate Real Job are starting to find out, and most of them have been pretty excited.  There are still a few reactions I’m not looking forward to, but for the most part the hardest ones are done.  My family (most of it, anyway) knows, and my friends know.  Beyond that, I’m not overly concerned with who else knows…or even cares.

All I’m concerned with is that I have seven and a half months to convince myself that I can do this without making too much of a fool of myself.

It’ll all work out.  I’m sure of that.