Tuesday Feb 24

Luciana called me from the hospital last evening to let me know she is having regular contractions. Every 20 minutes or so. Earlier in the day there had been some concern, she says, about Baby B - they didn't find her practicing her breathing during the twice-daily ultrasound monitoring. But now, in the evening, she's doing fine again. One of the ob-gyn docs had examined Luciana and said her cervix is "softening" but not yet opening. It seems that her labor is beginning.

Today there will be a long ultra-sound examination to measure each baby. The results give a good estimate of how much each baby has grown since the last exam two weeks ago. Likely, Baby B will show very little sign of growth.

Things are pointing toward a conclusion, and soon, I think -- if soon can be counted in a matter of a few days rather than weeks. Our time-table is shifting.

I was standing outside in the dark behind the house last night, waiting for Julie the bulldog to do her business. It was about 10 pm, I had gotten home from the office and was pretty tired. It was very cold, very windy, I was bundled up in my leather jacket, hat and gloves and making that mild moaning noise that people make when they have to stand in the cold and they aren't used to it (I doubt that Ivan Denisovich would have been moaning in the cold behind my house last night). I had one of those perceptions in the peace and quiet that this part of my routine, the routine of the past three weeks, of keeping house by myself, of waking up in the morning and walking the dog, of keeping up with the dishes myself and spending time alone with the dog, these times were about to become obsolete and would see rather dreamlike and from-a-different-era in the near future.

We are transitioning. Her labor has begun. Babies should be arriving soon.