You know you're close when...

You know you’re close when:
- You keep telling everybody how hot it is and they say, “it’s really not that bad.”
- Contractions/pressure causes you to stop dead in your tracks/takes your breath away/brings tears to your eyes/don’t surprise your spouse.
- You start eating a fourth meal a day (my favorite – oatmeal!!)
- People start talking to you more about the sex and name of the baby and asking more specifics about maternity leave
- People openly stare at your belly and do double-takes of you
- You can’t chase around your toddler anymore. Your toddler begins to understand better what “come closer to momma” means.
- Your toddler starts getting more attached to your spouse because you’re so tired, unable to carry/hold and at times, impatient/crabby.
- You’re finally willing to admit that at times your brain is in la-la land. You start making more lists at work to remember important things.
- People are more willing to offer their chair, open the door and your spouse does the heavy lifting without being asked
- You start brainstorming names with family
- You’re so tired again, you just need to add back in more caffeine by necessity.
- You could throw out your back at any moment.
- You can distinguish a hand or a foot in your belly. Others can see your baby move.

* p.s. This is supposed to be funny, not a bitch-fest.

Second baby is different than first because
- People don’t tell you so many scary labor/delivery stories as the first time around
- You don’t feel the need to do birth classes, you don’t think about how your spouse will be during labor
- You don’t read obsessively about baby’s in-utero development
- You look like you’re in your 9th month in your 7th one (at least for me).
- You think all the time about your first’s reaction to the new baby.