On my due date*

*Since people keep asking: Technically I hit 40 weeks yesterday. But my midwives have my due date listed as today. So let's just call it a 48-hour due date, shall we?

There seems to be a Friends episode to fit every occasion, right? And until I got pregnant, I would have thought that the one exception to this would be pregnancy. Because everyone knows that sitcoms absolutely fail at portraying a realistic pregnancy. And that's true! It totally is! Sitcom pregnancies are not realistic AT ALL.

For example, sitcom characters suddenly feel the baby kicking one day, yell out, "The baby just kicked for the first time!" and everyone gathers around and they can all feel it and it's magical and wonderful. Whereas in reality, at least for me, it was weeks of wait, was that a kick? Or a gas bubble? I think that was a kick. Oh god I haven't felt anything for days. Maybe that wasn't a kick last week after all. OK I'm almost positive that was a kick. OK now it's four weeks later, I'm sure these are kicks, Torsten put your hand here so you can feel it. Oh wait it stopped. OK try again. Damn, it stopped again. OK it's another four weeks later just PUT YOUR DAMN HAND ON MY BELLY AND LEAVE IT THERE UNTIL THE BABY KICKS I DON'T CARE IF IT TAKES ALL DAY.

And let's not even start on how every sitcom character's water breaks all of a sudden in a very inconvenient place, and then they rush off to the hospital and have a baby. I don't think I even need to bother describing how infrequently THAT particular scenario occurs.

The point is, I think you'll probably all be able to relate to the eye-rolling I've always done during the episode of Friends where Rachel gets to her due date and gives the little speech about how she's just loved being pregnant, and she's really going to miss it.

And I still roll my eyes, just a little, when I see that scene because again, I know how rare it is to feel that way by the time you're 40 weeks pregnant. Most women are wildly uncomfortable and impatient at that point and just want the baby OUT OUT OUT.

So, all of this is just a giant preamble, the point of which is: I will totally forgive you if you roll your eyes during the next part of this post. Because I know my experience is rare, and I'm incredibly lucky.

But I genuinely have loved being pregnant. Not every bit of it--morning sickness specifically comes to mind--and certainly there have been inconveniences and discomforts. And I'm looking forward to being able to sleep on my back again, and to not waking up five times per night to pee, and to being able to eat sashimi.

But I have had an easy, uncomplicated pregnancy, at least so far. I'm still sleeping fine. I don't feel impatient. My discomforts have been mild--and I've been so thrilled about being pregnant that for the most part (other than the few weeks early on when I felt seasick round the clock) I haven't really minded them. They were expected--in fact, I was expecting far worse--but what I wasn't expecting was how much I would like the good parts. Like how very, incredibly great the good parts would actually be.

I LOVE baby kicks. (Though I will say, I decidedly DO NOT love baby hiccups.) I love knowing that I'm growing a person. I love that everywhere I go, Piglet comes along for the ride. I love being asked about my pregnancy and talking about it. I love preparing for a baby and dreaming about a baby and knowing that soon there will actually BE a baby. And I feel such a bond with this baby. Every time he kicks I feel like we're having a private little communication. I love that I get the privilege of having him with me all the time.

I know that a future pregnancy of mine will probably not be like this, because no two pregnancies are alike, not to mention that I won't have all this time to sleep and relax and get ready, because there will be another child to take care of. And that's OK too. I'm just really grateful that I got to experience this first pregnancy the way that I did, that I got so lucky, that it's been such a positive experience for me.

Now let's hope that whenever Piglet decides to make his appearance, parenting a newborn will turn out to be similarly, surprisingly great.