This being your mother's first pregnancy, she's not really sure just how contractions are supposed to feel. At the beginning of this week, perhaps as a way of announcing that the ninth and last month of pregnancy was starting, she felt a new and different sort of pulling in her. You just didn't let up and we thought that just maybe you were announcing a slightly early arrival.

We know that this is giving you more credit than even a child of ours really deserves, but we even had the feeling that perhaps behind our backs you've been reading the same books that we've been reading. They tell us that we should be prepared for possible contractions - and all of a sudden you seem to be making good on those predictions.

Actually, we were pretty sure that you weren't about to make an appearance, but we went to the hospital anyway and your mother was hooked up to a monitor where she had a chance to see you and to have your activities tracked. It seems that you were particularly active (your mother didn't need a monitor to learn that) and the doctor suggested that your mother try and rest for a few days and in that way perhaps get you to relax as well.

And that's what she did, though whether you calmed down, or whether she simply got a bit more used to your constant activity is not exactly clear. Either way, your mother stayed home for most of this week and tried to relax as much as you let her, and by the end of the week we were willing to accept the idea that the excitement of the beginning of the week was only a false alarm. We're still waiting - patiently - for your arrival.