Kat, I've hired a housecleaner, but there's still a boatload of stuff for me to do when I get home that we can't leave to an "outsider." And only I know how I like my laundry done.

Roger, I saw "Fish Called Wanda" and was so aghast at the sheer cruelty of most of it (escpecially the actions of its main, so-called comic lead), that I couldn't even laugh at the rest of it. I cringe at even the memory of watching the killings of the old woman's dogs or the torture/interrogation scene. Guess I'm just a softie, but somehow I don't know if a woman bearing her first child would find that to be pleasant either. Hey, I'm crazy about all the Monty Python movies, but even those make her stomach turn from all the gore.

PattyG, we took your advice and saw "You've Got Mail." We liked it, but had trouble believeing that the female lead would end up loving a guy who had repeatredly deceived and betrayed her up until the final scene. But I want to say how grateful I am to both you and Roger for the thought. (Or have I put my foot in it now? Are you regretting that you ever bothered? I hope not.)

Alice, I think you hit the nail on the head when you advised me: It is not a time for seeing anything scary, stressful, or disturbing. Keep to the lighthearted, warm, funny, romantic. That will be my mantra at the video store.

Kat, the most beautiful advice you gave was singing to the baby. Rest assured that I sing to her/him with the same love I felt when I sang to my first two kids (now 16 and 18) when they were in the womb.

When Margarita wrote: Jack insists that I lost my sense of humor when I was pregnant (couldn't laugh at jokes about chopping up babies and such) I cringed at the recognition. Her body is such a soup of hormonal upheaval that she'll laugh at something I say, burst out crying in the same breath, and then start babbling about something totally unrelated (kinda like me at tax preparation time).

Pelrad, the hobbies are good. she's always been an avid knitter (hence my spectacular fisherman's sweater), and she's just starting to have fun with the internet, so I might want to encourage that. Helen, I added the Pleiades to my favorites list. I hope it helps.

Hey, just a thought. Would this be the first baby born on the Mudcat? Just wondering.