Well, there was a night I could have done without.

The evening was fine. We didn't game, because Matt's notebook with his character and all his notes for the game was inexplicably not in his bag, so we just sat around and talked, and that was fine with me.

Then we went home and I read for a little bit and then went to bed. And unlike Monday night, where I tossed and turned all night long, I went right to sleep. Zzzzz....

I woke up at about three, needing to use the bathroom. Went. Came back to bed, re-arranged my pillows a little, and started to doze off-

And was jolted back to wakefulness by a cramp. I've been having twinges for a couple of weeks, but this was a full-blown, bona fide cra- It was gone.

I slowly shifted to another position, thinking perhaps that perhaps I'd been putting too much weight on my belly. Yes, the new position seemed fine- CRAMP.

That one was bad enough that I had to sit up, then stand up and walk around a little.

And if that weren't enough, the Mutant Worrybrain, which has been perplexingly subdued about this whole pregnancy thing, decided it was time to kick in. Great gods, I'm not going to miscarry after making it this far, am I?

Don't be ridiculous. This doesn't hurt nearly enough for a miscarriage.

How do I know? I've never had one.

I was up anyway. I went to the bathroom. See? No blood. It's just a perfectly normal cramp. My innards are re-arranging themselves; it's bound to be a little uncomfortable from time to time.

The cramp had faded away again. The Mutant Worrybrain didn't say anything else, but it didn't go away. It just sat there, looking at me dubiously as I got back into bed and tried to find a comfortable position.

Perfectly normal, I told the Worrybrain.

Of course, it replied, meaning the opposite.

I tried to go to sleep. There were no more cramps, but I snapped awake with every minor twinge. I think I finally got back to sleep around 5.

When the alarms went off this morning, there was no way I was going to be able to haul myself out of bed for at least another fifteen minutes, so I pulled out the Pregnancy Trump for the first time. (Well, at least it was the first time I'd pulled it out and significantly inconvenienced Matt, as opposed to just asking him to bring me a glass of milk from the kitchen as long as he was up anyway...) "Sweetie...? I know it's my turn to make lunch and stuff, but could you at least feed the cat for me? Please?"

You tell me: What possible Valentine's Day present do you give to thank someone who not only gets up to do chores (he made the lunches, too) that it isn't their turn to do, but does it without even a grumble, and then takes the first shower so you can sleep yet another fifteen minutes, and then comes back to bed and rubs your back?

I have the greatest sweetie, ever.

But I sure could've used another couple of hours of sleep this morning...

--Liz