23.5 Weeks Along - Braxton Hicks Contractions & Chipmunks

Thankfully, not at the same time.

First of all, lets deal with the little hell-vermin in the photo. You have to look closely (click on the photo to enlarge and get a much better view), as the window was shut and the screen was down, so it's kinda grainy.

"Awwwwwww" you say, "he's so cute" you add.....Yeah right! How many of you remember my little adventure last year with "Alvin"? The wayward chipmunk that got stuck my in study for the better part of an afternoon and almost gave me a heart attack. Once he was corraled and set free, I later discovered he'd chewed through a USB cable while he was making himself at home. And having seen the teeth on a chipmunk close up, there's no way I'd ever consider them cute and cuddly ever again.

So I'm sitting here this afternoon, typing away and out of the corner of my eye I see movement along the fence to my left. And there sits either Simon or Theodore, probably having found me in an attempt to avenge their brother, Alvin. I figured once I got up and shut the window it would scare him away. Ha! No such luck. He just sat there and sat there and stared at me. I made sudden movements and jumped at him and smacked the window yet he sat there, taunting me.

Not being in the mood for "Chipmunk Smackdown '05" I decided to take some pictures of the evil creature in hopes that the flash would scare it away. Nope. That was one determined chipmunk.

We continued on like this for about an hour. By that time I was getting kinda freaked out.

Now I know you're saying; "Come on Audrey, it's a chipmunk, get over it already".....Had I not had one invade my home last year, and now sitting here having a staring contest with another, I'd have well enough gotten over it.

I tried jumping up and down, yelling, waving my arms and acting like a general lunatic until the neighbour on the other side of the fence came out of his house and probably thought I was either having a seizure or needed serious medication. And you know something, that damned chipmunk didn't budge! When faced with a real live human being, not 5 feet away from it, it continued to sit and stare into my window.

By this time I was firmly convinced that only Satan himself could send me a chipmunk like this. Well not really, but it was starting to truly freak me out. At one point I thought about getting naked and jumping around in front of it, hoping that in the least it would either blind it or give it a coronary, but then remembered that my neighbours like to leave their house from time to time, and I didn't want to be responsible for giving them heart attacks or causing blindness in what are probably nice, not evil, people.

So being totally and completely at wits end and after a google on "scaring chipmunks" netted me zilch, I did the only thing I could think of. I put some ice water in a squeeze bottle and cautiously raised the window....said a few Hail Mary's for good measure, recited a couple of lines from the exorcism scene from The Exorcist, took aim and squirted the little creep!

I'm not really sure whether it was the "power of Christ" that "compelled" Simon or Theodore, but the water had the desired effect and he took off like a scorched cat!

I'm sleeping with my Bible next to me tonight....just for good measure.

Braxton Hicks Contractions

Braxton Hicks contractions usually start making an appearance towards the middle of pregnancy, somewhere around 20 weeks. It's said that these contractions are felt earlier and more intensely if this is a second or subsequent pregnancy. Oh and have they ever started to make an appearance!

Oi!

Although considered painless when compared with true labor contractions, Braxton Hicks can be very uncomfortable. I've been having them pretty regularily for a couple of weeks now, but being that I'm feeling just a tad under the weather, with an earache and sore throat, it seems I can't get comfortable at all. Especially in the midst of a Braxton Hicks contraction. They aren't regular enough to concern me, and I know they are totally normal, but it just adds to my irritability because nothing I do lately makes me comfortable. And the baby has been SO active lately, even in the midst of a Braxton Hicks. It's almost like it's an inconveniece to Little Miss.....*lol* I understand that it makes her little home get awfully tight, but sheesh, I wish she wouldn't kick back so hard in the midst of one. Ouch!

Little Miss must sense I'm talking about her because I just got one heck of a kick!

So on that note, I think it's time to pop in a Mozart CD, place the headphones across my belly and get her to calm down a bit so I can fall asleep.