“I’m still leaning toward avoiding pain meds, but we’ll see how things go once we get there”

I think that’s exactly how you have to take it. No one knows how their experience is going to be until they’re actually experiencing it so there’s no need to make decisions about this kind of thing until you’re there. You just have to do what’s right for you and not worry about what anyone else says. They say epidurals lengthen deliveries, but mine was shorter than average and I don’t know how many stories I’ve read about people having natural, unmedicated births that lasted 30-40 hours.

That just stinks about the IRS stuff.

Also, how rad is it that you felt the hiccups? That’s so awesome! With both of my babies I never felt them, if they had them. Mostly it was just kicking of the ribcage and rolling and flipping and that.

I’m glad your fall was relatively harmless. Be careful!