8 Things I Can't Wait to Do Post-Pregnancy

Baby Edith is now due in less than a month -- 29 days, to be exact.

And while I can hardly wait to meet her face to face, I'm looking forward to a lot of other things after baby is born, too. I can't wait to:

1. Wear pants that aren't stretchy.

The first time I tried on maternity jeans, I burst out laughing. The elastic goes all the way up to where? I'm not laughing anymore. I live in those jeans, yoga pants, pajama bottoms and, on nice days, a couple of dresses and stretchy skirts. I miss my regular ol' jeans.

2. Fasten my jackets.

I still have a couple of wool coats that zip or button up without squashing my bump, but my very favorites are a no-go. That's not exactly true -- on the mild fall days, I still wear my favorite plaid jacket without fastening the bottom button.

3. Sleep without a backache.

There was a fist-size spot on the upper left side of my back, just below my shoulder blade, that used to hurt no matter how I slept. Now the spot's along my side around my ribs. Sleeping on my right side, left side, with a pillow between my knees, back against the wall or the couch: it doesn't matter. But maybe after baby comes I'll look back fondly on getting any kind of sleep, backache or not.

4. Eat and drink what I want.

A medium-well hamburger topped with blue cheese sounds nice. Even a cold-cut turkey sandwich sounds like an indulgence. And while I haven't missed the absence of alcohol too much, it'll still be nice to indulge in a bottle of beer or glass of wine once in a while. And I especially can't wait to ...

5. Order sushi.

Honestly, my favorite rolls are vegetarian: California or just plain avocado. But now that I can't have it, I really want a spicy tuna roll. Even if I had one right now, however, it wouldn't satisfy me for long. I'm so hungry all the time that I don't even know how many rolls it would take to satisfy my stomach.

6. Stop running into things.

I'm still not used to my belly's extra inches, and it's not uncommon for me to run into stomach-high objects. I forget that I don't have that extra wiggle room! Even when I'm passing by Paul in, say, our narrow kitchen, my belly has a tendency to rub against his back. I want my old body back!

7. Walk fast.

I missed my first subway last week specifically due to my pregnancy. I simply couldn't walk fast enough to make it to the doors before they closed. It made me sad to realize that a woman who slipped by me when we heard the train coming made it in time.

8. Breathe.

It's much more difficult than it used to be to take a deep breath, even sitting straight up. Reclining is not an option, and lying on my back? As they say in Brooklyn, fuggedaboutit.