Week 38

The theme of this week is--no surprises here!--ANTICIPATION! (Secondary theme would be, "I have no clothes that fit anymore." Every day, the big question is what in the world can I wear?)

I've been thinking the past few days about what exactly I've been thinking about the most recently; which part of the whole birth experience is getting the majority of my brain power as I ponder the unknown? This is the conclusion I've come to:

1. the date -- WHEN the birth will occur is definitely what I wonder about the most
2. the process -- thoughts of the date are followed fairly closely in my mind by thoughts of how exactly the birth will go (how the contractions will feel at the beginning, when will it be time to go to the hospital, whether the whole process of labor and delivery will be faster or slower than my other experiences, whether pushing will go better this time, how the hospital experience will be, which midwife will be on duty, etc.)
3. the baby himself -- I've got to admit that almost all of my thoughts have been preoccupied with the first two items on this list...guess I forgot that at the end of all of this, a new baby joins our family!...oh, you know I'm just kidding; but seriously, the thoughts of what the baby will look like, how much he'll weigh, whether he'll have blue eyes, whether he'll cry a lot, are just not consuming me this time around like they did during my first pregnancy...I know that his appearance will be heavenly to us (and not really that great to anyone else, if they're honest, since newborns are kind of funny-looking creatures!)...and I know that whether he has blue eyes or another color, it won't make a bit of difference as far as how much we love him...with this set of unknowns, I feel completely content to wait and see

Today, though, my urge has been to simply hold my baby in my arms and sit in a rocking chair and cuddle and love him to pieces! I can hardly wait...

As we continue to try to guess when the birth will occur, we analyze and over-analyze each possible clue. Today, for example, my parents were attending a funeral in Pennsylvania for my great-uncle who died on December 31. We did think that the irony of them being out of state might be too much for this little guy, and he might decide to make his grand entrance at precisely the time we didn't want him to come! :)

I have to be really careful with my behavior these days because Jeff interprets everything in light of possible nesting before labor. On Wednesday, for example, I was putting away Christmas decorations and cleaning; and as he saw me being obsessive that the Christmas tree must be de-decorated that night and taken outside, then crawling around on the floor picking up silver icicles, and pushing the couch around as I rearranged all the furniture, I think he was convinced that this was the big energy surge before labor, and surely the baby would be born that night or the next day. :) But it didn't happen... It was that night, however, that I said to Jeff, "Is it really OK if the baby is born now???" There was so much more stuff I wanted to accomplish, and he really had to reassure me that if the baby decided to come, the rest of the family would be quite fine, despite the unfinished projects I had going. :)

I have definitely had more energetic moments recently, but I attribute them to a few things:
1. my nature in general loves to organize stuff
2. a new year always puts me in the mood to accomplish household projects
3. and, of course, there is always nesting to blame!

It's funny to realize that today I'm 38 weeks, 2 days...and this was the day in my pregnancy with David that he was born! I guess our 3rd son is already determined to be his own person and not follow in his big brother's footsteps exactly. :)

And speaking of David, he's been really cute recently as he comes up to my tummy, holds his mouth right against it, and (loudly) says, "Baby _____, you play with my dinosaurs???" Despite our attempts to prepare him for what's coming, I'm not sure he's ready for the little tiny baby that he's going to get--a baby who can't sit or talk or play or anything!!!

Notes from my appointment on Wednesday with the midwife:
~ the big news: I'm dilated to 2+ centimeters...which is exciting, but really means very little, since women in this condition can actually go several more weeks before delivery
~ blood pressure was good: 126 over 74...since this had been somewhat of a concern to me earlier in this pregnancy, I am always relieved when it's behaving itself at each check!
~ total weight gain so far is 32 and 1/2 pounds...with Josiah, I gained 32 pounds total, so it feels good to only be slightly above that...although if this baby is not born soon, I know that number will go higher!
~ next appointment is Thursday, the 10th...which is also the date that both my sister and Jeff's sister have predicted for the baby's birth...although they both happened to predict long ago that I was having a girl, so I don't think they're reliable prophets! :)