The Waiting Place

The final countdown has begun. Today marks 38 weeks, and the baby has been considered "full-term" since last week. We're no longer checking Denise's many symptoms against the list of "Signs of Preterm Labor." Denise is still having her many symptoms, of course, ("My toes feel all tingly! I think the baby is coming!") it's just that at this phase of the game, there is no preterm labor. Only labor. The paradigm has shifted.

The doctor informed us that due dates are actually plus or minus about two weeks. My response to this fact was, "Holy crap! We could have this baby tomorrow!" Denise's thoughts were more to the tune of, "Holy crap! This could take four more weeks!"

As far as I can tell, Denise's biggest fear continues to be that she will go into labor and somehow not realize it. Given the limited experience I have with the birthing process, this does not seem a very likely scenario to me. I've heard women talk about labor, and I've never heard anyone say, "It was so easy, I barely noticed it at all!" A somewhat different theme usually emerges.

Denise is now done with work, and she spends the bulk of her time in the bath tub eating muffins. Feeling hungry? Sleepy? Happy? Sad? Anxious? Take a bath and have a muffin. In fact, have two muffins.

The strangest part for me is having all this built-up anticipation without a definite end date. It's like waiting for Christmas, only you're not really sure what day Christmas is going to be. Also, you're pretty sure that "Christmas" is going to entail changing diapers in the middle of the night.

Merry Christmas, and please have a muffin.

A Woman After My Own Heart

This week's episode of "Adventures of Living with a Pregnant Woman," features a true culinary delight. Behold, and let your taste buds be tantalized:

Bacon Pesto!

mmmmmmm.........

35 Weeks!

I definitely feel pregnant!!! Wow, what a change in the last couple of weeks. A couple weeks ago I was thinking, "wow, I feel great! The last couple months aren't so bad." Then last week I started to change my tune. Not that the last month and a bit is bad....just feeling like we're getting toward the end. Thankfully this summer hasn't been unbearably hot. We've only had a few weeks when I've felt too hot to live! :) I can feel the baby getting more and more squished in by tight belly. He has a harder time moving around now, but it's fun to see and feel him try. He's still pretty active and has the hiccups all the time! I think he has moved south in preparation for coming out and meeting us. Jarrett and I took a birthing class in July and I've read pretty much everything I can get my hands on! Now we just have to wait and see how everything will go for us. I know it will be different than anything I could imagine, but at least I feel prepared enough to just relax and let God handle what's to come!

Everything has been going really well. Baby and I are healthy, I haven't really swelled up much, and I have been surrounded by amazingly supportive (and giving!) friends and family. This past weekend was the baby shower, and we had so much fun! Thank you to all who were able to come and to those who sent their love in the mail (sorry if I forgot to let any of you know it was happening, this was not intentional!). God has blessed us with so much!!!!! Jarrett and I are looking forward to figuring how to use all these new, and not so new, gadgets!

I am planning on next week being my last week of work so I can start working on getting the baby room all organized (more nesting!). :) I am getting more and more excited to meet our little boy! I can't wait until you all can meet him too!

Here are a couple of pictures of the shower: