She's coming

Induction scheduled for Sunday, 6/15, 7:30 am. I am going to be a mom in approximately 3 days or less.

Holy cow.

By next Wednesday we'll be bringing home our baby.

God is good!

Here we are at little E's due date, post-graduation, and post-family. And E still hasn't decided to leave the safety of her mommy's belly, so I'm still very large. But that's not the point of this post - God has answered so many prayers this week and I have to share.

First, graduation was a total success. All of the factions came together and were civil to each other. My dad was no problem, and he even looked like he wanted to be there. We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time together, and I think he was sad that he didn't get to meet his granddaughter, but overall it was OK. He ended up sitting in the one seat at graduation I didn't want him to have - the one right next to my mother's mother, his former mother-in-law. But even they (who haven't seen each other in years, probably since my wedding seven years ago) got along just fine. My grandma made one slight dig, but if he noticed he brushed it off with grace. Praise God - I was so worried about that. The cookout was a smashing success. Friends, family, and even Ruthless's parents came over, and everyone mixed wonderfully and even seemed to enjoy each other's company!! Thanks be to GOD!

We had a great time with everyone who came. There was a lot of running around, but we did get to spend time with each "faction" individually, which was really nice. And I somehow found a random store of energy to get me through all of that. I was able to chauffeur, tour guide, etc. for eight members of my family with minimal naps, the only side effect being ridiculously swollen feet (I had to wear flip-flops with my tent of a graduation gown). But hey - I made it.

Second, I am so thankful for the peace God has provided. Here I sit, on June 9, the day I was sure I'd be holding my little girl and kissing her sweet face, and I am still puffy and swollen, with a huge belly and killer heartburn, awkward and a bit uncomfortable. And still having Braxton-Hicks contractions like crazy, but none of the real ones. But I am totally, completely OK with that. As of last Tuesday I was not progressing at all (hadn't moved in 2 weeks). But it's fine with me. I can honestly say that I really do want her here at God's appointed time, even if that's another week and a half away. It seems like forever, but I'm feeling really good and in the last few days I've been graciously granted an oversize helping of peace with this pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to meet my baby - I dream about her every night, and wonder every few hours if today's the day, but the point is, I know it's fine if today is not the day. I know I'll meet her soon enough, and I'm just trying to enjoy the last few moments of feeling her move inside me, and having energy, and being a family of two.

So, thanks for your prayers. It means a lot to me to know that I have friends out there looking out for my spiritual well-being, and caring so much for me and little E. One of the things that makes me most excited about having this little girl is introducing her to her "family." I guess now the prayer request is for a healthy baby, and easy (or at least relatively uneventful) labor and delivery when the time comes!

How am I going to do this?

Have I mentioned that in the coming week there are three "factions" of family coming to visit all at the same time? My mother's mother, her husband, and my cousin; my father's mother and her sister (My dad's mom is coming to visit, with her sister, for nine days. NINE. Starting tomorrow, and continuing right on past baby E's due date. She's staying with us for all but THREE, and my dad will be here for one of those three); and my aunt and uncle (my stepmother's brother and sister-in-law). And my dad is coming for less than a day. Mind you, these people have never all been in the same room at once. And genius I am, I decide to throw a barbecue. Remind me again why?

Don't get me wrong, I am super psyched that people are showing interest enough to come and visit, and I love that there will be lots of love around little E if she's born while they're here, and it makes me feel good to know that they care enough to show up for my graduation from law school... but... all at once? It suddenly seems like a whole lot to take, all while 39 weeks pregnant.

Or worse - what if I go into labor while all of this is going on? I am so anxious about this. Part of me now wants the baby to hold off, and the next week and a half to fly by.

EEK! I seriously have to remember to be still, be calm, and know that God is sovereign. He is in control, so I don't have to be. I'm a little anxious (might be a bit of an understatement) but I need to let it go. Needless to say, my friends, I could use some prayer for that one, because I don't think I can let it go all on my own.

38 weeks, 3 days

Now taking suggestions on how to get this baby OUT. Preferably before Saturday. Went for a half hour walk today, and other than being totally out of breath, nothing. Tried spicy food... nothing. Tried, um, things that have been, well, more difficult as of late... nothing. Tried bouncing up and down repeatedly on an exercise ball... nothing. Any more ideas? She just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and I'd prefer not to have a nine-pounder. And some of our great friends who walked through the entire process with us are leaving Saturday, and it seems really wrong to us that they might miss her.

SO: suggestions. Go.

Dropping...

I keep hearing that when the baby drops there's a relief of heartburn. I'll have one of those, please. :)

Six more days till full term!! YIPEEEE!

Anniversary contractions. Lovely.

In case you ever wanted to put a chill a romantic evening on your anniversary, let me tell you a quick way to do it. We'd planned to make dinner together and have a nice evening in, just the two of us (and our cat, of course). And then contractions started. So we spent almost four hours timing them, talking to the doctor, and trying to decide whether or not to go to the hospital (the doc left it up to us). By the end of the evening I was exhausted and the contractions started to spread out a bit, so we dragged ourselves to bed and crashed. The good news is, we (I) re-packed our hospital bags. They're much more organized now. :)

And the other good news is that in spite of the chill, it was a pretty good anniversary - I was re-affirmed in how much I love my husband even after seven years!! He made our anniversary dinner by himself, kept track of my contractions, reassured me, and prayed over our baby. He was totally calm and upbeat. I'm surprised by his calm, but pleasantly so. He said once that she'll be fine, and the "worst" case scenario is that we'd get to see her little face a bit sooner than we expected. And then he kissed my belly. I love that man.

So now that we're 34 weeks the doctor was much less concerned about preterm labor. He said they might not do anything to stop it at this point, though they'd obviously feel much more comfortable in a couple of more weeks. He also said that some women just have contractions. "They don't seem to deliver, they just have a lot of contractions." My response? "Lucky me."

The other scary thing about last night was that my heart was reacting strangely to the contractions - I've felt them in my chest for a while, but last night it was clear that my heart was beating much harder during contractions, and sometimes it felt like it was skipping. The doctor said maybe they're just more painful... I don't know. It just seems weird. And my contractions haven't really been painful at all, just a bit uncomfortable.

Anyway, I think our plan right now is at least for the next couple of weeks for me to try to take it a bit easy, and try to keep those annoying contractions away. Once we hit May 19 (37 weeks), though, it's show time.

How I'm feeling... if you really want to know

When people ask me how I'm feeling, I am never quite sure how to respond, especially on days like today. Usually I just say, "Great!" or maybe "Really pregnant." I honestly don't think that people want to hear that my back is killing me, or that my breasts are aching, or that my feet and calves are swollen pretty constantly these days, or that my hips are so sore I can barely move in bed, or that I have to sleep sitting up at night lately because my heartburn is so horrible. I honestly don't think they want to know all that. But that's exactly how I feel.

It's not all that bad though... I have had a really great pregnancy so far, no serious problems to speak of. It's just this last bit that's getting to me. I'm trying to enjoy it, to savor the last few weeks of pregnancy: feeling her move, thinking about who she is in there, preparing for her arrival. But days like today make me feel like I'm ready to go as soon as we hit 37 weeks - which, by the way, is 3 weeks and two days... not that I'm counting.