Five weeks to go!!!

Soooo....the nursery is pretty much done. The bouncy seat, swing, and pack-n-play are assembled. The laundry is done. We went to the childbirth class. We hee-hee-hoooo'd and bounced on the so-called "birthing ball." We'll install the car seat bases this weekend. (A hint: when you have a baby, please-please-please show up to the hospital already having an idea of how to use your carseat, how to adjust the straps, etc. They're not easy to figure out on the fly and can lead to much swearing and angst as you're rearing to finally go home. Please don't show up with the base attached to the carseat, or worse, with the seat still in the box!)

I guess we're ready? Because in two or three weeks, the waiting (the major, nail-biting waiting!) starts. Preferably in three weeks, because 38 weeks is really considered term. 37-weekers can still be kind of squirrely and sit on the fence.

Are we ready? I think so. Am I afraid of the delivery? Well, I'm not really looking forward to it, but I'm not freaked out either like I know a lot of women are. It's understandable and reasonable to be freaked out, but I just don't feel it. It'll happen how it happens, and that's that!! If I want drugs or an epidural, I'll get them. If I end up needing a c-section, that's the way it is. I trust the judgment of everyone with whom I work and know we're all in good hands.

Here are the "finished" pics of the baby's room...just a few more things need to go up (birdie mobile, curtains, crib skirt, etc)!!







(This is the verse from Jeremiah - "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'")


And I have to give a major shout-out to my sweet Matt, who has more than picked up the slack around here as I slow down!!! Not only is he working his normal hours and commuting while he's at it, in addition to his regular breakfast "dates" each week to meet with his accountability guys, etc, he's pretty much doing EVERYTHING else around the house. Vacuuming. Laundry. Changing the sheets. Dishes. Scrubbing the bathtub. Walking the dog. Watering the flowers. And on and on and on. I honestly think that the house is actually cleaner than when I'm doing all that stuff!!!!! But he does it without complaint, and when I start to fuss about feeling like a useless blob, he stops me and says, "Your job is to grow a baby. I'll do everything else." I ask you, how many men will do all that????

I feel like I'm starting to "drop" but can't tell. I don't feel like I look any different. But today I felt like I was waddling. There's more pressure in my pelvis. There is sometimes a stunning amount of pressure on my bladder and then I pee like a teaspoon. Normally I tool around at my usual pace and even forget momentarily that I'm pregnant...but today as I ran errands I just felt, I don't know, slow and like I had to hold up my stomach or something. Experienced moms, please feel free to inform the newbie here!!!!

I'm not really inclined to say that I'm "nesting;" rather I'm more in a calculated pseudo-panic. "Pseudo" because I'm truly not panicked and crazy, but I'm trying to work at a pace that would make one think that I'm panicked. My friend Mary was so wise when she was pregnant...she would think, "If the baby were born this week, what would I freak out about the most?" and then she'd make that her project (set up the crib, install the carseat, etc). So I've been methodically getting all the biggie projects done so I wouldn't come to that point, and now I'm basically forcing myself to "nest," as in make extra meals to freeze, stock up on storage items, clean things out to make space, etc. I'd rather, um, nap all day and do not feel this "burst of energy" of which others speak!!! Yet. Maybe that's to come.

Anyway, thank you for your prayers so far and your encouragement. I can't believe we're so close to the final lap!!! I'm scared and probably more neurotic during these last weeks than I was in the first and second tri's combined, honestly. But that's a different blog post. God is teaching me through my fear, and I'll leave it at that for now. :)