Six Weeks?

I'll be 34 weeks tomorrow.

Do I really have only six more weeks left?

That is not a lot of time. Sad thing is I feel like I don't have the time to do a lot of what I would like to do. Like SEW!

We had a appointment with our Midwife this week. It went really well. It just makes you at ease sitting and talking with someone who has witnessed more than 1,000 births, less than 10% of those being at a hospital, the rest being at home. You can tell she really cares A LOT about women and birthing and that she has your best interest at heart. I can truly say I never felt that way around the doctors I had with my previous births. One of the great things about giving birth at home is the care that you receive. These women come to your house and spend your labor with you. There is no "changing of the guard" like the nurses in the hospital(who by the way, you have NEVER met). You develop a relationship with the women who will be there to help you through. It is great. J and I were talking about what we are looking forward too this birth.. something we never talked about for our previous births. My main thing is the comfort of being in my own house, laboring in my own clothes(or no clothes), sleeping in my own bed(I absolutely love my bed), not having the hassle of coming home from the hospital or packing a bag to go to the hospital. I don't have to worry about being away from my other kids and the fact that they couldn't come see us if we were at the hospital(hospital policy that no one under 12 is allowed into the birthing center). I am really looking forward to it.

So I thought that July 28th would be a good date for the baby to come but now I am re-thinking it. As much as I love that date, I really need that whole week to relax. We are planning on taking a trip to Ludington and I want to make the most of it. I know that you really can't "plan" things like natural labor. It just happens. But it would be nice to have that whole week. August 1 is nice? Or the 4th was my Grandpa's birthday. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Another thing I determined was that I will let you know what the ultrasound said we are having(because you know ultrasounds have been wrong before) on August 14, if I get that far. Does that sound fair?

Also, first news of anything will be posted here. Not Facebook. I am even banning J from it. I will probably block everyone from posting on my wall until I'm really to announce it officially. If I can get J to block his wall then I will. I just feel it will be better that way.

Are you excited? I am.

33

I am 33 weeks and a random amount of days.

I am a little more prepared this week. The Arm's Reach Bassinet is set up in our room, waiting for the baby to arrive. J was AMAZING this week and found all of our missing baby blankets in a box, in the corner of the crawl space of his parents house. I thought that they had somehow been donated to Salvation Army or Goodwill we have looked for them on numerous occasions and they have not been found until now.

I went shopping at JoAnn Fabrics this week for material to make a baby quilt and bumper pads for the crib but could not find the fabric I was looking for. I did however get a photo album for scrap booking. One for little N and one for the new baby.

Stuff is falling into place.

This is week is one of our weeks at home and then we have another week away. We will be in Grand Rapids for a conference. I am hoping to find a fabric store somewhere and buy the fabric for a quilt and maybe a Babies R Us because something else we need is a new carseat, our old one is for sure expired.

Less than 7 weeks away!

Easy

After giving birth to my first child, I longed for the day I would have both a boy and a girl. After that, I thought if I would have another child, we would not find out if it was a boy or a girl, I really wanted it to be a surprise.

Well, we are kind of doing that. With no one else, including our children and immediate family being "in" on the secret, it makes getting "prepared" a little more difficult. Although I have both boy and girl clothes available, it is hard to get them washed and put away, ready for when the baby arrives. I find my self doing it "undercover". I'm not telling you where all the washed and ready baby clothes are. That's a secret too. It is great though to feel 100% prepared clothing wise for this little one. I do, desperately want to buy a few new things. I plan on fabric shopping this week so I can make a bumper pad, baby quilt, dust ruffle, burp clothes and curtains.

The most difficult thing is keeping the secret. I have to think ahead of my speaking, making sure I say the right thing and not anything that would let my secret out. I love when people say the think the baby is *insert boy/girl here* and they are wrong. Then I think I must be doing something right and not revealing anything. It is also hard, to refuse to tell the secret to friends who are incredibly talented in crafty endeavors and have offered to make you cute things. Of course they could make you cute things in neutral colors. It is hard to keep secrets.. that is why our five and six year olds don't know. You could ask our two year old. I've told him everything, down to the name we have picked out.

Two Months More

I think I can safely say that in two months I will be holding a newborn baby.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE newborns. They are so sweet, cute, cuddly. There is nothing like a newborn.

These last few months are packed full of events and vacations which makes preparing for the little one just a little bit harder. I think I could fly by the seat of my pants if I wasn't fully prepared when the little babe arrived. I have some newborn clothes around, a place for the little one to sleep, almost a full supply of diapers and diaper covers-what more do you need?

I want to make some baby bedding or at least buy the fabric for it. If I was really ambitious I would make the quilts I have been dying to make for the girls and N. But buying the fabric is absolutely something on my to-to list. I also need to buy some more newborn diaper covers, maybe a dozen more prefolds or some newborn AIO's. We need to get all of our bins of baby clothes from the in-laws' house and the Arm's Reach baby bed. We need to buy a new car seat because I'm sure ours is old enough to be expired. We need to order homeschooling curriculum before June 30. I do not think we will have time to paint but I at least wanted to get the ugly flower wallpaper out of the spare/baby/my/homeschooling room. We need to buy our birthing supply kit.

Two months is not a lot of time and it could be less than that.

Emotions lately have been extreme. I wish I was more mellow.

This big, huge belly makes it difficult for me to sleep. N cannot sit on my lap anymore which doesn't prevent him from trying then when he can't succeed he climbs on me. He really loves being close.

J feels the baby move often. He jumped about five feet the other night after a sharp kick hit his hand. It was funny. I don't find it funny that I get kicked like that all the time. Honestly, if the first 7 months of pregnancy felt like the last 3 I wouldn't have children. These are the months I forget about. I think they get harder and harder every time. Especially with the active children outside my womb that I have to chase on a daily basis.

I AM TIRED.

But in the end it is all worth it. Plus, this is my second to last one. I only plan on doing this once more. I can do this. Seriously though, next time I might check out those prenatal yoga classes. I think that would help my body feel better the last few months.

Well, 32 weeks, here we are.

Not what I was hoping for...

Have you ever had time just slip through your hands?

Have you ever really, really, wanted to get something done and just never got around to doing it?

Yeah, that's me and this week.

So I was suppose to take a super cute photo of my pregnant self last week. Do you remember me saying that I would?

Well.....yeah.... didn't really get around to doing that..... maybe we'll shot for next week???

But.. rest assured, I did get something....

This is M and me at a wedding this past weekend. Taken by five year old L.

Not to shabby, eh?

We are cute people so it makes up for any flaws.

So what's going on at 31 weeks...

other than utter exhaustion and the fact that for two days this past week it was around 100 degrees up here in the great state of Michigan and that we have zero air conditioning and two large fans?

things have been great

Actually, this is what gets me through those days and more importantly those nights..

I have a pregnant friend who lives in one of the Carolina's that is 32 weeks along with twins. With the heat they have there I cannot even imagine it. So that gets me through. If she can deal than I can. Also the fact that we are in Michigan and not Oklahoma where 90 degrees plus with humidity is an every day starting in early April or May into August and September thing, that seems like it never ends gets me through. I'm not there. I'm here. Check weather report. This is only going to last two days and then on the third day we barely reach 60.

OK.

I can handle this.

It's all about the positive, people.

Then I call my best friend who lives in the Oklahoma heat and she says

"At least there is air conditioning EVERYWHERE"

Thanks friend for pointing out reality. :-)

I like lying to myself and trying to stay positive so I don't

die

of

heat

So that's 31 weeks for you.

I had a day of minor pain. I think I stood up too fast from the sitting position twice. Once in the morning and once in the evening. Other than that I was fine. Baby is moving a lot. It's fun getting to know the personality. I'm getting anxious to meet this little one and add one more to our crazy bunch of children.

pains

Terrible pain this morning. I was sitting on the floor changing N and when I got up I must have pulled something. I couldn't stand or walk without horrible pain for about an hour. Thankfully it is gone now. Baby is fine, moving like normal.

Thirty Weeks

Thirty? THIRTY? I cannot believe I've reached this point.

Ten more weeks to go. Give or take. I'm leaning towards the take only because of that conference we have going on on my due date. I got a little snappy with J the other day when he said he was going to preach at a church two hours away from where we live on August 7. "What?" I yelled at him. "You know we can't plan anything after the end of July!" Then after he calmly said "Whoa, I'm sorry, I forgot" I realized how I must have sounded and apologized. Really, I shouldn't expect him to remember everything, like the exact dates that we need to burrow down at our house until the babe is born.

Thoughts this week are solely financial based. Not, "how am I going to afford this baby?" but rather "how am I going to afford everything else that is happening in my life right now?" I feel a little stressed about money which isn't normal because when we were in OK and J was in seminary I promised myself to never be stressed out about finances and I never was. But we aren't in Oklahoma anymore. I guess my mind needs to not be stressed about finances no matter where we are. I'll work on that.

I've realized that I need a new pregnancy photo. I'll work on getting that done this week.

I've also realized that I want a little more support during my labor and delivery. If it can be arranged. I also need a photographer since I can't take awesome photos of myself, even though I've done so in the past, it would be harder taking awesome photo of myself holding a beautiful baby after giving birth. So I'm going to ask around and see if anyone would be willing to come over and witness the miracle of a birth. Relatives are excluded. We are going to try to wait to inform them of the birth until after it happens. :-)

Here's to thirty!