Happy Halloween

Halloween this year has been pretty uneventful, which is good, since I do not want a baby born on Halloween.  A couple of weeks ago we had the Halloween Party we go to every year.  Our last minute costume attempt was to go as a pool shark and an eight ball.  This was our one and only picture of our costumes, and our first successful attempt at using the self timer on our camera.

I'm ready.

some of the ladies from the church baby shower

a beautiful baby blanket

my mother-in-law and mom at my church baby shower

the hair bows, onesies, and 'H' which were lovingly crafted at my baby shower

the crib quilt I designed and my mom created!

38 weeks (and no signs of imminent labor)

the bassinet my mother-in-law decorated

the beautiful blessing dress my mom made with leftover wedding dress fabric

one corner of the nursery

the car seat with snugly pink thing for keeping baby warm

bouncer

the 'H' they made at my church baby shower

Boppy cover I made all by myself!

 The 'H' is for Hannah, by the way, and yes we're still eagerly anticipating her arrival.  After three hours of contractions coming every 5 minutes Sunday morning (which sadly never got very intense, and faded away during sacrament meeting), there's been very little progress to suggest that she's in any hurry to make her arrival. 

Right now I'm feeling relatively patient with the whole situation (although that changes hourly!).  The way I'm seeing things, each day she waits I get one more night of decent sleep, and another day with just Daniel and I.  In anticipation of what may have been our last baby free weekend, we spent Saturday relaxing.  I slept in till 8:30, had breakfast in bed (fresh pineapple and fruity pebbles) and then read Catching Fire till 1:00.  It was perhaps the best Saturday I've had.  Ever.  I didn't even feel guilty for spending so much time relaxing!

Tonight for Family Home Evening, we decided we should probably figure out where the Family Birth Center is at the hospital.  As part of our child birth classes, we had been on a tour, but we'd gotten there from a different building on the hospital campus, by walking through a tunnel that connected the two buildings.  So we had no idea how it get to  it from the parking lot or main road. We determined that when I'm in labor, we're not going to want to drive around guessing if we're headed in the right direction.  It's nice to have that taken care of now.

nostalgic, hormonal, thoughtful, emotional

I'm currently feeling all of the above, all at once. 

This morning on my way into work, I almost started tearing up, and I'm not sure why.

We all know how much I love my job.  I've been looking forward to leaving this job for a long time, and now that it's getting closer I'm still excited, don't get me wrong, but I'm having weird little surges of emotions (hormones?) that are confusing.

My current plan is to work until I'm in labor, so really I don't know when my last day will be.  For all I know, it could be today, or I could still have 2-3 weeks here. 

My mom had all of my siblings and me 1-3 weeks early, so I was raised hearing how the only way to get to your due date was with a baby in your arms.  This has given me some expectations. Even though there's no reason for me to have this baby early, I've been hoping for/almost expecting it.  Today, I'm 38 weeks, and as far as I can tell, I'm no closer to going into labor now, than I have been in the past week or two.  But then, who really knows.  Apparently these things can change in minutes. 

Also, I can't imagine myself having a baby.  It's such a foreign concept to me.  I get that I'm pregnant, and each kick, or hiccup means there is in fact a baby in there, but somehow it's still so unreal.  I haven't spent that much time around newborns, so I'm really hoping I'll know what to do when all of a sudden I have one of my own. Somebody please tell me it comes naturally!

At this point, I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be.  I've got my hospital bag packed, tiny baby clothes washed and neatly folded, the carseat is ready, camera battery is charged, I've got my thank you cards written (need to get stamps still), I guess I'm just going to enjoy waiting somewhat patiently for the big day. 

An update of sorts

It's the middle of October.  I'm not sure how, but it is.  My baby count down says 21 days to go, which means we've made it full term.  It's a joyous thing, being full term, just waiting for the arrival of our baby girl.  It's also relatively draining. 

After working all day I'm tired.  I get home, and set small goals for myself.

Last night for example, I plopped down in the recliner for a brief sit, and decided I could do three things:

1. Get out of the recliner
2. Take off my ring and put it in the bedroom for safe keeping (my fingers look a bit like sausages at the end of the day)
3. Grab my suitcase from our storage room outside our front door.  (I have not yet packed for the hospital...this weekend perhaps?)

As laughable as these little goals were, I completed them.  I also did a sink of dishes, and made dinner, but its so unlike me, to need to make 'get out of the recliner' a goal.  Even though I feel lazy and tired, I'm still so grateful to be pregnant.  Each week I'm more ready to meet this little girl.  Each week also seems to slow down a little bit.  I know it's just me feeling that way, but it seems like my due date will never come.

Even though it feels like time has stopped, there are several things which suggest that it has not.

• The milk in our refrigerator expires after my due date.  I've been waiting a lot of months for this to happen. 
• I go to the doctor's weekly now. 
• On Monday I was already 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. (is it too awkward to talk about my cervix on this blog?)
• I've been having irregular contractions since my appointment on Monday.  who knows if this means anything, but I guess we'll see. 
• I'm in the process of training my replacement at work. She's been here for 2 weeks now, and I feel like I need a lot more time to teach her everything. 
• Realistically we've got anywhere between a couple more days and a month left.
• It's Halloween time, which in and of itself is weird.  Wasn't I just posting about our July activities???
• The Halloween party we go to each year is on Saturday and we're scrambling to come up with creative costume ideas for a super pregnant person.  Last year we won 'Best costume', this year we'll be lucky to show up with costumes!  I had seen the idea of going as two garbage bags, mine would be labeled 'I'm heafty' and Daniel's would say 'I'm Glad'...my idea has been vetoed, so now we're at a loss.
• I'm teaching Relief Society this Sunday (the last time before I have a baby!)

I'll post pictures of my baby showers and hopefully the nursery and maybe a 37 week belly shot when I'm home, with access to my pictures :)  For now though, I'm looking forward to getting Jamba Juice for lunch, sleeping in tomorrow morning, and the rest of the weekend.

Hope you all have a good weekend too!