59 days!
I plan to savor each one.
I feel so good, so thankful, so full of life and love that it is nearly annoying to some. I am very excited to have a baby in our house, but I am also in NO rush for her to arrive. Once she is here, I will never experience the complete miracle that is pregnancy again. So I am just enjoying each moment. (I told you. I am "Pollyanna the Pregnant Lady!)
Chad just laughs when people ask how I am feeling. They always seem to expect me to be whiny. When I gush about how great I feel they never know if they should congratulate me or commit me!
The kids just laugh at me. When lying back in the recliner I get a bit "high centered" sometimes. They think that is hysterical. They also think that balancing a glass of water on the "table" their baby sister has created on my lap is hilarious. Joshua has decided she makes a good pillow. He likes to rest his head on his little sister while watching TV!
I am carrying this baby really low. She likes to snuggle her feet right into my left hip most of the time. It is not painful, but I feel her tickling the inside of my hip bone all the time. She continues to be a serene mover. Once in a while she gets really active, but when I place my hands over her wiggling body, she quiets almost immediately. She does get the hiccups more and more all the time. The best way for the kids to feel her move is when she has the hiccups.
The massive weight gain has begun. I am up 18 or 20 pounds! BUT - even that is not stressing me out. There was one day when I was feeling ginormous. I had this "I look terrible" chip on my shoulder for about half of the day, and then I realized just how silly that was. While some tell me I am huge, and others tell me I am tiny (isn't it funny how everyone seems to feel free to comment on your size when you are pregnant?), I have decided to just feel HAPPY. My body needs to grow and gain and stretch and change. Whatever size that means I become, it is OK with me. For the next couple of months, I am going to relish having NO control. I am going to enjoy the growing and stretching and wiggles and hiccups. I have the rest of my life to worry about the rest!
We will get one final sneak peak at this baby on Friday when we head to Fargo for a follow-up ultrasound. Hopefully I will have some fun photos to share of this little dolly by the end of the week.
Our house is in mild chaos as Chad works hard to get a room built for Joshua upstairs. He is doing a great job! Once Joshua is moved in upstairs, we will start arranging baby's things. For now they are stashed in or closet and in the front entry hall. Even this disarray is not bugging me.
I am getting things ready for my leave at work. I plan to work until March 21. (I am due March 20, but I have never been early.) I will then take 12 weeks mostly off. I can not even explain how happy that makes me feel. Over the summer I will work less hours in my office and more hours at home, so baby will be able to be with me (along with her siblings) most of the time.
And. . . I think we may have found day care.
Day care really, really, really freaks me out. I can not add too many "reallys" to that sentence. The first place Joshua was at was NOT ok. I have honestly not forgiven myself for that. I DO NOT trust my instincts at all. Add to that the fact that I will be leaving an infant, and well, let's just say I have lost more than a few hours of sleep over day care decisions already.
The first person that entered my mind before I even knew I was expecting is the wife of a man we have done business with for years. I do not know why she was front and center in my mind, I am hoping it was a God thing though - because once I finally decided that it is wisest for me to return to work after this baby is born, she was the first contact I made. She does have an opening for this fall. Chad and I visited with her last week. . . and I think it will be OK.
As I have admitted, the whole subject makes me sick to my stomach. I am trying to trust that it was all aligned by God. She was my first thought. She has a spot. But in all reality, I am just scared. So pray for all three of us, ok? (Me, baby girl, and Allison)
Here is your peak at our growing baby taken today by Ms. Brenna, of course.
