What a difference a baby makes.

So this was me the night I went into labor with #2. Compared to my first pregnancy, I thought I was soo much bigger....and MAN, was I uncomfortable at the end! She was born on her due date (so this was the evening before her due date....I had about a 30 hour labor), so I was right at 40 weeks.




This was me yesterday....two days past 37 weeks. Not in labor...

Rounding Third and Heading for Home!

Sorry for the baseball reference, but COME ON! The Redlegs are FIVE AND OH!!! Everybody was super stoked to see the Reds win their first two...you can imagine how excited we are now! In this family, we're fans. Win or lose, we go to games, wear our Reds gear and cheer our home team, but MAN is it nice when they win :) Can we just stop the season now? No? Well, that's ok because if we did, my little man would never get to wear HIS super cute Reds gear :)

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming.....

I'M 37 WEEKS TODAY! Or, the baby is 37 weeks today? Either way, we're in the home stretch (hence the baseball reference). I just can't wait to meet this little man! It's getting more and more real every day.

It's so strange...I feel like I know so much about him already...from his movements and times of stillness....but at the same time, it's this whole wide world of wonder.

It's equally amazing to talk to the girls about their brother and what it's going to be like. M is excited to give a gift to her brother....I think she's going to be a little bummed when he isn't interested in playing with it from day one. S is all about "decorating" him (check out my belly pic on facebook from the other day)...and yes, it's cute now and will be less cute when she puts stickers on him for real :)

Either way, they both seem to be pretty excited. We'll see how long that lasts when I'm sitting with the baby and S wants to nurse.

I had an interesting conversation with someone earlier this week. She's from quite a different background than I am (religious, political, geographic, probably financial, etc) and has been raised with a different view of pregnancy than what I have. She said to me that she loves hearing me talk about the baby as if it's already here and part of our family....when the way that she was raised (admittedly superstitiously), you didn't even decorate a nursery or have a baby shower before the baby came so as not to jinx its life.

I dunno...I just can't imagine having a baby in my belly that is doing back flips, hearing sounds, "breathing", playing, listening and all those other things and not view it as a part of our family. Obviously things really change once he's out and we get to learn his personality and interact with him more (though M sings him songs and gives him hugs all the time already)....but he's part of our family. Now, you know me...he was part of our family from the second he was conceived....but at this point, if he was born today, he'd be considered fully developed and ready to live his life. Just still being on the inside is merely a technicality.

Don't get me wrong...I totally get the other perspective...especially from long ago in a time when there weren't ultrasounds and fetal monitors...etc. And I even get how it lasts...especially if you're superstitious...or were raised in a culture where talking about such things was taboo. But at the same time, I really appreciate my friend's willingness to openly appreciate another way of looking at it.

Either way, I'm excited. My dreams these days are of his birth....feeling him on the outside for the first time....kissing his head...will he have hair? Kissing his fingers...how long will his nails be? Watching his big sisters kiss him for the first time and touch his back. What time of day/night will it be? Will M actually participate in the birth the way she says now that she wants to? So many wonderful wonderings....I'm excited to see how it all turns out.

But not before Easter...right? :)

Hail Mary

Hail Mary! Full of Grace. The Lord is with Thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death, Amen.