Week 38--Still Standing

It's week 38 and I'm still standing!

I hate self-ies, but with Justin already being gone for the day, I figured I better snap a Week 38 pictures while I could!

When we went to our weekly appointment last Friday, we were greeted with some surprising news.  They asked if I wanted checked--I really didn't care either way, but Justin was eager to hear some numbers, so we went ahead and had them check me.

Without getting too personal, let's just say there were some major changes from week 36 to week 37.  Now, I know the numbers aren't always indicative of things to come, but essentially, they found that it won't take much and the baby will be here...or, as I like to say, if I were to jump on a trampoline right now, the baby might just fall out!

Keep in mind, this whole prenatal stuff is very foreign to me so when they were first reporting the numbers, I thought, "Hmmmm, those numbers sound kind of high."  So when everything was said and done, I asked what the numbers meant and the doctor's response was, "I don't think you'll be here for next week's appointment--I expect that you'll be delivering any day now."

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!  I still had a good three weeks until my due date and our childbirth class kept pounding into our heads that most first-time moms deliver around 41.5 weeks.  So in my mind, we had plenty of time.  And now, they're saying days, maybe a week at most?!

We left the doctor's office and honestly, I didn't know what to think.  I was overwhelmed.  Justin was overwhelmed.  We kept telling ourselves that if this little girl wanted to prove the doctors wrong, fine by us!  I think it was our way of still maintaining some sanity in the midst of having your apple cart upset!

And so far, the baby IS proving the doctor wrong as it looks like we'll be at our 38-week appointment tomorrow morning.  Granted, as I write this, we still have a good 24-hours ahead of us, so who knows. What I do know, though, is that my body is definitely doing its thing!  Up until week 37, I'd only felt one contraction (and it was the night before our appointment)--can't say the same about this week!  Again, I know numbers aren't everything, but based on what my body's been doing, it will be interesting to see where things are at tomorrow's appointment.

The one good thing about having your apple cart upset (or, the realization that a baby really is going to be here at some point!) is that it definitely lights a fire under your butt.  Everything's in place with work so that whenever I do go into labor, the other agent will pick up where I left off and it should be a seamless transition for my clients.  Justin's arranged things with his work so that if he has to go, he can GO!  The cars seat has been installed and checked by the fire department.  Hospital bag is packed--baby's clothing and blankets have been washed. A lot of the *crap* that needed done around our house is now done.  We snuck over to Junction City to try a new-to-us restaurant that has been on our pre-baby-bucket list for several months now.  We're making it a point to be in bed before 11pm so that we can get some extra rest.  Yada yada yada...

And on a fun note, the reality of a baby soon being here prompted us to finally do our maternity photo session.  Because my belly has been a slow-grower, our photographer friend was trying to wait until the last minute to do the pictures...and since it looked like we were finally down to the wire, we went ahead and did them over the weekend!  Rod did our engagement pictures and photographed our wedding, so when he offered to do baby pictures for us, there wasn't a moment of hesitation.  Now, we're just anxiously awaiting the proofs...we had the session at the Union Pacific Train Depot (same place where we had our wedding reception!) and the lighting inside the building was just incredible.  Add to that Rod's artistic eye and I think we'll have some amazing photographs documenting this little girl's incubation!

All in all, I think we have everything in place for whenever the baby DOES decide to come.  Will she be on "Taddiken" time (if you're early, you're on time--if you're on time, you're late") or will she be on Southern time???  Who knows?!  Regardless, most everything's done and we can just sit back, relax and see what happens!