Week 36: "Practice Makes Perfect"

Last night baby, momma and daddy had another eventful (well not that eventful) night. Another night full of contractions. Baby obviously loves wednesday evenings and early thursday mornings :) Braxton hicks, the practice kind. Practice makes perfect so I'm holding out for a perfect labor and delivery! I am chugging water, water, water and resting to keep them from coming too strong. Last night was the "worst" I've ever felt and I yes, I know that it's not the real deal (for all you mommy's who've already gone through this and are laughing at me, haha). I am kind of a wimp and planning on going all natural- and I really am praying that God gives me super strength. 

Our Little Baby E/C: 

Baby is still packing on the pounds supposably at the rate of about an ounce a day. He/she should now weigh almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He/she's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his/her body as well. 

At the end of this week, baby will be considered full-term! Baby is still head down and has dropped. When standing or walking my legs feel like dead weights and sometimes feel numb or like I've just worked out really hard (definitely didn't do that one). When I have contractions I feel awful for our baby. I mean you should see my stomach, it's unbelievable how tight it contracts and I can just see it smashing baby. Okay, not really but I do feel bad. Poor baby! Thanks goodness God designed babies to be flexible in our wombs. My short torso leaves no room for baby! I told Ted today, our baby is going to come out with it's legs curled against his/her chest for months ;)

Momma: 

I will say this week has probably been the roughest I've had in a while. Sleeping is a delicacy anymore and naps are a must during the day. Thankfully I am on my first week of maternity this week, so that is blessing! I am a bit more emotional, I think because I have too much time to think anymore so I've spent most of this week continuing to "nest". Last night Ted and I had a Baby business class- which was basically a tour of the hospital birthing center, nursery, etc. In this class they have you fill out all of the paperwork now, so when you come for labor it's already done. It was pretty crazy filling out everything we can on our baby's birth certificate. Whoa, our baby is almost here!

It's becoming real to Ted and I with each passing day until we hold our baby. It's pretty crazy that we don't know the time and date, but one day I'll go into labor and meet our baby! I am hoping it is really obvious the moment I go into labor, like my water breaks, which surprisingly only 12% of women begin like this.

YWAM women have quite amazing birth stories. What I mean is most of the stories I've heard at our base, are labors lasting 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and recently 1 1/2 hours. That is it?! I'm not saying every women here has these but most. They've got it easy! I have also heard of one women that had a 48 hour labor. I am obviously hoping/praying for a shorter one, but we shall see. This might sound weird but I told Ted yesterday that if our labor is starting out really slow, I want to walk and try different techniques but I recently added a "technique"... board games!

Here is my latest lofty idea; You might think I am crazy but there are two that I can think of that might help distract and/or pass time; stratego (which I play with Ted often) and scrabble. Let's see if we really do this. ;)

Pictures of this weeks baby bump to come. Our camera is still broken and will take 4-5 weeks to fix, which means we won't have our during the labor and first photos! Our friend is letting us use his Nikon D40 so that will take amazing photos too, thankfully!