35 Weeks!!

I've hit what a lot of people are calling the "home stretch"! It's hard to believe I'm at 35 weeks already! Part of me feels like I've been pregnant forever and the other part of me can't believe that I'm due in just over a month. These last couple of weeks have have been riddled with reality checks and reminders of the fact that a baby is right around the corner. 

First off, we had our home visit from my midwife, Faith. She came to check out our layout and make sure we have everything we need. It was weird having her at our house after having always met at her house all of this time. It felt kind of like, 'why is my doctor in my bedroom?'

We also ordered and received our birthing kit for our home delivery. It contains everything Faith will need to deliver baby, including many mystery items that have completely confounded me. It also has an itty little hat for baby's head right after he's born - seeing how small it is, holding it in my hands, was a reality check in and of itself!

Then we had our baby shower. We finally have a car seat! Now we can take baby places with us!! It was a small shower but it was nice to see everyone and be surrounded by people who are excited for our little one. 

We are slowly starting to accumulate baby stuff and it's starting to transform the very dynamics of our home. Cribs, cradles, and baby car seats... There is often tiny baby clothing in the laundry as I try to get everything washed and ready for his arrival. Our house is starting to look like something different than it ever has before. Yes, everything is going to be very different from here on out and all I can do is hope and pray that I can keep up! 

The biggest tell tale sign of all, however, is how giant I am getting... or rather how giant HE is getting, and making me feel in the process. It's getting hard to see my own toes! It's been a long 35 weeks for my poor body and it's starting to have trouble keeping up with all that I demand of it. It's nice to know the finish line is in sight, even if I still feel a little under-prepared.

9/21/2013

Psalms 139:13-16

"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

    you formed me in my mother’s womb.

I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!

    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

    I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out,    

    you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared

    before I’d even lived one day."

-Psalms 139:13-16, The Message 

I came across this passage during a quiet time early in my pregnancy. I had read it many times before but with the knowledge of a baby growing inside of me it took a whole new meaning. I have prayed this section of Psalms 139 over my little baby many, many times over the last few months. I am so thankful for the little miracle that is growing inside of me and love the thought of God forming him inside of me, knowing him inside and out, and preparing all the days of his life before he is even born.

A Fruit A Week

So pretty much as soon as I found out I was pregnant I started trying to come up with ideas of how to track the baby's growth in fun ways. We decided on doing a fruit a week, based off of the size of the baby by comparing it to fruit or veggies. This seemed fun and creative so we started right away, at week 5. 

We had no idea what we were signing up for! Now we have weekly trips to the grocery store hoping to find something close to the size needed. I have a few apps that tell me the size of the baby each week, with a few discrepancies between them. I didn't consider that we'd have to account for the fact that fruits go in and out of season, some of the fruits only get imported to specialty stores around here, and that while there might be an average eggplant 'size' that doesn't mean the ones we have at our local grocery store are even close. It's also turned out to be a little more pricey of a project than I'd initially thought. However, after 30 weeks I do love looking back and seeing all of the fruits and veggies Lincoln has already 'outgrown'. Sometimes I jokingly tell my husband 'well, that was back when we had a blueberry baby...' 

Though the grocery store trips are sometimes frustrating, I do enjoy the memories Luke and I are creating by going and picking out our baby fruit each week. We've gotten more than a few strange looks when we've spent 20+ minutes wandering around the produce section of the grocery store holding and comparing seemingly unrelated fruits or vegetables, and have had to explain ourselves more than once when buy things like a single Brussels sprout, but it's been fun and I'll always treasure those memories. 

This project has also got me cooking with things I wouldn't normally try - like a Jimcama, which is basically a Mexican potato. 

It's crazy to think that we only have a handful of fruit photoshoots left, but at the same time it will be nice to not have to worry about it anymore. Either way, it's been fun to be able to look back and see how far we've already made it!

Weeks 5 (appleseed) through 34 (butternut squash).

Knit Inside My Womb

I don’t know how people can have the miracle of a baby and not believe in God. I know me, I know my body, and I know that I am not capable of making something out of nothing, of creating human life within my very belly with little or no direct effort on my part. And yet there is something that is growing inside of me, developing a brain, heart, lungs, and a personality, which was not there only months ago. Therefore, to deny that there is a Creator that made our bodies gifted to do the impossible is both ignorant and senseless. It is one thing to dismiss that animals and other creatures are capable of such things, as it is distant and disconnected from our lives, but once you have a baby inside of you, once you experience the miracle of a child, another human being, being knit together in your womb, I see no possible way to dismiss this as anything but an absolute miracle accomplished only by Someone as accomplished as my God. 

My baby Lincoln at 20 weeks.