Thirty-Eight Weeks

Right now Curtis is grilling burgers for us on the back patio, the door is open and letting in the cool air, the sky is cloudless, my big white dog is happy and prancing around the yard, and my boy is scheming about how to get Daddy to let him play in the sandbox when Mommy said not tonight. It's been a fabulous day.

Jackson went to MDO this morning and I went to a nail salon, compliments of my sweet friend Missy. I got my toes painted in watermelon-pink glory and my feet rubbed until I could have almost cried from the relief. My nail technician was also apparently a martial artist, as she spent several minutes pounding my calves with her fists. It didn't hurt, but I had to hold back from laughing out loud at the sight of my VVP self getting pounded like a piece of meat.

After my pedi I went up to the LPM office for my baby lunch with all the girls. I can't tell you how happy my heart was. And not just about the cake. Although the cake was absolutely amazing. It looked like a wooden alphabet block. So stinking cute. I'd show you a picture, but it would reveal her name. Gasp! I know y'all hate me right now with the all the name lockdown nonsense. But it will all be over-slash-just-beginning in two weeks. (I'm 38 weeks today! Yeah!)

For lunch we had takeout from this really great tea room we all love. I had chicken salad on a croissant, pasta salad, fruit salad, and actual lettuce salad. After we chatted about everything under the sun, I got to open a few presents from my co-workers. I got some really fun pajamas from Pajama Gram and some cash to spend on my next trip to Babies R Us or maybe Banana Republic when I get my waist back. I also got a framed picture of the baby's name surrounded by the Bible verses that each of my co-workers had chosen as a prayer over her life. It's absolutely beautiful and so meaningful to me. The first verse says, "And after (insert Baby Girl's name) was born, she walked with God" (adapted from Gen. 5:22). I hate to say it, but I cried! I also do not want to leave out that Susan Kirby prayed over our lunch and over the baby and she specifically asked that Baby Girl would be a peaceful presence in our home. I amened that loudly. And I'm not ashamed.

Now I'll rewind to last night. We went to Wednesday night supper and Bible study at church and had a really great time. They did breakfast for dinner, which was super tasty. I did cheat and have waffles. Oh well. A bunch of our friends came and we enjoyed getting to visit with them. When it comes to relationships, I feel like we are some of the most blessed people on earth. Curtis taught on the six woes that Jesus brought down on the Pharisees in Luke 11. It was basically about self-righteousness and it was extremely convicting.

After we got home, I started freaking out that we weren't ready for this baby to come. I didn't know the exact location of the infant car seat and base. The guest room where my in-laws will stay had all kinds of junk in it, including Jackson's dismantled crib. The sheets on that bed were not clean. There were three baskets of laundry that needed to be folded. I hadn't tested out my new video camera that I got for Christmas and I wasn't sure if my regular camera battery was charged. None of the baby's clothes had been washed. I needed to put her new mattress on the bed and throw out Jackson's old one. My bags aren't packed for the hospital because it's hard when you still need all that junk every day.

I don't know, is that nesting? All of my nesting/obsessing sent my body into contraction mode. (Really, all it took was folding the laundry and picking up our room.) A little before midnight I collapsed in bed and pitifully begged Curt to rub my back. I was having some pretty strong contractions and my body was just hurting. They weren't super painful, but gripping, if you know what I mean. They went around to my back as well as my tummy and even made my legs hurt.

I didn't tell Curtis, but I laid in bed and counted the minutes between contractions until 1:00. They were coming every 10 minutes. At that point I gave Curtis a heads up. For the next two hours they were every 10 to 8 minutes, then between 7 and 4. Baby Girl knew something was going on because she was quite revved up in between each one. I'm supposed to call the doctor when they've been every 5-7 minutes, lasting 1 minute each, for an hour. Right before I hit that hour mark, the contractions started weakening and were just like the normal ones I have all day. I was honestly glad because I labored through the night with Jackson and was really, really out of it the next day from lack of sleep. I hope I get to labor during the day this time. Plus, I had cake to eat today. I mean, come on! Although I figured my co-workers would bring it to the hospital and we'd enjoy it there. Really though, I just had such a long list of things to do.

Mercifully, I fell asleep around three, next to my journal where I'd been recording the minutes in the dark. It's amazing how three hours can fly by when you've spent nine months waiting on a baby.