Ready, Set, GO.........

Well, in less than 24 hours I will be holding my sweet little boy in my arms.  It is really hard to believe that over 9 months has passed by already! The end of this pregnancy hasn't been any easier than all of the rest of it except for the fact that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone has been asking me if I am ready or if I am scared.  The answer to that is "Is anyone ever really ready?"  I feel like I am as ready as I could be.  I've read books, I've asked a million questions of family and friends, I've acquired all of the needed supplies and put together all of the equipment.  In that aspect, I am ready.  In terms of being ready when I walk out the door of the hospital this weekend, I have no idea, but am I scared?  No.  If I were having a natural delivery, I think yes I would be terrified of the unknown.  Having a scheduled C-Section is so comforting to me.  I am a planner.  I know exactly when it is going to happen and what they are going to do.  I survived a bowel resection surgery 3 years ago so I feel confident about getting through the recovery period.  What I'm scared of are things that I won't have the answers to for years to come.  I am scared of passing on some of my health problems to this baby.  Crohn's disease is something I would never wish on anyone!  I'm scared that I won't do a good job of teaching him to be a gentleman,  to treat women the right way, an being a contributing member of society.  All of the things that scare me about having a baby are so far down the line.  The things that will happen tomorrow and the following weeks, I have never felt more confident.  Clayton in 15 years scares the hell out of me!


So before I walk into that hospital at 5:30 am tomorrow... here is my final pregnancy update.  Baby updates to follow!

How far along: 39 weeks and some change

Size of our baby: Your guess is as good as mine.  He was estimated to be somewhere between 8 and 9 lbs at birth so we will find out tomorrow!  Either way, I think we have by passed newborn size clothing and diapers.  Stash those away for the next baby :)

Total weight gain:  All in all, I didn't really gain more weight than I think I should have (despite my love of night time desserts).  I don't think anyone will ever say they are happy with their pregnancy weight but I think I topped out at a good well rounded number that is a good starting point for post-baby weight LOSS!!

Maternity clothes:  At this point, even my maternity clothes are too small.  I stick mostly to sundresses, yoga pants, and tank tops.

Stretch marks: ONLY ONE!!! and it's not even noticeable to anyone but me!

Sleep:  Sleep comes in one hour increments.  If I could find a position that is comfortable, then I wouldn't wake up as often and I wouldn't have to pee as often.  Viscous cycle.  I've been waking up for good around 4:30-5 am every day.  I guess this baby is getting me ready for my 5 am check in at the hospital tomorrow!

Best moment this week:  Kyle showing up on the front porch home from Kuwait to surprise me!!!

Movement: There is no stopping this kid!  He hasn't slowed his movements down one bit!  In fact, he is moving WAY more than he has in the past several weeks.  ALLL DAY AND ALLLL NIGHT!

Food cravings/aversions:  I've never really had pregnancy cravings this whole pregnancy.  Okay fine, there was a week around Thanksgiving that I ate a "Gobbler" from Wawa every single day and I typically have pizza several times a week... and dessert of some kind every single night.  But even with that list of favorites, I never craved anything specific until someone mentioned the food item.  Then it was an over powering need to eat that food!  Yesterday I could have cared less what we ate for dinner.  Kyle said Chicho's pizza then changed his mind to Greek food.  Greek food would have been totally fine had he not muttered the secret word "pizza" first! 

 
Belly button in or out: Belly button is in!!

What I miss/What I am looking forward to: Miss: I miss days with out pain somewhere in my body and I miss sleep.  Looking forward to: Having my family all together in one room tomorrow :-)

Weekly Wisdom: I will forever stand by the fact that I do not like being pregnant.  There are certainly a few things that I will miss.  I will miss feeling my baby move around in my belly.  I will miss the awesome afternoon naps from the first trimester.  I will miss not feeling guilty about what I eat.  I will not miss all of the rest.  I will most definitely go through all of this again for a 2nd baby.  Pregnancy has not been THAT BAD!  It hasn't been miserable.  It's just not something that I love.  There are days and weeks that are miserable but on the whole, it's a means to a pretty amazing end. 

Best day of my life.... so far :)

At about 17 weeks, Kyle left on a 6 month deployment to Kuwait.  We planned on getting pregnant before he left and we knew all along that there stood a pretty good chance that he wouldn't be home for the birth.  As bad as I wanted to be a mom, that was something I was willing to chance.  I knew the whole time that having a baby with out him would be one of the hardest things that I've ever done.  But I also knew that I am strong enough to get through that and I have awesome support from friends and family to help me.  That doesn't change the fact that I wanted him here more than anything in the world.  In the beginning, we thought there was no chance of him coming home.  He put in for leave anyway just in case.  He told me that he would only have about 24-48 hours notice on his leave being approved.  This week I found out about two different guys being sent home from Kuwait.  I figured that if his leave had been approved, he would have been on one of those flights.  Little did I know, my husband is the best secret keeper alive.  For the past 3 weeks, he and most of our Coast Guard friends have been keeping the most amazing secret ever!  Kyle was coming home! 

On Monday night I was a little annoyed that Kyle "forgot to call me"...or so I thought.  Turns out, he was on a plane.  I had no idea that he was coming home until about 8:30 am.  I got a text message from his phone which made me curious as to why his phone was reactivated. Even then, I didn't put too much faith into it.  I called him back and didn't reach him.  I figured maybe the deactivation period on his phone had expired or something.   It had started to rain so my plans of getting the car washed got ruined.  Good thing too because about 10:30 am the dog started barking at the door.  Come to find out, Kyle was standing on the front porch!!!  I immediately started crying and gave him the biggest hug of my life!  I am pretty sure he followed that up with something along the lines of "wow that thing looks bigger in person"  Totally Kyle... Love him! 

I knew that I would be okay having this baby with out Kyle here.  We had a plan in place for how he would see the baby and where we would stay to get the most help.  Now we just altered the plans.  I feel great about having this baby and I feel like everything is exactly the way it should be now.  My family is in one piece <3