Speed Dating? What?

Today and tomorrow my husband will be "speed dating" and I'm perfectly OK with it! But he's married! What is he thinking?? Aren't I upset with this? Outraged? Well, no. You see he's "speed dating" with churches. That's right! Churches! :) Ok, so it's not the same as what actual speed dating is, but it's similar. You see, David is at a Face 2 Face where he will interview with 8 different churches in 2 days. I get tired just thinking about it!! This particular F2F is being hosted by the ABC of IN/KY and the churches attending are mainly from IN, KY and OH. David received limited profiles of the 15 churches who would be there and had to tell the ABC office his top 8 choices for interviewing. That's who he'll be speaking with today and tomorrow. He's going to be exhausted when he gets home, but we're really praying that our next church will be amongst this bunch. So, no, I don't mind if my husband is doing this sort of speed dating! :)

My parents will be here tonight to spend the weekend with me/us. I'm just too close to delivery (end of week 35!!!) to want to be alone right now. They're going to help me get everything organized and settled (clothes, etc), and Mom is going to make a few meals to freeze so we have food after the baby comes. It'll be a busy weekend, but a productive one. My parents are machines when it comes to stuff like this! :) They're fabulous with this sort of thing.

I was overcome with emotion this morning regarding the coming of our baby. It's strange how some days it just hits me--OW! :) But, this morning, I started crying out of pure joy and delight of the thought that in a few short weeks I will be holding our baby, this little one I've carried for 35 weeks now (we'll see how long I'll REALLY carry her!!), who's kicks I've felt, who's little feet get jammed into my ribs every now and again. :) I am so excited to have her, hold her, hug her, feed her, take care of her and share this joy with my husband. He has been completely involved, but I'm sure it's been hard for him as he can only be on the outside right now. I am so excited for him to hold her and touch her and feel her move more than just placing his hand on my belly. Oh, it's going to be so great!!!!!

Here's to being a mommy!

Showers of blessings

This weekend David and I were in Akron for a baby shower. My mom and sister threw it for me/us and what a wonderful day it was! They put in many hours of preparation from the decorations to the food and all was fabulous and so much fun!!!! They really out-did themselves! We had over 30 people there and received so many wonderful gifts. I was getting very overwhelmed opening them all and feeling so undeserving of them. Our baby girl is well-provided for at this point and it's due to the generosity of many people. We are so thankful!!!! I can't say enough how thankful I am for my mom and sister and all their hard work in making Saturday a special day. I love them so much and they sure did show me their love through all their labors. The food was fantastic (they planned a brunch rather than the usual shower food), and I think everyone there just had a really wonderful time.

We were also able to find a "new" vehicle--it's new to us anyway! :) We bought a 2003 Toyota Sienna, the Symphony line--apparently, that means the bumper matches the rest of the car and isn't just the factory stamped out usual one. I don't know, I just know it's a blessing! :) It's silvery-grey with 80, 000 miles on it and runs GREAT! We will get many years of use out of this!! Which is good, as that was the plan! :) It's also a wonderful feeling to have paid for it with cash and we don't owe anyone anything for it. So, yes, we have entered the minivan club and are quite OK with it! :) We have both enjoyed driving it. My mom-in-law pointed out that there are 5 passenger seats which means we can have 5 kids! :) We shall see...let's just get through this one! :)

Goin' Home

I find that I tend to write philosophical or more thought-provoking entries. Today is not going to be that! :)

I had my 2nd iron transfusion yesterday and all went well. I was jacked up on the steroids afterward, but prayed I would manage to get good rest and did seem to sleep well--or at least as well as usual. :) I should be feeling the effects of the extra iron now, and I think I am! :) Maybe it's just wishful thinking, not sure...can a pregnant woman actually feel rested? :)

David and I will be heading to Akron tonight after I'm done work. VERY excited to be doing that! We have a weekend full of activities. Tomorrow (Friday) I'll be getting my hair cut at the salon I went to when living in Akron. Can I just say there is MUCH to be said for a GOOD hair cut!!! I have yet to find a person in Hillsdale who can do that...I've gone to 4 different people/places in the 3 yrs we've lived here. Brother...ANYWAY, very excited to be getting my hair cut well. After that my sister and I will be heading to Massillon to a breastfeeding center where I'll get sized and buy nursing bras. My sister went here before having Riley and highly recommends it. I'm excited. I've never been professionally sized for a bra and am excited at the thought of actually wearing ones that FIT! Friday night we're having dinner with Grandpa, and David's mom will be up by then too. Saturday will be a fun day--my mom and sister are doing a baby shower for me!!!! I'm most excited about it--more excited than I was for my wedding shower! :) No embarrassing gifts, right? :) It'll be a wonderful day! David and my dad won't be able to participate as they'll be searching high and low in Akron for a car for David and I. Yeah, the joys of life...Sunday will be church and heading back to Hillsdale. I know we'll be tired after all that, but we are so looking forward to getting away and being with family!

Maybe I'll be organized enough and get some photos on here of the shower, or at least an updated baby bump photo!

34 weeks and counting!

I can't believe that yesterday began my 34th week of pregnancy! I also can't believe that in 4 short weeks it'll be OK to have the baby!! Am I ready??????? David and I were asked that yesterday and he responded, "Well, it's a little late if we're not, right?" I guess that sums it up pretty well! :) Oddly enough I haven't been going nuts trying to get things in order or all set up. I'm sure this is partly due to the fact that we don't have a specific room TO set up. It's all good though! Thankfully, the baby won't have any idea that she'll be sleeping in my old cradle, which is sitting on 30+ year old yellowish/green shag carpet! :) We'll take photos, though, to remember! :) I'm ready to have this baby. At times I get a little freaked out thinking of the whole labor/delivery process, but then I remember that I don't have a choice, it's going to happen regardless of how "ready" I am and women have been doing this successfully for centuries! This is what my body was designed to do. We've also been asked how our stress level has been. Again, David has summed it up well. He's without a job and we have a baby coming in a month or so, but compared to the stress we had at our previous church this is nothing. In fact, we feel LESS stressed then we did when he had a job. Interesting, huh? Yeah, that's how bad things were.

My family is giving us a baby shower this coming weekend. We're most excited to go home and see people and be showered! :) I think receiving all those little baby things will make things even more real!!

So, am I ready? Sure! Why not? :) I don't have any other choice anyway and it'll be so wonderful to finally hold this baby girl and see her and show her off to everyone and anyone willing to see her! :)

Trust...

Why is it trust is so hard? Anyone that knows me knows that I have issues when it comes to medical stuff. Ug, I hate it! I hate to be poked and prodded and I hate the thought of what could happen. I seem to always think that something horrible WILL happen, I jump to the conclusion that the worse WILL happen and I won't live through this experience. I've never had any major surgery--just wisdom teeth being pulled out, my tonsils removed, a colonoscopy and scope. That's it. Nothing major, all out-patient things. Why do I get so freaked out? I've never had cancer or any other horrible disease. The worse thing that happens to me is I react to cold medicines of all kinds and so now I get freaked out that everything will make me have a reaction. Brother. So stupid, so lame, so UNtrusting!!!! I mean, don't the medical professionals know better than me? Of course they do! AND, should something go terribly wrong, they're trained in how to deal with it. It's not like I'll just be laying there needing to figure it out on my own.

I say all this because I have to have iron transfusions for the next 3 weeks due to be very anemic. Yesterday was my 1st of 4 and I was FREAKED OUT!!! I had no reason to be. VERY few people have any kind of reaction and this is something very routine and done all the time. But, I was still totally freaked out. Again, I had no reason to be. I had asked for prayer, been praying a lot myself and I knew that God would be with me. Of course, everything was fine, but I was still so scared. How silly, now that it's all done and overwith!

Why do we do this? Why do we ask the Lord for his help and then still get all scared and whacked out? I think it comes back to that matter of control...Can I REALLY trust him to control this? I mean, I can't SEE him, so how do I REALLY know he'll take care of it? Nevermind that he's never failed me before. Sigh...I hope this is something I can learn to get over really soon. I don't need to freak out. I just need to trust. Trust in his ever-loving, never-failing love.

Attitude Adjustment Needed

As I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy I've noticed I have been having a bad attitude. I just want the baby out. Most of my reasons are selfish--I want to walk and not waddle, I want to breathe and not pant for air, I want to eat and not get heartburn, I don't want anymore sciatic nerve pain, I want to sleep one both sides, back and stomach if I so desire, etc., etc., etc. Of course, I can't wait to meet our baby, to hold her, look into her eyes for the first time. I wonder: does she have hair (will the heartburn theory prove true?), and if she does, what color is it? Will she be long and lanky or short like me? What kind of clues of her personality will we notice right away? Yes, there is much anticipation. My father-in-law tells me I should use the Carly Simon song "Anticipation" for my blogs. I'll have to see if David has this song amongst his 1000s on the ipod. :)

With all this pregnancy thinking I was curious to know the gestation period of other mammals. Here's what I found--prepare for a slight biology lesson! :) There are three winners for the shortest period coming in at 12-13 days: the American opposum, the rare water opposum (or "yapok") of central and northern South America and the eastern native cat of Australia! Think how many babies we could have in a month at this rate! :) Of course these little guys are born premature and carried around in pouches. I'm not sure I'd like a pouch. I have enough issues with my stomach! :) The winner for the LONGEST gestation period is the African elephant who carries her babies for 660 days on average, but can go as long as 760!!!! That comes out to 1.8-2 years!!!!!!!!! Now, THAT I CAN'T imagine! :) Praise Jesus I don't have to be pregnant that long! Here are some others I found: rabbit 33 days, llama 330 days, leopard 94 days, sheep 148 days and a wolf at 64 days. We humans gestate (is that a word?) an average of 266 days which is about 8 days beyond 9 months. How interesting it is to think that we're all mammals, we carry our babies inside the womb--we don't have to sit on eggs--and we nurse our children and care for them in a lot of the same ways, but our creative God made it so that we are all different. Not one mammal (even in her own species) carries her babies the same as her neighbor. We're all unique, different, but created by the same loving God.

I think that from now on I need to adjust my attitude accordingly. I need to be utterly thankful I'm not an elephant and not be jealous of the opposum! :) God knows what he's doing and for reasons only He knows carrying a human baby for 9-10 months is just what he wants and how he designed it. I shouldn't complain, and I should just trust that He knows best and be thankful I don't have to go any longer!