Week 39

Am I looking tired and hammered, or what?  Being this far along, and adding the chest cold and allergies to the mix, I'm just not sleeping much anymore.  And as you can see, it's taking its toll!  But a week from right now I should be holding my son.  I can hardly believe it.  Seriously...it seems surreal.  

Before we launch into more feelings, of which there are always plenty, we'll review my appointment from yesterday.  It was the last time I'll see Dr. Davis before this baby is born!  As I walked in to have my weight and blood pressure checked, he was sitting in his usual spot next to the blood pressure checker.  I said, "How's it going?" and he just laughed.  He asked how I was doing, and just chuckled when I put on my biggest smile and responded, "Fantastic!".  When he joined us in the exam room, he asked if there were any bets on size, at which Danny responded with 10 lbs 4 oz.  He stared the ultrasound, and couldn't get any really reliable readings since Luke is so big and so squished in there.  But, best guess was 10 lbs 2 oz.  Way to go, Danny!  He then told me he'd see me in a week, that he was really excited to see how big this baby was going to be, and to go ahead and make my 6 week postpartum appointment at the desk before I left.  And that was that!  I guess we're ready to have a baby now! :)

We really are pretty close to ready.  I finished all the most necessary shopping, and sorted and washed all Luke's clothes.  All that's left to do is to clean his room and set up the crib.  Danny and I think over the next couple of days we'll have that completed as well.  My hospital bag is all but packed, with a list for the last minute items that can't be packed until right before we go.  Interestingly enough, having all this done doesn't make me feel any more prepared or ready to have this baby.  Don't get me wrong, I have an insane sense of gratification from getting so many things checked off a rather long list.  But I still feel a certain amount of anxiety.  As I covered in last week's post, I'm plenty nervous about the surgery and recovery.  But I'm also worried about bringing Luke home.  I worried about how I'm going to handle life AND take care of a newborn.  Every way I look at it, life is going to be in shambles for a while.  I suppose I need to have a little more faith in myself and in my family.  

I'm even stressed about his name.  Is "Luke" the right one?  Or should we go with "Joseph"?  We'd wait until we've met him to decide, but both Danny and I like to be able to talk to them right as soon as they get here, especially greeting them by name.  I seriously get hung up on the most trivial details.  But, as is rather common with pregnancy, the trivial details seem the biggest.

But, ready or not, at the most I have 7 days until I'm on to the next phase.  And there is plenty going on this week to keep my mind occupied.  We've decided to celebrate Claire's birthday early, so that we can enjoy it together with all our family and not have to worry about an over-medicated-recently-incised mommy and brand new baby.  So we have some shopping and planning to do for her.  There is a regional conference this weekend, and we've been invited to gather at the Conference Center in Salt Lake and hear from Elder Uchtdorf.  I'm planning on getting a pedicure with my Mom at some point, and we're planning a special Family Home Evening outing for the night before.  Just our "little" family of five. :)  Not to mention that Great Grandma is in the hospital as of this morning with some congestive heart failure, but should be home in the next day or two.  Aunt Susie is having open heart surgery to fix/replace her pacemaker tomorrow.  Danny is starting chiropractic treatments this afternoon to try to alleviate the pain in his neck and the headaches that come as a result of that pain.  Sigh.  Reminds me of the week before Johnny was born when Sophie got a double ear infection, Claire had the flu, and Danny threw his back out.  What is it about having these babies?  They must be destined for great things, for the world to feel like it's falling apart right before their arrival.

And there you have it.  The countdown to Luke begins!  7 days and counting...

Don't get me wrong.  Anxiety and all, I'm super excited to see this "little" guy!