It’s all Coming to an End

We’ve almost reached the end of this pregnancy. I hit the 35 week mark today. Which means that baby boy is almost full term and that we’ll be entering that “any day now” phase very, very soon.

It’s bittersweet.

Part of me is over the moon to be leaving pregnancy behind and eager to hold my second sweet little boy for the first time. As much as I wanted to hope and believe that I wouldn’t reach the “I remember now why I hated being pregnant the first time” phase…I have.

That everything is uncomfortable/can he just come out already?! phase.

My mom arrived a little over a week ago. Having her around to help has been an answer to my prayers. Josh and I are used to being on our own…just us and the biggest boy with our own routines and ways of doing things. But, having a third set of adult hands has taken a lot of stress off of me.

Mom’s been somewhat of a saint since she arrived. Despite the jet lag that I know she had to have endured coming out here, she’s kept the laundry from overflowing, entertained Noah for hours on end and even scrubbed my bathrooms for me this weekend.

Josh has made an almost full recovery from his shoulder surgery, so he’s excited to be back to “normal” again. He doesn’t do the whole down and out thing very well. He’s a medical man as it is, but he isn’t the best patient. He’s hard headed and tries to push himself too hard. But..that’s a different post for a different day.

I can’t say anything, though. I’m the same way. Excessively hard headed and stubborn. And we wonder where Noah gets it from. Here I am at 35 weeks pregnant, still working and finishing projects. And nap? I don’t even know what that word means. It’s not like I don’t have the opportunity to nap. Mom’s been telling me since she got here to go nap. And Josh has been off work on recovery leave for two weeks; telling me over and over again to go nap.

But I can’t do it. I don’t know how to turn myself off and shut my mind down long enough. I’m sure that will change in the coming weeks when this baby boy arrives. I’m pretty certain that my body won’t physically let me keep going like I am now.

On a totally different note and statistically speaking, I’ve gained 33 pounds so far this pregnancy and have my next appointment on Thursday. We’re down weekly appointments now and internal checks at every visit. I’ve been having contractions off and on all week long. Nothing regular and nothing too strong. But, contractions nonetheless. I’ll be eager to see if we’ve made any sort of progress at my checkup.

Things around here are mostly done.

I’ve got Jonah’s “little brother” gift from Noah all wrapped and sitting in his crib with the car seat, diaper bag and feeding pillow. My suitcase is sitting in the corner of the bedroom waiting to be packed up, but I have a list made of everything that needs to go, so if for some reason we have to head to the hospital before I finish (err…start) packing, it won’t take long to throw it together. All of Jonah’s clothes have been washed and will be put away tomorrow. My mom and Josh helped me clean the house really good this weekend. The only big thing that I haven’t done yet is finish getting Noah’s “Big Brother” bag ready. And that’s on the agenda for this week.

I think I can safely say that I’m ready.

Or at least as ready as one person can be for welcoming a second child. Physically, I’ve been ready since 30 weeks. Emotionally…I’m still getting there. I’m over the moon excited, but still worried as to how I’m going to handle everything and make the adjustments to being a mom of two instead of just one. Work wise, I’m winding down and closing up shop this week.

So, it’s all coming to a head soon.

All coming to an end.

And I’m excited to see where the next step in this little journey takes us.