Waiting

Did you know that an elephant's gestational period is TWO years?

I hope Little Man would have been a friendly sort of elephant calf and made friends with some of the other babies as they stomped through the forest because he would have been an only child.

The months of May and June were really busy ones for our family causing them to pass fairly quickly. Visit from sister, weekend getaway, brothers track and graduation, friends coming, camping trip, etc. As I have looked ahead on our calendar the last few months, I would notice that once we got to the middle of July there was not much on it. This was baby prep time because he would be coming soon.

And here we are. Into July. And he is coming soon. As in, within 15 days soon (don't even think the word "overdue"). But at times that seems so far away. I have come to believe that pregnancy is forty weeks because that must be the exact amount of time a woman can physically and emotionally handle it. Twenty eight, twenty nine weeks would be too early. There is still an ability to think rationally; labor is scary and painful, we know that having a newborn will be hard and that we should enjoy these last couple months of sleep. But as the days on the calendar flip closer and closer to forty, we just don't care. Labor, bring it on. Interrupted sleep? At least I will be interrupted as I sleep on my stomach. Just get this baby out!

Friend Veronica and I. Vero is due is September, I am 37.5 weeks along in this picture. Little Man was born at 37 weeks on the dot. I was kind of hoping little brother would follow that trend, but I guess not.

I am trying to be patient. I really am. Although my body seems to be screaming at me that it is done (I am having contractions, but I had them for weeks with Kiwi), I am trying to enjoy this summer with my kiddos. And as I heave my belly over for the tenth time in the middle of the night, trying to get comfortable, and I feel an elbow or knee moving around inside of me, I try to take a moment to enjoy and marvel at it all. Because it truly is nothing less then a miracle and I don't want to take for granted the amazing and humbling to be carrying a little person inside of me. A little person that we will soon meet.

Soon...

I will be able to take a full breath

I will be able to sleep on my stomach

I will be able to take Little Man on a bike ride without my knees hitting my stomach (Mike is the current bike ride partner) and go on a nice long walk with the kiddos without random shooting pain down my left side

Forget walking, I will be able to lace up the ol' Mizzuno waves and run!

I may be able to go somewhere without having to visit their bathroom

They say that after 37 weeks the baby is just putting on weight. Which means that for every day he stays in there

His legs are gathering chubs that we will soon be squeezing

His cheeks are smoothing out that we will soon be kissing

A tummy is getting ready for brother and sister to blow raspberries on it

And he's getting that last little bit of time he needs before he makes is grand entrance

So we wait.

And I can't think of anything that is more worth waiting for.