almost there....Laura and Tim's last maternity post

It has been a long joyful journey with Laura and Tim. I am so honored that she chose for AFM to be their photographer for this time in their lives!!  I cannot wait to meet the little wonder!  Soon...very soon!!!

In Laura's words:

So here we are, with a very short amount of time left, creeping towards the official due date of our precious bundle. Realistically though, our babe could make an arrival at any time of any day from here on out.

At my 38-week appointment, I made sure to tell my doctor that (in case he didn’t know) he WAS going to be the one at the hospital delivering my baby when I go into labor. He said he would do what he could do, but I’m pretty sure that silently in his head he was thinking, “oh, these first time mothers get so worked up and have unrealistic ideas.” I must say that I think I’ve been a pretty cooperative patient thus far, so he could at least do this one favor for me. We’ll see what happens ☺.

Now that Tim and I are mentally preparing for the end of this journey, I’m pretty sure my body is as well. I’ve read in some of my baby magazines and spoke to some of my close friends and family about the difficulty of bending over while pregnant. I never understood how challenging of a task that really could be. After I drop something on the floor, I find myself staring at the object for several seconds, evaluating whether or not it’s really worth picking up. Most of the time it isn’t.

Tim and I were at Theisen’s a couple of weekends ago (at least they accommodate to pregnant women with offering free popcorn), and while I was following Tim around the tools section like a lost puppy who’s feet were ready to burst from swelling, I ran across this cool contraption. It was a long metal stick with a magnet on the end. Had I known about one of those devices, I would have purchased one weeks ago! The magnet stick thing also would have saved many objects from being left abandoned on my floors.

Needless to say, I didn’t get it, but give props to whoever came up with such a handy tool.

Many people have also given me a heads up about this “nesting” phase that apparently hits not long before a woman goes into labor. I don’t exactly know what to expect when it does make an appearance, but I can’t imagine getting a sudden desire to want to clean the house, or fold and refold all of the baby’s clothing as I’ve been told. Maybe my nesting will come in the form of wanting to fold the laundry that’s been sitting in the basket for a few days, or finally getting around to washing those few pesky dishes that aren’t dishwasher safe (why would any company continue to make non-dishwasher safe products?).

At this point, I’ve been thinking about all of the unknowns as far as what to expect in the next days. Will my water break? Will I know when I’m having true contractions? Will I be able to remain calm? Will I have a long labor? There are just so many questions that can only be answered when the time arrives. For those of you who know me, I like to have a plan and know what is going to happen, so I can only hope that I’m able to let loose and let nature take it’s course. There’s only one way to find out, and that’s by patiently waiting for these next days to come and go.

There’s no letter to add this week, but I found this poem on the World Wide Web and felt that it fits perfectly with how Tim and I are feeling as we quickly approach these final days as just husband and wife, and the beginning days of our new family: