Waiting and Cleaning and Preparing and Imagining

Yup. That's pretty much what I'm doing these days.

I cracked my computer screen :( so that's why I haven't blogged in the last couple weeks. It's just too much "ma fan", as we said in China. Too much trouble, that is, to blog on this tiny little phone screen.

WAITING
But I thought I'd give one last shout out here pre-delivery.  I'm 2 weeks from my due date (the 18th is my official due date), and I've tended to go into labor within a couple or three days on either side of due date.  The only difference this time is that I think my actual due date might really be the 13th, based on when I had a positive pregnancy test. So we shall see. Mentally I'm trying to focus on the 18th but preparations-wise I'm keeping the 13th in mind.

My 6 year old daughter also has it on her mind. Almost non stop here lately. :). She drew a picture I wanted to share on here but blogging on a phone is no picnic and I can't get it to add the picture. Sorry. :(

CLEANING
As I've confessed here before (and now my houseguest Cate can attest to), I am no neat freak. I struggle to keep tidying as a priority but am doing better and making strides of improvement each year. That said, here lately I've felt the urge to "nest". I've implemented some Pinterest ideas (like that brilliant one about the cotton-perm-juice-catcher-rolly-thing being soaked in bleach and then left against the mildewy caulked edges of the bathtub--so smart and effective!!!) and am generally working more diligently to keep things up, at least cleaning wise, even if clutter still abounds.

PREPARING
This is my first home birth, and it's decidedly different from preparing for a hospital delivery. No bag to pack and no "which door do I go to if I go into labor at 3am?" conversations to be had, but there are things like mattress covers and a ready supply of towels and clean sheets... So I'm pulling all that together into one spot in our bedroom. Our midwives provided us with a list so that's the equivalent of the packing of the hospital bag, I suppose.

I'm also rereading Babywise, as usual, and have pulled out the ole trusty copy of the "Nursing Mother's Companion" for my bedside table. Those are my two must-have newborn books so I keep them close once delivery is imminent.

For those of you who might remember and wonder, I did end up purchasing the Bellefit postpartum girdle, so that should be an interesting difference this time around, to see if my stomach shapes up quicker.

One thing hasn't changed: I'm still working on stocking the fridge with a ready supply of meals for post-baby. But that is much easier here, in convenience-food-land than it was when we lived in Turkey.  :)

IMAGINING
Probably the thing that I'm having the most fun doing is imagining... Wondering what his sweet face will look like- with all five of our other babies, we had numerous sonograms. The first two, we had three each, and for the last three babies, we had sonograms at every doctor visit (standard procedure there). So to have only had one sonogram this go round, and have him be face down, has kept his face, his profile, everything, a mystery to us! I am so excited to see what his face will look like!! :)

Also, the thing I'm most excited about is this: no one will take Theo from me. At no point will he have to go to another room. With every other baby, within 2-30 minutes, I watched someone wheel my newborn baby away from me-- the one I'd carried for 9 (or more!) months and worked so hard to birth. But with Theo, as long as he and I are healthy and well, it'll be the first time I'll just be able to hold my baby for as lot as I want to, inspect every inch of him and even give him his first bath myself and dress him in the outfit of my choosing.  I am super excited to meet him and get to experience all of this in our own peaceful home.

I asked my mom if she could watch our other 5 children for 48 hours, to give us a little time with Theo.  She has generously arranged to take off a full week to watch them.  And a fellow church member has a garage apartment that our houseguests can stay in for a week. So for the first time ever,  Doug and I won't be hosting anyone in our home after having a baby. It will just be he and I and Theo. :)  We are super super excited to have that special time together.

So that's what I'm up to. I'll try to write something once I have Theo but am not promising anything. :). See you on the other side.