39 weeks

My view these days... except I can't usually see any of my feet!

 Both of these photos express how I really feel - super happy and excited... and super sore and ready to meet our baby!

The stripes on my shirt make the baby bump look just like a giant round bowling ball! Which is exactly how it feels to carry around all the time haha. This week has been a roller coaster of emotions. We had our 38 week baby doc appt last Thursday and she was surprised we hadn't had the baby yet (her prediction was that we'd meet Baby Bird before that appt). After measuring my uterus (which she didn't tell us how many cm so we wouldn't "freak out") she put her hands on my belly to get an estimate on how big baby is now. I asked if baby was about 8-8.5 lbs and she said not to worry but potentially up to 9 lbs already! Yikes! Baby boys tend to have a larger birth weight, so now I am really starting to wonder if it's Crosby? I was also 3cm dilated. Yay! I like that part of the work of labor has begun without the pain of labor. Anyways, since we're anxious to meet our baby and because baby is still a "giant", she agreed that we should try a membrane sweep to get baby out "sooner rather than later". She said that we would know within 24-48 hours if it worked and we'd meet our squirmy kiddo! The membrane sweep was super uncomfortable and hurt a bit. Brian held my hand and he giggled with glee at the thought of potentially going into labor! We left the appointment around 3pm and by 4pm I was having contractions that were more painful than any contractions I've had so far. I even had cramping in my back. It was painful, but tolerable as I could still walk and talk through most of them. We went to Target to grab a few groceries to make dinner and I had to stop a few times during contractions. By the time we left Target, we were convinced that I was in labor! Brian almost had a panic/excitement attack and he was like, "I think I'm going to pass out!" I made him open the windows in the car and take some deep breaths. He was fine haha, but it was just like a crazy husband in the movies haha. The bummer is that after 3-4 hours of painful contractions they slowed down and eventually stopped. False labor is so dumb! We totally had our hopes up! So basically, we bunkered down in our apt for the next couple days watching movies and trying all sorts of ways to induce labor. I had a few more contractions, but for the most part, nothing!

So here we are folks, a week away from our due date and still no baby! It's funny that I was on bed rest and medication to keep baby from flying the nest early, and here we are trying almost everything we can think of (I draw the line at castor oil.... ew!) and still no baby. We are realizing more and more that: Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand - Proverbs 19:21. We have our 39 week appointment with the baby doc on Thursday. Obviously we'd love to skip it and go to the hospital instead, but Baby Bird seems pretty cozy in my tummy these days, so I'm sure we'll  surprise our baby doc yet again. In the meantime, Brian and I are thoroughly enjoying the last few days/weeks that we have just the two of us.

(L) My elephant feet! Flip flops are the only shoes I can wear these days because I'm so swollen! It's completely ridiculous. (R) I've been crafting/sewing a lot to pass the time. I made a car seat cover to keep the sun out of baby's eyes from the sun roof and to keep cold/rainy weather and germs off my baby :)