What's Happening Now?

Well, I made it. 38 weeks out of 40! As of last week, Graham is done developing! After all his hard work, his little organs are all set and ready to go. He is now a full term baby! Granted we still have a couple weeks until his official due date, but really he could come any time now! It's a victory for the Smith fam indeed :) At this point he is just gaining weight to help keep him warm when he is born. The clock is ticking now, and that's a weird feeling!

So, what's happening now? Now that we are at this point, the only thing that makes sense is to prepare ourselves as much as possible. Before Steve and I felt like we had time to relax. But that isn't the case anymore. As far as baby gear, I think we are close to being done. We have a lot of our big items ready and we set up Grahams room with everything. We even decorated his room and it's so cute! When it's  done I will put some pictures up!

Here's whats going on at 38 weeks: 

Well I went to the doctor's the other day and its official. *drumroll*  I am 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced!! It doesn't mean that I'm going into labor anytime soon, but it definitely means that my body is getting ready to. When she told me where I was at, I was stunned! I wouldn't have guessed that I would be dilating at this point. We still can't predict if he will be early, on time, or even late. We'll see what happens. But no hospital visit yet!

Braxton Hicks contractions are happening! They are considered "practice contractions". They don't hurt, but they are happening every day and I notice them at least once every hour. My belly just gets hard and stays like that for a little bit. And then it goes away. But usually after it goes away, Graham will stretch super big and poke his foot (at least I think it's his foot) out as far as he can. And it kind of hurts! Maybe he doesn't like the "practice contractions" haha.

I am so big. At least I feel like it! My comfort level is getting close to zero as my stomach is stretched more and more every day. Honestly it is so, sooo tight I don't know how it can possibly grow any more than it has. And to think I have 2 weeks left... ahhhhh we are reaching maximum capacity here! That moment happened yesterday, where I opened the door fast and it ran into my stomach! Haha I seriously just laughed!

Graham is head down! Yay!!

He has the hiccups probably 4-5 times a day. So cute.

He is extremely active all the time! He hasn't moved position for weeks now, and I feel a lot of his wiggles and pushing on my left side rib. That is where his legs are, and they like to move a lot. Ouch :( 

Our doctor visits have been every week for the last little while! The ladies at the office are getting to know me pretty well.

I live in my pajamas. Haha hardly anything else is comfortable!

I try to go on walks as much as I can. My normal exercise went out the window at week 32.  Walking makes me feel better, but living in a hilly neighborhood makes it hard to get out the door.

My feet haven't swelled up, at least yet! (crossing my fingers they don't) And I can maybe guess that I won't end up with a popped out belly button haha. Although they are pretty cute!

We had a hospital tour a couple weeks ago, and our hospital is pretty pretty fancy.  There's a huge tub in every room! Not to mention a flat screen TV with a relaxation channel. Everything in there is to help with labor obviously. When we were walking out of the hospital, I told Steve "Man, that's a nice hotel...." hahaha! I didn't say that on purpose either! Hopefully I'll enjoy my stay at "Swedish Hotel-Hospital".

The Big Day:

D-day is speeding up and I have one thing on my mind constantly. Labor. When your this far in the game, it's hard to help yourself from getting anxiety over it.  Especially when it isn't something you have experienced before. That's the case for me right now.  Not going to lie, I am scared out of my wits sometimes. I have never been one to tolerate pain very well, and I have been very nervous about the unknown. It also doesn't help when I have bad dreams that don't illustrate a good picture for me. But I have had so much support from women everywhere. My mom and Brittany, sisters and mother- inlaw, friends who have had babies, women at church, and at the hospital too. My fright goes right out the door when talking with these girls, and honestly I get excited!  I read a quote recently "Women are closest to death when in labor. But when the baby is born, they reach the nearest kind of heaven on this earth." How can that seem like a horrible experience?

No, I don't have a delivery plan set in stone. That doesn't mean I haven't educated myself on all the "pros" and "cons" of each delivery method. I've done pretty well at looking into all of my options. I'm seeing a practice of Midwives that work with Obstetricians in a nice hospital that has all of the equipment needed for any emergency. For me, that is where I would like to be.  The Midwives have been phenomenal and they really know what they are talking about. I would really really like to try and go through a natural unmedicated birth experience, but I am not opposed to an epidural if I need it. If a c-section is what is medically necessary in an emergency, then a c-section it is. So the best plan for me is just to be well informed about each one, and then let whatever happens happen. 

My most exciting news about D-day is that ASHLEY AND MY MOM ARE COMING!!! I am SO excited and happy that they will be there. I really need my Mom for this experience, and I can't go through anything life changing without Ashley there. Seriously. So it was basically necessary for them to buy their plane tickets to come out here. But hey it's so worth it girls, you get a cute little baby to play with and dress up :) My mom is working on being officially licensed as a personal doula as well! So her skills and knowledge will really come in handy! Perfect timing mom! I so wish my other siblings could come for the big day too :( we are all so close and my idea of heaven is having my family there.  But I will take what I can get for now. That doesn't mean they are off the hook for afterwards though.....and that goes for Steve's family too!! I expect to see them all soon after :) 

Message to Graham: Mommy and Daddy are SO excited to introduce you into the world soon! We love you! XOXO

Here is the same picture from a couple posts ago, but looking even more like Fall. Mmmm, makes me want to have it nice and cozy in here.  Great time to have a baby!