32 weeks
33 weeks
Same shirt, new week!
Time is really movin'. We have completed our first class, "Newborn Care", and while I am pretty confident in my diapering abilities, it was fun to watch "Dad DeVries" find his way around a baby doll and a disposable diaper. So cute. After a few times, he got the hang of it (front v. back and why it matters)! He can also swaddle like no one's business. We loved our teacher and I wish she could come home from the hospital with us.
Last night we took our Labor and Delivery tour of the hospital where I will be laboring and delivering. It was all so real! I found my eyes welling with tears so many times. It is just so dang emotional for me. Not sure if it's a "I really have to go thru this scary stuff to hold my little one" or "I can't believe we are going to have a little one here so soon", or a little of both...but I could barely contain myself.
We sat in a labor room and also spent time in a recovery room. To picture our little bundle occupying the empty hospital bedside bassinet and the familiar faces and love of our friends and family filling the room, first bonding time as a family of three (or four if we can smuggle the furry one in- ha!), it is all so real, yet so surreal. And hitting me like a ton of bricks in these last few weeks. Standing in that room thinking, "this could be our room, this is the door we will go through to complete this process, this is where we will forever change, literally, this is where we will feel those feelings indescribable unless felt them for yourself, where we will hold and meet this squirmy growing little one we have spent all these months caring for from the inside (or outside)"..
We were talking on the way home about how this has all gone so fast. Like the incredible journey in fast forward. Just when you digest that it is really all happening, it's almost over. It really is just a little blip in time, especially in the big-picture-permanent change that is among us. It's really hard to grasp. I would imagine with second, third, subsequent pregnancies you may have a better idea what to expect..but on the first go 'round nothing is normal or routine about it, even if you do read "What to Expect". Everything is uncharted and mysterious. Every day brings something new. It has been such a ride for us. And something I would never trade.
I never (even at the beginning of my own pregnancy) could wrap my head around those people who 'loved being pregnant' and 'never felt more beautiful'. And, while I am not feeling the physical beauty part as much (veins and congestion, blotchy skin and bloody noses), I have really enjoyed this ride. We are actually far from done, as we hopefully go full term and have six more weeks to enjoy, but so far- it has just felt like a little vignette of a miracle. Unfolding in our arms, in our home, in our little family unit- bonding us and bringing us closer together. It has felt like sharing something that is so intimate and personal to us, even though people go through it every day.
I am not sure if I will miss being pregnant or not, but I have never gotten tired of the pokes, karate kicks, krav maga, rolls, little heartbeats, patting my big old belly or placing baby's Daddy's hand in position to feel a big movement. Haven't gotten tired of bringing this little one everywhere with me, conveniently packed away inside, as to not to worry about lugging a carseat or carrier!
That being said, our little daydreams of an occupied bedside vintage bassinet, snuggled clean little body in a hoody towel after the countertop sponge bath we have practiced giving, full car seat in the back of the car, ready for a road trip, a little being finally filling out the mini-sized red Adirondack chair on the deck with a smushed PB&J in hand... knowing that living the actual experiences of these daydreams will be so much more amazing than we can picture now...
We are anxious and excited to meet this little baby D. Seeing that little one in the hospital nursery last night has never hit home harder for me. Watching my husband linger at the window to get one more last peek, I know I am not the only one.
Last night we took our Labor and Delivery tour of the hospital where I will be laboring and delivering. It was all so real! I found my eyes welling with tears so many times. It is just so dang emotional for me. Not sure if it's a "I really have to go thru this scary stuff to hold my little one" or "I can't believe we are going to have a little one here so soon", or a little of both...but I could barely contain myself.
We sat in a labor room and also spent time in a recovery room. To picture our little bundle occupying the empty hospital bedside bassinet and the familiar faces and love of our friends and family filling the room, first bonding time as a family of three (or four if we can smuggle the furry one in- ha!), it is all so real, yet so surreal. And hitting me like a ton of bricks in these last few weeks. Standing in that room thinking, "this could be our room, this is the door we will go through to complete this process, this is where we will forever change, literally, this is where we will feel those feelings indescribable unless felt them for yourself, where we will hold and meet this squirmy growing little one we have spent all these months caring for from the inside (or outside)"..
We were talking on the way home about how this has all gone so fast. Like the incredible journey in fast forward. Just when you digest that it is really all happening, it's almost over. It really is just a little blip in time, especially in the big-picture-permanent change that is among us. It's really hard to grasp. I would imagine with second, third, subsequent pregnancies you may have a better idea what to expect..but on the first go 'round nothing is normal or routine about it, even if you do read "What to Expect". Everything is uncharted and mysterious. Every day brings something new. It has been such a ride for us. And something I would never trade.
I never (even at the beginning of my own pregnancy) could wrap my head around those people who 'loved being pregnant' and 'never felt more beautiful'. And, while I am not feeling the physical beauty part as much (veins and congestion, blotchy skin and bloody noses), I have really enjoyed this ride. We are actually far from done, as we hopefully go full term and have six more weeks to enjoy, but so far- it has just felt like a little vignette of a miracle. Unfolding in our arms, in our home, in our little family unit- bonding us and bringing us closer together. It has felt like sharing something that is so intimate and personal to us, even though people go through it every day.
I am not sure if I will miss being pregnant or not, but I have never gotten tired of the pokes, karate kicks, krav maga, rolls, little heartbeats, patting my big old belly or placing baby's Daddy's hand in position to feel a big movement. Haven't gotten tired of bringing this little one everywhere with me, conveniently packed away inside, as to not to worry about lugging a carseat or carrier!
That being said, our little daydreams of an occupied bedside vintage bassinet, snuggled clean little body in a hoody towel after the countertop sponge bath we have practiced giving, full car seat in the back of the car, ready for a road trip, a little being finally filling out the mini-sized red Adirondack chair on the deck with a smushed PB&J in hand... knowing that living the actual experiences of these daydreams will be so much more amazing than we can picture now...
We are anxious and excited to meet this little baby D. Seeing that little one in the hospital nursery last night has never hit home harder for me. Watching my husband linger at the window to get one more last peek, I know I am not the only one.
No comments:
Post a Comment