One Week To Due Date

Well, I have to say, I have been shown a whole lot of grace (undeserved favor and kindness) during this pregnancy, because it has been so very smooth! I am very grateful because there are so many women (you my friends) who have had and continue to have it rough and you are all troopers!

Even with the ease of my pregnancy, it has still been hard on my body. I have really started to feel it in the last few days. I'd have to say over the last three weeks, I have felt great besides an ear infection. But this weekend, has turned the tide and my cold is getting the best of me. I just can't shake it. So, a trip to my midwife today confirmed that I do not have an infection so we are just actively shaking this cold with over the counter medicine and sleep and phytonutrients! Please pray that I feel better quickly because this baby is coming shortly (shortly being relative to any hour to a couple weeks). I really do not want to feel blah during labor and delivery; it's going to be hard enough as it is! With the hopes of getting better, we have decided that this Friday will be my last day of work. I had planned on going until delivery, but my body needs some rest so I am going to take it!

Now, for those of you who care, my cervix is dilated to 2 cm and is 60% effaced. The baby's head is also very low. For those of you who have no idea or don't care, it doesn't really mean anything except things are beginning to move around and get ready for the baby to come. Again, it could be any minute or it could be two weeks. Alice, my midwife, said, "We're just waiting on the consistent contractions because everything else is ready." Good to know.
I've been having practice contractions for weeks now, but they are getting stronger and encompassing a larger area. Still though, they are not regular at all. We shall continue to wait patiently. I do feel though that the time is drawing nigh (whatever time span that means).

My due date is next Monday, March 30th. If I haven't gone by then, they will schedule an ultrasound just to make sure everything is good with the baby. Then as of now, they will allow me to go until April 13th naturally. After that, the attending physician decides what happens.

Scotty is pretty much ready. Still not happy about the pain that I will have to endure, but ready for the little one to show herself. That's what he thinks--it's a girl. I, on the other hand, haven't the foggiest idea if we have a son or a daughter in my womb. The excitement is building! We can't wait to share the news that our child is here. This really is so much fun!

Two Sundays Before

So here we are, 2 weeks and 1 day before our due date.  Really though, our child could come any day or not for another 4 weeks.  It's so crazy how we actually think we can guess when a baby is going to come.  As a wise woman said this past week, "Do we really know the gestational period of a human down to the day?"  Babies come when God says it's time, ultimately.  

Currently, I, Shellie, am not nervous at all about the delivery.  Now, we will see if that changes when contractions start or my water breaks.  

For those of you who don't know: we did not find out the sex of our baby, so we are so excited to see what we are having!  My excitement and curiosity grows dail

y.  I do not have an instinct as to what it is, honestly!  We do have names for both, though.

If we have a son, his name will be Carter.  In honor of Scotty's maternal family.  It's meaning: "transporter of materials!"  Hopefully, legal ones!

If we have a daughter, her name will be Okalani.  It's Hawaiian and with our love for surfing and Scotty's obsession with Hawaii it fits us well.  On top of that it means "from heaven." Whichever we have, boy or girl, will be a gift from God!

We have not chosen middle names for either, as we want to wait to give our children names based on who they are.  We have many months to decide on the middle names (I think even a year).  Do you know how in the Bible, peoples' names were often indicative of who they were?  That's what I'd like for our kids--names that express who they are.  I wish I knew now what our children would be like, but since we don't, we will name them fully after they are born and here with us for a little while.  What's in a name?  A whole lot if you ask me!

We have a wonderful midwife, Alice, and great nurses, Meg, Penny and a couple others who are going to deliver our lil' P!  We are having the baby at a birthing center, where it feels like home, but where they have some of the "needed" extra equipment, just in case.  I will save the details of a birthing center for another post though.  Lord-willing, we will birth in water as well, which seems like so much fun!  OK, so fun isn't quite the right word, but have you ever seen a baby under water-it's the coolest thing!

Thanks for caring about us and being interested in our lives.  We pray that as we bring this life into the world that you will see how amazing God is and how much He loves you too!