I have not seen my feet while standing for about 4 months. Shoes with shoe laces are very hard to put on. I have been waddling around for a long time, and going from sitting to standing, or moving in general is getting harder and harder. I am getting more and more swollen, I would not recognize my lower extremities as my own. Contractions are coming more and more, but just for practice, nothing really making things happen. I have whole new colonies of visible veins down my legs that will be a fun souvenir to keep after the baby is born. I feel super clumsy, drop things all the time and then picking them up is very hard. I keep running into our 5 and 3 year olds with my belly. I get very nauseated again since my stomach is smashed by a baby, and my abdomen seems stretched to its limit. I am in a constant state of pulling up my trousers, of which I have only a handful that still fit. And the fatigue! And the inability to get much done. Just a few of the joys of late pregnancy.

But I still love to feel the baby kick and can't wait to meet her. Our older kids are so excited for a new baby- they both are great with little ones. I love hearing Jane list off the people she loves which always includes her baby sister. I am excited for labor, not only to not be pregnant anymore but I actually have always had a fascination with the process of giving birth. I trained and worked as a labor doula (to provide non-medical labor support) years before I had my own kids. Knowing how labor works and helping other women through labor before having a baby is very great preparation. I have had two very easy births and hope for an easy third. Maybe we will be surprised as birth is unpredictable but we hope for a peaceful beginning for our little one. And knowing all I know, I would happily go through pregnancy again. I am grateful for our growing family as I have seen too many friends who long for children struggle with fertility issues.

And now to keep waiting. . .

I had my final trip of this pregnancy last weekend, a family reunion in Central Utah. This pregnancy has taken me as far as Italy and Poland, but I need to stay a little closer to home for now. I was 37 weeks along (which is when I delivered Colin). While on our trip, we got to go on some mule drawn wagon rides to celebrate our Western heritage. I maybe should have taken a few more rough rides to get labor going.