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37 Weeks

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Today I am 37 weeks and 5 days; this is the point in my pregnancy with Nathan that he arrived. Which means, that starting tomorrow morning, each day I will be more pregnant than I have ever been! After another boringly good appointment this week, there are few signs that Baby Davolt wants to arrive as early as his big brother. Of course I'm having all the usual symptoms of this stage in pregnancy...tiredness, occasional contractions, and more tiredness. Two important people in my life are tempting fate this week, both taking well-deserved vacations: my dad and my OB. I'm praying that Baby will wait patiently until both are back in town, though I know things will turn out okay, no matter what.

Each day at work, I feel a little more exhausted and by Thursday or Friday, I'm confining myself to a chair or stool much more than I normally would with a classroom full of mischievous middle school students.  This past Thursday was a 12 hour work day, which left me particularly worn out on Friday and joking with colleagues that I was ready for my "vacation".

On the other hand, I love my work and now that we're past the first few weeks of trivial tasks, I'm enjoying the time with my students. The littlest part of me is sorry that I'll be stepping away for so long. As each class is showing progress in transitioning back into class room behaviors, and picking up new skills, I'm slightly bummed that I won't be able to see these first units through. After all, I only have 7 teaching days left between now and Baby's arrival. I'm thankful that I've been able to spend these first weeks meeting and getting to know my students and hopeful that it makes my transition back in January a little easier.  Unfortunately, a long term substitute has still not been secured.

We often have people ask if Nathan understands Baby is coming. Jeff and I joke that we've been talking about Baby for so long, Nathan might wonder if Baby really is coming! He is growing so quickly, and I'm excited for him to be a big brother soon. Nathan loves identifying items that belong to Baby. It might be Baby's room, or stuffed animals that we've been given recently for Baby or the bed set up in our room with a handful of newborn sized diapers leftover from when Nathan was little (yes, I inventoried and saved all the diapers he grew out of for our next little one). He loves to tell us how these items are for Baby, and knows with confidence that Baby is in Mama's belly right now.

Just had to add that in the last day or so, Nathan has started to walk with his belly sticking out as much as he can and say, "Mama". Yep, he must think Mama looks pretty funny.

Coming Up:

  • Wednesday, September 25th: Final Pre-Natal Appointment. Since Dr. Williams will be on vacation, I'll see one of her colleagues in the practice. I've met a couple of the other doctors over the years, but I definitely don't have any kind of relationship with them. Oh well. 
  •  Saturday, September 28th: I'm meeting the ladies of our former life group at our Portland church for brunch to celebrate Baby's impending arrival. I'm excited to see them all, since it's been awhile, as well as meet three week old Finn, a second son to one of the ladies. 

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