How far along? 37 weeks 5 Days

Total weight gain/loss: Around 41 lbs… it fluctuates up and down a few pounds… depending on if I’m retaining water. Haven’t gained but 3 lbs in the last few weeks.

Maternity clothes? I can’t wait to be in normal clothe again! Harper has dropped this week, and hardly any of my clothes will stay put and cover my belly. They slowly start riding up, and my belly is hanging out the bottom… ha ha.. so redneck!

Stretch marks? not many! My belly has two way down low since Harper has dropped down some. I also have a tiny one on my right hip and a little one on my left thigh.

Sleep: some nights good, some nights bad. I usually wake up 3 times a night to tinkle though!

Best moment this week: Have Nancy come visit

Movement: more rolling around. Something of hers… bottom maybe? is up underneath my ribs on the right side sometimes and just plain hurts!

Food cravings: ice cream

Gender: It’s a girl… confirmed once again at our last u/s appointment two mondays ago.

Labor Signs: Strong braxton hicks contractions. Nothing that takes my breath away, but I can definitely feel them!

Belly Button in or out? OUT! The turkey timer says she’s done!!!

Wedding rings on or off? off, but wearing my cool wal-mart wedding rings 😉 hah!

What I miss: being able to walk without pain, turning over easily in the middle of the night, drinking coffee and not having heartburn afterwards, having my old body back, running, working out… and the list could continue.

What I am looking forward to: hmmm… BIRTH! Seeing Harper’s face, holding her hand, kissing her feet… oh the fun!

Weekly Wisdom: live each day as it comes to the full… stop the countdowns… it makes each day like it is taking way too long!

Milestones:
Full term! and Nancy’s visit this past weekend… our last one alone for a while!

Well, this week has been super long for me. When you are pregnant, you want to make it to full term, which was last week for us. As soon as I was full term, I wanted her OUT OUT OUT! Well, normally, a woman is pregnant for 40 weeks, and isn’t considered truly “over due” until 42 weeks… YIKES… for me that day is March 14th – which seems like an eternity away. I know my Dr won’t let me go that long, which is a relief. However, as soon as I hit the 37 week mark, each day has felt like week.

This morning, as I spent time with the Lord, I had to realize I’m coming to another point of surrender to Him. He knows exactly what time and what day Harper will arrive, and I’ve got to rest in that – otherwise I’m going to drive myself (and everyone else around me) CRAZY! I hope that tomorrow’s Dr’s visit will be encouraging to me, and I will have progressed a little more. If not, though, I’ve just got to rest in what the Lord’s timing is. I’m trying to live each day for what it brings instead of being on a countdown like I have been for the last few months.

For fun… here is a picture Nancy took of me while she was in town this past weekend. We had a lot of fun together!

Well, I think I am going to do another survey… I haven’t done one of those in a while, so I think I will update…

Well, I am officially full term! Harper can come out whenever she wants to now!

I went to the DR on Wednesday and she told me that my body is getting ready! Yay! I was 70% effaced and Harper is at 0 Station! I know I could walk around a while like this, but at least I know my body is progressing in some way or another. Come out Harper!!!!

This morning we went to meet our pediatrician, Dr. Leeper, and I LOVE him! He is so personable and makes me feel very confident that Harper will be in wonderful hands! He is also very funny – Chris had fun laughing and joking with him.

Nancy, Elizabeth, and Sam are in town this weekend so we are going to hang out and have some girl time before Harper arrives. Below is what Nancy wrote me about our plans for the weekend….

i have already planned our weekend:
we’ll arrive thursday night
friday morning we’ll go to the pancake pantry and meet another celebrity
pedicures, lunch at that yummy little place, then….
friday night around 9 YOU go into LABOR
chris, me, and the girls trade off ice chip runs (for you) and coffee runs (for us) all night at the hospital
mom and the inlaws arrive early that morning (3am-ish)
you have harper at 7 am on saturday morning!
that whole day, we switch off taking naps, holding harper, and caring for you, hg and chris!
saturday night you are well enough to go home
we get you all settled in and help with your first night… (unless you and chris want to beast it.. then we’ll be at the hotel :))
sunday morning we do errands for diapers, pacefiers, , get you all settled in as a mommy, then we all go back to boone that afternoon!

just let harper know of those plans, so she can come when she’s supposed to! haha LOVE you!
aunt nancy
We’ll see if that happens… I would LOVE to go into labor tonight, but I really don’t want to go home the night I have her 🙂 haha! I want to stay in the hospital and be taken care of!

Well, we are off to eat at the Pancake Pantry again! Maybe we will meet another celebrity like last week… I will have to write that story later… for now, pancakes are hollering my name!

ML

They warn you about this stuff, but I thought this was one of the few symptoms of pregnancy I had avoided… but NO WAY! I have to record this so I can go back and get a laugh or a cry out of it later. So, here is what happened last night. First of all, yesterday was just a gloomy sort of day with yucky weather. I stayed in all day cleaning and doing stuff around the house, so needless to say I was looking forward to Chris coming home. He called and our conversation went something like this…

C: What do you want to do for dinner?

To which I replied either go to the grocery store or eat Mexican.

(side note, Mexican has been my LEAST favorite food all through pregnancy. We’ve only eaten it once or twice)

C: REALLY?!?!

ML: Yeah, I’ve kind of been thinking about it today.

C: Okay, well I’ll be home soon and we’ll decide where we should go.

So, he gets home and I ask if he is hungry to which he says, no not really. So we decided to wait a little bit. At this point I am making a grocery list. However, in my mind I was thinking we were going to go eat Mexican b/c he sounded really excited about it.

I am getting ready and notice Chris has gotten the ice cream carton out of the freezer and is eating it. I didn’t really say anything as I thought he must be pretty hungry and just wants a bite before we go out.

ML: You ready to go eat?

C: Oh, I thought we were going to the grocery store

(poor communication)

ML: I thought you wanted to go eat Mexican.

C: I just ate ice cream b/c I thought we were going to the grocery store, and wanted to curb my appetite.

ML: Well, we can go to the grocery store if you want to.

C: No, we’ll go eat mexican.

(this goes on for a few minutes)

We finally decide since it is getting late, we would just go eat Mexican. We get there and are seated. They bring us out the chips and salsa, and I notice Chris isn’t touching them.

I said, ‘Your not hungry are you?’

He says, ‘Yea, I am.’

*AND THEN IT HITS ME* “You ate Mexican today for lunch, didn’t you?!!?’

To which he sheepishly smiles and says ‘yes’

And here is where pregnancy hormones kick in…

I start bawling my eyes out right there. There is no stopping it. People are looking at me from other tables. The waiter has no idea what to do when he brings the food out. I just can’t stop it, and Chris keeps asking me why I’m crying as he kind of chuckles.

I’m crying because I have such a sweet husband who loves me so much he would eat Mexican twice in a day with out batting an eye or saying he already had that. He is such a selfless man that loves me and this little Harper Grace so much. He is such a servant to me, and truly displays Christ like love daily. He will get up off the couch to get me a cup of water or something to eat. He goes for walks with me in the freezing cold weather at 11pm b/c I’m restless or have bad heartburn. He’s learned how to cook a few meals (with my guidance 🙂 ) so that when we have a new little one he can help out in the kitchen. And, he puts up with my 5 billion pillows that just about smother him out of the bed so I can be comfortable.

He truly is a man of God that I am so blessed to be married to. God has gifted me beyond what I ever could have prayed for in a husband. He is going to be such a wonderful daddy. I just hope and pray that I can show him the same kind of love that he has shown me… selfless and unconditional.

So, that is what hit me as I was sitting in the Mexican restaurant last night, and the flood gates opened! Maybe it was a little bit of pregnancy hormones maybe a lot of God’s grace and love shown to me through my husband that got me going. Whatever it was, I was overwhelmed to the point of lots of tears and challenged to be a better wife.

Thank you Jesus for your love and blessings.

Christopher Michael Blanton, I am one blessed woman to be your wife! I love you with all my heart and want to be a better wife to you. You are an amazing man. You’ve kept true to your promise that you made to me on the day you proposed. Thank you for being a man of integrity and love. I love you!

I am so overwhelmed by what a mystery carrying a baby is as well as when she will arrive. Chris will take my big belly into his hands and get really close and say “There’s a baby in there!” It makes me laugh every time! It is so amazing to actually think that I am carrying another human being, completely formed. I have two hearts inside my body right now – as well as duplicates of other organs, and it is so weird to try to encompass that. I am amazed.

I also am wanting to know when she is going to come out! The Drs give you your estimated due date, but they don’t really KNOW when she is going to arrive. We have the count down going on – 37 days today – but I don’t know if that is really accurate. I get excited when I think it could really be 20 days left, and then I cringe when I think it could be more like 50 days…. YIKES!

This upcoming Monday we begin to start seeing the dr weekly. We also get our last ultrasound to “guess” Harper’s weight. They will measure her head, chest, abdomen, and length of her femur bone to see how big she is; however, this is not accurate and can be off about a pound either way! So, while technology is so advanced today, no one can tell me when my baby will born, if she will be born naturally or by c-section, if I will go into labor on my own or if I will have to be induced. Only my God, the one who created this precious gift of life knows and He is going to keep it a secret until he wants to surprise me and Chris. I will continue to wait on Him and His timing, regardless of how much I want to meet Harper Grace! The good news is I can’t be pregnant forever, so there is an end! I will pack my bags this week – just in case – and I will continue to keep the apartment clean (well, try to) 🙂

Thank you Jesus for keeping life a mystery still. Thank you that you and only you know EXACTLY what is going on with our little girl, her exact arrival time, and how big she is! You know my desires for this birth, but I must trust in you for what you know is best for me and my family.

You make all things beautiful in your time… Ecclesiastes 3:11