37 Weeks Today

I am amazed at how quickly this pregnancy is going. It blows my mind to think that in 3-5 weeks time a baby will have been born to our family. We are all so excited and I'll tell you that the house is in a constant debate over what this baby is. Some think boy and some think girl. I was pretty convinced that I was having a girl up until we landed in Texas and my mom told me she thinks I'm having a boy.  Jake also thinks I'm having a boy. With both of them thinking boy I doubt myself. I've knit purple pants, bloomers, and a beautiful pink sweater with mother of pearl buttons. Perhaps these little pink and purple things will all be given away to some soft little pink girl.

The fear of labor and delivery is trying to rule my thoughts when I permit it too, but I am comforted by the fact that my Lord governs all things, even pain. He knows what I'm capable of handling and what I'm not. The memory of Samuel's labor is still rather fresh and the intensity and pain isn't something I'll forget, ever. When I look at pictures of myself from the end of the pregnancy with that little guy I see how large I was. He weighed just shy of 10 pounds and his clavicle broke during his arrival. It had to break on something and just the process of getting him to birth was hard, hard work. This time around when I look at pictures of myself I'm not near as big and I have given my mind over to the idea that perhaps this baby won't be quite the whopper that Samuel Theodore was.

Whatever the size or the pain I am so thankful that the Lord would permit us to have more children. It is a privilege and an honor to have a child. I am humbled by the notion of the family that God has called me to mother. What a task and what a blessing!

If you happen to think of me, please pray for me during that moment.  That I would be strong and of great courage and not fearful. That my body would be fully prepared and my mind would be centered on things that are eternal, not perishing.

I'll try to remember to have Jake take a belly shot of me. However, that could get brushed under the pregnancy carpet that is currently in my brain. As Jake likes to tell me, this is actually not really my 3rd trimester, but my 24th trimester. At least there will be pictures when the baby comes ;).