Star Date 38642763942809

That's 38 weeks and 6 days on April 27th @ 6pm: The evening we check into the hospital. That night the doc will gel me up to soften my cervix and prepare a descent for the baby.
At 39 weeks, Tuesday, April 28th 09 in the A.M. my 'water' will be broken and Pitocin (an artificial hormone that replicates the bodies ability to create oxytocin) will kick me and the baby into gear. Pelvic bones will start to separate and dilation and heart rates will be monitored by probing on a regular basis...what part of having a baby is not TOTALLY ALIEN???!!! LOL!!!
I am still having my blood pressure monitored daily, and I don't think it is all that great, however the doc let me make the decision as far as when to go in. Choice being today (Saturday) or to stick with Monday, our original plan. Of course I picked Monday, I feel fine. OK, so I feel very pregnant and constantly uncomfortable, but fine, really. Where's Captain Picard when I need him, for he is not in the sickbay!! OK, enough with the Star Trek references as I certainly do not want to be known as a (gasp) 'Trekkie' which I am not!
The baby has been monitored twice this week and is strong and still very able to be fed...placenta is good, heart rate and movement great! Since that was a reassurance, I felt OK with waiting over the weekend. Zach really wants to finish up some electric fencing around the pasture and God knows we could use the time to be more prepared. He is in nesting overdrive I think while I am battling to force myself to lay low. All things baby are totally set to go. I keep thinking of all of the other projects that could be tackled, but know they are not necessary. I think we both feel like we will get absolutely nothing done once we bring that baby home, and that if it's not done now we will never get it done. We have to remind ourselves that we are both off, we CAN and WILL rest and will still have time to stare at our baby and make dinner...just maybe not at the same time! We can do it! Go Team Swenson!!!
After my BP check today I ran to the grocery store to stock up on some stuff for Grandpa while we are gone. I was so blessed by this little stop on so many levels that I have to share my thoughts. I ran into LOTS of people today...I got about 6 hugs...4 of which were from one person, but I took them all joyfully! Once I was back in my car, groceries in the trunk, I thought of one of my first trips into "town" when I first moved to Princeton. I was so annoyed by the folks who would run into each other and would have to stop midway through an aisle and block it with their carts while they chatted. I remember cursing the small-town feel and missed my giant mega-store where I could run in wearing yesterdays' eye liner and a baseball cap over my bed head and get out totally unnoticed. Today it occurred to me that I am a proud aisle blocker! How wonderful that after a few years in Princeton, I know so many awesome people that I want to stop and talk to! The other thought I had was about baby and how a new person affects so many lives. All of those hugs were from excitement that in 2 days I would be in the hospital preparing for Prince William to arrive. :o) I could see the joy and sparkle in other people and really I don't think I would understand any of this if I were not the expectant mother-to-be. I questioned their enthusiasm...knowing they were all mothers themselves, so what's the big deal? But it made me think of all the people who are nearly as excited as Zach and I...maybe even more than we are because they know the joy that's coming and we know nothing but a bit of fear and anxiety of the unknown. Every person we know, from parents and friends, coworkers, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, neighbors, everyone is so excited and I find it so strange. Babies come everyday...most people I know have a kid or 2...so what is the big deal? This is average everyday stuff when you think globally. So what is it about a new baby that makes everyone sparkle? I have always believed that babies are not miracles...miracles are something that God grants that is extraordinary...babies, again, happen along all day everyday. Every 3 seconds is the latest find. So what is it??? Well, I think it is lots of different things. Here are my theories and I would love to hear yours. At the store today, my friend Carol from church said that she can't wait to see what kind of personality Will has because of the kind I have. She is anxious to see what my genes create. This is an exciting theory...what will he look like, who will he act like? What attributes will make him so much like his dad or so much like his mom? This is enough to make one want to know this baby. For anyone close to Zach or me, I can see how they will be interested in watching us become parents...especially our parents. To see us grow to another level must be a strange thing; something I won't know until our children have children. But I can see how there would be a draw there too...not to mention babies, like puppies and bunnies are undeniably cute and cuddly. Who can resist the smell of a baby slathered in Johnson & Johnson lotion?
I am just fascinated by the love people have for this baby and cannot fathom the love that is yet to come. I think Zach and I are clueless as far as how much our hearts will be filled the second we see him...and all of these moms in the store today...they already know don't they?