just waiting....

well, it's not too much longer until those sweet new ten little toes come into the world! i always get so excited when the expiration dates on things at grocery store finally match my due date! amelia is still moving and pushing with all her might, and i just keep telling her to move DOWN! move DOWN! hopefully she's listening! at my 38 week appointment last week, i was dilated 1 cm and "a little effaced". so nothing to jump up and down about, but at least things are starting to happen. last night during bible study, i began feeling a little crampy, and i continued to feel contraction-like-but-consistent-cramps throughout the night and most of today. nothing that i could time or keep track of, but i definitely felt them. and it is definitely a sign that my body is getting ready to have this baby! we got our bags ready "just in case", and i went to bed hoping that i would wake up in the middle of the night with serious contractions... but no. my next appointment is in the morning, so i am really hoping to get some good news about my progress. i keep telling myself not to get my hopes up, but after the last 24 hours, i can't help but to get excited!!

i've officially been in obsession mode for the last week or so. every little thing has made me wonder if i'm in labor. every time i get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, i think, "maybe my water will break!" every time she moves like crazy (like she's doing now), i think, "oh, she's packin her bags!" so this whole cramping thing has really pushed me over the edge. i'm ready. and i hope she is too. :) but i'm actually feeling really great. i am not as uncomfortable as i remember being at this point with both ethan and caroline (i think i told brian at the end of my pregnancy with caroline, "if i ever tell you i miss being pregnant, shoot me in the head!"). i am huge, don't get me wrong, but my back really isn't hurting much, and i still feel ok getting around at my almost usual pace. but i do look forward to enjoying amelia on the outside!! the little ticker at the top of my blog made me laugh so hard the other day. here's what it said....


if you can't read it, it says, "i'm at least 7 lbs, and if i decide to stay in here, my fingernails will need be clipped." um, if she "decides to stay in there", the last thing i'm really thinking about is her fingernails! ha!


the kids are getting so excited. we've been talking a lot about what amelia will do at first (sleep, cry) and little noises she'll make. we've practiced how they can tickle her toes and kiss her head softly, and they just giggle and giggle thinking about it. caroline just walks around the house saying, "mee-yah, mee-yah", and ethan has decided that he will teach her "how to say some things". he told me, "i think i will teach her how to say train." you're not surprised, are you?! :) tonite, caroline said, "mee-yah! i like her eyes" out of the blue. as usual, i repeated what i thought she said to make sure i got the translation right, and she said, "pretty eyes!" if you ask caroline, "where's amelia?", she'll say, "still in tummy!" so i'm not the only one ready to see this baby!


it hit me last week that i'm actually about to give birth again. the idea of having another baby around the house has been a wonderful thought, but i just hadn't really contemplated labor much... which is probably a good thing. of course, we're praying that all will go well and that i will be able to avoid a c-section again (2 out of 3 wouldn't be too bad, huh?). it's a blessing to know that God has already written amelia's birth story, and now i'm just ready to live it out!! as the girl at the publix meat counter said to me the other day, "haven't you been pregnant for like 30 years?!", i do feel like it's taken forever to get to this point. but in a week or so (or less!??!), this will all seem like a blink of an eye, and our sweet amelia lynn will have stolen our hearts. i wish i didn't think about it every second of every day. the days would probably go by faster that way, but i can't help myself. it's just as exciting as with the first, but this time, i have an idea of all the joys ahead. :) so come on, baby girl, there's lots of people waiting to love you!