The Stork is Circling.

Well, it's almost Baby Time.

The old trusty due date calendar tells me I have four days until I am 40 weeks along.  I've reached the point where I do feel as if this pregnancy will never end. I'm used to children staring at my ridiculously protruding belly.  In my whole life I've never been an extra-large anything but here I sit filling out extra-large maternity clothing quite nicely. My body is weird and foreign to me when I see myself in the mirror yet I can't recall not being a ginormous penguin.

I love my babies no matter what age they are, so grateful for them, but I do not enjoy being pregnant. At best I feel okay but never good. The horrid morning sickness I get in the first part of pregnancy can best be described as "debilitating" and I dread that portion of my life more than any other. Truly, it is the most difficult time for me. After that subsides though, I am blessed to escape a lot of the minor discomforts of pregnancy and all of the major ones. The worst things I deal with are heartburn, fatigue, constant trips to the bathroom, and the annoying stuffy nose that has me breathing through my mouth most of the time (contributing to the attractive factor). But I just feel yucky most of the time.

The older girls have been very aware of this pregnancy and that has been a lot of fun. They lay their heads on my belly and talk to the baby and get a real kick out of well, being kicked in the face by their sibling-in-utero. They think the hiccups are hilarious. And they are in awe of the rock-hard belly when I'm seized by a nice strong warm up contraction (oh those are coming much more frequently lately, good relaxation practice time!).  They are so sweet and constantly ask how I am feeling. I've noticed that lately when Penny has come in to wake me up in the morning she immediately asks "Mom, where your baby?" and wants to see my belly. Ha--she senses her impending de-thronement of being the Family Baby ;)

Discomforts of the extremely pregnant aside (and the fun of living with a pregnant woman--my poor family), here our family sits at one of the most exciting times of life. We are literally days away from finding out whether we will be blessed with another precious daughter or will be poring over James Dobson's "Bringing up Boys" for years to come. What a special time and how thankful I am to be in this moment (heartburn and all).