36.5 weeks- watermelon

Hi friends. Less than a month to go! I'm pretty excited. I have cut back my work hours to 4 days a week, and also set an official last day of work: April 15th. He is due April 19th. I reserve the right to move my last day up sooner if I feel the need to! I honestly hope to never ever go back there again...except to visit and show off my little man to my co-workers, who have been so sweet and gracious with me these last 8 months :)

I've VERY much enjoyed 3-day weekends these past 2 weeks with my new schedule. As you can see in the picture, last Monday we painted our bedroom! Tomorrow we will paint the nursery. Today is a rainy Saturday, and knowing that I don't have to accomplish everything today, I am relaxing in bed, in my PJ's, and am actually just paying attention to my babe move around in his huge bump-home (I'm trying not to use the word 'belly'- I never liked that word much anyway). I realized recently that I've been so busy working and preparing for the baby that I had hardly been paying attention to him! His heart rate was low when we went in last Monday so the midwife hooked us up to the heart monitor to see how my contractions affected him (they didn't really affect him at all). He was just consistently below where they wanted him to be that day, so I was ordered to really pay attention to make sure he was kicking enough (at least 10 movements every 3 hrs) and to come back in 3 days. It was a little alarming, but I felt like he was OK since he usually moves around so much.

Sure enough, on our follow-up visit he performed like a champ, heart beating strong and fast, and showing off for the midwife with his acrobatics. She was laughing while trying to locate his heartbeat because he was so lively in response to her touch. It was so nice :) We think he was asleep and during the previous visit.

Since then I started to really appreciate his health and vitality. His movement is painful sometimes but it's very endearing. It's so cool to think that he is full-grown now and just looks like a regular born infant! I have contractions all the time; some that are so tight I can barely breathe, and some with pain. There is a small fear that I won't realize when it's the real thing even though everyone says you will 'know'. Stuart is in Phoenix Arizona this weekend. We've been praying for a long time that the baby won't come this weekend and I don't think he will. Once it turns April, he has my permission to come whenever he's ready! I'm not as afraid anymore. I dreamed last night that he was born and I was just staring at him. It was so real and it was the first time I've dreamed about him! He had dark hair and big feet. But still no name. I have no idea when that will come.