39 weeks and counting....

And just when you thought I've fallen off the face of the earth...
Here I am!!

 And I still have my big belly, bursting at the seams. 

I'm 39 weeks along now - so exciting!

Okay, so I'm still pregnant and getting bigger by the day. I'm 39 weeks now.  Just one more week until this baby is due to arrive! My belly feels very heavy some days, and then other days I feel perfectly fine with a lot of energy.  So on the days I have energy, I get a lot done. And on the days that I don't, I only do the bare minimum around here, which does NOT include cooking, laundry or cleaning of any sort.  I basically go straight from the car (because that is my "have to" -- taking the kids to and from various events)  right into bed, onto the couch, or into the bath.  The rest (the cooking, the laundry, the cleaning) is on the kids.  And yes, they complain.  But for the most part, they have really been doing a great job.  Avery and Alex have taken on the cooking duty.  Avery made breaded chicken breasts and baked potatoes the other night, without any assistance from me.  I only told her what to do from my bed.  Not too bad for a 12 year old. And Alex made spaghetti and meatballs last night. As far as cleaning up the kitchen after meals,  I have Alex, Avery, A.J. and Aislynn on that duty.  All four of them, ages 13, 12, 10 and 8, work together to clean up after meals.  My older three are rarely home to help because they all have jobs outside the home.  So it's the younger six that have been my main helpers.   (well, Andrew and Aria try to help, but they make more of the messes than they do help.)

You might be wondering...where is your husband? Well, lately he is working so much at the fire station. Back to back overtimes have kept him at work for up to 4 days in a row, then he'll be home for one day, then back to work for another 4 days in a row, and so on.  It has been like this for the past few weeks. Although we miss him and I could really use his help right now, this is a good thing that he's working so much at this time. All of this overtime will allow him to take 3 to 4 weeks off once the baby is born.  

My midwife, who will be assisting us with our home birth and who has helped with our last 3 births, will be out of town this weekend.  I'm really trying not to go into labor until she gets back!  I would hate for her to miss this birth. Actually, I'm hoping to go a little past my due date.  The perfect delivery date for ME would be June 2nd.  I have so much going on until then with kids' end-of-the-school-year activities and performances, the main one being Afton's senior prom.  I just have to be there for that -- to help her get ready, to take pictures of her and her friends -- it's a big day.  So let's hope I can keep this baby inside until June 2nd.

I'm still working in Andrew's Kindergarten class once a week.  Here is Andrew standing by the sunflowers that they are growing in cups.  He will get to take his home soon and plant it in our garden.  I really enjoy working in his classroom and spending time with the kids.  They are all so much fun!  I swear, I could have been  Kindergarten teacher.  It's funny how life is.  I could have gone one route: college, a degree in teaching, and then a career teaching Kindergarten.  But instead I chose another route:  mom to TEN and no time whatsoever to work outside the home.  Don't get me wrong.  I have NO regrets on the route I chose.  But sometimes I wonder what life would have been like had I chosen another route.  I guess we all think things like that, right?

Aria's preschool had a Mommy & Me Tea event right around Mother's Day.  It was so sweet!  They sang songs for us, and then we had a special "tea time" and had cake and juice together. The tables were all decorated, and the children made their moms special cards and gifts.  Ah, I just LOVE being a mommy!

And here's me again.  I keep taking photos of my belly because it's going to be gone very soon!  And I know I'm going to miss it!  I will.  So I'm taking lots of pictures of it.  I just love having these phones with cameras built into them!  Technology is so great right now.  It makes it so easy just to snap a picture anywhere.

 These two have their own beds, but every morning I find them sleeping like this.  

The 13 year old and the 6 year old.  

I love it.  Brotherly love.

 Aislynn made this for me for Mother's Day.

It's supposed to be me.

It IS me.  I love it.

This four year old dresses up everyday.  On this day she is wearing her Little Orphan Annie costume.  Well, actually...the wig is for a Brave costume (she was Merida last Halloween)  and the dress?  Well that dress was made back in January 1997 by my grandmother.  She made this dress for Audriana's 4th birthday. And now Aria is wearing it.  I love that. 

Avery's 12th Birthday Party was a hit!  We rented out a roller rink and she invited her friends to come skate for a few hours.  It was SO much fun, and I was only bummed that I could not skate myself.  I would have...but the rules of the place said no pregnant mother could skate.  Bummer!

Well, I'm going to end it here.  Sorry for all the time that's passed between blog posts, but I've just not been all that into it lately.  I'm busy running kids around, and in my spare time trying to get things organized for the baby's arrival.  I'm in my "nesting" mode right now!  Things are getting washed (all the baby clothing, crib bedding and blankets)  and organized (my bedroom, where he will spend 90% of his time in the first few weeks)  and putting things together (we just put up the crib!)  and all that good stuff that comes right before a baby does!

Five more weeks to go!

Today I am 35 weeks pregnant.  And here is my beach ball belly to prove it.   

People are asking me if this pregnancy is as easy as all of my previous pregnancies?  The answer to that is yes...and no.  

The baby?  Yes, that part of the pregnancy is just like all the rest.  He's measuring "big" for my due date, he is just as active as all the rest, he has a good heart beat, etc.

My weight gain?  Yes, that is the same as all the rest.  I have always gained anywhere between 40 and 45 pounds for each pregnancy, even the ones in my early 20's.  That is just my normal pregnancy weight gain.

My weight?  No! The difference with this pregnancy and all the others is that I'm much more tired, I do not have much energy, and I'm much more sore... and it's all due to my weight.  Not my weight gain - but my weight. I was at least 15-20 pounds heavier when I got pregnant than my normal non-pregnancy weight.  (I was always planning on losing the weight, but I just never got around to it.)  So that makes the typical 40 pound weight gain all that more difficult to deal with. Right now I weigh waaaay more than I ever have with a pregnancy.  And as a result, I tire easily. I get winded walking up the stairs.  My hips and pelvic bones hurt way earlier in this pregnancy, and I just don't have the energy that I wish I had.  It's not all that comfortable, and I still have FIVE more weeks to go!  Yikes!

Despite my aches and pains - and the fact that I cannot put on my own shoes unless they are flip-flops - I am still really enjoying this pregnancy. Everything about it is such a blessing, and I am so thankful that I get to do this one more time. 

Last weekend was my baby shower.  I was spoiled by so many friends and I got such nice things for the baby. 

This is my favorite photo of the day,

just me and my girls.

33 weeks pregnant and #14

Fourteen has always been my favorite and "lucky" number.  The reason for this is that I was born on the 14th, so I've always held a fondness for that number.  So even after five miscarriages in a row, it shouldn't surprise me that THIS pregnancy held.  Because, after all, it's my 14th pregnancy.  Lucky.  And at the age of 43, I do consider myself very lucky that I am blessed with another pregnancy.  I thought my fertile years were behind me, but surprise!  Turns out they weren't.  One more pregnancy.

Lucky #14.

I've always had easy pregnancies.  So far this one is no different than all the rest.  And I've always had BIG babies.  My smallest baby was born at 8 pounds 1 ounce, and my largest was born at 10 pounds 7 ounces.  I expect this little guy to be no less than 8 pounds and no more than 10 pounds 7 ounces. But maybe I'll have an 11 pounder, or a 7 pounder.  I mean, you just never know.

My last 3 babies were born at home.   After a while, I just got tired of going to the hospital. I wanted to try something different.  I no longer wanted a doctor delivering our babies;  I wanted my husband to deliver our babies! But of course a hospital wouldn't allow that, so with our #7 we just decided to do it at home.  So we hired a midwife to oversee everything, and that birth went so well, we decided to do it again for the next one and the next one.

And this one!  If all goes as expected, we will deliver this little guy at home, too.  In water. My home births were all water births.  They were so much fun.  (yes, FUN...hard to believe, I know.  But they were!)  So if all goes well, this little guy will be born in water, too.

 

 

I say, "If all goes well" because you just never know.  First of all, my last labor was only 1 hour and 45 minutes from start to finish, and we barely had time to fill up the birthing pool. So if this one comes even quicker, maybe we won't have a water birth. Maybe there will be no time for that. No birth is ever guaranteed on how it will go, so that's why I say, "If all goes well."  Maybe this baby will be breech and I'll need a c-section? I hope not, but hey, you just never know.  Things happen.

I was pregnant for the first time at age 23, and here I am pregnant at age 43.  I've taken so many home pregnancy tests during those years. Twenty years of peeing on sticks, with fourteen of those tests showing a "positive" sign.  Twenty years of pregnancies and nursing a baby. Twenty years of diaper changes and potty training.

Twenty years.

Of course I don't have to tell you all that I LOVE this -- I love every single second of it. (well, maybe not the first few weeks of morning sickness, but all the rest of it!)  

And I'd do it again and again, if it weren't for my age. Yep, I'm getting older. And with that comes old and unhealthy eggs. And with that comes miscarriages. And the truth is, I just don't want any more losses.  I want to end my fertility on a positive.   

So this baby will be our last, and I'm not so sad about that.  At least, not yet.  I'm sure I will be later on.  But for now, I feel pretty okay with it.   In fact, ending it on my lucky #14 almost feels like it was meant to be.