38 weeks

I am now 38 weeks pregnant, and I am so thankful for a healthy pregnancy where I have been able to continue to work full time night shift (which is no easy task even when not pregnant). I haven't called in sick one time this entire pregnancy, but that is only because God has continued to give me physical and mental strength and also because I have an incredibly supportive husband who does most of our cooking and housework for us.

Overall, I feel pretty good. I worked last night and went to the doctor today. Dr. Hebets said I was 3cm and 80% effaced. So that's a pretty good start. I've been slowly changing each week that I've been at the office. I also had a couple of high blood pressures, some generalized swelling, and had protein in my urine which she was concerned about. Initially, she talked to me about cutting my hours back but then she decided that she wanted me to not work the rest of the week. She wants me to rest. I will say that I am relieved a bit - I didn't feel like I could just say I didn't want to work, but having my doctor say I couldn't work right now made the decision easy for me. The plan is that if I am not delivered by next Tuesday when I am 39 weeks then they will induce my labor. I really prefer to labor on my own and not be induced. After the exam today and Dr. Hebets stripping my membranes, I started to contract more regularly and intensely. I waited a few hours - the contractions continued. I thought for sure we would be going to the hospital - I was even texting a couple of nurse friends at work tonight to tell them how I was progressing. But then the contractions spaced out. So I guess it's not time yet - I'm okay with that. I am still having contractions but they are irregular. I go back to the doctor on Friday, so I guess I will see if I have made any change and how my blood pressure is.

We are ready for our new baby to come. I am so blessed to have had 2 baby showers for him - one by the girls in our Sunday school class and one by the girls at work. We already have a lot of things for him because we are reusing almost everything from Trey, but it is always nice to have new things too. I still need to go get him an outfit for when he is first born - I may do that in the morning. I am so excited to meet him, hold him, and smell his sweet newborn softness.

We are doing some things different this time around. We have decided we are going to cloth diaper him. I have been the grateful recipient of 33 small and size 1 cloth diapers by BumGenius and FuzziBunz diapers - each one costs about $16 new, so that is a huge savings for us. A girl I work with used them with her baby, and she has given the ones to me her baby has outgrown. I must say that we haven't received a ton of support in this cloth diapering endeavor (most people think we are a little crazy to give up the "convenience" of a disposable diaper), but I am really excited about it. It will be a tremendous cost savings to us as well as better for our baby's bottom. David is totally on board with this - I don't think I could do it if he wasn't. We may do a little of both - maybe disposable while we travel, but cloth when we are at home. It will be a change for us, so I will keep you posted on how it goes. By the way, we will wash them at home - not use a diaper service.

I am most excited about my Moby wrap that I just purchased. I hope to do more babywearing with our new baby especially with having a toddler to chase around and play with. I've been wanting one of these since Trey was a baby, but I just never bought one. I received it in the mail the other day and have been practicing using it. I can't wait to hold our new little one in it.