41 weeks. . . perhaps this week?

Our sweet baby has not made its entrance yet. . .

Hopefully this week will be the chosen one, otherwise we get to start doing fun things like castor oil (google it if you don't know), and continue hearing the "I" word from well-meaning acquaintances who don't know our desire for a natural out of hospital birth--induction.

I have my reasons for not wanting to be induced--my body was made to deliver this baby, this labor will start when it needs to! There is a much higher chance of fetal distress when the mom is induced because those contractions are stronger than the ones that the mom's body would produce. I don't want drugs, I don't want strange things. I just want to welcome our alert, fat baby into the world!!! And let other people hold it for a little while.

And have bladder space, and flexibility, and not-swollen hands/feet, running, seeing my feet, and lose water weight/weight in general, and have a baby in my arms, still being nurtured by me (but no longer needing to pass through my pelvis), and getting to use the cute diapers we bought for it!

When the time comes that some of your maternity clothes no longer fit, it is a sign that the baby should come soon. This happened yesterday while I was getting ready for church. Granted, these maternity clothes were not the stretchy ones (those could fit me if I was doubly pregnant!).

And now for a round of "Where's Grace's Belly? There it is!"

On the left, you will see me sucking in my belly. This is how I plan to go to the grocery store today and avoid the leering eyes and questions (not that it will be successful. This belly helps me win races, its so big). Middle is a normal shot. How I look normally, today. And on the right, you'll see a very nice extension of regular--the I'm carrying twins who weigh 8 pounds each belly (lol).

Yes, I somehow have retained my abdominal muscles. 

But really, I know my belly isn't that big. My favorite is the one on the far right because I look ridiculous.  (and they are all ridiculous because they are taken with a cell phone in a mirror. But at least it's for educational purposes. . . ;) )

Love you all! Pray for me and this baby that I'll have patience, emotional endurance, and that the baby will come out at its healthiest point!

Crickets

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with the cricket. It only has to do with the baby still residing in Hotel Mom. Don't worry, delpling, Mommy is patient. But come out soon! We want to meet you! (this pic was 40 weeks and five days.)

Maybe a week ago, I was determined to kill the cricket that had been singing in our kitchen. It was loud at 2-9am, churping to it's delight and destroying my patience and several hours of sleep (when I move to the couch because it becomes more comfortable than the bed in the early morning hours.)

So I moved the island out of the kitchen (and it lost TWO wheels in the process!, which I had to have Ben help me put back on because I couldn't do it by myself (pregnant women can only kill crickets)).
And used a knife to get in the crack between this bizarre platform that resides over the sump pump in our kitchen (yes, our former utility closet kitchen) and the wall. Then this large sized cricket(larger than the ones we'd been catching around the house because it had been feeding delightfully on dirt and crumbs of cellulose with no predator (that it knew of muhahaha)), hopped out of the crack and I made a loud grunting noise of SUCCESS! as I slammed my hand upon it.
Dead cricket #1.

I was so ecstatic, I partied for about fifteen minutes until I heard MORE churping! There was another (arrgh!) cricket still in the kitchen. It was with that I had a bad morning (not enough sleep, my efforts seemed in vain) and (I think) said "screw it!" to the whole process.

Fast forward to today.
I slept out on the couch again for the last four hours of my night, and wasn't awoken until 7:15 by said churping cricket. I had been stalking this nemesis for the past few days, but had not succeeded in seeing it. Then geared up with my headlamp and a flyswatter, I lifted the awkward platform and propped it up with a muffin tin, and continued my searching. I discovered it was residing under the removable flooring (again, to cover the sump pump in the kitchen). So I had to move the island again (which lost another wheel. jerk head), and moved the floor. And I saw it!

Dead cricket. Sorry for those who might find it a little gruesome.

From there, I made it hop out with a few nudges of the fly swatter and then WHAM!!!! WHAM. Got it (actually got it the first time. second time was for emphasis).

"Hallelujah"

We now have a beautifully serene kitchen to be in, with the gentle sounds of the outdoors, outdoors.


:)

how Grace, Ben, and belly are doing

This picture, taken by Issac (Han Park), one of Ben's friends, shows me and Ben (and other Ben) at church today. In case you were wondering, I did not, in fact, seemingly eat the entire chocolate cake that happens to be sitting in front of me. I just cleaned off the icing. And I'm holding my hands like that because they were sticky. :)

We're ready to go! Ready for meeting our baby! Ready for the labor to start (and then will be ready for it to end!) and just want to have an idea of when rather than a "maybe" or "perhaps".

And I'm ready to lose some weight! This morning I washed dishes, swept the kitchen, organized the bag pile, killed a cricket, and almost fell off my rocker trying to get the other one (which still prevails in the kitchen). Does that count as an energy burst of "nesting" before the baby comes? And I made a list of things that we still need to do before the baby comes. Lol. Ready to go!

I feel like a chunk with a big uterus knot (when i get a braxton-hicks contraction) and I'm ready for the big uterus knot to be emptied so my arms can be filled!

39 weeks and crickets

It was a beautiful day outside so we decided to take our weekly shot from the outside!


 Here I am at 39 weeks and 2 days. Ben and I either expect this baby to arrive in the next few days or in a week or two. . . I'm hoping for the former. It's really hard to schedule things when I could go into labor at any time.

 This is Benjamen watering his bean plant! He loves it! It's grown from the organic dried kidney beans we got at Martin's in the bulk aisle. He's excitedly looking forward to eating the dried beans cooked in some delicious meal his wife makes. :)

 Here's a nice shot of the watering business. :) And his awesome outfit for the day. Flannel, golf pants (look like dress pants), black socks, and flipflops. :)

And this is just a drastic shot of baby belly, whom I am carrying wide! I don't look full term, but very much am!! Also see Ben looking at his plant in the right side of the picture. :)

Can't wait to meet this baby and get going with running again!!!!

In other news, we both haven't been sleeping well due to hormones (that's the pregnant lady) and rolling pregnant lady (that's Ben). We also been having issues with the resident crickets who have been trying to live here without paying rent! (they often suffer a death in the toilet or being crushed by a show). The worst part was that last night the crickets were keeping me awake (and I need those precious minutes of sleep, let me tell you!) and so I had to fumble around in the dark to find my glasses, turn on the right light, and get on my hands and knees to find this cricket that was singing in the entry-way of our apartment. I found it, but lo and behold there were more!

I was too tired to kill anymore in the middle of the night, but found them residing in the closet in the morning. Ben and I then hypothesized they were entering the house through the drain near the air conditioner, and placed a cup over it. hopefully no more night serenades from here on out!

38 (and a half) weeks. . . and we're READY

I love my husband Benjamen. :)

This is less than 38 weeks. I think 37.

But this child may decide to wait until 42 weeks. We don't know.

But my belly is wiggling with baby's anticipation of joining Mommy and Daddy in the great outdoors (aka not hotel Mom anymore).

And my body, not my brain, or our baby, gets to decide when little Delpling comes out, so the patience has begun! I'm past ready to do this thing, though, because 1) I want to be able to stay asleep unless woken up (whereas right now, I'm not sleeping all night) 2) I'm ready to meet this child, find out it's gender and give it a name (and so is Ben)! 3) I will have something to do with my time besides keep up with America's Got Talent, washing dishes, and reading the Screwtape Letters (which is not a bad choice). 4) ready to have my body back? Yes!!! Especially so I can stand up with much more agility, put my wedding rings back on my finger, and move in the direction of running again (after healing up, of course)

We have had little prep-labor spasms (mucous plugger showing up, back achies, Braxton Hicks almost all the time) but nothing is starting and staying started. This is where the patience continues.

Right now I need to go sit on my hands and knees so the baby moves a little more in the direction it's supposed to be relaxating (so labor is more "comfortable" (attempt to be without backache)). And drink water and play Solitaire until my husband comes home from his practicum.