The Best Visitors & 38 Weeks Pregnant

Pregnancy log: 38 weeks, 2 days. 12 days until the due date. 19 days until her final, final eviction date.

I just had the happiest week of my pregnancy. Truly. When we landed in England, I was a day shy of 6 weeks pregnant. None of our family even knew I was pregnant until we heard the heartbeat three weeks later. I've spent this entire pregnancy a continent and ocean (since our families are in the western US) away from the organic support system that is family. And there's just something about siblings. Something about those people who know precisely how to make you squirm in five seconds and laugh in two that are essential for my ultimate mental and emotional health.

For this past week, I got to have my sister. But, she didn't come alone - she brought a sweet friend whose quieter demeanor complemented our obnoxious Manthei socializing style. We are so loud. The loudest. Somehow, M. tolerated us--and even claimed to love us--and our little family of three was honored to host our first visitors in England.

When I told people exactly when my sister was coming, I got quite a few confused looks. Some asked me if I wasn't worried that the baby would arrive then, and I wasn't. Barring an emergency, I seem to be a long haul gestator. Others asked me if I didn't want her to stay for our little girl's arrival. And truthfully, I didn't. I wanted the girls to get to experience England and preschooler Landon and enjoy themselves. Oh, and I didn't want to have to sign them in on any base--including the one that houses the hospital.

So the baby stayed in and we went out and about. Some days our visitors went out by themselves and some days we went with them. And it was perfect. I feel more invigorated today at 38w, 2d than I have for most of my pregnancy. I *highly* recommend playing tourist and walking and climbing all day at this gestation. It's surprisingly energizing, and it makes a person feel as if she's doing something to speed the process along.

I'm currently taking votes as to when our little girl will arrive. She can't arrive later than June 15th, so as of today, there's 19 potential birthdays . Although, in full disclosure, it's noon here and I'm pretty sure she's NOT coming today. ;)

Comments

When Motherhood Breaks You

One of the axioms of good writing is writing what you know. Know thy strengths and write about them. When I was pregnant with Landon, I was excited to write about motherhood. I LOVED writing my bumpdates . Chronicling Landon's gestation and birth remains one of the best decisions of my life, and I hope to do that again if I have another child. I wrote authentically (as best a first time mom can) about pregnancy and birth, and I wanted to write authentically about life as a mother. But what I didn't know, what I couldn't have known, was that I wouldn't be able to be authentic. Know thyself? I couldn't. I didn't know who I was or what I was feeling. For the first time in my life, I didn't have the words to express what was going on in my head. What was wrong with my brain? "A depression suffered by a mother following childbirth, typically arising from the combination of hormonal changes, psychological adjustment to motherhood, and fatigue." (...

To Scotland we went!

Hiya, blog! I've taken a bit of a hiatus. Her name is Nova. Now that the first trimester is almost finished--she's 12 weeks tomorrow--I'm mostly back to my regularly scheduled programming. I won't be fully back until we night wean, but who knows how many months or (prayerfully NOT) years that will be. This week, took our family of four on Nova's first trip. And where did we go? Scotland! I have an extremely detailed, careful way of picking out destinations and planning trips--not. My method is simply to pick something easy and go with it. I chose Scotland because UK, yay, and who doesn't want to go to Scotland. Edinburgh was our destination because all we had to do was drive to Peterborough, hop on a train, and boom, we would be there. (I'm skipping over the agony of driving, finding parking, hauling children, and all the gross, gritty, exhausting parts of travel. But don't fret, that part definitely happened.) The train ride there wen...

Not A Natural at Motherhood

I don't know when the mommy light clicked on for me. The minute I truly realized that I was someone's mom. In fact, some days that light is so dim I barely notice it. There are days when Lando is happy and there are plenty of people to entertain him, where my maternal duties are just the ordinary ones that I forget to notice. There are also harder days, days where every hour is another reminder of the exhausting responsibility I carry. When they put my burrito of a newborn on my chest, I was terrified. Petrified. If I had been able to run, I just might have. If there had been a put baby back inside for a day button I might have selected it. There was no such button and I couldn't run (downside of a C section), so I went through the motions. And I kept on going through the motions. Feed baby. Change baby. Feed, feed, feed, feed baby. Let baby sleep on me as I did homework. More feeding, more sleeping, another change. I had the motions down, and the motions were easy. ...

Everyday Susa

Search This Blog