12 Weeks To Go!!!

In 12 weeks (from yesterday), I am scheduled to deliver a baby...one way or another.  12 weeks!!!  Where the $%@ did the time go?  I'm excited, grateful and terrified at the same time.  The Prince and I have been planning for, praying for, and dreaming of this event for a long, long time.  But now that it is almost upon us, I feel terribly unprepared.  Don't get me wrong, I've done my labor prep with the doula, read my parenting books, taken my infant care classes, spoken with other new mothers, and even practiced newborn care with my baby niece.  But I still get the feeling that no one can truly prepare themselves for the life-altering experiences of bring a new life into this world, or bringing a baby home.  Our lives are about to change forever.

I'm trying to pay closer attention to my pregnancy now.  I knew it would fly by, as I was warned about that by my IF friends who experienced success a little sooner than I did.  I guess "knowing" and "understanding" are two different things, because I have let so much pass me by without much thought.  I am determined to remember and focus on every remaining detail/milestone of this pregnancy.  Two weeks ago, I got my first "breast stretch mark" (lovely, I know).  Four nights ago was my first kick in the ribs (I'm amazed that the baby is already big enough to punch or headbutt "down below" and still get his feet all the way to my rib cage).  Last Thursday, we took the first "bump" picture though it is really still a pathetic little bump that leaves people saying to me all the time..."Really?  You're almost seven months pregnant?").  Last night was the first time I got The Prince to definitively agree to stop calling the baby Hamish (he has since named my dog's tumor "Hamish"...nice!).  These things may seem small and insignificant to an outsider, but to me...they are something to keep me grounded in "the now" instead of freaking out about the future.