39 Weeks

Yep, one more week 'til my due date folks. Still just hanging out. Just waiting...on my midwife box and baby.

Lots of people have remarked about how I must be so ready...usually people are at this point. To be honest, I haven't felt that way this time. I think that I just felt like I needed to have everything lined up and be more prepared. There are many "distractions" this time...being in another country, doing my best to focus time on learning Portuguese, taking care of the kids, making sure we have everything we need for the birth (remember, my doctor has never done a homebirth before), etc. Last time, when we were in this stage before Eissa was born, Joel was not working. It was so nice to just have him home. I was able to really focus on getting ready and this time I had to do so many other things at the same time I was doing that. It just took longer, that's all.

But, I am happy to report that I now feel ready. I still would prefer that box to be here, but I'd also like to have this baby while the doctor's daughter is here (from the states...just finished pre-med...speaks english) and would be tagging along when he comes, so I'm O.K. with the box not being here now if that's the trade-off. The daughter, Julia, leaves on Tuesday...so, maybe the baby will come sometime this weekend? :) Ha ha ha. Really, I truly don't care...I am at total peace with whatever God has for us, even if I go late again (which statistically, with my track record, is most likely) and get neither the box or my wish for Julia to be here. God has miraculously done so much up to this point and I know He will continue to truly pave the way for the whole thing. Exciting to see how it will all unfold. AND exciting to see who this baby is that's been hanging out in my front for so many months now. Boy or girl? What do you think? Will he/she have darker skin and darker eyes like Joel and Hadley or will he/she have lighter skin and lighter eyes like me, Grady, and Eissa? Will this baby continue the dimple thing? Can't wait to see this kiddo.

I'm feeling fine. I do have a weird thing happening this pregnancy that I don't remember with the others. There is a crazy popping/clicking sound that comes from my uterus sometimes when the baby moves around. It's been happening probably since I was about 25 weeks along. It is CRAZY because sometimes it's pretty loud. It happens probably about 5-10 times a day and it always startles me a bit. It has nothing to do with my bones although it sounds like knuckles cracking. I'm sure it's not amniotic bubble pops, even though that's what it sounds like too (don't think that's possible...there's no air in there, right?).

I finally googled it last night. Apparently there's no clear answers, but the one that people believed to be the best answer was the the baby is sucking on it's hand/fist/wrist (whatever) in utero and when it moves and the suction gets broken, it makes that sound. Interesting. I didn't even know it was possible to hear such in utero. Maybe it's not, but that's the best answer I saw. I have no idea what it is...maybe it is that? Like I said, it truly was the most believeable answer. I was just glad to know that I wasn't the only one that had experienced this. Have any of you experienced this? Do you know what it is?

Thanks for your prayers as always. We're down to the wire now and we'll keep you posted.

This was the show going on next to me. She'll do anything to get the camera turned toward her.
It was pretty funny.