Taking a Moment to Blog Before My Little One Takes Up All My Time

Hey guys! It's been a good 5 or 6 months since I've last blogged so I thought I'd take a moment to blog while I still have time on my hands!! I thought for sure once I started my blog page (or whatever it's called ;-) that I would continue doing it throughout my pregnancy .... Sort of as a pregnancy journal ... Well, I guess I failed at that!! LoL ... My pregnancy has come and ... almost gone! My due date is in 3 days! I look back now and think ... Where has the time gone?!?! It seemed like my due date was sooooo far away .... And now, any day my baby boy will be here! Let's see ... I'll try to sum up the last few months in a few sentences. The holidays came & went, in the middle of December I was working and kept getting cramps towards the end of my 12 hr shifts. I finally saw my OB and she said my cervix had shortened alot and I was at risk for a miscarriage so they pulled me off the floor in the ER and put me on light duty working 8 hr shifts and doing desk work with many physical restrictions. I worked in another dept from Dec. 21 to March 17th, when at about 30 1/2 weeks while at work I started getting contractions every 3-5 mins and ended up spending the rest of St. Patricks Day in Labor & Delivery. LoL ... The contractions eventually slowed down, but never completely stopped, so they sent me home, with more restrictions then I had already been given by my OB, (basically bed rest) and they took me off work completely. James & I took my maternity pictures on March 19th and had our co-ed baby shower for Anden on March 26th (by the way, if I hadn't already mentioned our little boys name will be Anden James Hinkle ... named by his daddy!) The baby shower turned out amazing!!! My best friends all got together and planned it and it turned out just perfect!! We had all of our close friends and family come and Anden got absolutely spoiled!! I spent the next month putting together/organizing the nursery, and all of Andens things, and shopping for any last minute things I could think that he or I would need after he is born. Because of the light duty and preterm labor I guess I've thought all along that he would be here early, especially considering how many things I've had to avoid doing the whole pregnancy to keep him in! LoL ... So I've had my bag packed, the diaper bag packed, and everything ready for about a month now ... And of course ... My luck ... Here I sit ... At 39 weeks and 4 days ... Waiting .... Patiently ... =) Although I've gone through the "I wish he was here already" phase, I have definitely come to the conclusion that this little one will come when he's ready and when the Lord's ready for him to enter this world and am at peace with it. But I'm still as excited as ever for him to be here! Every little cramp or contraction I have had the last couple days I think to myself, could this be it!? Is this the start of labor!? And of course ... It's not ... LoL ... James is back at work again. Went back yesterday morning. He switched counties and is now a LT Engineer (seasonal) for San Bernardino ... So his shift has switched as well. His shift is now Wed, Thurs & Fridays which is a awesome shift through the summer. But now instead of him being about 20-30 mins away from home, he's in the desert and over 1 1/2 hours away. So, even though I am so excited to hold our little one in my arms, I am okay if he's not here til after Saturday morning, when daddy gets home! =) James' mom is coming to town tomorrow, she's going to my doctor appt. with my mom and I in the morning. My OB said tomorrow she is going to "strip my membranes" ... I've read & learned all about it ... And even though I've heard it hurts soooo much I know it should help "encourage" / help labor to come soon so I guess I'm going to go through with it! We will see if it helps! I'm sure we'll also talk about inducing me in the near future if he doesn't come soon. I would prefer not to induce labor, and have it come naturally when my body is ready, but would also prefer not to go too past due ... For many reasons, but mainly for all the negative reasons medically that I know happen the further past due you get. Again though, it's all in the hands of the Lord and we will see how everything goes! Above I posted a picture of the 4D ultrasound we had at about 30 weeks, I tried to post some maternity pics, baby shower pics and some belly pics but my lovely internet keeps shutting down on me everytime I attempt to upload any more pics so I will have to try again later! I have a feeling (maybe more of a hope ;) that the next time I blog will be after Anden is born ... I am going to try to blog more then every 5-6 months after that I promise! Until then take care everyone! Please keep me & baby Anden in your prayers that the labor & delivery will go very smoothly for the both of us and the end result will be a healthy baby boy! We can't wait to hold him in our arms! xoxo