Preparing for Baby

Today I am officially 30 weeks along in my pregnancy with Asher Lee.

It’s kind of crazy that in 10-12 weeks I will be meeting my little boy!

When you first take that pregnancy test (for me it was always around 4 weeks), it seems like 36-38 more weeks is FORVEVER. Then you blink and you are almost there. 

I don’t do pregnancy gracefully. With my first I gained way too much weight, which resulted in raising my blood pressure. And the varicose veins started popping out. With my second baby I actually started getting blood clots in the veins and had to spend a lot of my third trimester with my feet up. I ripped a hernia open when I was pregnant with my third and still had that open hernia and another one trying to open when I was pregnant with my fourth. With this pregnancy I still have that partial hernia and pain from a botched hernia repair to deal with.

Of course, the miracle of life growing inside of me far overshadows these difficulties, and I’m so thankful for the privilege of being a mother. I’m just saying that I am a wimp when it comes to pregnancy. 

But I LOVE birth. I’ve had 3 amazing, non-medicated births (with my 3^rd I was pressured to have Pitocin, but asked them to turn it off after a few hours and was able to experience the rest of the labor naturally). There is just something so awesome about a woman coming to the end of what she feels she can endure, the end of her own strength, and then persevering through the biggest physical challenge of her life and making it! I’m so crazy about birth that I have trained and studied to become a doula. My health problems have slowed that process down, but I plan to pick it back up again once I am well. 

And, of course, I LOVE my children! They are such a joy, such a delight. I’m so thankful for each new person that God gives my hubby and I. They are each so unique, so different from one another and yet so similar at the same time. Each is a skewed reflection of their parents, carrying our traits in a lot of ways but very much their own person at the same time. New life really is a miracle. 

Would it surprise you that I am excited to change diapers again? 

My youngest has been out of diapers for a year and half now. After he was potty trained I packed away our cloth diapers into storage, kind of sad because I didn’t know if my health problems would allow us to have another baby. I was so excited to pull them out of storage this past week, boil them, and hang them in the wind and sunshine to make them all fresh for baby. 

I’ve also been going through baby clothes and equipment to figure out what I need get and what to freshen up. It’s funny, when I was expecting my first, it was a big deal to get the nursery just perfect for her. And with my fifth, it’s just as exciting and fun to get ready for him. Even though the only nursery he gets will be half of my closet and a basinet beside my bed. 

First baby got a whole room to herself. Fifth baby gets half my closet. 

I guess I just want to share the joy of preparing for baby with you. Maybe you are finished having babies, but you can probably still remember the precious moments spent getting ready for your little one. 

What special things did you do to get ready for baby? Or ready for adoption? I would love to hear.

Have a wonderful day! 

Lee