Getting Close...

I've tried to be better about documenting this pregnancy than I was with the others. I don't really have any pictures of myself pregnant with the other kids...maybe two or three at the most. Let's just say that I don't feel super cute with all of the nasty stuff I go through, so it didn't really cross my mind to pull out the camera! This time I had Anna or Aimee take a picture every few weeks, just to remember. Regardless of how difficult they are, these pregnancies have brought me the sweetest kids ever. That's definitely something to be sentimental about! So, here is a "belly picture" of me at about 36 weeks.

I went to the doctor last Friday and I was dialated to a "3"....yay! I know we may have to wait for this little guy a while longer, but it's nice to know that things are actually starting to progress. I've had some false labor here and there, but nothing too crazy. I don't do well with the "having no idea when the baby will come" part of pregnancy. I am a planner, so the not knowing drives me nuts! I'm so anxious to bring our baby boy home. Feeling better will be a nice bonus too!

I am really trying to enjoy these last few days, trying to remember the aches and pains that belong only to pregnancy. I love feeling the baby's kicks and stretches. I love having Nathan run in first thing in the morning and give my tummy (baby brother) a kiss. The anticipation of it all is exciting and I know that, despite how hard it is now, when it is all over I will be sad if I haven't "lived in the moment" enough.

I read a quote the other day by Elder Maxwell that said "Faith in God includes faith in His timing." So, I'm trying very hard to have patience and faith in His timing! I was reading the August Ensign article by Henry B. Eyring telling about an experience when he in essence "left home" to become an adult. It kind of put the timing of everything into perspective for me. He says:

Parting can be hard, particularly when the parent and the child know that they may not see each other for a long time. I had that experience with my father. We parted on a street corner in New York City. He had come there for his work. I was there on my way to another place. We both knew that I probably would never return to live with my parents under the same roof again.
It was a sunny day, around noontime, the streets crowded with cars and pedestrians. On that particular corner there was a traffic light which stopped the cars in all directions for a few minutes. The light changed to red; the cars stopped. The crowd of pedestrians hurried off the curbs, moving every way, including diagonally, across the intersection.
The time had come for parting, and I started across the street. I stopped almost in the center, with people rushing by me. I turned to look back. Instead of moving off in the crowd, my father was still standing on the corner looking at me. To me he seemed lonely and perhaps a little sad. I wanted to go back to him, but I realized the light would change and so I turned and hurried on.
Years later I talked to him about that moment. He told me that I had misread his face. He said he was not sad; he was concerned. He had seen me look back, as if I were a little boy, uncertain and looking for assurance. He told me in those later years that the thought in his mind had been: “Will he be all right? Have I taught him enough? Is he prepared for whatever may lie ahead?”
There were more than thoughts in his mind. I knew from having watched him that he had feelings in his heart. He yearned for me to be protected, to be safe. I had heard and felt that yearning in his prayers—and even more in the prayers of my mother—for all the years I had lived with them. I had learned from that, and I remembered....

...We lived in [Heavenly Father's] presence before we came here to be tested. We knew His face, and He knew ours. Just as my earthly father watched me go away from him, our Father in Heaven watched us go into mortality.

This little guy is getting ready to take one of the biggest steps of his eternal life. What a brave little spirit! I certainly don't want to rush him away from Heaven before he is ready. These thoughts make it a little easier to wait. I know he will come when he is ready. I am grateful for all I have learned from the past eight months. And I am especially grateful to have another baby coming to our family. What a sweet blessing!