Awaiting Seth

One of my online friends recently heard from a mutual friend that I was pregnant. She asked me if that was true. Yes, it's 33 weeks true! I realized that I rarely talk about it. Don't think I've blogged about it at all- other than to say there's a "bun in the oven" in reference to our family picture. (Oh, I'm sure I don't let my husband forget it when I ask him to do this thing or that to help me out. Or for someone who sees me regularly, my enlarged midsection is quite apparent.)


We had an ultrasound yesterday- pretty short and sweet just to get some measurements and see if all is on track. For the sonogram impaired, like myself, the halo shape on the right is the baby's head. To the left is an elbow and his hands are in front of his face. Just take my word for it.

Anyway, I am happy to say we are settling into the waiting phase- waiting for the day we get to meet and hold a new little son. We have already been calling him Seth and I love how the kids talk about him all the time. He is already a part of the family. I am no longer just "me." For instance, I may be told that I AND Seth should sit at a certain place. Last night I was asked why I AND Seth were only eating a half a piece of chicken. Sometimes Paul will hug my middle and when I hug him back he says, "No Mom, I'm hugging Seth." As for Olivia, she's just hoping that another brother will not throw the family dynamic too off kilter. When we first announced it was a boy, she exclaimed "Oh, that's all I need...another brother." Oh the drama. I have tried to explain that she and he will be 8 years apart and there will not likely be the brother/sister banter that comes when two are closer in age (20 months close like she and Paul are.)

Faith has a pretty funny concept of how things will go when Seth is born. "He is going to pop out of Mommy's tummy at the hospital and the doctor will catch him." She has also said that Seth is "going to surprise us all" and we are all going to be "soooo happy about Seth."

Dave and I hope Faith is right about us being at the hospital when Seth "pops out." You see, each child has come more quickly than his/ her predecessor. Olivia gets the award, and rightfully so, for being the most stubborn as she had to be removed via C-section. The other two came naturally- and I do mean au natural-- no time for any pain relief. With Paul, my water broke around 6:30 in the morning. He was born within two hours after that. The anesthesiologist arrived just in time to offer his congratulations. And Faith didn't waste anytime at all. I woke from contractions around 3 am and we gathered the big kids, dropped them off at a neighbor's and headed to the hospital. I was smiling and pleasant when we arrived and the nurses figured they'd hook me up to a monitor to see if anything was really happening. Well, to their surprise, and I quote, "She's a 10 with a bulge!!" I assume "the bulge" was Faith's head on its way out. The nurses were begging me not to push until the ER doctor could make it upstairs to us. I don't think we were checked into the hospital more than 30 minutes before Faith made her debut. So let's just say that at the first sign of labor we are going to book it to the hospital.

So, the due date is April 19...less than 2 months away. And while I think we are ready to meet Seth now, there are still many physical preparations to be made. We have yet to decide where he will sleep. We have a crib but don't know if we should put it in our room, Paul's room, or the play room. Regardless, it will be a tight fit. We haven't figured out where to keep his clothes. (At this point I'm thinking if I could purge all my t-shirts with holes or stains I could free up a couple drawers of my dresser for him.) And in the garage we have one bin of 0-12 month clothes saved from Paul that I need to wash and go through to find out what we still need. So, I better get busy, huh?