My “due date” is next Wednesday, but according to my due range, the baby could come at any time. I’m so relieved he made it to 39 weeks!

 

Unfortunately the supposed “nesting instinct” has not kicked in. Instead, the “oh-crap-I-am-officially-full-term-and-we-are-not-ready” realization kicked us into high gear. We got Henry’s old infant car seat washed up and installed, ordered and organized all the supplies from the homebirth kit, hung Tate’s first mobile, hung up the clothes in his closet (which are all stain-free, former Henry clothes), finalized our recipe binder so my mom has some go-to recipes to cook for our vegetarian/half-gluten-free family when she and my brother are here for ten

 

Today marks the start of my 34th week of pregnancy! Can you believe it? It’s been a simultaneously long year (with the miscarriage and then another pregnancy three months later) and a simultaneously incredibly fast pregnancy.

 

It’s time to make sure we’re prepared for our impending home birth (fingers crossed!). We transferred to the hospital for Pitocin after laboring at home for 40 hours with Henry. We’ll see what happens this time.

I’ve been going through the handbook provided by the midwives. I have quite a few supplies to purchase at Goodwill.

 

I also need to gather the ingredients for “Laborade,” which is a homemade electrolyte drink

When I was pregnant with Henry, Matt and I planned our own “baby shower.” I put the phrase in quotes because we didn’t follow any of the conventions. A) We hosted it ourselves. B) It was co-ed. C) We had it at a bowling alley. D) We didn’t open presents.

I’d like to continue the tradition of hosting a pre-baby party to bring together our nearest and dearest. It’s fun to congregate to honor and celebrate the new life that is about to enrich our family.

Since this baby will join us in the summer, I immediately thought about having some kind of gathering near the water. And that’s when