11.22 and Overdue

  

11.22.10- 40 weeks

One year ago today, I was really pregnant. Well, not as pregnant as I would be TEN days later, but still. It was my due date. I found it funny at the time how friends, family, and complete strangers were almost more anxious for me to go into labor than I was. Don't get me wrong. I couldn't wait to meet my son, but I guess my mindset (thankfully) was that he would be "late." That, in itself, is a funny way to put it. I always knew that due dates were only estimates, and even though we knew for certain the exact "due date," we also knew that babies aren't really ever "due" to come on a certain day. They come when they are good and ready (and when God plans them to, even if we don't feel they, or we, are good and ready). I knew many first time moms went "overdue," and one study said on average 41.5 weeks (if they were not induced first). Hmm....exactly Charlie's gestation! So, I guess I just planned on him arriving fashionable "late."

So, while everyone kept asking me, "Aren't you just ready to be done!?" or "You're still pregnant!?" on my due date, I thought, "Well, sure, pregnancy has been rough, and I'm getting uncomfortable, but I'll only be pregnant so long. He won't stay in there forever, and I'll never get to be pregnant with him again. So, I'm going to try to enjoy the last moments of my marriage without children. I'm going to enjoy each last kick in the womb by my very active boy. I'm going to attempt to actually sleep for the last few times through the entire night without having to get up to feed or comfort a screaming baby. I'm going to enjoy decorating for Christmas. He'll be here soon enough and then I will have other concerns and struggles, and yes, joys as well!"

I'm so thankful for that mindset, because without it (and without the Lord), I would probably have gone crazy by 10 days "overdue"! It also helped to learn how much babies actually develop in the last few weeks and days of pregnancy. Their brains at 35 weeks are only 2/3 the weight of their brains at 39-40 weeks! They usually put on around a pound a week the last month. Their lungs are much stronger the longer they "bake," and breastfeeding is more likely to come easier. There are many more advantages that research is continually finding to babies staying in the womb until they are ready to come out (Just found this interesting article.). It's quite amazing. And...yes, God knows when it's time...as He does with everything. Patience is a fruit of the spirit we pray for, and then we are tested and tried in order to produce it within us.

Anyway, I'm thankful this year to get to enjoy a regular sized (and non-nauseous) stomach to eat Thanksgiving dinner with! (Oh, and an adorable almost-one-year-old!) What a year!