40 weeks: Of Due Dates and Empty Cribs.

No news is crappy news. Today is my due date and there are no signs of baby yet... bummer. I thought this time around things would be different. This baby seems to be so big and moves so much that at one point I was even worried that it would arrive over Christmas (hello, worst B-day ever!) or before my parents arrived from Mexico. However none of that happened, and little did I know that 40 weeks+1 would arrive and there would be no sign of Mr.

 

My parents arrived last weekend. Yesterday I went to my appointment with the midwifes and everything was in order. I got all the instructions again for when to call them, reminders of everything I should have ready for the home birth and so on. Sofar, contractions have definitely been picking up in that I can feel them more often, but they don't have a pattern to them and the intensity is still pretty "mild".

 

My first son Paulo was actually 10 DAYS late. He was born in the early morning of the day I was supposed to be induced. It was the worst 10 days ever. Well, not really -- 1 night with a screaming newborn while your nipples are on fire will put that into perspective-- but they were pretty bad. I was totally anxious and it got to the point when I got mad whenever somebody said something along the lines of "Awww when are you due?" and I answered "last week" with a grunt and a frown on my face that would make anyone think they were lucky not to have me as a mother.

 

This time though, I thought it would be different. I thought this baby may surprise me and arrive on his due date. Wrong! Well, actually, my original date was the 23rd, and then it was changed after the ultrasound because the baby was "too big". So maybe the 23rd would be a more accurate estimate...? oh well, what do I know, and what do due dates mean anyway???

 

It isn't actually that terrible that the baby is still not here. I get to go on yet one last date night with Rob while my parents are here to babysit Paulo, which is not an opportunity we have often not having a whole lot of family here (Rob's parents are too old to babysit a toddler for too long). I get to sit and have tea with my parents and catch up like in the old times. I get to do useful things like packing for our move in April.

 

Yep, that's what I will do. I will have enoughttime to spend with baby once he arrives. But when that happens I will look back on this time while I cry over how complicated life has become with 2 kids and think I should have embraced this time and enjoyed it. So I will keep it together this time and do just that. No going nuts over empty cribs or any of that sillyness. I will make an active effort to make the most of this wait. Hopefully not for too long though...