Keeping myself busy

I hate "due dates."  Seriously. Technically I have a due date for when this baby is expected to arrive, but did you know that only 4% of babies are born on their due date?  So, really, it's silly for me to even mention my actual due date (which I won't, don't worry.) But, for the sake of my midwives, and my ability to have a homebirth, I do, in fact, have a due date.  That being said, even though I'm not there yet, I'd really like to meet this little one sooner than later. Eli came at 35 weeks and 5 days, and Silas made his triumphant arrival at 40 weeks and 1 day.  I have nothing to go on to hope that this one will come soon, but I'm hoping, let me tell you.  On the other hand, I know that babies come on their birthdays, not on their due dates, not when doctors, or mothers, or midwives think they should.  I know that my body knows how to birth babies at the right time.  I just need to be patient and wait, wait, wait!

And what do I do while I wait?  Well, I get my toes painted:

 Won't it be nice to look down at my feet while in labour and see them painted so nicely? Honestly, if I had exuberant amounts of money, I would get monthly pedicures.  I love pedicures.  At this point, however, I have justified a pedicure before I have babies, and that's it.  This time I didn't even have to justify anything, because my dear friend Mindy treated me to my pre-baby pedi! 

I've also gone horseback riding... or horseback sitting. Let's be honest, with a belly as big as mine, galloping along would not be very smart.  Maybe in a week...

I've also done every errand I can think of - returning things that need returning, buying anything I think I might need in the next two months, walking around the mall thinking of things I might need when I don't have the energy or the money for any of it. 

Last night Jared and I set up the birth pool.  We put the cover on our mattress and the "puddle pad" under my side.  I was hoping having all this ready would assure the baby that he or she could come any time!  Don't tell the boys, but the pool is presently blown up and hiding in a corner down stairs, ready to be brought up at a moments notice. 

And now I've run out of things to do.  My house is actually relatively clean, my laundry is inexplicably caught up, baby clothes and diapers are washed, and all I need is a baby in my arms (and a name... if anyone has any suggestions on that...)  Don't worry, I'll keep you all posted, but, don't hold your breath - I'm surely not.