Wow!

Today has been a day of wow moments. It began when I got my weekly email update about the baby. I found it ironic that she is now being compared in size to a "small watermelon". The picture and the realization that this baby is actually big and strong and able to survive on her own just made me go wow!

Then, this afternoon, as I walked into the hospital for my 39 week check up, I had another wow moment. I was thinking back on all the times I've made that walk and realized that I'm almost there. I know that seems obvious, and I've been thinking about it for a while, but, for some reason, I was reminded of all of the anxiety of the early weeks. Of all the visits to the reproductive endocrinologist and not know if I could get pregnant. Of the fear that the pregnancy might not "stick" or that something would go wrong with the baby. It brought tears to my eyes to realize that at this point odds are really good that within a very short period of time I'll have a little squirmy bundle of joy to hold and love. WOW! It's pretty amazing and wonderful. I think I've sort of lost sight of some of that in the stress and exhaustion of the last few weeks of getting ready, but I really am delighted and blessed!

Then, tonight was open house at school and it was really funny to talk to all of my students parents. Of course some of them have heard that I was expecting but to others, mostly parents of boys, it was a surprise. The first question everyone asked was "When are you due?". When I told them I was due one week from today they almost all looked shocked and said "wow!". Many of them told me how great I looked. It's sort of cool to be told how great you look when you feel huge! I do feel lucky that, for the most part, pregnancy has been pretty easy for me. Although still tired and swollen and not sleeping, I'm getting really excited. Now I'm just ready to meet her!