Part of the fun of subsequent pregnancies is that you start to look full term about two months before your due date. Your body just reaches that point where it says, “yeah, I remember this and I’m not going to fight it anymore” and no amount of holding in your belly will make it look any different (as if that were an option…). It’s the point where complete strangers start questioning your due date and look shocked when they find out that it is not next week and the point where your countdown changes so it doesn’t SEEM like 2 months away. Because the other added benefit is that you FEEL full term also. So, my countdown goes something like this:
I’m 32.5 weeks now. In 1 week, we leave for a week at the beach with family. We are looking forward to it and I think the girls will LOVE it. And, being vacation, it will pass much more quickly than it should so that by the time that we get back, I will be roughly 35 weeks. At that point, it will only be 2 weeks until I’m technically full term and I can go day to day believing that any day could be the day.
For me, the one thing that hasn’t changed from child to child is the excitement. The growth of a baby in utero is so amazing. Carrying this growing child inside of me and feeling it move and kick (even if it is my ribs, hips, etc.) has always made me smile. But all of this pales in comparison to that moment when he/she is born, put on your chest, and you see them for the first time. We have no idea how we will manage three small children, but I just don’t think that is something that you can prepare for. We just have a few final details to sort out—like the baby’s name and what to do with our girls if I go into labor more than 1.5 weeks early and my mom is NOT in town*. Minor stuff really.
*Did you know that some people choose to have their kids in the room WITH them when they deliver? I was surprised when our pediatrician told me that (not that it was recommended, mind you). I'm sure that I'm not alone when I say "thank you" to my mom for never doing that.
