Photos by Shadi Garman
Dress: Leota Maternity Sandals: Birkenstocks available in leather here
Hi everyone! I can’t believe I am sharing what I assume will be the last pictures of my very large and in charge bump! I really can’t believe my due date is tomorrow!! It’s insanely surreal and has got me majorly emotional. I am anxious, excited, nervous, terrified. Name an emotion, I feel it. The weird thing is that as scary as birth is, I am also SO ready to face it. I just am so ready to meet my daughter and to hold her in my arms. Maybe that is why God made birth 10 months long so that by the end you just want to go into labor so badly! I have a few friends that have shared my due date and both have gone into labor. I am so excited for them but so ready to join the club!
Not to get too into the nitty gritty details, but the last week and a half has been a whirlwind. I went to my regularly scheduled 39 week checkup last Wednesday and randomly had very high blood pressure. The doctor was concerned because I normally have very normal/low bp and so she immediately told me I needed to go to the hospital to check to make sure I didn’t have preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is not safe for either mother or baby and the only way to get rid of it is to have your baby, so of course I was freaking out and terrified! Matt met me at the hospital and we were there for close to 5 hours being monitored. My results came back negative thank goodness and we were able to go home, but over the next few days I had to continue to be monitored and my blood pressure was still not going down. Finally on Monday at my appt. my blood pressure seemed to have gone back to normal and all was ok. It was a very high stress situation and really scary for us as we didn’t really know what was going to happen! Since then, I have sort of been able to relax a little and wait for baby girl to tell us when she is ready but needless to say I have been all over the place emotionally! I am just so ready for this chick to join us.
I think this event was so scary to us because we have been so very lucky throughout this experience so far. Baby girl has been healthy and progressed the way she has supposed to this entire time which is the most important thing. I was so used to everything going sort of as planned for her so when this happened it really shook me. We are so blessed that baby girl has been ok through this pregnancy and continue to pray that she is a healthy baby when she decides to come out! I, on the other hand have not had the most glamorous pregnancy. No need to get into the details, but if you have read my bumpdates you know this hasn’t been easy for me to say the least. I really salute all of the Moms who are able to really enjoy their pregnancy. I have enjoyed pieces of it, but to be honest I have been counting down for it to be over and for the moment I get to meet my daughter. I would go through it all again but it sure as heck wasn’t easy!
I can’t wait to look back at this experience and think of it as a small blip in time. It truly is if you think about life and our time here on earth. As difficult as pregnancy is, I feel so fortunate to have been given this blessing. I will never take my body for granted again. It’s pretty amazing what women can do!
I’ll keep you guys posted!! Here’s to hoping baby girl decides to come ASAP!
Xoxo-J