Category — Expecting

Here are two photos of me from yesterday, at 40 weeks, which means I am full term today. Thank you Gaetanne for a wonderful afternoon.

Photos by Gaetanne Leduc of Then Comes Marriage Photography.

No baby yet. I feel like my life is just one big tease. Contractions. No contractions. On. Off. On. Off. This little boy/girl likes my belly too much. It’s warm in there, you know. Quite pleasant, really. 

Here are some recent belly shots to bide the time:

Photos by Avital Kline

So, when do you think our bundle of joy is coming? Will it be a boy or a girl? And how much will s/he weigh? Post your predictions!

Date:
Gender:
Weight: 

Whoever is closest will win a prize! I am going to think of something exciting to mail you in the meantime… (Hint: the due date is August 27, though it changed once to the 19th, after a 20-week ultrasound.)

Let the guessing begin!

looks like:

Michael set up the birth tub in our living room the other night. He made sure to practice contractions.

The baby has dropped. I feel like I have one endless menstrual cramp pulsing in my lowerds (read: lower abdomen). I am having the early warning signs. Yet, I’m still two weeks until due. And I am T-I-R-E-D. 

You know you need to get out of the house when…

at 10 AM you are rationalizing settling into a movie with a pint of ice cream in tow. Realizing my insanity (and not a moment too soon) I promptly dressed in real clothes and left for Starbucks. There is something about public that requires productivity.

The morning’s achievement: three magazine queries sent, procrastination avoided.

It’s not every day that you arrive at a party and are promptly crowned with roses. It’s not every week that you get to see a dozen of your nearest and dearest collected in a single room, smiling back at you. But that’s what happened Sunday.

This was the scene of my ‘blessingway’ — a rite of passage into motherhood, organized by my dear friends Avital and Marisa.

They read from Psalm 139: “You know when I sit down and when I rise up… You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” They each brought beautiful glass beads to make me a necklace and shared blessings for me, many written on lovely paper, cards and postcards I can treasure forever. We shared a meal. And, at the end, they laid hands on my shoulders and prayed for me, Michael and our baby — praying for a peaceful labour, a wonderful transition into motherhood, and that through becoming parents Michael and I would fall in love with each other all over again.

I am truly blessed.

I am spending my last weeks writing. Combing through pages, scraps, post-its, binders and journals that make up my book. The one I have been working on for 1.5 years. 

Soon everything will change. Irreversibly. Forever. We will welcome our child into this world with trembling arms. We will mess up. Drop him/her. Give her/him all the love we’ve got. 

I stare at my growing body and marvel. I walk across the street to Save-On-Foods for the free air conditioning and walk home smiling. 

I am trying to relish every moment with Michael because I am all too aware of the fact that our relationship will never be the same again. It will never be ‘just us’ again and I love us. Yes, we are gaining the most incredible gift in the world but I am also experiencing a real sense of loss. I will never be woman — independent and fierce — again. And yet I will be more. I will be mother. 

These days feel surreal. I am slow-moving, yet I am accomplishing much. A baby is nearly ready to be born — inside my body — baking, daily. I am preparing my heart, my mind and our home to welcome our child. Michael and I are freezing fresh berries, preparing meals, and today (against better judgement) I baked dozens of oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies and loaves of banana bread, for the days when we can barely keep our eyes open. We’ve bought our stroller, folded the onesies, checked off the labour list, and now — for a few more weeks — we wait. 

My mom came over the other night. I asked her about her labours. All but one of her children (the last) came 5-10 days early. So we may be meeting our son/daughter sooner than we think. 

These are amazing — real, emotional, overwhelming, exciting, full — days.

Thank you for sharing them with me, friends.

Here are some recent shots:

Growing and (subsequently) slowing. 

Hanging out with the newest addition to the Lim family: Eliana!

Discovering some parental perks.

Indulging in some of Vancouver’s finest dining (here, at the Vancouver Club).

Still managing to dress-up.

Savouring Friday evenings patio-side. (Here, enjoying carrot cake at Subeez with Matthew Cowper).

Working…

Here, at Main Street’s Bean Around the World, writing my Comment column. 

:::::::::

Photos to come: A final pre-baby getaway to Victoria and a recent day spent on Bowen Island. 

Staring at items
on the table.
Which shall I move?
What’s the plan of attack?

One… two… ten… eighteen…
staring back at me.

There are too many!
Where do they live?
Finally, after too many minutes of consideration,
I declare to a single item:

“YOU: tape dispenser!
I am moving you to the office! Now.”

One item at a time.
Back and forth.
My multitasking brain now
mush.

Help. me. please.