39 weeks | Baby #4

And he's going to be a July baby! This is the month, no matter what. Yowzers.



Looks bigger from the other side for some reason:


Some fun end-of-pregnancy info for you: on Thursday evening I got a prenatal massage and it was so delightful that I cannot even explain. So relaxing and just what I needed, why didn't I get these every week for the past month?? I walked to and from the appointment in an effort to get things slightly moving in the right direction, cervically speaking. ;)

Then at 1am the next morning, I woke up to pee and felt pretty crampy. Then I noticed very obvious contractions that were coming regularly. Hmmm. Interesting and annoying since it was the middle of the night and I was tired. I started timing them at 2 am to find they were coming every 5 minutes like clockwork, lasting 1 minute and were difficult to sleep through. By 3 am I decided to put in my headphones and listen to Hypnobabies tracks. It was either the start of the real deal or not, but either way I just wanted to collect my thoughts and try to rest. I knew I could hop up and start walking around the house, bouncing on a ball, take a shower or something else to push things into labor.....or I could just lay down and see what happened. I decide to stay chill and by 5 am, Nate's alarm went off for the day, and my contractions were coming 6-9 minutes apart. I fell back asleep for about an hour and my alarm went off for work at 6am. Bummed that nothing had come of that little stint of contractions, I got ready for work feeling like the switch had flipped and I am now officially ready to have this baby.



I got to work a little later than usual, just moving slower and feeling slightly strange like, 'is this a good idea to be at the office today?' and arrived to see my co-workers sitting around waiting for me. A big table full of amazing breakfast foods, coffee, flowers and a sweet card with a gift certificate for ANOTHER pre-natal massage awaited me. My sweet co-workers were throwing me a baby breakfast and we sat around eating and chatting for a solid 45 minutes before we actually got to work. Of course, now this means that going into the office tomorrow on Monday will feel like a bit of a let down, but with the holiday week not everyone will be there anyway. It was very special and unexpected and made for a great Friday.



Seems to have dropped!


My OB appointment was at 2pm and when she walked in she said, 'Well, you're still pregnant, huh?' I told her I didn't think I would be based on the early morning antics, but she agreed that just resting was probably the best thing to do since it was the middle of the night. I'm now a 'one plus' dilated, up from a regular old 'one' last week. Then I'm 75% effaced instead of 70%...so really no different but my goodness he is so low. And he's active and seemingly very happy, so there's nothing to do except keep waiting. We haven't talked induction because I have another appointment the day before my due date, this upcoming Friday. I'm thinking we will talk induction at that time and I will probably have my choice of how far to push this thing. I REALLY want to go on my own but I also agree that going past 41 weeks is not a great idea at this stage in the game for many reasons.



My mom flies in on my due date and Nate is off work the week following my due date. I really want to have him on or by my due date! Do you hear that, baby boy?? Come out and meet us, we are ready for you!

But then again, I know it's still pretty early to expect labor at just 39 weeks. The false alarm on Friday morning, plus feeling constant BH contractions, strange 'leaky' sensations (TMI, TMI, Sorry!),  and zingers down there have me feeling positive like it's going to happen on it's own. I pulled out the exercise ball and started bouncing on it one night this week and plan to keep walking as much as I can tolerate. I'm so freaking out of shape, too---not sure when I stopped walking on the treadmill and outside during this pregnancy but yeah, should have probably kept that up! Anyway, it was a good appointment and she gave me a big hug, hoping to see me at delivery instead of my next appointment. I also found out her daughter's birthday (her fourth child!) is on July 4th, so she can't be there to deliver me on July 3 or July 4, celebrating her own fourth kid's birthday. So now I hope I have him tonight on July 2, or just wait until July 5-9th. Putting that out into the universe!!

Friday evening after work, I did not feel like cooking or compiling any sort of dinner, so I texted Nate that we should meet at a nearby pizza place for dinner. He had golfed that afternoon (rough life) and agreed that pizza sounded perfect. I pushed CC and Porter in the double stroller and Truman walked with me as we headed to eat. It was a glorious evening outside with delicious food and perfect weather. I slept amazing Friday night, which was much needed, and woke up feeling more like myself on Saturday.







Root beers, don't worry:


It's been an excellent weekend with the fam, even though I definitely feel the 'could this be the day??' maddening thought entering my head already. I'm focusing on staying positive that things will go down just the way they are supposed to happen. He will come when he's ready. He's in the perfect position for a wonderful birth. My body knows what to do. I'm ready to do this whenever he is ready to do it with me! And I will do my best to remain patient even though we are just so stinking excited to hold this baby boy and get the show on the road. End-of-pregnancy is such a trip, as many of you know.

Beautiful Saturday night on a friend's farm.


Frequent couch naps:


Took a major digger on the concrete yesterday, poor buddy!! He will probably look fairly rough for his first 'big brother' pictures. Good thing he is super tough and barely cried.


Summer! Strong (gangly) dude:


So basically, I'm feeling good overall. I'm not at the end of my mental rope or anything but I'm headed in the direction of being REALLY freaking ready. The track 'Visualizing Your Birth' on Hynobabies is my new favorite. Bags are packed, nothing else to buy to prepare for his birth....hoping this is my last weekly post! But if not, and I hit 40 weeks on Saturday, it will be okay that way, too. I think I was already shedding some tears or at least I was getting extremely cranky with Porter's pregnancy at this point. I still had another nine days to go, too;) With Cecelia's pregnancy, I was doing alright but felt eager to get her here safely at this point, but she would be here in just four more days. And with Truman? He was already a week old!!

When people ask me if I'm ready, and if there are any signs of this kid coming soon I like to say that I've been two weeks early, two days early (basically right on time), and three days late with my other pregnancies. So it's anyone's guess as to how this fourth babe will enter this world. I have a feeling he's going to be his own little person with his own opinions and personality and we cannot wait to see his sweet baby face. Gah, I get so emotional just thinking about it. Reflecting on pregnancy, imagining his birth day, and then preparing for life with a newborn and FOUR kids....what a special time in our lives. Insanely special, actually.

Signing off for now, but you know you can find me (stalk me for an announcement?) on Instagram a little easier than the blog: user name mrsjuliagoolia.

Will probably be posting here next weekend with an overdue update! ;)