38 weeks

Let the real countdown begin! Andy and I have been enjoying our countdown chain. We started it in September. It was wrapped around our doorway many times. Now it is one short strand. It's hard to believe the time is arriving! We have enjoyed opening a link everyday. They say things like: go get ice cream, play hangman with baby names, make something for baby, go for a walk, etc. So we have had something fun to do together everyday before he arrives. Oh, if you're wondering about the white, the white represents past the due date. It allows me to go over my due date 9 days but i don't know if we'll make it THAT far. 

Here is our countdown link from last night. I read a book called Birthing from Within and it focuses on couples doing birth art. So we both had to draw our own picture of our interpretation of the birth.  

This first picture is Andy's. He drew a picture of the baby's arrival into this new world. He kind of cheated by looking online for baby pictures. He found this really silly picture of babies in space. So here is our son in space :) 

 

Ok... here is my picture with a little bit deeper meaning. This is a picture of me giving birth. Each of the colors on my belly represent a portion of the labor. Red- the pain and fear of the unknown. Orange- discomfort. Yellow- excitement. Green- the entering into "labor land". Indigo- Calmness and Peace. Violet- complete surrendering. The three heads behind me are my midwife Rebecca, Andy, and my mom. They will be sending me support, encouragement, and love. So an overall I need to look inward. Yes, i will be experiencing an incredible amount of pain but my mind doesn't have to suffer. I will be able to find peace and surrender myself to the experience. 

A fun thing that Andy and i have also been doing is using baby's stuffed animals to test in his baby stuff. So here is Sleep Lamb in the car seat. Perfect fit! He's so sweet isn't he :)

We are having so much fun preparing for this guy to get here. I am slowly feeling my body preparing. It's an exciting feeling. 2 more weeks to go but who knows he may come sooner or he may come later! I keep telling him, "We're ready when you are!"