The good and bad of making it until your due date

Let's start with the not-so-pretty:
1)The underside of your belly gets sunburnt because you didn't think you'd need clothes any longer/bigger than the few you had already bought so you walk around town (unknowing) that the bottom 2 inches of your stomach are showing. Classy.
2)Store owners and workers really don't want your business and their jokes are all the same..."Oh, I'm not ready to deliver a baby today"..."Should you be out in public like that?"......."I hope your not by yourself lady!"
3)You've now prepared for the help with the older boys 4 times over....washed clothes, folded clothes, stocked up on oatmeal and diapers.....and then 3 more days go by and you do it again! 3 more days....do it again!
4)The word "late" under any circumstance carries a negative connotation. Can you think of an instance when being "late" is a good thing? I've been thinking about this all day and I have yet to come up with one.
5)Your 6 year old neighbor down the street asks you why you ate so much lunch?
6)You get to really dwell on all the things that didn't happen....the swaddle blankets are still lost, there is still no real "room" for the baby (though we've learned by now that this isn't necessary for awhile), oh and we have yet to confirm a name
7)You get to know the weird middle of night habits of your other neighbors from your multiple mid-sleep restroom breaks. This could go below, too. It's quite entertaining.
8)Surely the longer you stay pregnant and the longer your body stretches the worse the outcome, right? I just know after this 3rd one my poor used body is going to have a loooong recovery with a long way to stretch "back"
9)The steering wheel is in the way
10)Your 21 month old likes to pull at your belly button like a slingshot
11)It's now late May and your body temperature is already soaring. Yuck!
12) No matter how much or how little sleep you get there is no kind of tired to describe this kind of tired.

But it's all worth it because....
1)You get to have an excuse for everything. No one wants to mess with a 40-week pregnant lady. Addmitedly, I have taken advantage of my late-term pregnancy state to get by with or get out of alot of things lately. Please don't judge me.
2) You still get to go through the McDonald's drive through everyday at 10:30 for your half and half sweet tea with a lemon that you swear you'll cut once your pregnancy is over.
3)You get lots of calls and some good catch up from your friends wondering if they missed the news.
4)You can continue to add to the "list" of things to do before little one arrives. I know my husband is so over this list.
5)You get to watch everyone else who was due with their baby near your due date move on into the "unknown" as call it and learn from their experience (I guess this can be good and bad, right?)
6) You get to actually celebrate your sweet husband's birthday rather than spend it in the hospital as I was sure we would be doing
7) You get to try a whole bunch of crazy/"I can't believe I did that while I am pregnant" things in order to bring on labor
8)Every week brings on a new massage or pedicure or other personal hygeine service of sorts. Everyone knows you can't go into labor without your toes done!
9)You still get to feel the unfathomable, indescribable feeling of having a full sized baby turn inside your belly or kick his foot when you press on his spine
10)Random neighbors drop flowers in your garage "just because"
11) You atleast KNOW that your baby will be on the larger side and therefore, hope that he comes out knowing how to sleep long stretches (fingers crossed)
12)You get yet another weekend with your already seeming "complete" family. This weekend we went to a picnic, cooked out, and enjoyed the weather and the "big" boys. It's amazing to watch them and enjoy their lively personalities and think that there is another personality soon to be added to the mix. If that doesn't point to a big God than I don't know what does because in all my story telling and dreaming I would never have thought that this family could take on more life and more energy and more joy. I'm grateful that God knows best and I don't.
13)Your patience is stretched as far as your belly is at this point but it's a sweet lesson to learn. A lady today asked me if I was anxiously waiting or just waiting. Really, we are having a good time waiting. We are getting out and enjoying time together so I am so grateful. It's assuring knowing that God knows this baby's perfect birthday....the date that will follow him for hopefully many years to come. Each hour gets a little more wearing than the one before but then something will renew my perspective and I hope for several more days of just the 4 of us.
14)You don't feel bad if you don't make dinner or if your children eat waffles three times a day. Just getting food in everyone's mouth is a feat. And really, there isn't a whole lot of guilt about anything!
15)You have an excuse for making bad decisions or forgetting things.
16) You have CRAZY dreams that make you feel like the life of any party! Whoa...I can't wait to live up to the non-pregnant, quite fascinating woman in my crazy, vivid dreams! But then last night I dreamt this baby who I just have known is a boy was actually a girl and we had to give her 6 names because we couldn't decide. Now, if these dreams are telling about reality we are in some trouble! I hope she likes blue and trucks!
17)You don't feel silly walking up and down your driveway for 45 minutes while your kids nap. Isn't walking the best thing?
18)Maneuvering to pick something up off the floor is a little exhilerating...you never know if this could be the thing that did it!
19)The doctor's love you because their predictions were correct and you really get close to the nurses and staff.
20)It's all discomfort that you know has to end one day! The baby has to come out at some point, right??


So, we are here...waiting....eating....moaning....burping...chugging water...and then supporting Costco with the stock of endless toilet paper...eating spicy food... cleaning and recleaning and doing everything else that seems unpretty to the average person but fitting to anyone in my condition. It's funny...just last week I was walking around on top of the world, enjoying some better sleep, wondering why any pregnant woman ever had a complaint, still doing everything I usually did, lifting heavier weights in my strength class than the non-40-week-pregnant-ladies but something happened this weekend and I lost all modesty, will power, and motivation. Maybe this is my body's way of resting me before the obvious or maybe it's just helping me pace as we could still be sitting here next Monday?? Either way - life in slow motion is rather enjoyable and freeing, especially for someone who doesn't ever do well at taking it easy. And at the end of the day I know deep down that this event is out of my control no matter how many jumping jacks I do or egglplant dishes I eat and that is the best part of it all. As I have read over and over and certainly cling to today -

Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful,I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.