39 Weeks & 3 Days

Four days to go to our due date. We've spent the weekend enjoying our time together and doing a lot of walking. On Friday night, we had dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, with some of our favorite friends - Matt, Christina and their daughter Kylie. We had a really good time and some really good food. Afterwards, we left and decided to walk around several different stores. We walked about 1.5 hours, and then went to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream. On Saturday we slept in (which is a miracle in and of itself), had breakfast, and then went to the Greensboro mall to do some walking because the weather here is cold and rainy. On the way home we picked up some groceries. When we got home Mike gave Annie a haircut and a bath. She is now ready to meet her little sister! We decided to order pizza and watch a movie. It turned out to be a really, really lame movie - "Role Models." If you are pondering whether or not to rent this movie - don't. Mike and I are fans of slapstick humor - but this was just a bad movie. So far, that's been our weekend - completely normal. Except for the fact that we are just waiting on a very monumental moment - the birth of our daughter. Who - by the way - is still completely content where she is.

Our Dr.'s visit on Thursday went much better than last week. I am 50% effaced. Dr. said that with your first pregnancy most women efface before they start dilating. It's signs of good progress, however, it really means nothing different at this point because it's still just a waiting game. Our Dr. did tell us that he won't let me go more than 1 week past my due date, so our baby girl will be here soon - in less than 2 weeks one way or another. I also decided that this week will be my last week of work. If Madeline isn't here by Friday, I'll start my maternity leave on Monday. This will give me some time to rest before she gets here.

On a totally different note, I want to ask for you for your thoughts and prayers for a "stranger." There are a few boards online that I visit that are a venue for pregnant women to go to for advice and really just a place to share your experiences with other pregnant or "new" moms. I've gotten a lot of great advice on baby products and support from these women. On the board for North Carolina "Moms" one of the women who lives just down the road in Greensboro got a really difficult diagnosis this week. At 20 weeks pregnant, she was told that her little girl may have a form of dwarfism. On Friday morning they went to a specialist for more testing and discovered that she in fact has severe skeletal displasia. Short of a miracle, little Megan Grace will not be able to survive very long outside of the womb. If little Megan makes it to birth, she may only have seconds, minutes, days or a few short weeks to share with her parents. I can't even begin to fathom the pain and suffering these two parents are going through right now. At a time in life that is suppose to be full of excitement and anticipation of bringing a new life home, these two parents are having to make difficult, heart wrenching decisions that no one should ever have to face.

I realize that terrible diagnosis like these are unfortunately made everyday around the world, but so close to the end of our pregnancy and to know that someone just right down the road is suffering like this - has just really affected me. If you will, please take a minute to say a prayer for this family and their little girl Megan Grace. Miracles can and do happen every day, pray that this family receives a miracle. And that they somehow find comfort and peace during such a difficult time. Their story has just made me realize once again how quickly all of our lives can change, and how fortunate Mike and I have been with this pregnancy. The end of pregnancy is not easy - but it seems so silly now to complain about being uncomfortable, tired or having heartburn knowing how petty these problems are in comparison to what others - so close by - are going through. It just put things in prospective for me again and actually made me thankful for our petty, "normal" problems. So please say a prayer for this family and their little girl.