Week 38: Once in a blue moon

This is what it’s like to be at the tail end of the 38th week of pregnancy … I can no longer wear my wedding ring because my fingers are akin to those of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Sleeping through the night is a thing of the distant past with bathroom calls almost every two hours. No amount of pillows in the bed can bring comfort. Having my crotch used as a punching bag has become something I’m relatively used to. Braxton Hicks contractions are de rigueur. And the fine line between total and utter exhaustion and an urge to keep adding and completing things to a checklist before baby arrives borders on neurotic and normal nesting. (I’m willing to bet I’m leaning more towards the neurotic side of it.) Glamorous, right?
Then there’s what everyone says and what I inherently already know: The baby will come on his own time—that I should just try to relax as much as possible now now because once he’s here, I won’t be able to. That I should just enjoy the calm before the storm. Et cetera. Et cetera.
However, I would just like to say that while this entire experience of being pregnant for the second time has been mostly amazing, I’m at the point where I’m about ready to throw in the towel and quit. With temperatures in the mid-90s, a belly that’s seemingly larger than life and a waddle that makes ducks look like ballerinas, I want to slip him an eviction notice.

We all know that babies eventually come out. They can’t stay in there forever, right? While all of this is something I know, for whatever reason, I have a hard time believing it even now. I felt this exact same way at this exact same time when I was pregnant with Anaïs. I’m not even “overdue.” But it’s amazing how tired your body gets when the end is so near. I need to keep in mind that I can finish strong and that I just need to be patient. Patience is the biggest thing that I’m struggling with right now! Also, it’s hard when so many others who have had babies before me have all shared similar tales of how their second children all came earlier than their respective due dates.
With Anaïs, she entered the world promptly on her due date. Before I went to bed the night I went into labor with her, I looked up at the sky, and there happened to be a full moon. I took a bath and had a chat with my belly saying that it would really be awesome if she came soon. Two hours later, I woke up to contractions—less than five hours after that, she was born!
As I sit here writing this, I should note that tonight (Friday) happens to be a full moon kind of night. And on top of that, it’s also a blue moon, which makes it somehow more special to me. Maybe it would be worth it for me to take a bath and have a chat with this little boy before I go to bed. Couldn’t hurt, right?