Making Ready, With Hope

I am 35 weeks pregnant today, which means I am just one week away from a big, huge pregnancy milestone! At 36 weeks, baby Henry has an excellent chance of skipping the NICU, and considering he is already over 6 pounds, I think he'll be just fine. My OB will officially continue to try to stop labor before 37 weeks, but I only to a point.

We have diapers and wipes.

All of Henry's clothes, blankets, sheets, and burp cloths have been washed and put away into his drawers. The sweet smell of Dreft fills his nursery - which still needs to be painted but is otherwise all set up.

We have a vehicle big enough to hold everyone now (did I mention we had to replace our truck in a panic my first week on bed rest?) and his car seat is sitting by the door, ready to install.

We have different pacifiers to try out, knowing full well that - being an in utero thumb sucker and our family's history of thumb suckers - he'll probably eventually end up preferring his thumb. We have bottles, and thanks to Diapers.com I'll have all my breastfeeding and pumping supplies by Wednesday.

Thanks to Drugstore.com, I have Depends and other postpartum mommy supplies already.

If I get a day or two off bed rest before he's born, I'll refill our freezer with some casseroles and muffins.

And most of all, we are all so excited and ready to meet this new member of our family! These last few weeks of pregnancy, uncomfortable as they may be, are one of my most favorite times in life. There is just nothing like waiting to meet a new baby!

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Romans 5:5