Pregnancy seems to take forever, seriously. It seems like this baby is going to be cooking forever. Ten weeks in. That means I have 2-3 weeks of icky feelings to go. 8 more weeks until I feel this little squish move. 10 more weeks until I get to see his or her sweet figure on ultrasound. 14 more weeks until this child will be able to live outside my body. At least 27 more weeks until this baby can be born at home, hopefully happy and healthy. And at least that long until we get to see and hold our sweet baby, find out his/her gender and give him/her a name. It seems like an eternity and the past 6 weeks since we found out have been never ending!
But four pregnancies in, there is one thing I can tell you: the waiting now is nothing compared to the waiting at the end. Once you hit that 37 week mark, you become anxious and excited. If you make it to 40, the wait becomes excruciating and sometimes infuriating.
People will offer you tons of advice as you wait. Most of it is well meaning (some of it covered in my popular “New Parent Advice vs. Reality” post): sleep now because you won’t once the baby is here; enjoy these last few days/weeks alone with your partner because it will never be the same; revel in the quiet because your world is about to get really noisy; take a long bath, you won’t get to once baby is here.
But all these well meaning tidbits of advice can cast a shadow of doom over what is coming. They can heighten any anxiousness or nervousness you may already be feeling. And while no one is probably trying to scare you, they’re just speaking from experience, it can come off as disregarding how you are feeling.
So here is my advice to the mommies I know who are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their little ones:
Enjoy every second of dreaming of your sweet baby.
Revel in the feeling of them swishing in your belly and stretching real big.
Be miserable, be uncomfortable, will that baby out!
Do everything you can to get baby out (if you want to).
Get hopeful every time you have have a strong contraction.
And be disappointed when it doesn’t turn in to real labor.
Time your contractions and pretend they’re getting stronger, even if they’re not.
Be excited. Be nervous. Be anxious.
Be whatever you feel like being because you are about to experience one of the most magical moments in your life. No matter how many babies you have, the first time holding, seeing and feeling the amazing child that you’ve brought into the world is the most miraculous thing you will ever experience and it’s fine to want it to happen soon.
(plus the end of pregnancy really sucks!)
