the home stretch

I am learning that sometimes less is more...information that is. I am typically a person who likes to plan ahead. I plan for things well in advance for the most part, much to the chagrin of many members of my family. I like to know what to expect so that I am prepared and not caught off-guard. I know I have mentioned this before, and if you know me you probably know this to be true.

Over the course of the past 8 months I have lost track of the number of times I have been asked if we are having a boy or a girl. It must be in the hundreds by now. That question is often followed by "How can you wait?! I would have to know...I am such a planner."

Oh, I hear you. Within weeks of discovering we were expecting this baby I had purchased new sheets for the crib. Before the middle of the 2nd trimester the neutral baby clothes were taken out of storage, washed, folded and put away. Several weeks ago I stocked up on tiny diapers, bottles & nuks.

And while I do not think one way is better than the other (finding out, or keeping it a surprise), I am finding that for me sometimes there is beauty in not-knowing. There is a sense of peace in knowing that we will truly be amazed and surprised together when our baby is born - and our love will overflow whether it is a new son or daughter. There is also a sense of calm in these weeks before delivery as I am not rushing out to stock the closet with "boy" clothes, or digging through bins to wash loads of pink things. For me, this is a big thing. I stress out and "not knowing" in this realm helps to keep me calm. I can't say this is true for any other part of my life, but it is true here for some crazy reason.

This morning I went in for my 36 week appointment . From here on out I will see the doctor every week. I had hoped that I would find out if I am dilated yet - but alas, my calm doctor doesn't check me all that often. This used to annoy me, but now I realize that it's just another way for me to stay calm. I know that if he told me I was not dilated, my mood would decline. If he told me I was, I would anticipate things starting to happen every day and the days/weeks would stretch out even further. Maybe after 3.5 years and 4 pregnancies my doctor knows this about me. Maybe he knows that right now, for me...less is more.

So now we truly are in the home stretch. Only 3.5 weeks to go until our due date, and I can say we are definitely ready. Believe it or not we have 2 names for each gender that we agree on...a major feat! Please do not be offended when we do not share these names with you. We have decided to keep them to ourselves as it was a long road to get to this list for us and we don't want either one of us to have a change of heart. You will know soon enough! We do thank you for all of your suggestions though, they did prove to be helpful.

I have posted all of your guesses for our baby contest in the sidebar in date/time order. If you haven't guessed yet and would like to, or you would like to revise your guess - please feel free to leave them in the comments below...just do so before next Wed, Jan 7th.

Happy New Year to you all...we hope it's filled with wonderful surprises!