Week 38 & Week 39

The Shelors have some BIG news!! We are having our baby THIS WEEK!! On Thursday, 3/15/2012, Baby Shelor will be welcomed in to the world. We are beyond thrilled, nervous, excited and overjoyed with what is about to happen. Of course, here is a picture from this weekend!

Lenny and I went to the doctor last week and talked to him about inducing. My doctor was on call for 3/15 and 3/23. He wanted to check me to see how far along I was before determining if it was a good idea or not. I don't know how most women are during this "check" period of their pregnancy, but holy moly - I told Lenny afterwards that I felt like I needed a cigarette! Thank you Lord for epidurals! My doctor says that I am small and measuring small, however; we all thought the 15th would be a great idea - the bigger this baby gets and the smaller I am, the harder the labor for me. So we set the date. Baby Shelor will arrive on 3/15 which also happens to be my great grandmother's birthday!

So this is when everything turned very... very... *real*.  I can't believe it's finally here. That in less than 48 hours, our world is going to turn upside down. It's scary and beautiful all at the same time. I am so excited for my family to get here (tomorrow!!).  Every time I tell someone how nervous I am, the immediate response is "Well your family is going to be here soon!". I guess that's every one's "go to" phrase when they don't know what else to say to make me feel better :)

What am I scared about you ask? All of it. I'm scared about contractions and the pain, I'm nervous about every nurse at the hospital checking me out "down there" (I'm sure I'll just get used to this after a while!), I'm nervous about the epidural (even though I'm a big advocate to get one!), I'm worried that all our family will be there and what if for some reason it takes a really long time and they have to wait at the hospital for 12+ hours?, I don't want them to get bored!... Hello people pleaser. I'm worried about the actual birth itself. Lord, please let it go smoothly. I want our baby to be healthy and perfect. I pray for this every night. I'm scared about breastfeeding. I'm scared about not sleeping. I know how I am when I haven't had much sleep. It's not pretty. I'm scared I'm not going to have had much sleep and I'm going to try to be everything to every one and that this might cause me to have a nervous breakdown. (Hopefully this does not happen). I'm nervous with how this will change our marriage. I love Lenny so much and he is going to be the best father ever. We have such a great relationship, I hope this only makes it stronger. I want us to make good decisions as parents and be the best mom and dad we can be.
SO.... Is this normal? I'm sure it has to be, right?!

With all of these worries, I know Thursday is going to change our lives in the best way possible. We love this baby so much already and we haven't even met him or her yet. We don't even know if we are having a him or her and we already love every little bone in it's tiny body! I can't wait to hold this baby in my arms and smell and kiss and hug and love on him or her. I'm definitely ready to do those things. And I am so so grateful to have our families here to support us for such a monumental day. I know there would never have been a question whether they would come be there for us or not, I just am so so in awe with how much our families love and care for us. We truly are the luckiest people.

SO... If you are reading, please say your prayers for our little family this week. There could never be enough prayers! We will keep you updated and I do hope to post again after baby S gets here. I can't guarantee when that will be, but hopefully I won't make you wait too long!

Until then,
xoxo,
Sara