Stay a While Longer

I know the little time keeper on this blog says that I have 5 weeks until my due date, but if the past is an indicator, I actually have 2-3 weeks until #7 makes her debut.  When I was at this point of pregnancy with my other babies, I couldn’t wait for the day to arrive.  I repeatedly told the little guys that they were being evicted and they needed to “get out now!”

I don’t feel that way with this baby at all.  Perhaps it is because we have been so busy with moving, settling in and life that my focus has been on things other than being pregnant which hasn’t made it seem unbearably long.  It could be that she’s nestled in in a way which is much more comfortable than the rib breaking positions of their brothers.  Or…could it be that I have at last learned patience?  I have finally learned to accept that things happen within their own time and that the planning is God’s and not mine?

It’s possible.  I doubt it, but it’s possible.

I’ve actually sought peace this pregnancy.  In the past, I’ve seen pregnancy as a way of marking time until the new baby arrives. It is the reason for my frenzied activity and not an escape from it.  That’s what makes this time so different.  This time I can forget that I’m pregnant for hours at a time, and it’s only when I stop to rest that the gentle (and recently less gentle) movements of our daughter remind me of her presence.  She’s not the cause of my business, but my companion in rest.

That will change once she is born and her demands to be fed, held, and changed assert themselves in my life and become the focus of my day’s planning.  Our schedules will be reworked for her nap times, adjusted for her feedings, but not just yet.  Today she is still the spot of quiet and peace, my moment of zen and hopefulness.  I’m not ready to let that go for the bustle of new baby.

So, stay a while longer, sweet #7.  Rest under your mother’s heart.  Soon enough you will rest in my arms.  But let’s give it a week or two before we give up the bond we have today.  Let’s learn a bit of patience, shall we?