The Waiting Game

Well, I'm at 37 1/2 weeks right now and today is my last day for major items on my to do list. Up until recently I've been so worried the baby would come before we were ready for him. A month ago we didn't have a thing ready - Gabe was still in the nursery with nowhere to move to, we still had a change table in our living room and everything we would need when the baby came was still in boxes downstairs.
Our house has seen a major transformation in the last few weeks however. Now Gabe is in his "Big Boy Room", the nursery has been restored to factory specs, every floor has been cleaned in the past 4 days, every room has been cleaned and every item of clothing has been laundered. Over the past two days I've managed to do all of my shopping that I wanted to get done before the baby came with the exception of a quick trip this afternoon to Save-On-Foods and to a local farmer's market. I have frozen meals prepared, easy snacks that I can grab for Gabe on hand and some fun things for Matt's lunches too. The dog has been thoroughly groomed, the bills have all been prepayed and our hospital bag, as well as Gabe's overnight bag, is packed and ready to go.
My nesting energy spurts have definitely been to thank for this huge accomplishment, as well as a husband who finds it easier to relax when the house is clean so he doesn't mind when I put him to work on his day off. However, even with all my rabid cleaning attempts, by this past Friday I still had the whole basement to clean and organize yet, as well as a number of other items on my checklist to still do. Then something happened on Friday that made me pick up my feet even more... the baby dropped. Now, in first pregnancies, the baby typically drops weeks prior to the baby being born. When I was pregnant with Gabriel he dropped 3 weeks before I had him. However, with subsequent pregnancies babies typically drop during labour or immediately preceeding labour. One website I found described the baby dropping in a second pregnancy as a sign that labour was "imminent". Well, while it was lovely that I could breathe again and that my ribs were no longer moving in and out, I was not feeling ready for the baby to come. I resolved to have all of my major tasks on my to do list completed by Tuesday night because while I didn't think that the baby was coming that night, I didn't want to be caught off guard. I've since had some low, hard contractions and a couple that shot across my back, which only happened during my first pregnancy when I was actually in labour, but I've also reorganized the basement and set up Gabe's play area down there, down some massive grocery shopping trips, and completed all the primary items on my to do list! I still have another to do list that will be a weekly thing until the baby does decide to come, but that list is mostly just to make sure I have absolutely nothing to think about other than my family for the first few weeks at home with the new addition.
So next you hear from me, hopefully I'll be the happy mother of two!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)