One Month and Counting!

Good grief, what happened to June?! It blew past me! I can't believe it's almost July and that we're now one month away from the due date! I have four weeks to go as of yesterday (July 26). I've been reasonably obsessed with the idea that she's going to come early (mainly because I'm afraid it will happen before I'm "ready"--whatever that looks like!). But I found out at my OB appointment last week that this girl is still breech (her head is up when it should be down). The doctor assured me that there is still time for our girl to change her mind, somersault, and get her head down like it should be. If she doesn't, however, I will most likely be facing a C-section. So please join us in praying that she will turn and we'll have a shot at a "normal" birth. I've been reading up on ways to try and convince a breech baby to turn. Some of the ideas have some plausibility (like lying with my hips 12+ inches higher than my upper body so that the baby will bump up against the top of the uterus and be inclined to flip over and find more room at the bottom), but some are just plain entertaining. Our favorite is the method of having Seth say in a firm, commanding voice, "Come down here!" low on my abdomen. So far, we appear to have a defiant child because she isn't obeying Daddy. Maybe because both parents are laughing the whole time? Part of why June has flown by (and why I fear July will, too) is that we're having a plethora of visitors. We had a great time chatting and catching up a little with Seth's cousin Mindy, her husband Danny, and wonderful preteen kids Seth & Annsley. They were briefly in town from Spokane, WA. Tonight we are picking up Seth's parents from the airport for about a week of fun. When they leave on Friday, we'll go directly to a Taylor U. friends' get-together (as you may remember, I have four wonderful girlfriends from TU who live in the area; we'll be joined over the holiday weekend by two more girlfriends from VA and MI). It's all very fun, but also a little frustrating when I realize my current limitations (big, pregnant, swollen girls can't walk very much or move very fast or last very long at anything requiring stamina ... like standing up). I think that mentally I've had a checklist of things that have to happen before the baby is "allowed" to come: the two classes we took at the hospital (which were very helpful and informative; I may not have learned everything like I had hoped, but it did leave me feel much more prepared), the stack of baby/pregnancy/birth books I have to read (I've made it through several and feel like at least now I know where to check when I forget how to bathe the child or what positions work well for when she has gas), the three visits from out-of-towners (one down, two to go), the month has to change to July (wow, much closer than I thought!), and the guest room has to make its transformation into the nursery (most of the necessary stuff is waiting in the closet). We're getting pretty close! It's still very, very hard for me to believe that I'm going to have an actual baby, but all the signs keep pointing in that direction. Oh -- I've added one more thing to the list: baby girl needs to flip over! It's an exciting time. We realize that we're on the verge of having our whole lives changed forever, but of course we have no idea what that will be like or how to really prepare. We continue to thank God for all the ways he's blessed us in our nearly six years of marriage and we look forward to what He has for us as our little family expands. Thanks for the love and prayers!