Thanks for your thoughts on the last edition of {b&p} and the college question. We'll see where things are at in about 18 years – who knows what the times will bring for the next generation of students!
As Auntie Leila mentioned yesterday: Yes, the time is getting ripe for Finnabee!
37 weeks |
38.5 weeks |
We are looking at an “any moment now” to “some vague time in the coming weeks” range. The Artist and I feel ready (But how crazy to be “ready” for something that is so very much a thing – really a host of things – I've never experienced before!?) but we also have things to occupy us if the baby wants to take his/her time… so I think we'll be okay either way. We are calm.
But oh my word am I excited to meet my baby!!! Maybe I'm not calm about that.
Bringing me to my first link:
- This is so simple: a dad faithfully collected video clips through his son's first year of life. So simple but so charming and adorable at the same time. If you want to just gaze at snippets of a little cutie growing up, this is the link for you. (I'm sure that this isn't interesting only to women at full term, right?) It's cute, people!!
- Let's just get this one out of the way, as it falls in the category of If You Haven't Yet Heard About This, You Must: a couple with a Down Syndrome diagnosis for their unborn baby wanted to abort. A priest intervened and said he'd find an adoptive family. The response was overwhelming and completely confirms the possibility of a Culture of Life. So inspiring!
- For this week's Esolen selection: Hatred of Nature: Hatred of Sex.
[As a side-note to this: the other night, The Artist and I went to an orientation at a pediatrics practice to meet Finnabee's prospective doctors and get that set up. There were two other expectant couples in attendance. I had no idea where they were coming from ideologically, politically, philosophically, or spiritually. But when a question about circumcision came up, the Dr. looked around and asked us all if we were having boys. The other two couples responded that they were. We, of course, indicated that we don't know.But note how it goes: this is the first question that everyone asks: Boy or Girl? It is the first, most pertinent piece of information about a person upon arrival into the world. There is no getting around it. It is, quite literally, essential. The charade that the subverters would have us adopt – that sex is not something built into our very nature, having an undeniable impact on almost all aspects of life – is not kept up by the simple actions of peoples' everyday lives.Given the political/ideological leanings of many of the people in our area, I would not be too surprised if the couples we were with that night were people who might be tempted to subscribe to the idea that sex can be chosen, or doesn't truly exist. And yet, when they heard that we had opted to be surprised about Finnabee, their reaction? “I could never do that! I just had to find out!” Well, I ask you: if sex is not based in reality, why the urgency to know about your own child?]
- Since I'm mentally adjusting to the idea of shifting from the two of us to the three of us, I so appreciated Cassandra's reflection on making the shift from the three of us to the four of us. A lovely bit of writing with some simple but profound thoughts on letting go of each stage that must pass…
- On a more educational note, here's an archive piece containing a speech by Russell Kirk on the Ten Conservative Principles – for when you're ready to bite into something meaty.
- And, finally, The Problem With Being Friendly by my dear friend and out-law (she's the Lt.'s sister) Ellen. Somehow tying together Bonhoeffer with the craziness surrounding the abortion bill currently being debated in Texas.
Have a great weekend!
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msagala1 says
You're so close! I can't wait to see pictures of Finnabee!
I'm actually at 37.5 weeks (and had false labor the past two nights)…soooo ready to meet my baby!
_Jessica says
I love seeing other baby bellies! Hopefully you don't have too much longer! I'll be 35 weeks tomorrow and am on bed rest for another week so that baby is a little healthier and we can deliver at home. I don't want an unhealthy baby, but being on bed rest is so hard! (And has necessitated my Mom driving from Virginia to New York to take care of my 2yr old and house!)
DeirdreLMLD says
Someday I hope to deliver at home – that's so awesome! I hope that you and baby are fully well soon! And thank goodness for moms. 🙂
_Jessica says
I had my son at home, too, and I couldn't imagine anything else. Being a second generation home birth mom definitely makes it easier, in terms of being comfortable with it. My in-laws were really unsure of it, and afterwards my FIL told me, “I know this is normal for you…but it really had me freaked out!” If he only knew that my husband has told me one day he will be my midwife. 😛
Patty says
Re: the thee-to-four post. Yes, each baby I've had, there is a short period where I'm mad at the baby for”wrecking what I had” with my former baby. Or where I just miss my toddler (my “old” baby). Tears are shed, by both myself and the toddler, but we adjust, I don't dwell on these feelings. I expect them now and just wait for them to pass as we all adjust our rhythms to being a new kind of family. A family of four or six! Each child is born into a different family! Each child is treated a little differently based on everyone's personalities and needs. And yes it's a little sad to see the old days go, but the new ones bring a greater joy.
elizabethroosje says
so excited! God bless you as the time gets closer!
Emily G says
You look fantastic! I'm envious of how great you must feel, being that size at the end…I'm about that big now at 23 weeks with twins. Scary. I hope your wait is not too much longer!
DeirdreLMLD says
Thank you, Emily! Congratulations to you on twins and kudos for the major physical investment that demands of you! I'm in awe of women who carry and raise twins. But then — you'll get double the bang for your buck! 🙂
plainjaniey says
I had to know the sex of my baby because I'm a planner. I also have an anxiety disorder so I know that I would get overwhelmed with not knowing, and make me anxious because I couldn't plan things. I think it's a personal choice really.
DeirdreLMLD says
Hi Plainjaniey – I totally agree that it's a personal choice and I think it's very much a neutral one! I think it's quite likely that we will find out in advance the sex with a future child/children.
What I'm pointing out here is simply that people give witness to the truth by their actions without realizing it. In this case, they reveal the importance of sex by wanting (understandably so!) to find out in advance whether they'll have a boy or a girl. It just shows that *being* a boy or *being* a girl are distinctive, important things!
Sue in Japan says
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that what you have there is a classic “boy belly.” Can't wait to see if I'm right!! You look absolutely beautiful, by the way!!
I thought it was so much fun not knowing if we were having a boy or a girl for our first! The second I found out by accident – a language misunderstanding with the Japanese Dr. who insisted on speaking to me in his broken English! The third was a very high-risk pregnancy, and we very much wanted to pray for the baby by name, and by the fourth I just needed to know so that I could prepare clothes and things because I had passed on all of my baby clothes due to our extreme lack of storage space in our little Japanese apartment! All of those experiences were wonderful in their own way, but I still think it was most fun not knowing until the moment of birth!
I'm praying for a very smooth birth in God's perfect timing!
April L says
Oh my goodness…I'm only 24 weeks and I'm almost as big as you! Scary for me, lol. But you look fantastic!
Colleen says
You look lovely! I am about 2 weeks behind you and have that same black and white striped shirt, although I think I'm about twice your size. 😉 (Maybe a combination of this being baby #4 and that most of mine are around 9 pounds at birth?) We never find out what we are having, either, and yes, EVERYONE asks – especially since now we have 3 boys. Even total strangers are quite concerned about whether or not this is our elusive girl. We will be happy with either and the sex of this baby will not determine whether or not we are “done”, so… I guess we are crazy. And okay with that. 😉
I cannot wait to hear/see your news and see a picture of your sweet baby – prayers that all goes smoothly!
tacy says
Only a week behind you! Congrats and good luck as your birth approaches =)
God bless.
Melissa Diskin says
May you have a good labor and delivery! You look fantastic, too. 🙂 I remember with my 2nd's almost arrival how I was thinking “how could I ever love another child as much as my first?” It seemed impossible. And yet you do, and do, and do again. Each child is so intrinsically him or herself, and it's so amazing how the you-ness of mother and father and family are all changed by each child. It's impossible to explain, and yet it just IS!
I loved your outlaw's essay. Made me think of the remonstrance Jesus gave to his disciples: “The poor you will always have with you.” And yet He wanted them to spend more time with Him, first. It's always something *good* that wants to pull us away, isn't it…
nancy says
Forwarding on Ten Conservative Principles…Thanks!
Amy Caroline says
You look so lovely! Can't wait to see your little one. God bless!