Over-due and Waiting

Dear Journal, Dear blog,

I'm "over due". This would be the time, days or heaven help us, even weeks, that are left to wait AFTER baby has been expected. I guess some babies like to cook a little longer. I've heard some need more time for their lungs to develop. In my mind, my child currently in utero is happily scribbling away messages on the walls of my womb for any possible future inhabitants.
"Dear next baby...you can really get Mommy to jump if you kick here --->".
"You can forget your morning cuppa joe. Mommy thinks babies shouldn't have caffeine and drinks dandelions instead. Weird."
"I keep hearing a really loud creature from outside this room. I think it's called an "older sister", and I don't know if I'm ready to meet her yet."

For whatever the reason baby Borne hasn't yet made her appearance, I'm still pregnant. I'm only a few days over due, and yet it feels like it's been forever when most of my friends expecting at this same time popped their kids out early, or had c-sections. I went almost a week over with Olivia, and up to this point had forgotten how the "Land of Over Due" makes a Mom just a bit touchy. Even well intentioned phone calls from family and friends (unless they call 4 times a day!) asking "So???" can start to wear on you a little bit. It's tough enough to manage your own anxieties and perhaps even disappointment, without others asking "Haven't you had that baby yet?!". Speaking as a very expectant mother, I can assure everyone that there is nothing one can do (short of surgery) to make the baby's birthday come any sooner than God has already planned. And so, we wait.

I've already shed a few tears this morning, standing in my neurotically beautifully clean kitchen...just waiting. Everything we/I could think of has been prepared and is ready for this little one's arrival. Except the little one. Perhaps the hardest part of waiting is having cleared our schedule for possible launch about a week before baby was even expected. This time after was unplanned, assuming we'd be tuckered-out from birth, and a bit zombified from lack of sleep and life with a newborn and toddler. I like to plan and waiting on a baby just doesn't jive with that effort. They come in their own time. No amount of planning, cleaning, discussion, or worrying will change this fact.

As much as we have been eagerly anticipating this baby, my heart has also been excited with thoughts about Thanksgiving and Christmas. When you're a kid, Christmas seems like it will never come, and then it finally does. While December 25th is a fixed date, I'm reminding myself that this baby's birthday will finally come as well. It's going to happen! In light of this fact, and so I don't become more of an emotional, lumbering, mama-monster, I'm purposing to say out-loud what I'm thankful for whenever the gremlin of past-due dates tempts me with misery. Gratitude does the heart good, and there is much to be thankful for.

For a little thankfulness starter practice:
- It's been nice waking up in the morning and walking into a spotless kitchen, knowing there isn't a dirty dish in the sink at least not yet. This kinda clean will not last for long when I'm sleep deprived!
- However much longer baby holds out is the exact amount of time I've got left with Olivia as my only baby to love on.
- Though some nights are rough, I'm grateful I can still manage to get a fairly decent night of sleep. **Andrew, I'm SO sorry for all the heavy snoring. This too shall pass.**
~ With as much excited expectation as we have waiting for this baby, I'm encouraged to apply these sames feelings toward waiting for Christ's return! Making an Advent calender may be just the perfect thing to help fill some time.
~ I'm grateful to have family and friends nearly as anxious as we are to meet our little girl!

With this, I'm off to go find some crafty Advent calender tutorial on Pinterest, have my last prenatal chiropractic adjustment, and enjoy my Olivia...just the two of us. I will still be waiting, hoping, wondering when our girl will finally maker her grand entrance into this world, but with the Lord's help, I can do so with joy.