Is she going to make it before Father's Day?

It's been a while and I figure I should write something. I hit month 9 at the end of May and have been somewhat miserable ever since.

We have this incredible hosta that we put in a pot finally and within just a couple of days it grew beautifully. It was quite amazing to watch. It looks fabulous on our front steps.

What is not amazing to watch is how my stretch marks have accumulated over the last month. Just like that hosta came out of no where, so did the stretch marks. I've been a cocoa butter junky since I was a kid. It is just something my mother always used with us growing up with everything and it always worked. The stretch marks don't bother me much now other than like 2 of them that are painful. My sadness is in what these jokers will look like AFTER the pregnancy. You hear over and over that there are no miracle creams or that there are, that they will fade or that they won't and so on. All I know is that I'll be working my tail off to try to fade 'em, get rid of 'em, hide 'em - something. My belly is so stretched it literally has not grown anymore in the last 3 weeks. Battle wounds are what they call 'em!

No really? Every stretch mark is a beautiful blessing. I've read the various sad stories of June mothers that I've bonded with during this pregnancy who were not able to make it this far. If it takes a bunch of lines on my belly to make it happen, I'm all for it and I would do it again. Thank you Jesus for this dear blessing.

For a while this month Jessica got very quiet and so did all my Braxton Hicks. Well all that came back full force this past week. I am having regular contractions, FINALLY dilated, and Jessica has quite a bit of an attitude in my belly. I told her I feel the same way and that she is going to have to do some work and get out! Doc suspects she might be a 7-8 lber. If she is not, I am going to demand that the doc looks for the other baby hiding in my belly to make me stretch out this far!

I've definitely been nesting. I lay down whenever I get a chance because my feet and legs swell in a second. It's literally nest for 10 minutes and rest for 50 minutes... repeat. I've scrubbed down our refrigerator and freezer, cleaned up Jessica's room like a million times ironing all of her washed clothes and socks, scrubbing the bathrooms, making lists from lists, and throwing things out. I've been very tired though lately. I typically take 2-3 hour naps each day. Baby Story gets me in that sleepy mode.

I'll leave us with what I hope is my final pregnancy picture at 39 weeks. My brother came over and took pictures so that every preggo picture of me isn't with me holding my cell phone.

Here's to patiently waiting for Jessica to come over the next 5 days. It's a full moon tomorrow. Just maybe she'll make her debut mid week.