Nine Months

So I've been pretty good about posting regular pregnancy pictures on facebook, but I don't think I've been so regular about it on my blog. Plus it's kind of fun to see these pictures in succession. I know the whole point, generally, is to be able to compare the pictures, so most people take their photos in the same place in the same pose. I like to see what I was doing at that time in my pregnancy as well as my size, so I just threw that approach out the window and took my pictures whenever I felt like it! I was doing pretty good about taking them every 4 weeks (though I started on a weird week, I know) but this summer I got distracted and let seven weeks go by before I took the last ones!

With my last two pregnancies, I had the baby just after 38 weeks, so we'll see if there are anymore photos.....

14 weeks, snowy field on the way to church

 

18 weeks, in front of my favorite curtains!

Also 18 weeks, I thought this one was kind of cool too.

22 weeks. I love this one! I felt like I finally got one of those awesome maternity shots real photographers do. By the way, I have to wear this dress every week to church my last trimester; nothing else fits me! Which is funny, because I bought it in 2001 at Pike Place Market in Seattle, before I was even married.

26 weeks. I loved how green the fields were and how pretty the clouds were all Spring, such a contrast to the stark winters and the yellow dry summer. Plus a maternity shot was the perfect excuse to take a picture here. Yeah, my face looks a little grumpy, but at least I wasn't squinty or with sunglasses again, right?

 

30 weeks at my mom's house. I had bought this shirt a few days previous and I loved it! I don't know why, but 90% of my maternity clothes are blue, so I was excited to gte something a little brighter and fun.

 

Okay this is the same day, but it's one of the few times Joseph actually caught a picture of me being silly, and I kind of like it.

 Then...we came home and I forgot all about taking a 34 week picture or anything. Oops. Luckily a week or so ago, Joseph went on a trip to see the Bismarck, North Dakota temple, and I remembered to take some pictures of me before it was too late! I'd been wanting to take some pictures by all the hay bales, and when we stopped to take a picture of a buffalo and the sign for North Dakota, there just happened to be a stack just off the road! We hurried just in case the farmer showed up with a pitch fork and chased us away.
Normally, I'd want this picture with the light behind me, but then we would have had the road and power lines in the photo, so we chose the lesser of two evils.

37 weeks. Looks like it's about harvest time...get it? Man, that joke never gets old.  I tried to take a picture without the glasses, but boy was that sun bright!

 And just for good measure, here are a few other pics from our little jaunt up to ND. This temple is so small! There was a Stake Center right next door,and the two buildings were approximately the same size. There weren't very many people there either, we were lucky they still held the session because we were there. We were also lucky to have some friends from church watch our kids from 7:30am till 7:30pm so we could go.

This shirt is always blowing around and making me look too big, but it's still one of my favorites! I've had it since my first pregnancy with Elora. Oh, and this is the only other skirt that is stretchy enough to fit me, but then the shirts aren't quite long enough with it.

Do you like Joseph's mountain man beard? It looks pretty good when it's trimmed up...which he did a few days after these pictures.

Notice anything weird about those temple pictures? Yes, I'm missing my shoe. I was using it to prop up my camera horizontally, so I could be sure the angel was in the picture. And let me tell you, it wasn't easy getting my shoe back on. Does anyone else get swollen feet in the last trimester? Mine aren't bad...just on hot days or long car trips!

Finally, here is our lovely buffalo picture. My original plan was to take my 37 week picture with the buffalo behind me, so I could say something intelligent and witty about me being on the left and the buffalo being on the right, if you couldn't tell. This guy was right next to the fence when we pulled up, but when we got out of our car, he took off running into the field! There was something really funny about such a large creature being so scared of us, poor guy.

I hate how blogger doesn't fix the spacing, even though it looks fine in my rough draft. Grr.

So this Sunday (the 14th) I am exactly 38 weeks. If this baby follows the pattern of the last two, that means it might be born by Thursday! We are excited, but also a little more nervous than usual. We had a babysitter all set up, but now they are going back to their other home in Utah for the school year early- Monday the 15th- so that's no longer an option. (They watched our kids when we went to the temple though, so we are very grateful!)

We have plenty of other people volunteering to help, from friends at church to Joseph's coworkers in the office. The only problem, is all these people have jobs or otherwise hectic schedules, and are available only for certain times! Add to that the distance to the hospital (2 hours straight from our house, or 2hrs 40 min if we drive to town to drop off kids) and it's a little disturbing. I keep reminding myself that I was worried with Jonah too but everything worked out fine, so I shouldn't be worried this time. Of course in Logan, we lived so close to the hospital, I could've walked there if I had to, plus my parents were able to drive up for the night watch with the other two kids.
I think I've made Joseph more nervous than he's ever been before, what with my talk of friends who had babies in their own bathroom, just  last month, to sending him emails detailing how to deliver a baby in a car, etc. Seriously, every time I look uncomfortable he asks if I'm having contractions. He's insisted on having almost everything in the car already (he really wanted me to take a towel to church today in case my water broke like last time. Really.)
When we were at the the temple last week and a worker came in the men's dressing room asking if he had a pregnant wife, he was certain I was in heavy labor right that minute, as if he couldn't remember how labor worked from the last three kids! (The worker was just making sure that we ended up in the session together and not doing different things, due to some confusion earlier.)
Several days ago, I was outside taking pictures of some neat storm clouds, and Joseph didn't know where I went. I was gone maybe ten minutes, but by the time I got back he was practically hyperventalating! Seriously, what does he think will happen in 10 minutes, and where does he think I was...kidnapped? Fallen in a big hole? Bitten by a snake? He didn't find it quite as funny as I did.
So maybe if you're thinking of us..maybe you should pray for Joseph to calm down most of all?