37 Weeks= Full Term, Baby!

We did it! Baby and I made it to full-term. YAY!

I don't know what it is, but there is just something about getting to full term that makes me so happy. Maybe it is the fact that the baby is basically fully developed now and could live easily outside the womb. Maybe it is the idea that in less than 3 weeks, I might be holding my new little bundle of joy. But, 37 weeks is a big deal to me! It's cause for celebration!

Here's a picture....I have eaten WAAAAY too much ice cream and eaten one too many swiss cake rolls. I need to slooooooow down. Regardless of my inevitable weight gain, here is my picture:

I had another doctor's appointment today and it went really well. I left the office thinking, "I REALLY like this doctor and look forward to the day he helps me deliver my child." I think I was so nervous at the first visit that I didn't feel comfortable asking any questions. The only things I cared about at that first appointment were 1) seeing the baby via ultrasound 2) making sure I was accepted as a patient of his and 3) being able to use my US debit cards to pay my Aussie bill.

This visit was much more relaxed. To my surprise, he did another ultrasound and saw that baby was still head down and active. I really got to "oo" and "ah" this time.

Then, I had to ask him about induction. Caleb and I have been really struggling with what to do about this. You see, our Australian medical visas are only good for three months. If the baby comes late, we are going to have a hard time getting all the paperwork done in time in order to have the baby's visa in hand before our visas expire. Also, Caleb's mom is planning to visit us on December 8th and will be leaving on December 20th. Of course we want her to be here for some time when the baby is actually outside the womb.

Without going into too much detail, the doctor told me all about the risks of induction that I already knew about. I am anti-induction if little one is not ready to come out yet. I know of the risks of how one intervention could lead to others.....meaning induction could lead to forceps, vacuum or even a c-section.....because sometimes the body just won't give into induction. But, the doctor did tell me that if I chose to induce on or after my due date, there was a good chance that since this was my second baby, my body would in fact respond to the induction. So, we are to think about it this week and tell him next week what we want to do.

So.....we are considering all our options this week. I have been looking at flights from Cairns to Sydney and trying to figure out when we could book a flight before the Christmas holiday. Here is a tentative time line (which could change any minute):

Due Date- December 10th or 11th
Hopefully baby will come BEFORE this time.
Tentative Induction to be scheduled for Monday, December 12th.
This allows 7 days (5 business days for the birth certificate to be mailed to us from Brisbane).
Flight to Sydney on Tuesday, December 20th.
This allows 10 business days to obtain US Passport by January 5th.
Submit paperwork for PNG Visa by January 6th.
Visa Lodged by January 9th.
Allows 3 weeks for PNG to issue a visa.

It is cutting it close....and one hiccup along the way could set everything off. But, I did research my medical visa and it looks like I could stay here in country until February 7th or 8th. So, if I had to change my return trip ticket.....that could still be done.

So, please be praying for us and the decisions we have to make. Also, please pray that this little one would come earlier rather than later. It would be ideal for this baby to be born around the 8th. It would be nice for the baby to not come when Caleb is in Sydney on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1....but it wouldn't be the end of the world. It would just to hard to have this baby without him. Also, please pray that if the baby does come early, the airlines would have seats available on earlier flights than the 20th so that we could give ourselves more time.

In other news, I am up every night every two hours to go to the bathroom. I remember this with Ben. :) It's not fun. I have been walking a bit and plan to increase the amount of walking in the days to come now that I am 37 weeks. I still feel relatively good. This little one is very active and is borderline abusive with kicks and jabs. I don't have heartburn anymore....I have a feeling that will return in the next week or two, though. My hospital bag is almost packed....just need to add a few things.

So....life is good....I will be spending a lot of this next week gathering all my paperwork for when baby does arrive. You should see the amount of documentation that we need for each of these steps for the birth certificate, passport and visa......but, it has been done in the past.....and it can be done again.

If you are STILL reading this post, I'm shocked. I think I blog most of this just so I can look back on it later myself. I have enjoyed looking at the days and weeks leading up to Ben's birth that are on my other blog: www.jointhefray.blogspot.com. I'm getting excited.....it's getting close!