Exciting news, lovely family and friends (even those of you who I’ve never met or even received a comment from, I still think of you as friends), we’re having a baby today! So sneaky of me to not share the details sooner, I know, but it just didn’t seem right to go shouting it from the rooftops too far in advance.

When we visited the doctor last week for our 38 week exam, the ultrasound estimated little Jack to be already nearly 9 pounds! No wonder I’ve been so uncomfortable! And according to the doctor, he is just too big and I am just too small to deliver him the old fashioned way. I’m not gonna lie, I was a little bit devastated. I’d been preparing for a natural, unmedicated birth and was really looking forward to it. Besides my understanding that it would likely result in an easier recovery for me, I thought of it as sort of a “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” kind of thing. People don’t run marathons or climb mountains just for fun, they do it because to accomplish something so challenging is incredibly rewarding. I wanted that chance to see what I was made of. I was prepared to be flexible, of course, and if my health or Jack’s was in jeopardy I’d follow the doctor’s orders in a heartbeat, but I at least thought I’d get to give it a shot.

The doctor never actually told me I couldn’t. He told me I could try, but he felt pretty sure Jack was never going to descend. Nick and I went home and he listened patiently while I whined and cried and went on and on about it, but by the next morning I’d pretty much come to the decision that to put myself through what would likely be a long and difficult labor only to end up exactly where my doctor had predicted would be so much harder on my mind, body, and spirit than to just accept it. Plus I had nightmares of being rushed into emergency surgery under general anesthesia, which would definitely be much, much more traumatic. I called a few friends and family who’d had c-sections and asked about the recovery. I talked to Nick and discovered he’d been secretly excited at the idea of meeting Jack sooner than he might otherwise come on his own. I made a list in my mind of the positives of a scheduled cesarean (being done with pregnancy soon was definitely at the top of that list!). And then I called my doctor and scheduled a c-section for today, a week before Jack’s due date.

I am so, so excited. I know our lives are going to change forever. And it’s going to be awesome.

As you may have expected, I plan to slow down on the blogging for a little while. I’ll still be popping in at least once a week, and I’ll also feature guest posts and revisit some of my older posts that I’m particularly fond of. But have no fear, dear readers. I will be back in full force as soon as I’ve got this parenting thing under control. This blog is good for me, and I know that making time to keep up with it will help me be a better mom.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I’m planning to post on Monday with pictures and a few details. Anyone care to guess how big he’ll actually be? I’m thinking he’ll be a bit smaller than anticipated at nine pounds even, but will probably be extra tall (like Nick) at 22 inches. If not, my master plan to save my children from shortness by marrying a tall man will have failed, haha.

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