Pack your bags!

This week has been a bit crazy. Between all the doctor visits, scrambling to get the nursery ready, errands to run, and a messy house to clean, we have been busy. But the most memorable thing that happened this week was when I had a message on my voice mail at work from Trish telling me, "Don't panic, but I'm in labor and delivery!"

I can't think of two more opposite phrases than "Don't panic" and "I'm in labor and delivery." Luckily, it turned out not to be that bad. It wasn't false labor or water breaking but Trish's blood pressure was a little bit high and they wanted to run a few more tests to see if everything was ok. Her labs came back normal and the baby is doing fine, and she was told to stay off her feet as much as possible and to rest more in order to keep the blood pressure down. It was a little scare and caused a bit of excitement around here.

As a result, our doctor thought it would be wise to set a date to come in and be induced. The baby is growing every day and continues to get bigger and bigger, yet Trish hasn't really progressed much in terms of labor, contractions, dialation, etc. So, the big day is finally here. We are scheduled to check in to the hospital on Monday night, January 14th, and have the baby sometime on Tuesday the 15th. That puts us about a week ahead of our original due date.

We are feeling a lot of things right now: excitement, anxiety, joy, fear, love, nervousness, happiness, and did we mention excitement? We have had a really great pregnancy and Trish has done such a great job putting up with all that comes with it. We have had great medical care, have had a lot of fun planning and preparing, friends and family have been more than generous with the baby showers and gifts, and we still can't believe that it is finally happening. We have been looking forward to this day for a long, long time, and that means more than just the 9 months of pregnancy. To finally have it on the calendar, to have our bags packed, to know which day we are checking in to the hospital ... it is all overwhelming and invigorating at the same time.

We have also spent a little time thinking about how life is about to change. Trish commented that today was our final "baby-less church" and asked if I was ready to have spit up and drool on my suits and ties. Of course I said that I am, or at least I think that I am. We joked that this past weekend was our final Friday night, final Saturday morning to sleep in, final this, final that.... people tell us that it is all over. But when it comes down to it, we feel like this isn't the end of something, but rather the beginning of our little family.

I hope to take the chance to blog from the hospital with updates. And you can bet that we will have pictures and video clips on here as soon as we can. We are really looking forward to having this baby and hope to share him with all of you soon. Next stop, parenthood!