37 weeks pregnant

This morning was my 37 week prenatal appointment.

And it brings practically no news.

I am sitting at 203 pounds now (yay....), I'm measuring right on track, my blood pressure is holding very steady, I have the slightest of swelling, and braxton hicks contractions have become virtually non-existent. I was having 2-3 a day for a while there (not painful at all, though), but over the last couple weeks, they've just dwindled off. So, as far as I can tell, I'll be pregnant for a while yet.

It's all good, though. I don't think I'd be thrilled to have a baby this week, or even next. Nearer to my due date, the better, I'm thinking.

I still love the idea of an Easter baby, too. Because this was a surprise pregnancy, I've done a lot of thinking about what this baby means to our family. Initially, it made Jesse eager to start looking for a new job, so our growing family could be closer to relatives. Not to mention being back out west, which we really love so much more than living on the east coast. We only planned to be here 3-4 years when we moved out, anyway, and we've now lived here about 4.5 years. Well, he got started on his resume quickly enough, but never got to the point of sending them out anywhere. Although once the baby is born I'm sure he'll get right back on track.

But bottom line is that since the very beginning, once I accepted the reality of it all, anyway, I've considered this baby to be Heavenly Father's way of getting us to think more seriously about our future as a family, instead of just living day-to-day life right where we are, with a rather inert attitude. So the pregnancy, this baby, has really caused us to attempt to reinvent our life. Even if we haven't gotten as far as we wanted to originally, we're on the right path, I think, to change things up and work towards what we really want.

And then I think about how this baby is due just after spring officially begins. He's due so close to Easter this year, when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. A new life in our home, a new and renewed life in nature, and a renewal of life through Christ, and an intention and plan for a new life for our whole family in a new location (eventually...). So while this pregnancy may not have been my idea for this point in our lives, it really does feel like Heavenly Father decided to hit me over the head with the full force of the symbolism of this quickly approaching season.

I just wish I had thought to plant some daffodil bulbs in the fall, so I could enjoy them as well!

But all the symbolism really made me want to find a special name for this baby boy. Jesse crossed off most of the good meaningful ones for the first name group, but he's letting me get my way with the middle name. Even if we decide to change Alexander to something else, I'm fairly certain we're keeping Boden for the middle name. Boden means "messenger" or "herald". And according to some sources, "shelter". It seems fitting, to me. This baby does feel like a herald for new times, along with the spring and Easter season, as well as being a messenger from Heavenly Father to tell us that we need to look forward to our family's future.