38 Weeks

As of this past Saturday, I am 38 weeks pregnant! So close to having Parker in my arms!! As of last Thursday, I am 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced but, not fully engaged. She said that when she pushed on his head it would bounce away and then back and if he was fully engaged he wouldn't really move. The contractions have been about the same since then, so we will see what, if anything, more has happened this Thursday at our next appointment!

I am feeling much less stressed out, since our house is in order and mostly clean. What a difference that makes to me! I really do take after my Mom in that way :) It is very hard for me to relax in a messy place. So, having Parker's room in order and all of our living spaces clean and tidy has done wonders for me. I am SO glad that my husband is so willing to help me out and take responsibility for things that I just can't do anymore! He is such a blessing to me. He cleaned the shower for me yesterday and I can't tell you how happy I was! It is funny, some of the things I used to do without thinking about it, that my body just can't do at this stage of pregnancy.

On another note, I am SO looking forward to this Friday!! Mom and Dad will be arriving! I'm so excited to see them and for them to see us and our place and be able to spend time with them :) They will be here until October 10th! So, that gives us a lot of time together and gives me a lot of help and support while figuring out how to care for a newborn!
It will be especially nice for me, since Matt will not be able to take much time off. We found out that he does not qualify for FMLA leave, because he hasn't been with the company a year yet. So, any time he does take off will be PTO and we are trying to save as much of that as possible for our trip to MN this December.
Seth, his girlfiend, Laura, Hilly and Sammy will also be coming out for a little bit after Parker is born and we can't wait to see them!! It has been way too long... I love it here in the NW but I do miss my family a LOT and I feel so blessed that they will be able to be here to share this with us.

Matt's work is going really well and he has plenty to keep him busy, sometimes more than enough! So, that is good. You can be praying that the merger goes smoothly... If you were not aware, his company, Malcolm Pirnie, has been bought out by a company called Arcadis (sp?). So, things will start changing in the near future, though it looks like not too much at first.

We will try our best to keep you all updated in the coming weeks and will get picture of Parker up as soon as possible, after he graces us with his presence ;)