Well, here we are at 38.5 weeks. I am bigger than big, slower than slow, sleepy, achy and hungry all the time. Very few of my maternity clothes still fit and I find myself wearing the same 3 pairs of sweatpants and t shirts over and over again. If I had a job, I'd have left a long while back at this point! I am more than ready for Baby to come! There have been many contractions, but sadly, not the real ones. We are almost moved into our new home, but alas for not having a bed yet (STILL!), we are not sleeping there yet. CAN'T WAIT TO BE FULLY MOVED IN!!!!

Hospital bag is ready and is in the trunk of our car (Kiwi's here call a 'trunk' a 'boot') so I should say the hospital bag is in the boot. The nursery in our new house is almost done. We don't have a crib (Kiwi's say 'cot') yet, but we're not so worried about that because we'll be doing a combination of a bassinette next to our bed and 'co-sleeping' (not to worry- we have it worked out!) for the first 6 months or so. Our friends who are returning to the UK are generously donating tons of stuff to us, including a very nice, gently used crib. We are so grateful to them.

Speaking of donated/used items, we are very blessed actually. We've pretty much outfitted our entire house with items that are either a) from garage sales or b)donated/given by friends. Funny thing is, everything looks amazing and you wouldn't guess from looking that it's all used! Furniture is tasteful, clean and color coordinated, kitchenware is immaculate, bedroom and bathroom stuff looks great! It's amazing what can be found for pennies. The only brand new, store bought items we have are some cheap wooden book shelves (on sale at the "Warehouse"- NZ's Walmart), a new single mattress for guests, a new shower curtain liner, and new bedding linens for ourselves and our guests. All of our baby clothes, blankets and towels are gifts. It's just so wonderful and amazing that when you step out in faith, knowing that your path in life is what God wants, even when you don't know how all the money and necessities will be there, He provides! We are so grateful.

Anyway, I truly hope that Baby will be born in the next week or two! It's now quite a drain on my body, but more than that, we just want to meet our child! My mom flies into the country next Thursday morning. We are so excited to be at the airport to pick her up when she arrives! Finally she'll get to experience Kiwi life and her first grandchild for the first time!

Wow- it's been quite a long time! I'm now 36 weeks and I can hardly believe it! I really never thought I'd ever get to the end of the pregnancy- it seemed like it would just go on forever. At the very most, Baby should be born no later than 4 weeks from now (hopefully sooner)? I am so ready to have this baby and meet our child for the first time!

Up til now, whenever I envision Baby, I just have such a hard time imagining the face. I am so excited just to see Baby's face. There's already a strong connection that Baby and I have, but seeing Baby's face will make such a big difference to me, I think. I can't wait. It's like waiting for Christmas x 100...

I'm feeling fairly ok still, although I have up and down days. Sleeping is the hardest part because I have a lot of pelvic girdle pain as the ligaments are stretching to allow for maximum flexibility when Baby is on the way through. It's so hard to find a comfortable position when sleeping. I find that sometimes I need to change positions at night every 15 minutes to alleviate the pressure. It can be very painful and does not make for a good night's sleep. I'm quite slow, too, haha. I walk like an old lady, everyone else seems like they are moving so fast. That part I don't mind so much. The world moves too fast anyway, so I can afford to slow down- there's nowhere I really need to be except where I happen to be at any given moment, at this point.

I'm so big now that I really feel ready for Baby to come. Baby weighed in at 3.6 kg (about 8 lbs!!!) this week, and is probably going to be on the big side when delivery day comes! It's a little daunting to hear that Baby is already so big, but I'd rather that than a sickly, underweight little one. :)

Contractions are coming almost every night now. They aren't really painful, just a little uncomfortable. I am looking forward to the real ones, if you can believe it, because that will mean Baby is coming! :)