{36 weeks}

In all of my pregnancies it has been this highly spoken of goal; 36 weeks. "If we can just get you to 36 weeks it will be safe!" I heard it when I started having pre term labor issues with the twins. No one knew how imminent labor and delivery was. Soon we were saying, "If we could only get to 28 weeks..." But we didn't even make that. With my next pregnancy we had a plan of attack. Progesterone shots starting at week 16, medication around the clock starting at 19 weeks, and slowing way down in the middle of my second trimester. -All to just get me to 36 weeks. I made it to 37. The next time around we did things very similar, but with less restrictions. -Hoping for at least 36 weeks. I made it to 38. Here we are again. Even though I know that the longer I go the better, there is still significant relief in this milestone. 36 complete weeks. Things have been pretty calm - I've had a couple of nights where I could not sleep due to contractions, but so far I am still just 2-3 cm and 75-80% effaced. It's hard to express the thankfulness I feel Knowing that it is God who has sustained this pregnancy. God who has given me the best pregnancy I have ever had with no complications. God who has helped me get this close to full term. We are amazed. We are over joyed. We are nearly giddy. We know we will meet him soon and we can't stop smiling. Oh - and we slept in here last night. Technically it isn't completely done, we haven't really moved our furniture in yet, the closet needs doors still, but we wanted to camp out any way. :) Do you remember my vision? It has been surpassed. I still have decorating to do - and I was going to wait to show pictures of the room until every thing was completely done - with shelves and pictures on the wall and every thing, but I couldn't help myself. :) It is truly the peaceful oasis that we set out to create. Oh my goodness, I can not believe how amazing it is to walk into this room, shut the door, and immediately begin to feel relaxed. One of the things that means the most to me is that Dave did it all. He did this for me, he did this for us, he worked tirelessly for hours, days, weeks, yes, now I can even say months, on end. It is so special to us!