Week 37: Gone In A Flash

Week 37 came and went so fast I almost forgot it was time to write another post! I think because it was actually an eventful week, time seemed to fly by. It’s almost hard at this point to remember everything I did.

I had quite a bit of admin type tasks to take care of, none of which will be very interesting to hear about. Lots of forms to be filled out and acquired, redoing my rental car contract so I could received the VAT tax break, getting registered with the hospital and pre-entering all the information I could for the baby’s passport and social security card, and moving from the 3rd floor of lodging to the 1st – where I finally got some decent internet (yay!!).

Over the weekend my cousin Kaleb and his wife Erin came to visit. Kaleb is in the army and stationed about 4 hours from here, and knowing I was stuck here all alone, they were so kind to drive up and spend Saturday and Sunday providing me some MUCH needed company.

Saturday we drove into Kaiserslautern and walked around the shopping district before grabbing a lunch of schnitzel. Then we came back to Landstuhl to walk around the city festival taking place all weekend, and indulge in some fried food and dessert. None of us could resist the food kiosks with spit upon spit of roasting, juicy, dripping meat. Needless to say our sandwiches were incredible. The rest of the night we camped out at one of the tables set up in front of the stage and laughed that we were sitting in Germany, at a German city fest, listening to American pop songs from the 90’s.

Sunday morning we got breakfast at a little cafe in town, and drooled as the dessert delivery lady brought in crate after crate of fresh made cakes and pies. We all ended up taking pieces home. I made a mental note to come back. September 26 marks Will and I’s five year anniversary, and while we won’t be celebrating in the traditional sense (especially since we are still just hoping he will be here with me by that point, AND my gift to him this year will be a little bundle of screaming joy), I think we would both appreciate at least acknowledging our milestone over some sort of confectionary delicacy.

After we said our goodbyes I spent the rest of the afternoon resting, and talking to Will.

Trusting God
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it on here or not, but Will got last minute orders to do a trial this week that required him to travel away from Turkey, and not to the safest of locations. We had been so happy because it was looking like his first trial as an ADC would take place in Germany, and would be well after the baby was due. So receiving this news, having to find another dog sitter at the last minute, and then dealing with the fact that IF I did go into labor early, he wouldn’t be allowed to leave the case, and they wouldn’t fly him to me, was not exactly desirable. It just added one more kink, one more test, and one more challenge of trust to our lives.

I can speak honestly in saying that I haven’t been worried or stressed. I don’t know if I just want to believe that it will all work out, or if God has laid it on my heart that we are going to be just fine, but I’m very thankful that my every thought isn’t filled with worry and stress. Especially at this point in pregnancy where that could actually cause me to go into labor early. I’ll never understand why nothing in our lives, and specifically in mine, seems to be easy. I always seem to have the worst luck, or am faced with some big critical decision due to circumstances, or have to be strong and deal with life on my own. It really only makes sense that at one of the most important and critical events I’ve experienced so far, life would once again issue me a wealth of challenges. I want to believe God thinks I am some sort of he-woman, and I’m trying to prove him right – at least in the sense of trusting him that I am capable of handling the craziness he is dealing me.

I have no control over anything right now. For someone who is not just self-proclaimed, but a known anal compulsive planner, my life at the moment is ironically laughable. I’m trusting people who are in a way strangers (they are wonderful people, but we only recently met) to take care of the two furry loves of my life, my husband is over 4000 miles away, and there is a munchkin in my belly who is the only person who knows when he or she will decide to make their grand entry. And all I can do is sit in my hotel room and be patient.

If all goes well Will will be here next Wednesday, and I can already tell the incredible relief I will feel upon seeing his face. So for anyone offering prayers, please pray he has a quick trip for the trial, and that he makes it safely here in time for the baby to come.

Baby Has Taken Over My Stomach Space
As far as how I’m feeling, in general I feel fine. My biggest complaints at this point is not being able to find a comfortable position to sleep, all of my joints just ache no matter how I lay or how many pillows I try to cram around me, but during the day I’m fine.

Another frustration is that I have all kinds of money allotted to me for food each day, but I feel so full all the time I can hardly eat a full meal. I went shopping at the commissary yesterday and reaching the checkout, looked at my cart and wondered who had taken over my grocery shopping. I’m embarrassed to admit the things that made it in my cart compared to how I would normally shop. It’s like there is another person controlling my brain and stomach right now. Suffice it to say that I am loaded up on snack foods and things to drink 🙂

So that’s it for week 37. According to some apps I’m considered full term now, but on others I still have a couple of weeks to earn that milestone. All I know is munchkin is wreaking havoc on my ribs and belly, and I’m having a hard time imagining it being too much longer before they are here.

And a crappy 37 week bump photo 🙂