32 weeks belly, 33 weeks pregnant

I'm happy to say that we've made it past 32 weeks!  Not that there was anything making us think we wouldn't make it to this point, however, 32 weeks was a HUGE milestone for us while pregnant with Gavin and for some reason, I felt like we made an accomplishment getting here with Miles.  This pregnancy has been great thus far with Miles!  Besides me feeling huge and tired often (thanks to a cute, fun, active 2 year old) I have NO complaints!!!  I'm enjoying being mobile and am thankful that my body has kept up this long!!

It's really starting to sink in that in less then 7 weeks (yes, you read that correctly) we will be meeting our baby boy!  It's odd to think about what life will be like having another baby around, our family growing to 4 people, and it won't just be us and Gavin anymore.  Brooks and I are soaking up this time with Gavin and we're having a lot of fun with him.  We've been praying over him the last few weeks that he will be prepared to welcome a new addition to our family, that he will love and adore Miles, not be jealous of him, and basically accept him!!  I'm anxious to see how Gavin will handle Miles being here, but I'm sure just like with every other new situation, Gavin will amaze us!!

I keep telling Brooks how this pregnancy has been so different, mentally, and I guess it's from being distracted with Gavin, or there's not that "new- ness" of the first pregnancy.  Normally, by now we would have been overly prepared to welcome our baby, and this go around, hmmm... let's see here--- we don't have a crib set up, the pack and play, car seat, and bottles, are still packed up in the top of a closet from when we first got here... OOPS--- I wrote this post a few days ago and last night Brooks and Gavin set up Miles crib, we took down any and all necessities and I've actually started packing a hospital bag!  I can say that a few weeks ago I washed and folded all of the baby clothes we had for Gavin and then Brooks put together a dresser for Miles room, so at least that is done.  I don't know, for whatever reason, we just haven't been in a hurry.  However, all of that has changed after last week.  We came home from our Bahrain trip and I spent several hours experiencing some intense pain (normally, I would have used the word severe to describe the pain, but since I've experienced labor before and was trying to compare this pain to that pain, I don't feel that word is sufficient).  Anyways, I basically thought I was going into labor, I kept trying to time the pain to see how long the contractions were lasting and how far apart they were from one another, but the pain never stopped and started- it was just constant.  I started feeling nauseated and weak, which worried me that my body was getting "ready", so I decided to do the only thing I knew--- I went to bed!!  HAHA I figured, well, if the pain doesn't stop and it gets worse, it will wake me up in the middle of the night and then we'll have to do something!  hmmm-- probably not the best idea, but I woke up the next morning around 8am feeling just fine.

That evening has prompted Brooks and I to get on the ball regarding some logistics for us if I was to go into labor.  First things first, we can't drive here, nor do we have our own vehicle, there fore anytime we need to go somewhere, we have to call the transportation hot line, wait 15-30 minutes for a vehicle to come pick us up and then take us where we need to go.  Yea, that's not going to work for me if I'm in labor!!  So, we're coordinating with our transportation and our head of security (CIA representative) on setting up some kind of system where there is a driver/vehicle near by at all times, one at Brooks' plant for easy access for him so someone can get to us and get to us fast!  The other thing we have to coordinate is where Gavin will go, who he will go with, based on when I was to go into labor.  We have several friends here who have graciously offered to keep Gavin for us, however 2 out of the 3 will be going on vacations in between now and Mile's birth.  Plus, did I mention MY PARENTS ARE COMING TO SAUDI TO VISIT AND BE HERE FOR MILES BIRTH!!!  We're hoping and praying that Miles hasn't come before they get here, but still, they will be here for Christmas and we're super excited about that!!!  There are other logistics and scenarios we're working through in order to get us to the hospital, which is over an hour away, as fast as we can!!  We're just praying for God's favor in this situation and that EVERYTHING works out accordingly-- besides I've learned my lesson before I'm not in control!!

I have a doctor's appointment today, which is a really good thing and I'll explain why later once we can get in touch with our parents first, so I'm hoping to come home with an ultrasound picture of Miles and some hopeful news!  Stay tuned!