Dear Sprout,

Hello there, little girl! This is your Mommy writing. We've reached a momentous milestone together, as you have managed to stay in my tummy for 37 weeks! This is 2+ weeks longer than your big brother, which means that every evening for the past 14 days, your daddy has heard me say: "I really think we're going to have the baby tonight!" (Somehow, I don't think he takes me seriously anymore). Today at my doctor's appointment, you measured at 8 pounds, 5 ounces in the ultrasound growth scan! Well, Big Girl, you seem to be outgrowing your nickname of "Sprout" and instead we may have to begin calling you "Sequoia" after the giant redwoods. The doctor said you could come any day!

So, I know I've been really particular in my requests for you: "Please don't come too early... Can you stay in there til mid-December?... How about waiting until Thursday when Mimi and Grandpa arrive for Christmas and can take care of Luke?...". But now I'm asking just one more favor, please: Let's not go for a full 40 weeks, because I'm afraid you will be HUGE!! I already anticipate that your daddy will have me running laps around the house on December 31 to encourage labor if you have not arrived (just so we get a nice tax deduction for 2010 and because our insurance deductible starts all over again on January 1). He's a finance guy, you know, so these details are exciting to him. A bigger deal to me is that you won't fit into your sweet, pink newborn clothes and we may have to jump right into the 3-month sized outfits if you get much bigger. But I guess you're in charge and are already showing us who's the boss.

However, by writing this blog post, I may be setting myself up to go into labor imminently, by commenting how I've never been pregnant this long, and that maybe detecting my gestational diabetes and giving myself those awful weekly progesterone injections (to delay preterm labor) have all been worth it in order for you to be a healthy, full term baby when you come out. So, any day, little one. We can't wait to meet you and we're finally ready .... I'm sure you'll let us know when you are!

Love, Mommy


Sprout at 36.5 weeks (This is the last prego picture that I plan to post, b/c there are no words to describe my tummy now that I have clearly surpassed a "basketball" belly.)

P.S. Here are 2 funny anecdotes about how people have chosen to comment on my belly lately:

1) I went to see a patient last week and was wearing a baggy fleece, which apparently made it difficult to tell that I am pregnant (Really? Reference above picture again, please...) Anyway, I mentioned to the patient that I was expecting a baby in 4 weeks or less and she was shocked, and said, "Well, honey, that baby ain't gonna be no bigger than a cake of soap... you so Little!" I wasn't sure how to respond as I waddled back to my car, but thought maybe I should have checked her vision/eyesight a little more closely when I did her therapy evaluation.

2) We went out to a nice restaurant with friends a few weeks ago for Date Night. I was wearing high heels (for the first time in months), a dressy maternity top, make-up on, and felt as "cute" as you can be at 9 months pregnant. As I stopped in the restroom to wash my hands, a woman at the sink beside mine looked at me and said, "Oh gosh, I ate waaaaayyy too much. I feel as big as you look... THHHHIIIISSSS BIG!" (as she made a gesture of a hula-hoop sized beach ball around her mid-section). I left the restroom feeling a bit more like a hippopotamus than the saucy, pregnant diva that I had previously imagined in my head...