We're in the Endgame Now

We're in the endgame now, to quote a very popular superhero movie. Of course, this kind of endgame isn't quite as ominous as the one in Avengers: Infinity War and then Avengers: Endgame. We may be counting down the days until the end of pregnancy, and the end of our lives as a childless couple, but that's not exactly a bad thing. Especially given how badly this child was wanted and how I've officially reached a point in a fairly easy and enjoyable pregnancy where I'm finally just...done. Over it. Ready to get my body back to being my own and starting my new life as a parent.

It's mostly because of how hard it's getting to move in and out of cars, up from the couch, and especially in and out of bed on my several bathroom trips each night. The right-side stiffness I mentioned before is now clear hip pain that gets worse when I move my right leg in certain directions or put too much weight on it. My doctor says this is normal, of course, as my body prepares for childbirth. Ever heard of "relaxin"? It's a hormone that literally relaxes your joins and loosens your pelvic ligaments to help delivery along. So naturally, this production happens the most in your third trimester as you actually get close to delivery.

It makes sense. We're exactly one week away from my due date of June 2, and a whole day past my first due date, which was later changed based on early ultrasounds and ovulation dates compared to LMP (last menstrual period). Since research shows most babies are born within a week before or after their due dates, we're officially on baby watch every day now!

Hubby compared the experience to the royal baby watch, since we have so many wonderful family and friends who are following our journey in the same way the world followed Prince Harry and Meghan. One of our friends put our due date in her calendar. Others just ask how I'm doing pretty often (Hubby likes to joke that even his friends are always asking about me and never about him). People still try to guess Baby's name (and place bets on his birth date and weight). And each time we call our parents about something non-baby related, they laugh and exclaim, "I thought you were going to tell me labor started!" So we both definitely feel how close it's getting and how exciting the news is going to be.

In the meantime, I'm spending my "endgame" preparing for Baby's arrival as much as I can. I'm a little glad he didn't come on his original due date, as I really needed this weekend to check off some more boxes on my baby prep to-do list. For example, on Friday--after my last day of work before maternity leave--my parents took me shopping for a changing table (we already have a crib that we bought early, and just about everything else from the baby showers). Today, my brother came over to put together the crib, swing, and "pack and play" bassinet where Baby will sleep in his first few months of life (beside our bed) until we transfer him to the nursery.

Speaking of the nursery, I can't believe it's just about done! Even though we don't need it right away, I spent most of the weekend transferring baby items out of Hubby's mancave and into the bedroom we'd picked for our son (Hubby gets to keep his mancave at least until we have a second child...). While we received several offers to help decorate the nursery, there's really not much needed in terms of decorations. Other than hanging a couple things on the wall, all we really had to do was build the furniture and fill the drawers of the changing table dresser so Baby's things can be all in one spot. What took the most time was just opening packages and removing tags from rattles, blankets, and stuffed animals. The room is small, but a great color, and is really coming together, as you can see from the most recent pictures:

Some might call all this work "nesting," but it was really more of a "panic mode" induced by the endgame and all the worries of being a new mom. After all, you can never truly be ready for something you've never done before that's so very important but also so unpredictable! I do feel a little better, however, now that we have some furniture ready to go for when Baby comes home. And I know even just opening all those baby toy packages and finishing up the pre-baby laundry will make life a lot easier in the first few weeks of sleep-deprived stupor. Now it's really just a matter of getting as much cleaning done as we can, and waiting for the big day.