40 weeks: I'm READY!

Lydia's Pregnancy vs Baby #2's... (look how long my hair was?!)

Tomorrow..

Tomorrow I am 40 weeks.

It is becoming the joke around here for me to labor on Labor Day! It wasn't until recently that I realized that this baby's due date was the day before Labor Day this year! Baby #2's due date is also Grandma & Grandpa Kendell's 32 wedding anniversary! We sure are grateful that our family is forever!

It's fun to compare these pregnancies together. I became much larger way faster with baby #2 and then kind of stopped growing for a couple months. With baby #1 it was much more gradual, but I do feel like I had gained more in my face than with this one. Though- I practically weigh the same in each picture.

Baby #2 is definitely lower than Lydia was. Lydia liked to stick to my right side (I only ever had stretch marks on the right side of my belly button) and was always up in my ribs. This baby I rarely feel her in my ribs at all.. definitely more in my pelvis! And she moves all over the place.. left to right, right to left.. I've had an explosion of stretch marks on both sides of my belly button to prove it.

I am so SO excited for this baby to get here.. the anticipation is driving me crazy! The last 2 weeks of this pregnancy have seriously gone SO s.l.o.w... The whole summer flew by, especially with how busy I was on the house. And even though I am still keeping myself busy with building a pantry, and painting and cleaning.. it just isn't the same. 

The good thing about it going slow though is that I have been able to really enjoy time with Lydia before her "only child" label becomes "big sister!" 

A few days ago I took her swimming with a new friend in my ward to an indoor aquatic center. Lydia was in heaven! It was honestly the cutest thing I have seen in a long time. She was just like her dad and did NOT stop smiling. Even as she would slip in the water a few times and go under and I'd have to "help her" by getting her to stand up and trying to teach her to blow out through her nose and mouth.

The other people there started feeling bad for me--watching this huge pregnant lady chasing a near 2-year-old around.. I am sure I looked like quite the sight!

Anyway.. I had one of the scariest moments I have ever had with Lydia... As we were swimming, she ran away from me and jumped (without any hesitation at all) straight into the lazy river. I ran after her and watched as my baby was not only swept under the surface.. but was swept away down the river.

Without even thinking, I dove in after her and pulled my coughing and sputtering child up to the surface... and I just held her. My mind tried to grasp what had just happened and what could have happened. I just wanted to hold her forever... literally forever.

After only a few minutes of recovery-she was running back to the slides to play. But it has been such a wake up call to me on how precious life is and how I could have lost her right then and there. The days since then her sweet little lungs have still been recovering from taking in some water.. but I am so grateful that she is alive and well and that she was protected.

And since then, I have felt the pain and pressure from running after her and diving in. (I thought that night after swimming that I was going into labor even.. false alarm) Having two little girls is going to be challenging.. but exciting. I just pray that my Father in Heaven will keep some guardian angels with us as I do my best to parent and love these precious daughters. 

Pregnant days with Baby #2 are numbered.. Here are the [almost] final pregnancy journal pages. 

Alright baby... tomorrow! Come out and let me love on you!