reality is setting in

tonight we attended the childbirth center open house at the hospital i'll be delivering at. it was awesome. a nurse ran the whole thing and told us a bunch of great information about labor, tips on what to bring to the hospital, delivery and the recovery process. tyler and i were there together, along with many other couples, listening intently to every word.

then it hit me.

the tears came to my eyes and the magnitude of what is coming very soon struck me so strongly.

she spoke about what happens after the baby is born. they place a blanket/towel on mommy's stomach and as soon as the baby comes out they lay him down and wipe him off. this helps to stimulate breathing. for the parents, it gives us time to count his fingers and toes and in my case, stare in complete amazement at this tiny human that our love has created. she then told us how they take the baby when the time comes for the placenta to come out. this way they can weigh and measure him and check all his vitals. after this, it is babymoon time. they lay the diapered baby on mommy's chest so to mimic being in the uterus. he can feel your warmth and hear your heart beating. he knows your smell. dad is there helping you hold onto the baby. she added that most times, when the dad starts to talk, the baby will turn to look for him. they look for him because they know his voice. he knows us.

i totally almost lost it. i teared up and smiled. when i looked over at tyler he was smiling ear to ear. it was such a sweet moment. as we both realized how amazing it will be to meet our son and that he will know us, just like we know him.

hearing her talk about labor, epidurals, the possibility of a c-section, etc. was of course a little scary, but hearing about the part when all that is over and we get to meet our baby boy, just makes all that other stuff seem a little less scary and totally worth it.

we had our 20 week ultrasound back on january 16th and little boy was stubborn, the only good picture we got was of his little man parts. we also got a call this week from the doctor letting me know the baby was measuring fine, but they saw a little bit of previa, meaning that my placenta is sitting on top of my cervix. they aren't too worried about it because often times as the baby grows, the placenta just moves out of the way, but they are going to do another ultrasound at my next appointment in a couple weeks. so hopefully we will get to see his cute little face a little better this time around and everything will be growing appropriately.

for now, i will stare at these photos of him at 16 weeks when we found out the gender and wait to feel him kicking around. he is so cute. i love him so much already. i am thrilled to meet him in just about 4 months. i feel like this is all going by so quickly.

son, we love you and are so happy you are coming to our family!

21 week bump