Still Waiting

"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."

Another NST this morning. Baby was comfy, just relaxing. Little movement here and there. The nurse came in and put both her hands on my belly and really shook it. Ouch. Wow! Did that upset baby! The heart rate went from 130's to 160's and stayed over 150 for about 10 minutes while baby rolled and kicked. Doctor came in and was very pleased and took me off the machine. I thought we were going to talk about possibly inducing, but different doctor equals different opinion. My next appointment is Tuesday - 1 day after my due date.
Hopefully baby comes on his/her own this weekend. School starts next week. I would like to be home with baby so Tom can take our older children to their Open Houses and I'd like to be home to see everyone start their first day of school. Especially Leah. She'll be starting preschool and riding a bus to school for the first time. I did call her teacher this week and we did go in and meet her. Leah loved her classroom and is very excited to go back. I just have to believe that somehow everything will work out ok.
I will miss the slow mornings around here. Our oldest boys have learned that I'm much happier when I wake up to coffee, so they've been making me half a pot and bringing me a cup when I wake up. Tom has been making them do chores every morning too. Brandon and Ethan need to do 2 chores each before they can play video games or get on the computer. And these have to be "real" chores. Feeding the cat and dog is a necessity, not a chore. Cleaning their room is an expectation, not a chore. They have been very helpful with doing dishes, vacuuming, dusting, laundry, cleaning the bathrooms,...The younger ones even get into it now. They want to help. Leah likes to help empty the dishwasher. Noah and Rachel actually fight over who gets to clean the windows. This morning I was woken up by Rachel going into my bathroom to get the trash out. She had "baby" Sarah following her. It was cute. Rachel was sweetly saying "Come on Sarah." And they went around to all the rooms together. I'm going to miss my little helpers during the day - or as I like to jokingly call them - my little dwarfs :o) I do have 7. Guess that makes Tommy my Prince.
Our pets seem to know there is a new little one arriving soon. We have a 19 lb cat named Moose and a German Shepherd named Cody. Cody started protecting me more than usual when I first got pregnant. Now that baby is almost here, he doesn't leave my side. Sweet. Now Moose is curling up next to me more often too. They're both very good around our children. Moose lets children crawl all over him and he doesn't like to sleep alone. He cuddles up to one of us at night. I think Cody thinks we're all just part of his pack.
After pizza - movie night tonight I think Tom and I should go for a long walk. Tomorrow would be a good birthday for our child. August 15th is a special day in the Catholic church. It is the Assumption of Mary. One site that I looked at said that it is also known as Mary's Heavenly Birthday. Kind of a "full circle" since I found out I was pregnant on December 8th. That is the day the Catholic Church celebrates the Angel Gabriel telling Mary the news that she is pregnant with Jesus. Plus, Tom and I finally have a boy and a girl name picked out :o) Now we just wait...