Not Yet...

This has been the start phrase of all my phone calls to my Dad. He warned me whenever I call someone that they are going to think I'm in labor. He recommended that I start my phone calls with, "Not yet."

I actually have been saying that a lot lately. Everytime I get a phone call, I answer and of course their first question is, "Is the baby here?"

And I respond, "No, not yet."

I had a Doctor's appointment Monday and she separated my membranes hoping that would start me into labor "naturally". I'm not actually sure how natural that was but it did start contractions. After my appointment Scott took me shopping and then around 8 p.m. we decided to go to the hospital again since my contractions were steady. I arrived there and after about 3 hours of monitoring they told me I wasn't in labor yet and again they sent me home. I never blogged that I had false contractions last Friday as well.

My parents were sweet and came as soon as I called Friday with contractions. After it turned out to be a false alarm they offered to take the kids home with them, so that I wouldn't have to worry about who will watch them. So my other 4 children are at my parents along with their 4 cousins and my brother and sister-in-law. I know things have to be hectic around there. It's too quiet around here. But Scott has been off this week for Spring Break and so we've been trying to get as much done around the house as we can before the baby comes.

My Doctor told me that she does not want me to go beyond 41 weeks and so we've agreed to go in Friday morning to induce labor. I'm not very excited about being induced but I am glad to know that I'll definitely have the baby this week. Waiting can be so hard. I will probably be pretty nervous Thursday night in anticipation of Friday. But maybe my nervousness will bring labor on by itself and I won't have to be induced.

Pray for me and baby Elijah this week. I just want everything to go smoothly and to soon deliver a happy, healthy baby.

I know our other children are anxious to see him too. They will be coming to see us either Friday afternoon or Saturday. I have a 9 month picture of me but it's on my camera which is still in my bag in the car. I was not wanting to forget to bring it to the hospital. So I'll have to post that picture later.

In the mean time I'll do like my Dad and post a random picture. The above pictures are of Joshua and Jonathan wrestling. Jonathan loves to wrestle with his big brother. Joshua will be 12 in June and Jonathan turned 2 in November. It won't be long and Joshua will have a second little brother climbing all over him too.

I love to watch him wrestle with his two year old brother because he's so careful not to hurt him. They just have fun. I worry more about Jonathan hurting Joshua. Just because 2 year olds don't know how to be as careful. But Joshua is good and manages not to get hurt while keeping his brother from getting hurt as well. You know his two younger brothers are really going to look up to their BIG brother. He's a good big brother too.

I may not post again until the baby comes, but I will definitely post as soon as he does. And I'll post more pictures soon too.