Callie is Coming Soon!

It's weird to think that this is the last Callie update from inside my womb...

These pictures tell the best "story" of how I'm carrying Callie these days. 

Me and my friend, Mindy--due 1 week after me (photo taken March 12th):

Me and my friend, Amy--due 1 week before me (photo taken April 7th):

It's ok, you can say it..."Holy moley, Lauren!  Your belly is freakishly huge!  Are you sure it's not twins?!" (I get that a lot these days...)

We have a date!
As of today, Callie Jeanne is still breech, so my doctor has scheduled a c-section delivery on Monday, April 16th!  She will check me again this Thursday to see if she's flipped, but I'm pretty sure that I'll know it without a doctor confirming it.  I can feel (and see) baby girl's head on my upper right side and her feet on my lower left side very clearly!

The "dreaded" c-section
Obviously a c-section delivery is something that is only done when medically necessary, but it seems that there are a lot of them these days.  I'm happy to have so many girlfriends who have "been there, done that" so they can tell me what to expect!  I really had only thought about a vaginal delivery up until my doctor told me last week that the chances of her flipping at this late in the pregnancy are very slim. 

And now I'm realizing that it's kind of nice to know the actual date and time of my delivery (unless, of course, I go into labor before then...but let's not wish that upon me, ok?).  It helps to line up our childcare plan for Eden and dogsitting plan for Layla and Heidi.  It helps for Ben to know when he will need to be home.  It helps for my mom to know when she will be traveling back over to Houston.  It helps for my in-law's to know when to take off of work.  And I'm not going to lie--it helps to think that I might not ever know what it's like to have a contraction! 

I realize that the recovery is much different with a c-section (as one friend put it, it's the only major surgery that you don't actually get to recover from; instead of people taking care of you, you are taking care of someone else around the clock), but I also know that both types of deliveries are natural, and that all that matters in the end is a healthy baby and healthy mommy.

She caught up!
Callie had been measuring on the petite side, but now she's on point for an average sized baby at delivery (average for my frame, I'm told)--7.5 to 8 lbs.  She's still a very active baby, which I consider a blessing because I know she's healthy!

Can my belly get any bigger??
I'm not gonna lie--these last few weeks of pregnancy have definitely been uncomfortable.  I'm much less mobile, much more puffy, and very achy and itchy.  But I am blessed with family and friends who have seriously helped out in more ways that I could have ever imagined (so much so that it deserves it's own blog post that I'll do tomorrow)!  And I know it will all be worth it in the end!