41 weeks and counting

Many thoughts have been running through my head in the last week.  I am 'overdue'.  Baby is still in my belly, 11 days after the due date has come and gone.  I knew it would likely be later due to when I tested and how things showed up on the test, but I was not expecting to still be pregnant so close to February. 


It isn't that I don't enjoy being pregnant.  This pregnancy has been fantastic!  I have been getting a little tired of all the questions if I'm walking enough, or taking the right things, or this and that.  As if I had control over any of it.  M comes home each day from school and says 'Awww, I thought you'd have the baby today'.  This morning she looked at me as I made breakfast and said 'you are still pregnant?', obviously repeating the phrase she has heard over and over.  My cousin, who was originally due the same day as me, was also pregnant still (as of yesterday... may have changed).  I have heard all manner of things.  Example is my mother in law.  In December she went on and on about how this could be a New Years baby (due date was Jan 16... so two weeks early).  Why?  Due to my size.  Now she is saying Valentine's baby.  Funny how she jumped 6.5 weeks like that.  I am not going 4 weeks over.  I know she says these things without thinking about them, but it can frustrate a girl... especially one who is trying to patiently wait on God's perfect timing in all this.


It is interesting, though, what He has been teaching me here.


I have been hearing stories, seeing the news, headlines, and so on about wars, rumors of wars, asteroids passing close by, things of that sort.  It reminds me of the things we are told will happen before the last days.  We can tell it is close, but we don't know when.  We cannot even guess!  It could be sooner than we think, or it could be a long time yet.  And we should all be like my daughter, thinking 'is it today?  It might be today!'.  Are we ready if it is?  The whole thing about the end days being like a woman in labor brings a whole new thought.  We know it is coming, but we don't know when.  We know it will not be comfortable but we don't know the level of discomfort, or how long exactly it will last for, or how it will build, or even if we will mentally be able to handle it (even though we were designed for it).  We DO know that God will be with us through it all.  We DO know that the end will be worth it all to the point of forgetting the pain we went through in order to behold that glorious coming.  And since having 3 babies and waiting not-so-patiently for our fourth, I see this so differently than I did before.  We wait, and we know it will be worth the wait.  We may even get excited about it in the beginning, knowing 'it's here', and able to work through the 'birth pains' as they start out, knowing that each one is bringing us closer and closer to that moment.


I think God really knew what He was talking about when he compared those days to labor.  I never understood before, and I think that I still wouldn't understand completely if it wasn't for his coaxing, but yes.  He knew.  He compared the two for a reason.  He gave us the signs.  He gave us the knowledge.  He also gave us the strength to be able to endure.


So, even though I'm 11 days over the 'due date', His timing is perfect.  This baby will come when it is time for them to come.  I am praying that I won't have to get induced (the increased risk of hemorrhage is frightening) and I'd much rather she come on her own.  I have no control.  Only God does.  And His timing is perfect.