I wrote this post about two weeks before Ezra’s due date and planned to post it on the 16th. But he came before that. 🙂

I haven’t posted many pictures of my baby belly. That’s mostly because I’ve been too busy to even take many pictures of this one. It’s been an interesting pregnancy, starting with the car accident and concussion recovery, which made 1st trimester much harder than normal. (These pictures were taken at 38 weeks.)

This pregnancy has seemed longer than the others. Maybe that’s because I’m past the “35” mark (I think that makes me an old pregnant lady). Maybe it’s because the concussion. Maybe it’s because the Braxton Hicks started way early (somewhere in the 20 week range). Maybe it’s because these last several weeks I’ve had lots of nerve related pain. All that to say – I’m ready for this little one to come on out!

I’ve had several people tell me that they are praying that I make it to the hospital this time. I’m not. I’m praying for a intervention, surgery-free birth. I’d be very happy to have a safe, home-birth like last time. It’s quite thrilling. I really don’t like hospitals and if I could have a bathroom baby again, I’d be thrilled. Actually, I don’t even feel like I know how to have a baby in the hospital, since none of our births have been normal.

So now we wait. We arrived in Thailand about three weeks ago, leaving several days earlier than planned due to the Cambodian election. It seems like the weeks leading up to our departure were over full, including a trip to Phnom Penh to take the 10-year driver’s license test. Then I spent hours preparing our house for our absence (putting away things to prevent mold and rat damage). When we finally arrived in Thailand, I felt like I’d done everything except prepared to have a baby. It actually felt like I’d left all that stuff at home! (Note – though I enjoy the break of coming to Thailand, I’ve struggled with not being grumpy about having to leave the country to have a baby – it’s a lot of work!). Lord-willing our little one will be born without complication and by then I’ll be ready. (Picture on the right is from May 27, 2018.)

Adding another child into the family is always an adjustment. I love children, but every time we do it I think, “what in the world was I thinking?!?” It’s not so much additional human being to take care of…it’s the responsibility of caring for another soul from birth. It’s the gift of training a child in the way he should go. Not an easy task. Thankful God does not leave us alone to do His work.

We recently went to IKEA in Bangkok. Bangkok is not known for families with multiple children, so we were quite a sight. People often stop and count our children and say “WOW!” And we’re thinking, this is normal, right? Guess Bangkok isn’t know who families with multiple (3+0 children)!