36 weeks 5 days

Today marks the day in gestation that I had my sweet Moses. On November 27, 2006, while watching Heroes, I noticed that I was having painless contractions 3 minutes apart, lasting for at least a minute. I called Labor & Delivery and was advised to drink some water and lay down in case it was just false labor. Nope!--almost immediately after that call, my water broke and we knew it was really happening. Fourteen hours later, we had our little boy--our big little boy at 7 lb. 8 oz. and 20 inches despite being a little over 3 weeks early.

We were ill prepared for his early arrival because I planned to pack my hospital bag the day I hit the 37-week mark so my hastily-packed suitcase was a mishmash of Dave's clothes and summer sandals. Since I'd also expected to have a big, full-term baby, I'd only bought a "going home" outfit suitable for an 8-12 pound infant not the actual newborn size. Even though he seemed large weight-wise, he hadn't yet put fat on his long body and poor Moses was swallowed by everything we put on him. We left the hospital with him in the hospital-provided t-shirt and hat (and oodles of blankets since it had snowed the night before).

Since then, I've vowed to be as prepared as possible for our subsequent child(ren), and I've had my bag packed for weeks with clothing appropriate for both me and the baby. Now, it's just a waiting game, but I feel much better knowing that I'll have clothes that don't read "Hobbs Track" and our little boy will come home in something better than a white t-shirt.

-Lindsey