I still “enjoy” being pregnant. It is a blessed experience.

But I’m ready for this baby to be born.

I ache when I try to get up and I definitely waddle now. I have a headache by the evening. But that’s not really the reason I’m ready. It’s just time to meet this guy. The bags are packed. The room is ready. I am ready.

I am 39 weeks along sometime this week. I’m noticing that the countdown I have in the corner of the website is off by a day–I think it follows a different time zone, and I’m not sure how to bring it to Australia time. So I don’t like the fact that on my due date (4 October) it will tell me that there is still a day left. Oh well.

My coworkers at the volunteer centre have been taking “bets” on when my baby will come. They all think it will happen this week. They are hoping it starts when I’m volunteering tomorrow so they can be a part of the “exciting events.”

I hope it starts when I’m at home and my husband is too.

My husband hopes it starts after Friday because he’s planning on working from home all next week and it would be easy to turn that into time off. Apparently, this week is kind of busy.

I’ve discovered that there is the Australian Football League final match on Saturday in downtown Melbourne. There are rallys in downtown Melbourne all week, a parade down Swanston Street on Friday, and the event itself (100,000 expected to go it) on Saturday. I wouldn’t care about a sporting event, but my hospital is downtown, just off Swanston Street. I’m afraid my labor will begin just when traffic is at it’s worst this weekend.

I shouldn’t worry, I guess. Today’s midwife told me to expect to go at least a week overdue. It’s standard for first babies to be a week overdue. They won’t consider induction until at least 41 weeks unless something is wrong. She didn’t seem to want to encourage me in thinking that he’s coming anytime soon, although she conceded that he could come any day now. They did the CTG, AFI, and S/D ratio tests again today. All is still fine with the baby, so no worries.

The thought of another two or three weeks of this is very discouraging for some reason. But I really do like having the baby inside: I don’t have to worry about what goes in and out of him right now. What’s a little discomfort when I know he’s not born yet because he’s not ready to be born yet?

All the same, I’m ready.