Week 39...This is it!

Julia, it's week 39 and you're the size of a...well..it doesn't really matter what size fruit you are. You're the size of a human baby! 

(for the record: it's watermelon!)

You'll be here in 3 days! And we're all so excited to meet you!

Aidan can't wait to meet you (and kiss you) in person:

He also helped me pick out a gift for you this weekend. He was a bit impartial between the two choices that I had selected (He kept saying 'either'). But in the end, we got you the purple blanket with the owls on it. It's nice and soft and the same brand as Aidan's beloved 'blankies,' so it's brother-tested and brother -approved. But, then again, your brother has also been putting snails in his mouth lately, so I verified that the blanket is soft and warm. And very cute!

Your Mommy is eagerly awaiting your arrival, and crocheting all sorts of hats and headbands that will look super cute on your cute little head.

 Your Mommy is probably also relatively sick of me taking her photograph...but, what can you do? After all, how many times is a gal gonna be pregnant?

You're rocking and rolling, and clearly getting ready to make a big move:

Me? Well, I'm just hanging on for dear life, bracing for the impact of what is sure to be...AWESOME! I'm excited, honestly I am. I painted a wall last night. For no obvious reason. I meant to mow the lawn in anticipation of your arrival, but I honestly don't think you'll care if the grass is a little long when you arrive at home. I'm a lot less nervous than I was when we were anticipating Aidan; perhaps that's because I know what to expect. Or perhaps, and much more likely, because I've forgotten all the things that I should expect.

But, either way. We're ready: we're all SO ready to meet you, and hold you, and kiss you and hug you.

I'm excited to see you. What will you look like? Will you have dark hair? Or any hair at all?
Will your little fingers and toes be perfect or double perfect? Who will you look like- Mommy? Daddy? Aidan? What will you sound like and smell like (screaming and diapers aside)? What will I see when I look in your eyes?

In short, who will Julia Sekina be?

This family is ecstatic to find out...and after a marathon 39 weeks that took us from this...

...to this...

...the Weinstein Family is ready for one more! We're ready for you, Julia!

One question though, are you ready for us?

7,6,5,4,3,2,1 - Happy New Baby!

So, as it turns out, those Friday contractions were right on! I don't want to spoil this for you, but, you were born on February 27, 2010 at 5:51 pm in the evening! A full week ahead of your due date, but right on time-- because we just couldn't wait to meet you any longer.

It was a pretty interesting Friday evening and Saturday morning leading up to that big event though.

Your Mom and I were pretty convinced that the contractions would be slow and infrequent through the weekend, so we went ahead and had dinner and played games with your Godparents on Friday night.

All through dinner, your Mom had infrequent but pretty powerful contractions. But, when we asked her if we should go home, she said "No, they're not that bad." As it turns out, they WERE pretty serious, but your Mom really, really wanted to go to Pink Berry.

She enjoyed her fro-yo and then we retired back to Casa de Weinstein for some Boom Blox (that's a video game on this antique called a Nintendo Wii).

Around 9:00, your Mom decided that the contractions were getting close enough together to warrant doing some timing. At that point, I started a page in my journal keeping track of the contractions.

The rest of the evening and the next 20 hours or so went a bit like this:

Contractions at :

• 8:45
• 8:56
• 9:06
• 9:17
• 9:29
• 9:37
• 9:48
• 9:51
• 9:55
• 10:00
  

Etc, etc, etc...

As the contractions go closer and closer together, we started to realize that this was actually going to go down...and soon.

So your Mom managed her contractions while I became a whirling dervish and cleaned the kitchen, finished packing THE bag, getting pillows together and keeping a list of the contractions.

I also took the last known picture of your Mom pregnant with you in the wee hours of Saturday morning, making it officially the 39th week picture.


Not too shabby, considering that we started out like this, on week 8:

As February 26th turned into February 27, your Mom called the doctor to tell her what was happening. The doctor recommended that we stay at home as long as possible to be as comfortable as possible. We abided...and tried to hang on as long as possible.

So we tried to get some sleep. I blew up the air mattress and we turned out the lights. With each contraction, I'd turn on a flashlight, note the time and watch in awe as your Mom muscled through. This lasted for 2 contractions.

Then we decided to watch some TV, and coast through the contractions. This lasted for 2 contractions.

Concurrently, around midnight your Mom started rating the contractions with Tourrettes-like finesse :

12:33 was "BAD"
12:44 was "getting stronger"
12:59 was "Worse! JESUS!"
and 1:10 am was "Jimminy Christmas!"

At 1:24 am we left for the hospital. I hit every bump on the road accidentally. But, I drove safely and we got there safely, if not a little painfully.

At 2:18 am we were checked into triage unit and it was confirmed that she was dilated 3-4 centimeters.

I asked the nurse if we were admitted to the hospital. She said "Definitely."

So, off to Room 7 we went, where your Mom was hooked up to machinery and continued having stronger and stronger contractions, all without medicine, as per her wishes.

How does this story end? Well, we already know the beautiful end result.

But for the thrilling conclusion, you'll have to tune back in later.

To be continued...as we waited for you: