Longest pregnancy ever!!!

 

Only ten days to go... until the due date... then I have the potential to go 10 more days overdue.

 

Either way, in less than 3 weeks I'll be a mom.

 

I think pregnancy has to feel like it drags on far too long and that it has to put you well past the point of discomfort so that you actually look forward to labour and delivery.

 

I'm a weird combination of anxious and excited... yes excited, for the labour and delivery part. I've always been more interested in experiences from a 'physical' perspective. Physical stress and physical challenges intrigue me. I am fascinated by what the body can do, and I deal with physical stress far better than I deal with 'mental' stress.

 

The majority of 'pregnancy' is mental stress in my mind. What's going on is physically connected to you, but you can't see what's going on or know exactly what is happening inside of you. I don't consider myself pessimisstic, but I certainly entertain thoughts that are not positive, if they are in fact realistic. I like to empower myself with information and classes, sometimes to excess - I have constant nightmares and scare myself with thoughts of umbillical cord incidents and other rare occurences that are unfortunate but possible. That's the way I think - I don't expect the worst, but I feel I have to be prepared for it.

 

Our last baby class and hospital orientation was tonight, so now my husband can also breathe easier as we have prepared as much as we could have. I expect you are never REALLY prepared, but I am ready to deal with whatever comes my way at this point.

I am inspired by amazing athletes. In any sport. I might not watch basketball or football on TV, but I know that exceptional athletes have incredible characters and I love hearing their thoughts and philosophies within their game and within life. I think sport is so important for developing character. In gymnastics, we have young girls who have to become very committed to the sport at a young age if they want to even be in the realm of competitive gymnastics.

 

I have always felt that gymnastics is the hardest sport in the world. Of course - I am biased.

 

I have been coaching for 13 years now, I have coached National level athletes, I have stepped away from the sport and returned to a young and developmental group in hopes of achieving a higher standard every year as a group. It is amazing what this process can do for someone's character. And it is truly a process. Gymnastics is full of failure and miscalculations - making mistakes over and over - learning coping skills and dealing with frustration. These girls fight with themselves in the midst of their coaches correcting, yelling, and pushing. It's very intense. I'm sure at least half of them 'hate' me at the end of the day. The other half love me because eventually when you don't give up on something - it clicks. There is no better feeling than struggling with something for so long and then having an 'aha' moment where it comes together. Of course there will always be a new obstacle to overcome and the kids that love me today won't love me next week. It's ongoing. It's a process. And I don't coach to make friends.

 

Practice is so essential because it is your preparation for competition. What you do in competition shouldn't be hard work. You can't go back and change your preparation when you are on the competitive floor. In Michael Jordan's book 'Driven from Within' he talks about preparation and fear. I have read this book cover to cover and re-read parts again every day. He has amazing perspectives on sport, life, and business. Here is a quote from his book:

 

There was never any fear for me, no fear of failure. If I miss a shot, so what?

 

Maybe even a shot that could have won a game. I can deal with that. If I don’t miss the shot, then I don’t miss it – we win. I can rationalize that there are only two outcomes: You either make it, or you miss it. I could think that way because I had earned the opportunity to take that shot.

 

I had put in all the work, not only in that particular game, but in practice every day. If I missed, then it wasn’t meant to be. That simple. It wasn’t because the effort wasn’t there. It wasn’t because I couldn’t make the shot, because I had taken the same shot many times in every situation. As soon as that ball went up, there weren’t any nerves because I had trained myself for that situation.

 

I was as prepared as I could possibly have been for that moment. I couldn’t go back and practice a little harder. I knew I had done the right things to prepare myself for that situation. One way or another, I knew I was prepared to be successful.

 

Now, if you know you haven’t prepared correctly, or you know you haven’t worked hard enough, that’s when other thoughts and emotions creep into your mind.

 

That’s stress. That’s fear.

 

It’s the same process for doing anything, anywhere in life no matter how big or small the stage. Whether it’s running a corporation, taking a test in second grade or taking a shot to win a game; at that moment, you are the sum total of  all the work you have put in, nothing more and nothing less. If you are confident you have done everything possible to prepare yourself, then there is nothing to fear.

 

There’s no stress in losing under those circumstances.

It just wasn’t meant to be.

 

- Michael Jordan ‘Driven From Within’ 

Baby number two has arrived - Christina Aquilera's.

 

Despite rumours of her giving birth on Friday, she gave birth to a 6 lb 2 oz baby boy last night around 10pm. His name is Max Liron.

 

 

I'm still pregnant. Just in case you were wondering.

Yes I am still pregnant.

 

Full-term now, so any time would be nice.

 

As I mentioned before - the two celebrities due around the same time as me are Nicole Richie and Christina Aguilera. Nicole Richie had her baby this morning - a girl weighing 6 lbs, 7oz named Harlow Winter Kate. Christina was rumored to be scheduled for a c-section today but her rep said that she is still pregnant and not in labour.

 

I feel like I am reporting for TMZ, but I have no life, so this is interesting to me!

 

I'm not a patient pregnant person... I know the time will pass and I will have this baby before I know it, but these last days seem to be going by slower than any other days of my life.

 

I have about two things that fit me and they're getting snug. My garment of choice is this plus-size 3X Miu-Miu type nightgown. It's super hot. If you watch any documentaries about women who get so overweight they can no longer get out of bed... they are usually wearing this very same outfit.

 

I have a closet full of fantastic clothes that I long to wear again...

 

I have not been able to fall asleep before 6am. I can't breathe deep enough to relax myself, and getting comfortable is impossible. My strategy for the last 3 days has been to wake up before 9 and stay up all day in order to be tired enough to fall asleep the next night. This has not been working. It's only added to the sleep deprivation.

 

And I feel like this baby is huge. I can feel the shape of his body, and I really think he is not very little! I have a long torso, and I feel like he has had a lot of room to grow - and he's taking up all the space! We won't know until he's here, but I am betting he will be larger than average! My bladder is currently being used as a punching bag... that's fun. All adding to the waiting game!!

 

Soon. Soon.

 

PS - If I go overdue... watch out.