It is still winter in Central Pennsylvania despite the fact that it becomes spring today.  Spring seems to be talking much too long to catch up with the calendar.  Breakthroughs in our business and personal lives seem to be taking much too long to break through.  This baby seems to be taking much too long to grow.  It is true that I am not even to my due date yet, being 35 weeks.  Yet my body keeps complaining that surely it must time, that it cannot continue under this heavy load any longer.

A week ago I started having signs of preterm labor.  This has never happened in any of my previous eight pregnancies.  It was weird and unexpected and unsettling.  I would have loved to give birth and be done with pregnancy.  I would have loved to hold my little girl in my arms!  Yet, it just wasn’t time yet.  She wasn’t ready yet, and who knows what problems could have popped up.  I would have to forfeit my cozy homebirth for a hospital birth where every little bit of the process is monitored.  My tired and sore body feels like it cannot go on…yet it can and it must.  Just a few more weeks!
Thankfully the contractions went away and peace has settled again.  What’s a few more weeks?  It is a privilege and an honor to provide a safe place for my baby to grow until the fullness of time.  I would continue past my due date if I had to (though I sincerely wish I do NOT have to!)

My daughter took some lovely pictures that caused me to take heart again and see the beauty of the here and now.

This brave little robin and these courageous young crocuses have lifted their heads despite the adversity to become harbingers of a new season.

They proclaim that nothing can hold back the sunshine and warmer temperatures!  No woman is pregnant forever!  Every promise has it’s time of fulfillment!  And it will be the perfect time and well worth the wait.