39 Weeks Down, 1 To Go.

My blog is called The McMurray Mama, but mostly I just write what's been on my mind and heart, and not necessarily about McMurray, mama things, or being a mother in McMurray.
Sitting at 39 weeks pregnant with Baby #3, I was thinking, maybe I should write more about being a mom and my journey into becoming a mom.
I must add that, although far from my family, I do enjoy being a mom in Ft.McMurray. It has its challenges, like being away from family and, being pregnant, the shortage of OBGYN's in town is definitely felt. But being in a town with a population around 100,000 with around 100 babies being born here every month, there is no shortage of things to do with your little one, or new moms to meet.

There is the support of  the local churches - the church I attend seems to have a wave of babies every year or so - as well as places like The Hub and so many resources I haven't yet needed or taken advantage of.
There are so many parks here, including water parks, as well as indoor  parks at the YMCA and Mac Island, as well as the library, which I love to go to with my kids. And although I am not a fan of wrestling young kids in huge crowds, there are tons of events happening all year around, which are great for families.

            My journey into motherhood started in Ft.McMurray when I was 23 years old and had been married for 11 months. We weren't yet trying to start a family, but I guess God decided the time was right, and one month before celebrating our one year anniversary, I got pregnant. Although, it wasn't until the month after that I confirmed the pregnancy and an ultrasound showed that I was 8 weeks pregnant.
Honestly, I was scared. I knew I wanted to have kids some day, but the idea of kids and the reality of kids, are two completely different things! My husband took the news better than I did, actually! I was excited but mostly scared and feeling unprepared. We were still living in my in-laws basement! Though we did move into our own place a month later.
I conceived in April 2011 so I suffered the worst of the morning sickness and ickiness of pregnancy during the summer and spent the larger months of pregnancy during the winter.
Since April of 2011, 52 months have passed. In those 52 months I have been a mom for 43 of those months and I have been pregnant a total of 27 of those months. It's crazy to think about how much can happen and change in 4 short years.
Though living in Ft.McMurray, we decided to have our first child in Edmonton. I was due in January of 2012, just a few weeks after Christmas. Since the roads are terrible during the winter and we'd already be down in Edmonton for Christmas anyway, we decided to just stay in Edmonton until after baby was born.
The last couple weeks of my pregnancy, I had an ultrasound every week because my OBGYN was nervous that I was measuring small. 2 days before my due date, I had no signs of labour - only the fact that I was 2cm dilated a week before my due date, which, let's be honest, doesn't mean anything - and I went in for yet another ultrasound. There they discovered that I had low fluids and sent me over to the hospital for induction. I woke up that morning to a phone call to come in for an ultrasound, with no thoughts of actually having a baby yet. I was still 2 days away from my due date, and most first time moms go past their due dates - and I told my OBGYN that I did not want to be induced unless medically necessary. Now here I was heading over to be induced. I was so not ready for this. My husband was an amazing support to me the entire time.
Labour and delivery went smoothly. I was induced around 10 or 11 that morning, January 10th, and was told I'd be having the baby that day or during the night.
Contractions hit hard around 7pm and I got an epidural. By 9:15pm, our first baby, a little girl, entered this world, making me a mom! I was still in shock. I couldn't believe it!! I was now responsible for this tiny little person. What in the world was I going to do?
The next day, as we got ready to leave the hospital, I held up our little girl and asked my husband to take a photo and I said "like mother, like daughter" and promptly burst into tears. They warn you about this - the crazy post pregnancy emotions - and it was then that it really hit me, I am a mom, I have a daughter. She is going to look up to me for everything!!! Such a powerful and very scary moment. And in the 3.5 years since then, it's been a crazy, emotional, fun, stressful and eye opening time. Being a mom stretches you and tests you in ways you could never imagine.. and it's only been 3.5 years! There's many more years of stretching, testing, and maturing to come.
            After our first turned a year old, I felt ready to try for another and when our daughter was 13 months old I got pregnant with our second. It was February, so again, we were expecting another winter baby, this time in November, just 3 weeks before my birthday. This time labour started on it's own and our second daughter was born 3 days early. The labour seemed much longer and a lot more painful than the first time around, which surprised me. I dilated to 9.5cm and stayed there for about an hour and a half before finally reaching 10cm. She came out "sunny side up" - ahhh, that explained everything!
When our second daughter was 9 months old, I decided I want to try for Baby #3. I didn't get pregnant as quickly as I had the first 2 times, and ended up getting pregnant after our daughter turned a year old.
I must say I am thankful for God's timing over my own, because our second daughter has been more of a handful than I was expecting. Not to say she is extremely difficult, just more than I was prepared for, with temper tantrums that include smacking her head, hard, against the floor, wall, whatever she can!!
Now I am 39 weeks, 2 days pregnant with Baby #3 and I have a doctors appointment in an hour, where they will do a membrane sweep. I am expecting that I will go into labour by the weekend. I am so excited, and ready to hold this baby, and at the same time, I am nervous and scared and in some ways will miss being pregnant.

My journey into motherhood was unexpected, but again I am thankful for God's timing over my own. Of course I love each of my children, and I am thankful that I have been able to have 3 kids before turning 30 - I figured if we do end up having a large family (4 or more), starting before 30 was in our best interest.
Being a mom has been rewarding and challenging - scary and exciting. I am looking forward to this next step in the journey of motherhood with Baby #3 expected at any moment!!!