Almost Showtime!!

The last two days have been very mixed emotions, both exciting and nerve-wracking. For the most part of this pregnancy, I haven't really had much in the way of contractions. I had my first ones towards the middle of this trimester, and if I had any, it was one maybe once a week. That was it, very exciting, I know.
     Well, within this last week, things have begun to change. I have had contractions a few days this past week, Wednesday and Friday, and then Sunday got very exciting. I woke up with contractions Sunday night, had some Sunday morning, walking home from church triggered the most exciting set of contractions yet. I was having contractions almost all the way from the church door to our house, and they didn't stop until I sat down and rested for a bit, allowing my body to cool down too. Sunday night--perhaps triggered by laughter, I'm not sure--I had another series of contractions that required rest in order for my body to settle down. I woke up this morning with a few, and had an uncomfortable series of them mid-morning. My body has settled down now, but these contractions are definitely more and more frequent, and there are a lot more of them. According to one of my pregnancy books, this may be a sign of labor within the next week or so... although I have heard of false labor like this a few weeks before labor begins. (which my mother confirmed for me this morning) So the good news? We are getting close, very close. The bad news, no one knows how close. Hence the mixed emotions!
   This morning were the most regular ones I'd experienced, so there was a lot of anxiety in the house, wondering how close we truly were to welcoming Jace home. These contractions are making it all seem so real, so much closer to actually taking on the responsibility of being parents! Are we ready? Probably, but that doesn't mean we aren't feeling a little nervous!
   Other new developments include a lot of swelling. I knew my mother had a lot when she was pregnant, but I hadn't had any yet, so I thought I was going to be lucky. Due to either the heat, or how far along we are, my hands and feet have swollen like balloons in the past week! It took me a few days to manage to get the swelling to go down enough to get my wedding rings off my finger so they didn't get too stuck. Now I'm just wearing some fake rings that I had that were waaaay too big for me because I couldn't stand having a naked hand. Sometimes those fit me just right lately, my hands have swollen so much!
   We are so excited, we are getting close. Technically, we're at 38 weeks, so we have another two weeks before the due date, and a family history of late births, so it may be a while yet, but it looks like my body is definitely in the process of preparing for a birth. I just keep telling myself, Soon! So soon!