with just one month left! (also, here's how to spell and say my baby's name correctly...)

We have made it to the beginning of the ninth month! I can't believe that we have reached 36 weeks. Just 4 left until our due date. That's only 28 days! I thank God every day for this baby boy and bringing us to this point. I trust His timing and even though it's getting hard to be patient now, I know Graeme will make his appearance at just the right time.

Sometimes, this pregnancy feels like it has been looong. Not because I'm miserable or anything. Just because we are SO. EXCITED. It's kind of like how it was waiting for our wedding. We had a ten month engagement. By the end, we were extremely ready to just be married. Now, at the end of this pregnancy, we are extremely ready to meet Graeme.

Speaking of Graeme, I just have to do this one more time. Actually, I know I'll have to do this many times in his life. We join the other parents who give their children "unusual" names that people have trouble saying and spelling. It's not the people's fault. They try their best. We chose the name. We knew it was different. It's our own fault. So Aaron reminds me to be gracious. But, again, if you're reading this, please take note:

His name, which is a form of the name "Graham," is a spelling that we thought more people would have seen or heard. We didn't make it up. It is a more popular spelling in Europe I believe. We saw it spelled that way because Aaron owns several children's books by the author Graeme Base. His website is here. There are other Graemes in the world too, according to Google. At least when our Graeme complains about how no one spells his name right one day we can show him that he's not alone. We just really liked that spelling.

Now, his name is NOT pronounced "Gray-mee."  

It IS pronounced "Gray-em." (Silent "e" at the end). It's kind of like how "Graham" is pronounced. We didn't want that spelling for his name though, and we also wanted it to lean towards a two-syllable pronunciation instead of saying it like you would say "This weighs one 'gram.'"

So, I hope that helps anyone that was or is confused. We have other friends who just posted a video of how to pronounce their baby's name, so we might follow suit and do that as well. Here, however is this helpful little YouTube video that I found for now:

Here's the link if your phone or tablet wouldn't play it:  http://youtu.be/FzprmTs6d1Y

Ok, my rant is over. We love the name of our little Graeme Grayson Bauer.

Back to the weekly update.

With just one month left, I have little to complain about still. I feel very blessed to have had such an easy pregnancy. I barely remember my "sick days," even though back then I know they felt long and awful. I know every pregnancy is different, and I will remember this one with fondness should I not be so lucky the next time!

It is getting a tad tricky to maneuver these days. I feel like I drop things all the time now that it's such a pain to bend over. I am sleeping pretty well at night, but if I stay in one position too long, I wake up quite uncomfortable.

I've also been experiencing some contractions. The first night I really noticed them, I wasn't sure if that's what they were. I went to the most reliable source we have these days:  the internet. (Yeah right!) It was basically useless because apparently everyone has a different opinion of how a contraction feels. But, I did deduce that I was having them. They were still pretty inconsistent, so no worries yet.

Now that we are in "the zone" where he could come anytime soon, I am a little more on edge about symptoms again. Like in my first trimester when every little pain or ache totally freaked me out, now at the end of the third trimester I'm all like "What if my water broke in the shower?! How would I know?!" and "Are these contractions the real thing or was it just because I cleaned the entire house and then gave the dog a bath and now I'm paying for it?" (it was the latter of course)

We had an appointment yesterday morning. Since we were one day off of 36 weeks, they actually didn't measure or do any checking of things besides the normal. Go figure. On the bright side, the doctor said Graeme had turned around and is in the head down position, so that was an answer to prayer! His heartbeat was miraculous and amazing as always. And we go back in just one week. We'll go every week from here on out.

Sorry for the long blog post. Who knows how many more of these I'll have to do...one week soon the update will be that he's finally here!