My Encouraging Weekend

Among other things, my good friend, Mindi, and her husband, Jonathan, had their first child this morning! She did so good and motherhood certainly suits her. Their daughter, Emma Grace, is healthy and cute as can be. Here's a picture of her I took with my phone:


Isn't she just precious?! Her parents are so in love and I don't blame them.

In the past several weeks, I'd been calling and checking in on Mindi almost every day to see how she was feeling. So when she called me last night to say they were in labor and heading to the hospital, I was so excited! In fact, probably too excited. Dustin had to calm me down a little bit. What can I say? My friend, whose due date is only a couple of months ahead of mine, is having her baby!

Not only am I super excited for them, but it also makes my situation that much more real for me... and me that much more ready for him to come. Like I said, Dustin did have to remind me that we do have a little while until Graham makes his arrival. And it's a good thing we do, I suppose, because we are not at all prepared for him to be here in terms of his nursery, having necessities, etc. Not to mention, I have wonderful people throwing me two baby showers and taking my maternity photos in the coming weeks. That being said, I'm trying to enjoy each day on its own and enjoy the time that Dustin, Sam and I have together before we add another to our household. This is an easier task some days than others.

One more positive I'd like to point out from this past week. After researching the topic and taking child birth classes, I've decided that I want to have a natural (unmedicated) child birth if the medicine/a c-section is not medically necessary for my health or Graham's. As those of you who've been pregnant before probably know, you come across a lot more negative feedback in regards to natural childbirth than you do positive (even down to hearing negative birth experiences/after-effects). In the past week, however, three people have spoken to me who have either done it themselves or their wives have done it. They were all encouraging, telling me that I could do it! How heavenly it has been to hear that; and for the most part they came to me and told me that. I didn't even have to seek it out. I only hope that I can be that encouragement to another pregnant woman someday.

I want to make a point, or goal, this week to be encouraging in general to people without them having to seek it out. I think we all need that encouragement sometimes!