due date | 40 weeks
And here we are. It’s June 10th, our due date and I can say that it goes by really, really fast. At least for me it did.
My entire pregnancy everyone has been hoping the baby wouldn't come early. Brides at weddings would make jokes about "I didn't think you'd make it!", then planners would confess how they had hour long meetings with couples about trusting I'd be there because the couple didn't know if they should keep me on, and I even set up an extra shooter for the 6 weeks leading up to my due date just in case anything happened (goodbye money!).
Anthony was a bundle of nerves leaving me for a month while being in Europe from week 31 until 36.
Side note: that was a hard month to be all on my own but finally was able to take up the whole bed and sleep at night! There is always a silver lining!
People online were constantly telling me how they had their baby early. Everytime I posted the week I was at, someone had to jump in with a “that’s when my baby came!”.
Past clients babies were being born super early and so many medical issues for these early babies were flooding my social media channels.
It was a lot.
But, now here I am. Past my due date and waiting patiently for the baby. Each day gives me more anxiety about how late it will be and the worries that come along with an overdue baby. When the due date hit, things got stressful which wasn't fun. It was also a tough day because we had a bit of a family drama situation right away in the morning, which flooded my mood with anxiety all day. And while Anthony was gone that day, I was home alone, thinking about when the baby was actually going to arrive, feeling insanely anxious and stressed about something I had no control over.
But, the day before our due date though, it was maybe one of my most favourite days.
We snuggled in bed in the morning and Anthony read one of my favourite books to the belly. We ate breakfast together, then headed out of the house. There were no real plans so we just aimlessly adventured. We never have days like this so it had this bittersweet feeling to it. It was a Saturday, too. And, those days are so rare for me to experience because that’s my main work day.
There was a street festival/market on Roncesvalles. Another thing I never get to experience. We parked and walked along the street that was only open for pedestrians. We stopped at a stage set up where kids from a school were performing covers of songs. We leaned into each other and listened to them sing a song I knew well. My heart soared watching all these families together. The music was really getting to me, too. But mostly I think it was the little kids playing music and singing so frigging well. I feel like our little one is definitely going to be musical, unless Anthony is gone way to much and I make the kid tone deaf before Anthony can save them. Music is such a big part of our world. Some of my favourite moments have music involved, like Anthony dancing in the kitchen while making me dinner way back in our old condo. I think I fell in love with him all over again just in that moment. That guy of mine can move!
But this day, just us, wondering aimlessly and taking in all the sweet things around us, gave me a little view into a future I hope we will have. These moments of enjoying something completely unplanned on a weekend are rare in my life, and it made me wonder how much things were about to change. Much of my life is documenting others, their milestones and their memories. But now, having a baby meant really steering that focus to us, and especially to the baby. And, while I’ll always continue my career of documenting others, I’m pretty excited that my own life is starting to really get some love and attention.
