Monday, July 25 2022...
37 weeks 2 days pregnant. I felt like a ticking time bomb. I was almost to the same point where I had my twin girls at 37 weeks 5 days. It was literally a big waiting game at this point which can be very mentally exhausting because you are just wondering and waiting for at any minute to go into labor.
I had a lot of laundry that needed cleaned, so I decided to head to the laundry mat that day. After breakfast and cleaning up the RV, Liam helped me load up the laundry and we headed out. I was incredibly exhausted those last few weeks of pregnancy. My stomach was so big and heavy, my swelling was so bad that my legs hurt terribly, I was tired, very dizzy, and so ready to not be pregnant any more.
We got to the laundry mat and got everything started and then waited outside on the outdoor seats they have while it finished washing and I read some of The Black Stallion to the kids. It takes about 30 minutes for everything to wash. Once it was washed, we switched it to the dryer. The kids like helping with this. The dryers are huge and they think it's just amazing how big they are and how much clothes can fit into them.
Once that was done, we headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. This ended up being our laundry mat routine for the past month we've been in the RV. It takes an hour for the clothes and towels to dry and CFA is just a few minutes down the road. It works out perfectly to just hang in the van or outside and read to the kids while it all washes and then head to lunch while it dries.
After we picked up the laundry I really felt like the kids needed some time to run around in a different place other than where our RV is parked.
It had been so hot and humid with temperatures sitting around 95-100 that I had not had a lot of energy to go many places. The heat made me feel like I would pass out and so our normal routine of being outdoors on adventures had been very difficult to keep up with. But that day was overcast and slightly breezy with the temp around 85-90 so I was feeling a little more up to an outdoor adventure.
One of our favorite parks is near the laundry mat we have been using but we hadn't been there in a long time. I surprised the kids and said "who wants to stop at such and such park and take a hike by the river!?"
Of course they all said yes and so off we went. After bathroom breaks for everyone (which consisted of walking up the huge hill the bathroom is on)...we were off on our hike/walk down the trail by the river.
I made a joke to the kids while we were walking where I said "Watch guys! Tomorrow I'll go into labor since we came on a hike today just like I did with the twin girls!"
The day before I went into labor with my twin girls, I took the kids to another one of our favorite parks with lots of trails by a pond. We spent hours there playing and walking and then the next morning I woke up to my water breaking and being in full on intense labor. You can read their birth story HERE.
We all laughed about what I said and they all agreed that yes, that would be funny because it would be basically the same thing that happened before.
The kids asked if we could go to the same spot we'd come to the last time we had come to this park about a year prior, where there is an easy access spot to the river. They wanted to get wet and since we had all our laundry and all our towels in the van from being at the laundry mat, I said it was fine for them to get in.
It's a good 10-15 minute walk probably to the spot we were heading to with little toddlers and a big pregnant woman :)
The bigger kids pointed out all kinds of bugs on the trails, different trees, and other neat things to the twin girls as we walked. It's so fun watching Milla and Mara get excited about all the new things they are seeing in nature and it's so fun to watch my bigger kids help them, guide them, and teach them all about the things we have learned about together on all our outdoor adventures. Of course, I am there doing these things with the twins too, but the bigger kids really really love the twin girls and sharing all they know with them. I think it is so good for kids to be able to help little children and so good for them to know they have knowledge to pass on to someone else.
We reached our spot and my bigger kids jumped right into the river. I just took off the twin girls diapers and dresses and let them swim in their little biker shorts.
They were so excited to get in. I sat on a fallen tree that was laying in the shallow water and the girls played right next to me. Jude can't swim yet. He's so close to getting it but isn't quite there yet. Liam and Alanna are good little swimmers. Jude spent most of the time finding clams and pretending he was collecting them for clam chowder. Alanna and Liam swam a lot and tried to help Jude learn how to swim. They found dragonfly larva, clams, and jumped off this huge tree that was leaning over top of the water.
The girls were so happy the whole time and it felt so good for me to rest my feet in the water and enjoy watching all my children having such a great time.
We stayed for about 1.5 hours and then headed back to the van.
Being in nature together is my absolute favorite and it's their favorite. Jude talked the whole way home how fun the river was. I have missed our weekly nature adventures so much the last few moths and am so happy I am already feeling so much more energetic and ready to start them back up every week again. We did get into nature together just not as much as normal since we were so busy moving and I was not feeling like myself energy wise those last few weeks of pregnancy.
We told Nathan all about our wonderful day when he got home from work and about our joke of how I'd probably go into labor the next day since we went on a hike that day.
To be continued....
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