Candace Ott
We are a little over two weeks away from finally meeting our baby girl!  I can't believe how fast time flies, but let me tell you, I'm very ready to have my body back.  The last month of pregnancy has brought on swelling to my ankles and feet.  The added water retention has also caused me to have carpal tunnel syndrome (my fingers are numb as I write this).

God-willing, I'm hoping to have an all-natural birth with no pain-killers.  Learning about birth, I've realized that it's less scary and more beautiful than I originally thought.  Sure there's gonna be some gross parts, and the pain will be intense... but the outcome, challenge, and fact that my body's built to do it all seems like a right of passage.  Thank goodness for modern medicine in that should something be wrong, I can fully trust my Dr. to intervene.  I'm just praying they won't have to. :-)

On a different note, I have to confess how thankful I am for life.  Yesterday, my husband and I were getting ready to turn left onto the freeway on-ramp (might I add we had a green light), and this large black Dodge truck was barreling down the street towards us.  There was an instant where everything slowed down in my mind, and I knew if we kept moving forward, the truck would have hit full impact on my side.  I recall holding my belly, and thinking "No! They are going to hit me and my baby!".  I shouted out about the truck, my husband saw and hit the brakes, and the truck slid by, not even a foot away from us and not even stopping.

Looking at the back of the truck, I'll admit that I was angry they went by too fast for me to flip them off... but then again, road rage never helped anyone.  We got onto the freeway safely, where the shock melted away and I began to cry.  This was only the second time in my life that I had been scared to tears.  The thought of being injured, or possibly killed and losing our first baby was overwhelming.

I'm so thankful God watched out for us yesterday, and I pray for safer drivers... because there are too many people in a hurry, too many people drunk at the wheel, and not everyone escapes being a victim from a careless car wreck.