Next you hear from me, I’ll officially be a mom. I can’t believe it’s finally happening! I am so excited. So, so, SO damn excited.

It’s been taking me a while to get back to sleep at night every time I wake up to pee. It’s not the physical discomfort that’s keeping me up as much as all that’s racing through my mind—all of the last minute things to do, and of course all of the unknowns around this birth. I hope it’s not a brutal process getting the baby out, and that the baby and I both make it through labor and delivery safely. I’m crossing my fingers that we both get the hang of breastfeeding without any boob infections or cracked, bleeding nipples (got nipple cream on the recommendation of a friend, for extra measure), that the baby doesn’t develop colic, and that Aaron and I can handle the sleep deprivation. That’s a lot, right? And the list, of course, goes on.

I want to turn the attention to all of you for a moment. I knew I’d enjoy blogging about this experience, but I had no idea what an amazing community I’d encounter along the way...

I’m down to the final week of my pregnancy! The all night pee-a-thons have picked up the pace, and sleeping on my sides continues to be anything but comfortable; I am, in general, quite tired and achy. But, after powering through the nine-month obstacle course that is regular life PLUS pregnancy, I’m finally getting down to business and doing things my way in this home stretch.

In an ideal world (or certain places in Europe), I’d have stopped working a month ago and spent the time doing prenatal yoga and getting pedicures… I’ve gotten a pedicure and I’ve done yoga throughout my pregnancy, but I’ve also continued working. I have friends who started their mat leave a week or two in advance of delivery, but I know how much that week or two will matter to me on the other side, with the kid, so I’ve resisted the urge to follow suit.

We’ve been all pumped up about starting our life as a family. After stopping the film, however, we couldn’t quite look each other straight in the eye. We laughed that we’re a far cry from Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson in Mommy and Daddy mode, but we both went to bed that night with a creeping question in our minds: Is this the end of ‘us’ as we know ourselves? Are we destined to lose our life passions in the midst of the diapers and drooling and domestic grind?

So I wanted to throw this to all of you: Given that babies, and kids, demand a huge amount of energy and time (and of course we love this about them), how do you make time for you? How do you make time for your relationship with your partner? What kinds of things, big or small, have you managed to work into your days to strike a good balance? Tips? Tricks? I’d love to hear about what you’re going through right now-- whatever phase you’re in-- and how you’re making it all work… for you.

I’ve begun the six week countdown to my due date, and the time is crawling, but in the company of the women at the shower, I got a taste of how special and fleeting the place I’m in now is— on the brink of becoming a mother—but also of how this connects me to women, and families, everywhere. It feels like such an intense, personal experience, and yet people everywhere have experienced this themselves, and always have.

In asking around for topic ideas and requests for this blog, I discovered that a lot of ladies think it would be fun to read the perspective of a father-to-be. So, I enlisted my husband Aaron to provide a little window into the world of the men in our lives, and to write a bit about what he's experiencing in the lead-up to becoming a dad.