36 weeks

Ok, the weeks are flying by!

Baby
At this time, an average baby is about 6 pounds and 18.5 inches long. The fruit of the week is a crenshaw melon (I don't know either).We had a midwife appointment today and baby is comfortably head down, in a good position. The head is down, and his or her back is along my left side, with the little butt up near my ribs and then the legs over on my right side. I'm so fascinated that the midwives can just feel all this. I poke around and am all "there's a hard body part...I think that's the butt. No, wait, maybe this is the butt over here."

Me
I'm feeling kinda large, which I suppose is to be expected. Bending over without squatting is kind of out of the question these days. This makes putting my sneakers on difficult. Luckily, it's summer and I can wear flip flops all the time! Other than the largeness I'm still feeling pretty good. I have my moments, generally when I can feel tons of pressure and movement on my bladder and other lower organs but in general I feel pretty good. The baby's movements are definitely more "wave like" than kicks now. This is both really cool to feel and can also become somewhat intense if baby really wants a good stretch.

Exercise has slowed way down the last two weeks. It has basically consisted of walking and prenatal yoga. I'm still up for the pool but I find it annoying to drive to the gym, deal with a wet bathing suit, etc. I'd rather swim outside but our neighborhood pool is still a bit chilly and doesn't always have the lap lane up. Excuses, excuses!

I'm still having the "butt cramps" and they seem to be getting more intense. Charlie suggested I was having contractions in my butt cheek. I disagreed. But those suckers are not pleasant!

Preparing for Baby
I know the baby will have no clue if the house is clean or the nursery's done or the junk is sorted but I will. I feel like there is so much I want to have completed before he or she makes their arrival and just not much time to do it in. I ordered some fabric and plan to make some "no-sew" curtains this weekend to cover the closet in the nursery (we took off the doors) and the bedding I ordered should be shipping as we speak. The nursery is coming together well, I think.

Also on the plus side, I think I basically have our newborn "stash" of cloth diapers, along with a decent dent in one-size and sized diapers for the baby as he or she grows. I'm not planning on getting everything we need right now because you never know what will work for your child or what your preferences will be once you actually start diapering, so the plan is to use the variety of types of newborn diapers we have and see what we like best. I did get a couple of really good diaper deals this week- the best one being $15 for 22 prefolds off of craigslist. These particular prefolds are the "top of the line" and I'm pretty sure I can resell them for at least 3x what I paid for them. I did buy a dozen newborn prefolds new, so I've been prepping those this week (this requires washing them on hot repeatedly to strip the natural cotton oils and to make them absorbent).

I've also been washing baby clothes and trying to figure out what we still need to buy before Baby makes his or her appearance. Luckily, I don't think there is too much to buy and much of what we do need to buy is really more of a "want" than a "need".

Our awesome small group got together and gave us a couple gifts on Tuesday night and prayed for us and Baby C. The gift they got us is the bouncy seat we had registered for. I've read great reviews about it, plus it is neutral colored (I'm REALLY not into pastels and other "baby" colors) and (the best part!) it folds flat and can be put away easily. Paisley was particularly interested in this gift and wanted to help open it once we got home (she's been really into chewing the sides of cardboard boxes lately. Sorta odd).

Week 36
To do list: feels endless
Highlight of the week: Our babymoon!
Days until my due date: 28.
Things I can't wrap my head around: Baby could come early...as in the next couple weeks. I have roughly 5-6 pounds of human rolling around inside me. The way the baby must emerge. (that is all I will say on this topic at the moment. This is a family blog).
Days left of work until maternity leave: 15. Yippee!!!