38 weeks

Feeling large and in charge! Actually I feel like baby is in charge, but otherwise that statement is accurate. :)

Baby

38 weeks!

As mentioned last week, baby is just hanging out gaining weight at this point. Babycenter.com tells me that he or she is practicing opening and closing their fists and breathing. The fruit of the week (which Mom informed me I neglected last week) is 5 pears. Baby is getting somewhat less subtle with his or her movements. Some are a tad painful now.

Me
Oh boy, where to begin. Late pregnancy is a bit of a treat, symptom-wise, and I believe I've had a fairly easy time so far from some stories my friends have told me. First, the Sacroiliac (SI) joint pain aka "butt cramps" has gotten worse this last week. It's like my tush gets mad by the end of the day and wants to make me pay for all the basic functions I performed earlier that day. Like walking. Or standing to make dinner. Guilty. There is basically not much that seems to help, except sitting down. This week I went swimming and to prenatal yoga, both of which were nice but neither helped with the butt cramps. So I guess this is my lot until baby comes out.

Speaking of prenatal yoga, this week was probably my last week (unless I go on my due date- a thursday!). Mostly because next Thursday Charlie and I have a date planned but also because many of the postures were just no longer comfortable. My belly is so in the way and when I have to bend, I feel like I'm squishing the baby and my lungs. Plus, at the end of class (during the relaxation time where you just lay there and "meditate" for 5-10 minutes. And by meditate, I mean let me mind wander...I'm a horrible yogi) the baby felt like he or she was trying to bust outta there somehow. I actually started to wonder if I was having contractions but they didn't feel anything like they've been described to me and it was pretty clear it was baby just wailing away on my cervix. (sorry if the word cervix offends you. this blog is mostly about my pregnancy now and I no longer have a filter). My best guess is that he or she was shaking his or her head back and forth violently. This stopped once I got up and I am not in labor (it's Friday as I write this) so it was obviously not contractions.

37 weeks and 2 days at Tina's wedding

Last weekend I was in my close friend, Tina's wedding. The wedding was beautiful as was Tina. It was also a bit of a long day and when we got to the reception, I put my feet up on a chair and pulled my dress up a bit and HOLY SWELLING. My feet and ankles were like sausages. They stayed this way until Monday when the swelling went down and now they look pretty normal again. However, I think having fat little feet bothered me more than almost anything else during this pregnancy. I know it often can't be avoided and is considered a normal part of many pregnancies but I'm glad they're back to normal.

Otherwise, I feel pretty good. I'm have more moments where I just feel large but I'm still not ready to have this baby yet. This weekend includes plans for major cleaning, organizing and finishing touches on the nursery. I had my weekly appointment on Tuesday and saw Paula. She remarked that the baby seems to have read the book on pregnancy because everything is pretty textbook. As in, not much to report. I'm measuring right on time at 38 weeks, my weight stayed the same from the week before (31 pounds gained total) and the heartbeat was 151 bpm (I think). I remarked that I hope the baby has read the books about what happens AFTER he or she is born. They asked if I wanted to be checked (for dilation). As much as I'm curious, I declined because neither answer (some progress, no progress) would really satisfy me and dilation is not an indicator for labor now. If they had told me I was two cm at my appointment it would have freaked me out (see: not ready yet) even though it's quite possible to stay at 2 cm for weeks. Then I would have worried all week. So I declined. I might accept next week but we'll see. As I said it doesn't really tell you much about when you're going to go into labor.

Me and the bride!

Preparing for Baby
We got a call this week that our glider is in (yeah!) so we're picking it up this weekend. This is the last piece of furniture for the nursery and hopefully after this weekend, I can give a little photo tour. I realized that the baby will not even sleep in the nursery for a while but I'm awake and still have some creative juices flowing now (as opposed to when baby is here) so I'd rather just get it done. Plus it will have me feel settled and it's nice to have a (relatively) organized space to but most all baby stuff now.

We are also heading to Ikea this weekend to make a few returns and hopefully get a desk for the basement. I'm not picky at the moment, I just want the computer out of the living room. Well I'm picky in that the desk needs to be cheap and it would nice if it didn't totally clash with everything downstairs. Also on the agenda is picking out two "going home" outfits- one boy and one girl. Nothing fancy but since we have no real gender appropriate clothes at the moment (especially for a girl) it will be nice to have one specific outfit he or she will wear home from the hospital (and then promptly spit up on I'm sure)

The cake topper made a great photo prop

I gave my parents and sister directions to the hospital and have had extra keys to our house made for them so that when they come out/down they can come and go to our house as they please while we're at the hospital. Just no wild parties Mom and Dad! :)

Proud Dad to be displaying his
diaper bag

This week we also received our Amazon order which was our "clean up" registry order of all the things we still needed/wanted to have before the baby arrives. They offer a 10% discount you can use once within 1 month of your due date so we wanted to take advantage. In the order, we each had a diaper bag, which probably the most exciting items (wow. I'm such an adult). We're an equal opportunity diaper changing family here. I think Charlie looks so cute carrying his diaper bag (it's very manly- basically an orange messenger bag with a hidden changing pad and wipes case).

Week 38
Weight: Same- up 31 lbs.
Days left of work: 5! or less- my supervisor is awesome and encouraged me to "kick it on home by getting my hours in early in the week and then just randomly checking my email on Thursday and Friday". She really is the best supervisor ever and one of the main reasons I'm still at my job.
Readiness for Baby's Arrival: On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being I wish I delivered yesterday) I'd say I'm a 3. As in not ready but if he or she comes now there isn't much I can do about it and anything that isn't done will stay that way or get done later. I'm also really hoping to get at least of couple of days of relaxation in once my maternity leave starts on Friday.
Deal of the week: More diapers! I need to stop buying them but this deal was too good to pass up. 9 pocket diapers (plus a wet bag and liners) for $50. I don't think I have an overabundance plus I could easily sell these for more than I paid for them. (Hmm...do I sound like a diaper hustler?).