How Far Along: 36 Weeks*
Size of Baby: Swiss Chard
Weight Gain: 27 pounds

Movement: till loads of hiccups–she is actually hiccuping away as I type right now and this is her third round today. She is still very active, though she is still definitely most active in the mornings and evenings; she seems to sense when I’m at work and tries not to interrupt. :)

Cravings: Brownies. And cupcakes.

Food Aversions: Same as last week–basically anything I prepare myself is less than appetizing.

Symptoms: My feet are not just swollen, they are huge. Well, today at least. For a few days this week they went back down to almost their normal size, then yesterday they ballooned back out again. This morning I went to slip on those boots that I’m wearing in the picture up there, and I couldn’t even get them on my feet! It’s a sad, sad day.

I definitely started feeling some pre-labor symptoms this week. On Thursday my legs were aching from the moment I woke up and I wrestled with cramps (like menstrual cramps) all day long. I ended up taking a half day off work and came home and slept which really helped, and I haven’t felt anything like it since.

Belly Button Watch: Still an inny. :)

Baby Prep: We’re still playing and cleaning in the office / nursery, but all the essentials are now set up. We have been trying to go out each Saturday to pick a few things on our “still-need” list, though the baby showers our family and friends have thrown for us have gone a long way to help us out in that department. We have been extremely blessed to have received so much from everyone around us, and words cannot express how grateful we are. It’s been incredibly stressful trying to balance full-time work and preparing for the wee-bean, but everyone we know has gone the extra mile to help us out. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The car seat is prepped and now just needs to go into the car–hopefully we’ll get to that tomorrow afternoon!

Contraction Watch: I’ve had a few more BH (Braxton Hicks) contractions this week, though they’ve been very sporadic and they aren’t painful. Thursdays contractions + cramping was the first time I really felt like something was happening, especially as I sometimes feel like the baby has dropped so low that she’s right… there. You know.

Things I’m Thinking About: Two weeks. Holy crap.

I think I’m the only one of my pregnant friends who is praying that their baby doesn’t come early. At all. As excited as I am to meet our little wee-bean, I would love a day or two to breathe between work and her arrival. I know I don’t get much say here, but I’m praying that she waits and arrives on time or even a day or two late! I would love a few days to be absolutely lazy, sleep in and watch movies in bed all day.

And not have a pile of marking staring at me while I do it. :)

I need curtains. Right now we just have sheer curtains in our living room, and I desperately want to get a heavier curtain to cover up after dark, especially in case I want to feed the baby downstairs. I’ve tried IKEA and Walmart with no success–where does one go to buy reasonably inexpensive curtains? I’m looking for long (80″), Mustard curtains. Help?

My wardrobe is shrinking every day. I am down to a small pile of shirts that still stretch over my belly… thank goodness I’m almost done work!

On that note, I only have seven work days left. SEVEN. And only two of them are actual teaching days; the rest are all exam supervision and marking.

Holy moly.

Late, late, late… I cannot even handle how insane this week has been or how quickly it passed. I’ve been meaning to do this all week, and now suddenly it’s Saturday night and I’ll be 37 weeks tomorrow. (holy crap!)

How Far Along: 36 Weeks*
Size of Baby: A Crenshaw Melon
Weight Gain: 26 pounds

Movement: Hiccups, hiccups, hiccups. She gets them at least once a day, and this afternoon I felt them so strongly that it actually woke me up from a nap. It’s still pretty cute, they are just definitely getting stronger as she gets bigger!

I can also see my whole belly rolls as she turns and moves now. I’m trying to capture it on video for you… it’s absolutely wild to see. It’s like there’s a cute little alien in there. haha!

Cravings: Milkshakes. I heart them.

Food Aversions: I am so over cooking these days. Basically anything I make for myself is completely unappealing. It’s sad.

Symptoms: My feet are swollen. I was a bit worried about it as it seemed to happen completely overnight, but my midwife assures me that the amount of swelling I have is completely normal. It’s always worse after I get home from work, but I find that if I put my feet up for a while it seems to help.

Heartburn. Lots of heartburn. I’m still okay if I take Tums right before I sleep, but I find that it’s triggered by more foods now. Last night we went out for Indian food and it was sooo good… until the heartburn was sooo bad at 1am that I was basically up all night. Le sigh.

I can definitely feel the baby “dropping”. It feels like there is sudden pressure on my pelvis and bladder for a few seconds, then it disappears. It basically means that she’s moving lower to prepare for birth!

Belly Button Watch: INNY! I’m hoping I’ll make it all the way.

Baby Prep: We’ve been busy little bees this week. My hospital bag is packed, we finally bought (and packed) a diaper bag, and we’ve been busy washing all the blankets and clothes we’ve received. We also transformed our office into an office / nursery, complete with a crib and change station! It actually looks quite cute, and the Hubster doesn’t mind sharing his workspace with the wee-bean until his new downstairs office is ready.

This week we’ve been busy picking up miscellaneous items we still needed for the baby–we bought our crib bedding, a change pad, a robe for me to wear in the hospital, etc. I definitely feel a little more prepared (especially now that we have diapers and wipes) but it still feels like we have a billion things to do.

Contraction Watch: I’m pretty sure that I had my first Braxton Hicks contraction tonight! It didn’t hurt at all, it just felt like my abdominal tightened and I could feel pressure on my pelvis. When I touched my belly it felt rock hard… then it released after about a minute. It definitely makes things feel real!!

Things I’m Thinking About: Three weeks. Holy crap.

Which side of the car should the car seat go on?

My house is a complete disaster. I spent so long organizing today and it still looks like a bomb blew up here. haha! Work was a little crazy this week and I just haven’t been able to keep up on the home front.

The Hubster’s foot is slowly healing. He ended up taking another few days off work, and he’s moving around much better than he was a week ago. We’re both just hoping he’s back to full strength by the time the wee-bean makes her grand arrival.

Only 7 more teaching days and exams… then it’s maternity leave for me!

(Holy crap.)

How Far Along: 35 Weeks*
Size of Baby: A Honeydew Melon
Weight Gain: 24 pounds

Movement: Oh goodness. This child has already inherited her father’s inability to sit still for long. I can feel her dancing and squirming all day long, especially first thing in the morning and just before I go to sleep at night.

…except for last Friday when she decided to have a dance party. At midnight. I was exhausted and crawled into bed at 10:30 with a movie. Within an hour I was dozing lightly before I was jolted awake by a wicked bout of heartburn and a little Elaine Benes dancing inside me. I’m pretty sure that she got her days mixed up and was just ready to party for New Years, in any case she danced away until almost 2:30 when I was able to pass out.

She still has the hiccups all the time. Usually it’s like clockwork at 7pm, though she also sometimes decides to go crazy and hiccup first thing in the morning too.  It feels like I have a little pulse against my skin, and I can see my belly shake each time she has one.

Cravings: Tonight I needed pizza. I came downstairs to make dinner, looked through every cupboard we have and couldn’t find a single thing that appealed to me. So, I made dinner for the Hubster then went out and bought myself a pizza.

(The poor Hubster felt so bad that he couldn’t go pick it up for me, but he’s a bit stranded right now. He injured his driving foot, which means no crazy pregnancy craving errand runs for him for a few days!)

Food Aversions: Tonight it felt like everything. Absolutely nothing appealed to me.

Symptoms: Still heartburn. It has been my one consistent struggle throughout this pregnancy, and these days I feel like I am more sensitive than ever. Last night it was so bad that I wanted to rip my throat out… but I just ate a tablespoon of cool whip instead and that seemed to do the trick for a while.

I’ve learned that I sleep better if I fall asleep with a movie on. I was having a really hard time falling asleep every night as each time I’d turn off the light my mind would begin to whirl with the billion things I have to get done in the next 5 weeks. The past few nights I’ve put on a movie, set my TV to “sleep mode” and just watch until I pass out. I fall asleep in half the time and wake up feeling so much more rested!

I am still without stretch marks, but sadly my poor feet are starting to become a little swollen. I actually didn’t even notice–I was sitting on the bed on Saturday morning without my house shoes on, and the Hubster walked in, looked at my feet and thought I was dying.

(He didn’t know that swollen feet are just another pregnancy symptom. He’s cute.)

After I whipped out my pregnancy bible and showed him the section on swelling he felt much better, and I feel like the swelling has gone down a bit since then. I’m trying to rest more and kick my feet up as often as I can, though that will become increasingly difficult as I go back to work on Monday.

Lastly, I can’t see the bottom of my belly. It’s quite sad–I sometimes have to change my shirt 2 – 3 times a day as I forget that my belly enters a space before I do, and I constantly get things all over myself as I clean and cook. *sigh*

Belly Button Watch: It’s still in there!

Baby Prep: Right now I’m prepping our bedroom for the wee-bean’s arrival. As her room is not ready yet, she’ll be sleeping in a bassinet in our bedroom, so I’m organizing and making space for her in there.

Tomorrow is also my day to go out and get everything I need to put together my hospital bag. As I know that the next few weeks will be insane with work, I want to have everything ready to go now so I won’t be worrying about it.

Contraction Watch: Still nothing!

Things I’m Thinking About: I worry about my job… a lot. I feel incredibly conflicted because I am so grateful to have this amazing opportunity, but at the same time I worry that I didn’t really think things through enough when I accepted the job. I’m really worried that I’ve taken on too much and I won’t be able to balance everything I’ll need to in the next three and a half weeks, or that she’ll come early and I’ll have to leave my department in the same situation they were in when I came in. I know that I can’t control what happens and I just need to take each day at a time, it’s just… hard. I’m trying to do what’s best for me and for her, but I also love my job. I don’t know what the answer is, or what I’m even trying to say exactly, but it’s just something that is constantly swirling around in my head.

Tomorrow I will be 9 months pregnant and we’ll be just a month away from the wee-bean’s due date. Holy crap.

I feel… unprepared. There’s still so much that we need to do.

Sometimes life is just a little overwhelming, you know?