Yikes...is that me?!? 36 weeks and 2 days...

Hello all!

Pregnancy is truly amazing. Amazing that I can grow a human inside my stomach...pretty miraculous, really. What's also amazing is how much your body changes during just a short 9 months. I'm not even gonna go into much of it, cause I don't think you wanna know. It's very apparent in this week's picture that I am now puffy...very puffy...and tired. Granted the picture was taken after I cleaned the whole house and finished all of the laundry, so I was a bit more tired than normal anyway. And I think the baby has "dropped", so to speak. For those reading this that aren't "familiar" with pregnancy speak, dropped is when the baby's head has descended into the birth canal. Or something like that.


Anyway, the swelling is on in full force...puffy fingers are the norm now. And as for ankles? Yeah, forgot what those look like too. But calm down Jill, this is only for a short time in your life and then everything will go back to normal. Right? Well, you can bet I'll be P90x'ing it until it does go back to normal!!!

Anyway, I bet you're all wondering how the appointment went last week...well, most of you who read this blog have probably already been filled in, but just for the heck of it...

Baby's ultrasound went perfectly! All body parts are perfect, bones are perfect, spine is perfect, heartrate is perfect, head is HUGE! That's right. My baby's head is measuring 3 weeks further along than her gestation and her body is measuring 1 1/2 weeks further than her gestation. At the ultrasound, she weighed approximately 6 lbs. 13 ounces already. Most babies at that point are barely breaking 5 lbs. Dear lord. So, to make this make sense...

Gestation at time of Ultrasound - 35 weeks 5 days
Body measured - 37 weeks
Head measured 38 weeks

What this means...I don't know. It doesn't mean that she'll come earlier than expected, nor does it mean that my doctor will induce me early. What is certain, is that if she does go full term, she will be a fairly large baby. So, I reorganized all of her clothes today and put all of the "newborn" clothes in a bin by themselves since I doubt she'll even fit into them. We'll see!!! But, if any of you have seen the Gerber-brand Newborn onesies, you know why I did this. Those things would barely fit a preemie! Much less an above average newborn.

Some interesting news...on Friday night, we *almost* called the doctor. I was having some pretty intense back pains on and off. They'd last for a few minutes and then stop, then it would come back. They hurt so bad that I couldn't move. I don't think it could have been back labor because the baby's position is head down and facing my back (the Ideal position for her to be in before birth). We were at Office Depot buying JC a new office chair and then we stopped at Fuddruckers for dinner and they started. So, we went home, I sat on the couch with a heating pad and they went away. So, that was that and we didn't bother the doctor. But, I am going to ask her about it at our next appointment on Wednesday.

Other than that, baby is doing great, still moving quite a bit every day...which is a good thing. I might complain about being uncomfortable, not sleeping and swelling up like a rice krispie bar, but if it helps her grow to be the best baby she can be, then it's all worth it and I'd endure even more. Ha! That sounds cheesy...but it's true.