Baby Watch: Week 37
Now I really feel ready for the baby. The house is about as ready as it needs to be and he’s considered full-term now, so he’s welcome to join us anytime! Unfortunately, my cervical check on Friday showed no progress again – actually she said 50-75% thinned but not dilated. She encouraged me to do whatever I needed to get him moving down. The induction will be within the week after my due date if needed, so at least I won’t have to wait so long. While I’d rather go into labor naturally, I don’t want to go too far over. There’s more of a risk of still birth and having a huge baby. My co-workers had a shower luncheon for us, which was really nice. They made all gluten-free food and gave us a generous gift card to Target. Over the weekend, we went to the movies to see Rush with Chuck and Kelley, cleaned up around the house over the weekend, and watched the Breaking Bad finale on Sunday with them. On Monday we had Todd, Rachel, Braxton, and Mary Louise (Todd’s mom) over for dinner. ML is going to provide daycare for our son, so we were working out the details. She’s going to watch both him and Braxton at our house (most days – she’s free to take them to hers or their house too). I’m thrilled with the situation – to have someone we can trust watching him and for our son to be able to grow up with Braxton! I’ll probably go back to work right before or right after the New Year, and it’ll be a lot easier knowing that he’ll be well taken care of.
My belly is HUGE in this picture (I suppose it is in real life too, though I didn’t realize it!). I think my honeydew melon is too small compared to what size he has to be now!
Week 37: September 24 – September 30: Honeydew Melon – Average size: 18.9-20.9 inches, 6.2-9.2 lb.
Maternity Clothes: All maternity pants except my yoga and sweat pants/capris, combination of maternity tops, regular tops, and Lo’s tees for around the house and workouts. I’m even starting to grow out of some of the maternity shirts that my SIL lent me – some are just too short. I love being able to wear jeans and sweaters now that it’s cooler most days.
Sleep: I think the baby is training me for night nursing because I’m awake every 2-3 hours to go to the bathroom or because I’m uncomfortable. I was awake with a horrible headache on Friday night/Saturday morning, but after some Tylenol and caffeine, it finally went away. I wake up constantly though.
Symptoms: I’m less comfortable in general now. My belly gets sore on the side where he presses against it, I get crampy a lot, and on Saturday I did way too much and was completely beat by the time the Buckeye game started on Saturday night. We decided to stay in and I felt better after laying around for awhile. But still, I generally feel okay most of the time and am grateful that I’m not more miserable, like I expected. I haven’t really had any swelling yet, and would love for it to stay that way.
Workouts: I barely did workouts at all this week. I did yoga and was hardly able to keep up – my belly just gets in the way for so many movements now! I did the elliptical one other day, but that was about it. Most evenings I was on my feet all night, so I still am getting some exercise. I went on more walks with Boof and Lo too since it was cooler this week.
Good moments of the week: My 37 week appointment was good and my cervix showed some thinning, though no dilation. My co-workers had a nice shower for us. We went to dinner and the movies with our friends (probably our last movie outing). Our photographer Pam got our maternity photos up and they are fantastic (see below for two)! And I rarely like photos of myself. And most importantly, we got the details ironed out for our daycare situation!
Food cravings: I made some cookies, but those were less for cravings than for wanting to try the recipes. I still enjoyed them though!
What I miss: Sleeping though the night, being able to pick things up off the floor or getting up from a seated position easily, not having a ton of pressure from the baby pushing out.
What I’m looking forward to: Being able to relax some. Cleaning out the pantry and freezers. They are a mess and I need to clean them out so I can make some more food! I’m looking forward to seeing some dilating progress at the appointment on Wednesday (fingers crossed!). I’m also just happy that we don’t really have plans on our plate until he arrives. We had such a busy summer/early fall and it feels good to have free time and no obligations to anyone.
Milestones: Thinning cervix, no dilating though. More pressure and contractions. He dropped down a little twice during the week, so he’s moving in the right direction. He’s fully-cooked too, so we’re ready and he’s ready!\
