36 weeks

This week has been interesting. Filled with good days and bad days but mostly I'm ok. The other day, the weather was terrible (overcast, rainy) and I felt like crap. My joints hurts, I ached and I really felt like I couldn't get out of bed. It was rough. The next day I was completely fine. Sleep has been so hit or miss, and it's frustrating. I wake up at some point on my back no matter what I do. This leaves me feeling sore and achy. I am trying my best to sleep on my side and I'll probably have to bust out the snoogle again tonight and see how that goes.

I still feel like there's so much to do (car seat installation, hospital bag packing, finishing up the nursery) and there really is only a finite amount of time left for this. I'm trying not to stress. I only have 2 more days of work and then I don't work again until 2010. This is a wild concept!

I'm annoyed with my weight gain. I was really hoping to finish the pregnancy with 30lbs but I know it's going to be 35. I seem to be gaining 1.5-2 a week even though nothing about my diet has changed at all. My right foot is still a bit swollen regardless of how much I elevate it/drink tons of water, etc. I guess if these are the worst problems I have, I'm doing ok :)

In other news, it looks like Liam's middle name will be Henry. I love the name combination but this is B's middle name as well as my sister in law's son's middle name. Being Jewish, this fundamentally goes against what I believe in, but I guess like everything else, you have to make sacrifices. Liam is named for my mom (Linda) and Henry will be for B's dad/grandfather, even though he keeps telling people that Henry is named for him. I guess this is the problem I have. If B didn't have Henry as his middle name as well as my nephew, this would be no big deal. Ugh. I feel so stuck with this.

Anyway, speaking of Liam, here is what is going on with him:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of his first bowel movement. At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely he's in a head-down position. But if he isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating him from the outside of your belly.

How far along? 36 weeks
Total weight gain: 28lbs (I'm going to surpass my goal of 30lbs :( )
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? Still crossing my fingers for none on my stomach... worried about the weeks to come.
Sleep: 50/50

Best moment this week: Sleeping through the night once without waking up to switch sides. I guess I should be fortunate that I haven't woken up to pee since about 9 weeks...
Movement: Nothing has changed in this department
Food cravings: None
Gender: boy
Labor Signs: None!

Belly Button in or out? I guess I was wrong about it popping at this point. The husband thinks it isn't going to happen at all.
What I miss: Normal sleeping

What I am looking forward to: 48 hours from now when I am officially on "Maternity Leave" though when you own your own business, it isn't is glamorous as it sounds ;)
Milestone: 1 week from full term

ok, technically, this pic was taken several days before 36 weeks, but it looks ok, in my opinion, so I am going to use it :)



















36w