36 Weeks!

Today's date: Wednesday, June 22, 2011

How far along: 36 weeks (9 months)!

Sex: We're still planning for a girl... : )

Maternity clothes: Basically, whatever is comfortable!  Yoga pants, tanks and running shoes and flip flops.

Sleep: I think I'm getting used to sleeping on the couch because I've been having more restful nights of sleep.  Still a lot of tossing and turning, though.  Its hard to move with this big ol' belly!

Best moment(s) of the week:  Nothing super eventful (which is kind of nice) but I got to have dinner with one of my only Pittsburgh friends last week and its always so nice to catch up with her.  This past weekend was pretty low key (which was also kind of nice).  Since Brad was sick with a man-cold, we didn't do a whole lot.  We got in a lot of movie time, though, which was much needed for both of us, I think.

 
Movement: Oh, its so fun to feel her moving around in there.  I think its gotten to the point that it will be strange to not feel her in there, after she's born, obviously.

Food cravings/aversions:  Oh man, I can eat and eat and eat these days.

Morning sickness: Nada.

Symptoms: The rib pain has subsided but the lower half of my body is pretty much always achy.

And...maybe TMI, but I shaved my legs last night in the shower and it was quite the chore.  I got done and was pretty much exhausted!  I guess my belly has grown considerably since Molly's wedding, which was probably the last time I shaved my legs.  Ha! 

Labor signs:  I don't think so.  I don't even think I've had any Braxton Hicks contractions.
Belly button in or out:  Pretty much still half and half.

What I miss: I miss sleeping through the night (on my back and stomach), a skinnier body and legs and feet that don't ache all the time.

What I'm looking forward to: I can't wait to get started on Charlotte's nursery.  Yes, that's right.  We haven't even started on it yet...no paint, no nothing!  I'm getting a little anxious about it!

Size and growth of our baby: Baby now weighs as much as a CRENSHAW MELON (I can't believe I'm in the large melon stages)!

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her 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 her 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 she's in a head-down position. But if she 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 her from the outside of your belly.