STATS:

Her size: THE HIGHLYANTICIPATED WATERMELON.

How far along: 37 WEEKS!!!! FULL TERM!

Total weight gain: I’m at 171 lb. (+2 lbs this week, total at 35 lbs). My husband laughs at me, because at some point he was 178 lbs which is not far from my weight now! I laugh WITH him, because I know how much easier it is for me to lose weight than him :P So he might tease me (good-heartedly) now when he tries to help me get up, but I know I’ll be taunting him when the pounds just come off without much effort and he’s still trying to lose “the pregnancy weight” he gained.

Sleep: Oh my sides just hurt! I don’t like the idea of sleeping on my right side because vena cava is located more to the right and if I accidentally flip half way on my back in the middle of the night, the weight of the baby might block the blood flow. I read in a few places that pregnant women who sleep more on the right have a statistically double the chance of stillbirth. The link is weak, but it’s enough to make me flip over to my left every time I find myself sleeping on the right side. But man, I have to say, a few times a night I just HAVE to do it, because the left side feels bruised.

Maternity Clothes: Just the same old stuff I’ve blogged about before. I am obsessed with Boob Design and am patiently waiting for their US website launch this month, as well as the release of their spring collection. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway- 3 more days left!

Food cravings: Chocolate cake (considering I’m not a fan of anything chocolate)

Food aversions: I have finally conquered my aversion for beans, left over from the 1st trimester nausea. And I’m glad I did, because as of last week I stopped eating diary products to clear myself of milk proteins for breastfeeding and I need to get my protein somewhere. (Diary is the biggest allergen and can make the baby colicky, gassy, aside from many other things that I won’t get into. If you’re interested, I’d pick up a book called The Baby Bond: The New Science Behind What’s Really Important When Caring for Your Baby. The book does like to go on about things, but if you can sit through that, there is a TON of information, all backed up by studies, that is not to be missed: from breastfeeding to allergic reactions, to baby wearing and so on.)

Symptoms I HAVE: Nada! I mean, yeah, there are a few minor ones I’ve learned to live with: minor heartburn, minor fatigue, minor pelvic pain when Alexis decides to play. But overall, I am feeling better than I ever thought I would at this point. That fact makes hubby think that Alexis will come AFTER her due date. “You don’t look or feel like you’re about to pop!”- he says. I tend to agree, but of course anything out of the ordinary sends me into “Is this it? Why am I feeling so nauseous?” haha
My BH aren’t very frequent at this point, my boobs stopped leaking- so I might be far far away from actual labor :)

Doctor’s Appointment: I have my doc’s appointments every Thursday on my weekly anniversary. It was all good as usual. My OB seems very supportive of my Hypnobirth plan. We discussed the fact that my mom AND my sister both had fast labors (6 hours and 4 hours respectively with only 15 min pushing), so it’s possible I’ll go the same way. He also gave me his cell phone number to call in case there’s anyone who is giving us any hassle about following the birth plan in a non-emergency situation. I did opt out of cervical checks – he didn’t say a thing. So I’m very happy with my OB and super excited about birth.

Oh and Alexis disengaged! Boo! She’s about at -3 station (considering she was engaged my last appointment). It’s good because there’s noone to headbutt my cervix for the time being but bad because I’d like to know she’s getting closer to labor.

Movement: Evenings are her time! I love the movement! Even when she is hurting me, I still love feeling her move. It definitely beats worrying about why she isn’t moving. Now that Andrew can hear her heartbeat from the outside, I often ask him to listen when there is a stretch of a few hours without much movement. It’s so nice to have that reassurance. I hated the time before movements were felt. The only thing that saved us was the Doppler (which was the best purchase ever).

Belly Button: Total outie! I think it’s kinda cute!

Gender: GIRL!

Best moment of the week: I couldn’t remember so I asked hubby and his answer was “Hanging out with my baby!” :) Aw!

What I’m looking forward to:

Only 5 short days till my mom’s arrival. I’m already dreaming of all the awesome meals she’ll cook!!!!

What I miss:

SMOKED SALMON and normal people clothes! I have recently allowed myself to look through catalogues and websites for clothes because I feel I am close enough to wearing normal non-maternity stuff. I’m going to dance like a crazy girl when I fit into my NYC size skinny jeans (those are really really small), but before I do, I want to get some colorful skinny jeans in coral and yellow to wear in the meantime. YUM!

So I am officially full term and it feels good. I’ll slowly start natural labor induction after 38th week when my mom is here and everything is ready to go. What I mean by that is simply walking. I’ve been having strong BHs when I walk so I’ve stayed away from it. Once I’m done with week 38, I can resume walking again and not worry about contractions.
We are sort of ready for her to come. The seat has been installed, we took our car for service to make sure it’s in tip-top shape, birth plan is made and printed, hospital bag list is ready, hubby is trained, a few more things this weekend and Alexis officially has the go-ahead from us. The room is not fully finished yet, but she’ll be sleeping in a co-sleeper for the first 6 months anyways, so I’m not worried. This weekend we’ll do as much as possible, including pack the hospital bags, clean the room, wash her clothes and diapers, and organize everything. But mentally I am ready and excited! I cannot wait for this new chapter of our life to start- I’m definitely ready to be done with the last one!

HAPPY FULL TERM, ALEXIS!