weekly baby bumpdate / 36 weeks

It's true what they say - the last month of pregnancy really is 1,453 days long.

36 WEEK INTERVIEW

How far along?

36 weeks and 5 days! We are now in the baby's due date month (: (I'm due March 28th.) Of course, the baby could decide to come a few days late and not be born this month at all. Buuuut I really doubt that's going to happen. I was born a week early, my sister was a month early, and my brother was a few weeks early. If genetics play any part of it, I'll be lucky to make it past St. Patrick's day.

...No pun intended. *confused face*

Lately the days have been going by pretty slow (ie: I can't believe it's only March 5th - it feels like we've been in March for a few weeks already). But at the same it feels like I blink twice and the day is over and it feels like I haven't gotten a single thing done. Albeit, I have been pretty sick this week, so that's left me in bed most of the time. I guess it's for the better that I slow down now while Jason's still working - I don't need to go into labor while he's away haha. I think the dragging on feeling comes from the fact that really - it could happen any day now. I try not to think of it that way, but you can't help but have this nagging little voice in the back of your head telling you, "Today could be the day!". 

For some reason I pictured this "nagging little voice" being a leprechaun. This is very disturbing to my poor little head. Also, everything on Pinterest these days is crafts for Easter and dying Easter eggs organically. And if you'll remember with me for a moment, this was our pregnancy announcement:

So I sit at my computer realizing how fast the time has gone and how little time is left like:

Baby's size?

At 36 weeks, the baby is about 18 1/2 inches tall and weighs roughly 5 and 3/4 pounds! It's hard to believe that the baby is just a little bit taller than an American Girl doll now. I got one every Christmas for a few years as a little girl. I still have all my American Girl dolls, so I can very accurately imagine the baby's size! (: It's really kind of neat! The baby is roughly the size of a honey dew melon - which I realize is what I had put last week for the baby's size too. Different websites give different "fruit sizes" and it gets confusing trying to keep all my produce in a row.

Days until next doc appointment?

4 days!

How was your last appointment?

It was mostly good. I had the group B strep test which was mildly um... Q-tips.

We got to hear the baby's heart beat, which, due to being preggy I totally forgot what my doctor said the heart rate even was! Oh my mind, where art thou? She measured me and while I'm normally about a week smaller than I should be, this week I was three weeks smaller than I should be. So at my next appointment I'll also be going in for an ultrasound so they can take more detailed measurements and see how much amniotic fluid is there and whatnot and to make sure everything is progressing the way it should. Prayers appreciated! 

I've also been having some serious "lightning pains" - the kind that are strong enough to stop you in your tracks and make you bend over part way because it comes and goes so suddenly as if you've been sucker punched in the gut. (Except it's a stabbing pain.) The pain only lasts a second or two and then it's gone as if it never happened, but it happens without warning. Often I'll have a handful of them in a short period of time before it quits for several hours or even days. The pain isn't unbearable by any means - it's almost the shock of it coming out of nowhere that makes it hurt the most if that makes sense. So then my doctor measured me and I'm at a 1. 

If you're of the male variety you can find out what that means when you're older.

Total weight gain?

31.4 pounds. Finally, a week where my weight didn't sky rocket for no reason haha

Maternity clothes?

I think I am coming to a point where it's becoming impossible to even put socks on. I mean I can barely even see my belly button anymore, let alone get my foot close enough to my body to put socks on. hahaha

Stretch marks?

I noticed the start of a small one on the back of my thigh and there's a couple more minor ones starting to form where no one will ever see them. Still none on my belly or sides though! So amaze such wow.

Sleep:

I have not been sleeping as much lately and I don't think it's at all pregnancy related in the usual sense. Normally you'll hear of a woman not being able to sleep while this far along in pregnancy due to discomfort and pain or having to get up to go to the bathroom several times a night, but that hasn't been me at all. (I have woken up with pains in my hip many times before, but I've always been able to roll over and fall back asleep right away.) My problem hasn't been waking up several times in the night because I rarely wake up at all - my problem has been getting enough sleep. Over the past several days, I've been sleeping 6 hours a night at the most and that's just my body's natural alarm clock going. No matter what time I go to bed, I wake up 6 hours later. I've been sleeping about 4 hours a night some nights too since getting sick and I haven't been able to fall asleep in the day to take naps. But I do rest in bed a lot. I want to get better as soon as possible! (:

I may not have my hospital bags packed, but the bags under my eyes are roarin and ready to go!

In regards to packing... Yeah yeah, I should probably get around to doing that.

Best moment this week:

Things that make housewives (like myself) giddy for no real logical reason:

Life. Forever changed.

Food cravings:

I've really liked bread and alfredo this week. Specifically, home made bread that my mother-in-law bestows upon us from the Heavens that are her kitchen. It's glorious stuff. Over the weekend I had a deep discussion with Jason concerning the repercussions of eating an entire loaf of bread in one sitting as a child versus as an adult. As a kid, you don't even really like food. It's more or less a battle on your parent's part to get you to eat and make sure you're eating enough. But when you do eat tons, or when you eat ice cream or an entire loaf of bread in one sitting, nothing happens. Maybe you'll get a tummy ache. But nothing happens. You don't gain weight. It doesn't go to your thighs. You're just a kid who ate a loaf of bread and you might be eating apples for a day or two to apologize to your poor intestines. But as an adult, something changes. You love food. You can't get enough of it. You're always thinking about it. But now you gain five pounds just looking at the loaf of bread. It's a cruel fate and just one of those things in life that makes absolutely no sense.

Disclaimer: For the sake of this post, no I did not eat a whole loaf of bread in one sitting. It is merely something I wouldn't mind doing if there were absolutely no negative consequences to doing so. That's all.

Anything make you queasy or sick?

Nothing really, but here's an obligatory weather post just because!

Not sarcasm. After a week of weather in the negative 30's, 12 degrees is a heat wave. And you will be hot.

This text was to my sister and I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm nuts. At almost 24 years old, and my sister being almost 15, I wonder who my dad would say is more dramatic of the two of us.

Movement:

The baby still gets hiccups most days and does some some stretching here and there, but I really think the baby is running out of room to move around! I guess I can't help but be a little worried since my last appointment due to measuring small and the decreased movement, but I know that my mom always carried very small just like me (she carried even smaller than me!) and all her babies were small to average size at birth so I'm thinking all should be well. It's just the way I'm built. Even my doctor said there wasn't much I should be concerned about at this point, because measuring 3 weeks small is kind of on the fence of them even needing to check anything out anyway. 

I really kind of think the baby is just tucked away in there... I have an abnormally long abdomen which explains a lot on its own. Any dress I can ever find that is supposed to reach mid-thigh on a normally proportioned person fits me like a shirt. In fact, the "top" I'm wearing in the photo for this week is actually intended to be a dress. For women. Yeah...

Have you started to show yet?

I'm going to go ahead and say yaaaaaaah. I'm pretty sure it's noticeable even with all my Winter layers on now since my jackets no longer fit and I can't zip them up anymore haha. But, people still comment on how tiny I am for being less than 4 weeks away from my due date (: 

Missing anything?

As ironic as this will sound given that I was sweating when it was 12 degrees, I'm missing warm weather! I'm just itching to be able to go on walks to the lake again! I am not however, looking forward to the humidity and mosquitoes that run rampant in Minnesota summers. 

California Summers > Minnesota Summers. So April/May, come at me. June-October...go away. Take a nap. I don't need you.

Gender:

Baby is going to be a surprise. (:

Labor signs?

Lightning pains! The start of them can signal labor coming in a few weeks...to as little as a few hours! This is what freaks me out. Because seriously the baby has. to. wait. until Jason's done with work next week or I could find myself in a real dilly of a situation. 

Belly button:

This part has gotten weird. The part of my belly that immediately surrounds my belly button sticks out farther than my once flat belly button, so in a way I have an "innie" though it totally isn't an innie because the very centermost of my belly button sticks out. So it's like you have my belly that sticks out father than my belly button, then it dips in to my belly button, then my belly button sticks out again. Like a donut.

Wedding rings on or off?

On all the time still! My hands and feet haven't been swollen this week but I also haven't been on my feet nearly as much over the past few days.

Happy or moody most of the time?

Happy! It's all about staying positive in every situation. Take being sick for example: Yeah it sucks not feeling 100% but the way I see it? I would rather be sick now than catch this same bug later while trying to take care of a newborn. And beating this sickness now just boosts my immunity for both myself and the baby later. Boo yah. It's all win for just a little bit of not feeling well on my part right now. Worth it? You betcha! And, and! What better excuse than being sick to lay in bed and catch up on some of my favorite tv shows? I rarely ever give myself a break at any other time in life, so heck yeah being sick and giving myself some real "me" time is going to feel good on a rare occasion like this. Positivity breeds positivity, peeps.

Weekly symptoms:

Very itchy bumps on my legs and arms, can't really bend over to pick things up (squats all day),  lots of pee trips, acid reflux, leg cramps, stiffness after sitting/standing for extended periods of time, aversion to smells, it hurts to bend over now since the baby's head is so low, lightning pains

Looking forward to:

Jason being done with work! He just has one more week to go... I'm hoping the baby will stay put until then! And then I can finally hang out with him every day (: 

Would you like to see more?
Check out my other "bumpdates" below!

PREVIOUS BABY BUMPDATES

/ pregnancy announcement / 12 & 13 weeks / 14 weeks / 15 weeks /

/ 16 weeks / how we told my parents about baby / 17 weeks /

/  how we told Jason's parents about baby / 18 weeks / pregnancy announcement cards / 

/ 19 weeks / 20 weeks / baby is a...surprise! / 21 weeks / 22 weeks / 23 weeks / 

/ 24 weeks / 25 weeks / 26 weeks / 27 weeks / 28 weeks & babymoon /
/ 29 weeks / 30 weeks / 31 weeks / 32 weeks / 33 weeks / 34 weeks /

/ 35 weeks /