36 weeks

A quick pregnancy update (again, mostly for my own records...). My belly is officially too big to fit into a picture taken by my cell phone.

We had a doctor's appointment on Monday. As per usual, everything is looking good. Baby's heartbeat sounds good. My blood pressure is fine. Weight gain to date-17lbs. No dilation yet, but cervix is softening. From here on out, we'll be going to the doctor's once a week until the baby comes.

I'm getting VERY anxious and VERY nervous about the whole labor/birth thing. I know the baby has to come out eventually (I'm very happy about that), but it's the whole "unknown" of how things will actually goes down that scares me.

This past weekend, Ben and I made a couple big purchases for baby Hubert: a travel system stroller and car seat (which is installed in my car ready to go...mostly because we have NO room in our house to keep it) and a swing. I told Ben that of all the baby stuff we registered for (or that you can buy) I really only had 3 items that I for-sure wanted/needed before the baby comes, the car seat and a swing. (My other item is a Boppy pillow).

The baby's room is also coming along. Much progress has been made and as of last night, the new sheet rock walls just need to be mudded and prepped for paint and after a good sweeping, the floor will be ready for carpet. I will feel SO much better when the room is done. This weekend our goal is to buy a dresser.

Baby continues to be very active. Very, very active, if I'm to be totally honest. Almost to the point where the movements, especially the ones up by my ribs, are somewhat painful. Maybe painful isn't the real term...just uncomfortable. I'm feeling hiccups nearly every day and I'm pretty sure baby is still head down with it's feet just under my ribs.

My pubic bone pain has all but gone away. Except for at night, after I've been laying down, it's very painful to move around. I can finally get in and out of the car without cringing in pain and even putting pants and socks on has become much less painful. My doctor said the pain is probably less from my fall and more from being pregnant and that it will not inhibit delivery at all.

My students are growing more and more curious about the baby and continue to ask many questions, such as:
"Do you eat more now because of the baby?"
"Is it fun being pregnant?"
"Do you worry about the baby's name?"
"Will you name your baby after me?" (I usually can't say "no" fast enough!)

I'm really trying to enjoy these last few weeks as much as possible, despite being quite uncomfortable. I have tried really hard not to complain too much out loud (but you bet I'm a big fat whiner in my head!) because I'm only pregnant with my first baby once. I think it's all starting to become real for Ben, too...especially after putting the car seat in the car. He's getting very excited.