36 weeks

Kiddo is still squirming around in there, pretty strongly...still usually in the morning and late at night. Man, I swear sometimes it feels as if he is stretching both arms up and legs out at the same time. Brian comments that he is often getting kicked in the side when I snuggle up to him while sleeping. With looking at this picture below, it is no wonder I don't want to eat much, get heartburn, and can't make it through a stanza of a hymn without gasping for breath!

Our doctor appointment this morning went well and quick. My blood pressure is still holding, much to the delight to my doctor. My weight is holding as well; I've gained about the same amount as I did with Tam, but I know I may get a few more pounds here at the end. My back's been pretty achy lately and with my tiny squished bladder I'm waking up 1 to 2 times a night to go to the bathroom. Since I'm at 36 weeks, I got the routine cervix check, which was 2-3cm dilated. Good, but in no way an indicator of how soon labor may happen. Because of how well I've done and knowing that family has to come in from out of town, the doctor but the bug in my ear that she'll induce me if I want after 39 weeks. The pros to this is baby comes while family is here since Brian's folks are coming on the 19th of May and I may be "done" being pregnant by then. The cons is this may be our last pregnancy and my last chance for a more "natural" labor. I've heard that induce labor and contractions are bit more painful than if it happened on its own. I told the doctor that we'll think about it and I'll keep the idea in the back of my mind over the next week or so.

How your baby's growing:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) 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.