39 weeks.

I’m still running off adrenaline from my last few hours of work today but hopefully I’ll calm down soon enough because WOAH, today was my last day of work. It’s very surreal to me. I’ve never passed on my classes before; when the school year is over, my classes are done and it’s summer but now, those classes that I’ve put so {SO} much effort into since August are just someone else’s. Even though it’s weird, though, I’m beyond grateful for many things; for the ability to take off this time from work, for the substitute who is coming in to take my classes, for my supportive husband at home…and many other things. On a very basic level, I really hope that this baby of ours comes on or very near her due date so that I can get at least two or three weekdays to sleep in next week!

Let’s update!

I hate these horrible shadows but we have two lights out in our apartment that are hard to replace because we have recessed lighting and we need to scrounge up a ladder to change them. Plus only Mikey can do this, he doesn't think I should be climbing things at this point.

How far along: 39 weeks

Symptoms:

·      Horrible pain {carpal tunnel?} in my right thumb. I mentioned this last week too and it feels worse this week. I can’t grip things very well and it is so stiff when I get up in the morning.

·      A bit of feet swelling this week. Or more than a bit? Well, my shoes are tight. My tootsies don’t look huge so it could just be widening. I seriously hope I don’t go up too much in actual foot size because I really don’t want to get mostly new shoes.

·      I’ve still been ravenous, dinner sometimes isn’t enough.

·      I get some restless legs when I sit on the couch; laying down seems ok and sitting in a chair is fine but the couch seems to aggravate them.

·      I’ve felt some pushing on something internal {my cervix?} and it is not the most enjoyable sensation.

·      I hadn’t known it at all but I think I’ve been having some Braxtin Hicks contractions. I only “found out” as I was laying down for the midwife to measure my belly she said “Oh, you’re having a contraction!”; I think it’s only when/if I lay down on my back and it felt like nothing except that my tummy got very firm/tight. The midwife told me that many women assume their actual contractions/labor won’t be that bad if/when they have these painless B-H contractions, which she thinks is hilarious because it’s not true. I thanked her kindly for her assurance.

·      I’m also very thirsty; water water water please!

·      My back and hips get sore when I’m laying down for too long.

·      The midwife gave me a weight estimate of about 7.5 pounds; these are very pretty subjective guesses but I’m hoping that little girl is around there – though actually birthing the child will be a challenge, I’m very happy with a bigger baby {I can’t wait for those chunky-monkey roly-poly thighs!}.

Wait gain: 167 to 171…what a range; it was about 170 the night before my appointment, then 171 at the midwife yesterday, then about 168 late last night.

Size of baby: a mini-watermelon or a watermelon; one website said one and the other said the other.

Exercise: walking at work; not very good.

Milestones: I wrapped up work. This is huge for me. As I mentioned earlier in the post, I’m having a hard time realizing that I won’t go into work on Monday; I’m officially on maternity leave – eek!

Our daughter is now at “full-term”, 37 to 38 weeks is “early term” I think. If I were to have needed a scheduled C-section for whatever reason, now’s when it could happen.

What I miss: sleeping for more than two to three hours and not having back/hip pain. And not having this weird hand/thumb pain!

Sex: daughter.

Movement: good moves, lots of “rolling” around, though she isn’t rolling anymore, I think it’s more like arching her back and moving her arms and legs.

Thoughts/questions/concerns: now I get to have a baby!!! I want to have some days to mentally wrap my mind around labor and birth. I’ve been so focused on work that those two big events have been swept aside a bit and I’m really excited to get myself into a mentally prepared {or as prepared as I can be} state of mind.

And, yes, I’m nervous. But I’ve heard that nerves are a good thing in this process.

Sleep: I said it earlier; I’m up every two to three hours and I get sore/achy, but those few hours are good sleep.

Goals: make it to 40 weeks!

Random: Like last week, I thought of a few more things I’d like to get before I feel totally ready for this child of ours; some more newborn diapers {to use before we jump over to cloth [yikes!]}, a dishwasher container for her bottle accouterments, some lanolin, and hair bows {totally necessary}.

I’d also like to get our apartment un-cluttered; there’s baby stuff stashed in boxes in our living room and I want to get it organized/put away. My biggest challenge right now is baby clothes. There’s only so much space I can find. Even if I only put her current size in the drawers I have dedicated to our daughter, then I still need to find a place to put those extra clothes and because our apartment’s lack of storage, that’s a challenge. At the same time, I don’t want to shove all of her things into her few drawers because then it’s hard to see what she has. These are definitely “first world” problems and honestly I’m just so grateful for this impending arrival and we’ll figure out where to put her clothes soon enough. 

All in all, I’m just SO excited for this next phase of our lives; is it really time?!?!

xoxo, natty ♥