P3 Pregnancy: 37 weeks

Well, we have made it to “Full Term!”

I/we are so ready to meet baby sister!  Everything has lined up very well for us…my work is caught up, and I found out that leaving before Christmas break (if needed) will NOT be a problem and I will be paid for the 3 week holiday.  On top of that, that 3 weeks won’t even count towards the 12 weeks of FMLA allowed.  So officially, I could have like 4 months off to take care of our little monkey.  Realistically, we can’t afford that (because it would be all unpaid) but it’s good to know I could do that if the need arose.

Here’s a 37 week picture, taken on my phone (very grainy!) by Shelby.  Large.

Speaking of work, we have 1 more week before we are out for Christmas.  The kids have 2 weeks of school left.  Yesterday we got ALL of the Christmas presents wrapped.  The kids shopped for all their aunts and uncles after school and both helped wrap all of  those too.  Feels so good to be ready yet now, again, I’m bored.  haha.

I have no clothes left that fit.  The shirt above, bought last week, is the ONLY shirt I have that covers my belly completely.  The pants are the only pants I have that fit me (though they are becoming very uncomfortable on the belly too.) 

At my 37 week appointment, my doctor did an “internal” check and said I am 1 cm dilated and 50-60% effaced.  I have NEVER been any amount dilated before going into labor.  With both Shelby and Coleman, my water broke and even at that point I was only a fingertip (not even a cm) dilated.  So this is exciting.  I am having contractions every night, some worse than others.  If I time them, they are definitely coming within the realm of when they tell you to go to the hospital (10 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute, for 1 hour) but they still always let up.  I am not sure how I will tell when we really SHOULD go but I figure I will just finally know.  Doc said that one thing is to make sure they are getting worse---more painful.  They have been getting a little painful some nights but not too bad.  I am just glad they are working at doing something (the little bit of dilation!) instead of just being a pest.

Now the next date I’ve got my sights set on is Sunday!  We will be having a big cold front move through and Dr. Walters said that those big drops in barometric pressure really do always result in more women going into labor/water breaking/etc.  She said especially when it rains.  Bring on the cold front and precip!  It’s all a waiting game now so I am having fun trying to “plan” and grasping at little hopes that it may happen soon.

This will be quick:

weight gained so far?: 36 lbs in 37 weeks. 

sleep?: As good as can be expected.  Lots of bathroom breaks.  Lots of dreams about going into labor.

best moment of the week?: It’s been a good, low key week.  Nothing stands out but it was a great week!

Miss Anything? I am actually very bored and useless feeling.  I miss being physically able to run errands, or do whatever I want.

Movement:  Lots!

food cravings?: Not really.  Can’t eat much at once.  Always hungry, but nothing sounds good.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy but emotional. :) 

looking forward to?: Meeting Molly!