Oops! We had a crazy busy weekend and early part of this week so I didn’t get my post written until now! But we are getting dangerously close to the end and I haven’t missed a post yet, so it may be late, but it’s here! Week 36 Recap! Which means I am officially at 37 weeks right now and depending on who you ask that’s pretty much ‘full-term’, which is definitely exciting.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d like her to stay cooking in there for at least 2 more weeks, but it is nice to know that if she came out right now she likely wouldn’t have any issues from coming early and would be able to go right home with us.
Baby’s Size: The books kind of quit giving sizes out right now because this is the phase where babies start to get a lot bigger or just a little bigger depending on their genetics, so its hard to truly tell how big she is.  I’m guessing somewhere between 5.5 and 6 lbs.  And that is in my super educated, not medically inclined expert opinion… so take it with a grain of salt.  Oh and one book compared her to the size of Swiss Chard… since everyone has a picture of that in their heads to be able to compare. <end sarcasm font>

Baby’s Progress: More temperature regulation, brain and lung development are the name of the game for the next 3ish weeks.  We will get to have an ultrasound here sometime in the next couple of weeks, so when that happens, I’ll let you know more of how she is doing!

Weight Gain: I gained 2 pounds this week… but I gotta tell you… getting on the scale feels somewhat like an unnecessary evil these days, so I don’t do it very often! It’s easy to see how people would gain a lot of weight and not keep track of it during pregnancy!

Sleep: Well… Sleep was unbelievably awful this week, but I can’t really blame that on the baby.  Our dog, Lexie decided to eat two of my husband’s long black dress socks.  So after about 4 or 5 vet visits (where the diagnosis was either HGE, a stomach infection she has had before or anxiety about the baby) she finally passed them in the middle of the night.  I’ll spare you all the graphic details, but suffice it to say last week was rough.  She wouldn’t eat or drink for 7 days, she wasn’t sleeping well (and so neither was I) and I had more than one emotionally charged (ugh pregnancy hormones) evening where I thought I was going to have to say goodbye to her in my last few weeks of pregnancy. NOT a pretty sight.  But, it turns out she just ate my husband’s socks during the storms last week and needed to get that out of her system.  So she is now mostly recovered and back to eating and generally being a happy friendly dog. But she definitely took us through some sleep training exercises of cleaning up after her being sick and waking up every few hours.  But I’m still hoping to get a week or so of somewhat better sleep before baby girl gets here!

Milestones: As far as baby things go, it has been a fairly quiet week! We had a lot going on in our social lives, work and just life in general, but nothing too notable in terms of baby milestones!

Favorite clothing item of the week: Maternity shorts.  They may be the least attractive clothing item I’ve ever seen… I mean they have more fabric above the waistband than below, but since our temperatures pushed up into the upper 90s over the weekend, they were a much needed relief from my jeans!! I ordered these from Gap and then also have a hand me down pair of linen shorts that are UBER comfy from Old Navy.

Symptoms: I can definitely feel additional pressure on my body, and turning over in bed is a chore, but other than that I really can’t complain! I do have to put my feet up after a long day, but they haven’t swollen much, they just get tired!

Workout: I got to swim laps a few days last week after work and it was glorious! I love being in the water and swimming laps feels much the same as it did before being pregnant, which is a nice feeling!! I also got to walk with a friend on Saturday morning, and spent Monday and Tuesday volunteering at a conference at our church, so I’ve gotten a fair amount of exercise in this week! And although I am tired at night, I feel pretty good, so its encouragement to keep swimming laps and walking (even though I am not doing either strenuously!).

PS. If you missed any of the updates, you can check them all out here.

Happy Easter!! I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekends, The husband and I got a TON of things accomplished around the house, so I’ll be sharing a lot of those this week and next!  But we also enjoyed celebrating Easter at our church and with our small group, so it felt like a great balanced weekend of work and play!

Baby’s Size: Baby girl is eggplant sized and about 2.25 pounds.

Baby’s Progress: She is capable of blinking and now has eyelashes (here’s hoping she inherits my long lashes!) and she is still packing on the pounds!

Weight Gain: I am at about a 10 pound net increase from the start of this whole pregnancy, so I’m right on track!

Sleep: Sleep is definitely getting harder.  I told the husband I feel like a weeble wobble, if I get too much momentum I just roll over to the other side. She seems to have gotten a lot bigger in just a few short days, so I’m definitely starting to feel the full weight of carrying another human!

Milestones: I took (and failed) my glucose challenge test this week, so I have to go back for the longer test. After doing LOTS of research it seems I didn’t fail it by that much, and there are lots of false positives, so I go back for the longer test later this week and I’m hoping it comes back negative for gestational diabetes.  Although that combined with the fact that Bluebell recalled my favorite half gallon of ice cream due to Listeria concerns (which FYI affect pregnant women more than most others) I’m taking these as a sign to cut down on my sugar intake and eat a few more green veggies!

Favorite clothing item of the week: For Easter I wore an older Gap dress that I have had for several years, and got lots of compliments on it.  I’m not sure if it is a good or bad sign that so much of my pre-pregnancy wardrobe still fits over my ever-expanding belly!!

Symptoms: OOOOhhhh man, the symptoms are coming back.  My feet are swelling on a more frequent basis (I’m getting pretty good at working while my feet are propped up on the desk) and it is definitely getting harder to breathe.  I’m not sure how much of that is due to the insane pollen that has descended over the Dallas Metroplex and how much is because baby girl is getting big enough that she has been pushing on my lungs lately, but the combo is pretty intense!

Workout: I haven’t done much exercise per se, but we did a bunch of yardwork this weekend, and I’ve stayed fairly active in my daily life, so we are going to call that a win.  Although with the failed glucose challenge test I may need to start walking more and being a little more active! (either that or quit eating the Easter Starburst jelly beans that somehow found their way into my grocery bag, but walking feels WAY more likely!)

PS. If you missed any of the updates, you can check them all out here.

Alright, so I took the picture a day early and am posting a day late… which pretty accurately describes how this week went! For work I had to travel the first part of this week to New Orleans for a convention.  And let me tell you… NOLA the week after Mardi Gras is not the most ideal place for a pregnant woman.  Let’s just say I’m ready for my sense of smell to return to normal.  Plus this convention requires a lot of walking! My coworker who was wearing a pedometer (and who I spent most of the days with ) got 15,000+ steps every day.  So I am a bit exhausted and ready to put my feet up and do NOTHING for a few days.  But enough excuses for why I am late with the post… Here you go!

Baby’s Size: a Spaghetti Squash- and she weighs approximately 1lb.  But apparently from here on out she ramps up the growth, so she should be gaining a 6 ounces in the next week!

Baby’s Progress: Baby girl is still kicking and moving around quite a bit, but of course stops any time I try to get Reese to feel her move, so he is definitely wishing he could feel her move more! Her lips, eyelids and eyebrows are growing more distinct and she is starting to grow tooth buds!

Weight Gain: About 1/2 a lb, which puts me up about 3 lbs from where I started.

Sleep: Not sure if it was the guy playing saxophone loudly outside my hotel (I was on floor 25 and could still hear him) or the pregnancy… but I’ve had better nights of sleep.  Although last night in my own bed I slept like a rockstar.  So I’m grateful for a few good nights of sleep!

Milestones: I can’t really think of any milestones for this week… except for maybe that baby girl got a taste of Creole food?

Favorite clothing item of the week: Pregnancy tank tops! I bought a couple of them at Target and they definitely saved me this week when I had to wear my work polo and it was just a bit shorter in front that in should have been… tank tops to the rescue!

Symptoms: OOOOOH after walking so much my feet and my back were aching for certain! I could definitely feel the exhaustion faster! But I successfully finished the convention and other than taking it easy for the next few days, I’m no worse for the wear!

Workout: Walking, Walking, More Walking.

Bonus Story: On my flight to New Orleans I was on Southwest Airlines, so of course it is open seating.  Well I hadn’t remembered to check in early enough so was pretty far down in the C-lineup to get to pick a seat.  So as I’m getting on the plane I see an open window seat and bonus a spot above it for a roller bag.  So I ask the woman and her 10 year old son if someone was sitting there, and they assured me that no, no one was.  So I put my bag up above and the woman gets up from her seat.  The 10 year old doesn’t move.  I sit and look at him for another second, but the line behind me is growing and it is clear that he wasn’t going to move.  So me, my big ol’ belly and my computer bag have to climb over the 10 year old to get into my seat. Let me tell you, I was the definition of graceful. (That was sarcasm for those of you who struggle to identify it) And I was definitely sweating as I fell into my seat. Maybe one day that kid will learn that it is less unpleasant to get up out of your seat than to have a pregnant woman crawl over you complete with heavy computer bag.