Alright everyone, today I've reached 37 weeks of pregnancy! Do you know what that means?! At 37 weeks and beyond the baby is considered "full-term"! So if Chloe came any time now, she should be completely capable of surviving normally! :-D Plus, that means ONLY 3 WEEKS (or 21 DAYS) LEFT!!!!!!!
We are now at the point where we have a doctor's appointment every week. Three weeks ago I found out that I'd gained 5lbs in 13 days and thought, "HOLY COW!!!" But the past two weeks I've lost 2lbs. Dr. Goss said this is fine because a lot of times near the very end of pregnancy, the mother's stomach is so small it's hard for her to eat normally, and then there is a lot of nauseousness in some women (like me). So the 2lbs is no big deal.
However, Chloe should be weighing about 6lbs now! :-) And she is probably around 19 in. long! Wow! It's so cool to be able to feel her move. I can feel pretty much her entire body through my belly and get a basic idea of how big she is. It's so strange, but really amazing!
On Wednesday (Oct. 6th) I had my last doctor's appointment. Each visit the doctor will take a measuring tape and measure the distance from the bottom to the top of my uterus. The number of centimeters in length is supposed to equal the number of weeks of pregnancy. On Wednesday I was 36 weeks, 5 days. So I should have measured almost 37 cm from bottom to top. I measured 38 cm! I've been measuring exactly perfect every other visit until now. Dr. Goss was impressed by Chloe's growth spurt! I also got my first cervical exam. :-/ The good and EXCITING news is that I'm already dilated to 1 cm!!! Now I do realize that a person can stay dilated to the same size for a long time and that it doesn't necessarily mean much; but I was so excited just to have SOME progress!!! Especially after Dr. Goss told me not to be surprised if I wasn't dilated at all yet - most women aren't; at least not on their first pregnancy. So, maybe I won't make it to Oct. 29th after all... who knows?! :-D Chloe's heart is doing great also - her HR was 133-150 on Wednesday (perfect)!
David and I are much more prepared for Chloe to come now! For awhile I just had ZERO energy and the house was not ready at all. But I've gained a little more energy lately and David and I have been able to organize and put our house together to accommodate our little baby! The crib is completely assembled and ready to go! The changing table is assembled along with the rocker. (Thank you, Kyle Fire Dept!)
I even have all of her clothes that she will be wearing at first, washed and organized. :-) I can't wait to dress her in them!!
David even finished out our bathroom with new flooring and moved out the not-used tub so that we would have room to put the changing table in there!
My sisters threw an AMAZING baby shower for Chloe and I a few weekends ago! Everything was so perfect and beautiful! Over 60 people were there!! So it was definitely an energy-zapper for them and my parents! But it was so wonderful and such a great memory! My dad and David were great sports and kept everything pretty cleaned up throughout the morning so that the clean up didn't take so long afterwards! I'm so glad so many people were able to attend! It was a lot of fun! I was thinking about it, and besides my mom's baby shower for my youngest sister about 11 years ago, I don't think I've ever been to another baby shower but my own. *surprised* I have to say, AWESOME first experience!! ;-)
We do have one more shower: one the church is throwing for us tomorrow. So I should be able to come home and get everything completely put together after that! I am still struggling with some fatigue but it's not nearly as bad as a few weeks ago! And thanks to my WONDERFUL sister-in-law, the unmanageable mess that was my house is now very much picked up and manageable again! :-D
I hadn't really had any episodes of Braxton Hicks contractions (false contractions) until last Saturday. I've had several since then...a few almost every day. But it's just my body getting ready. And they really aren't too bad. Just make me stop and hold my breath for a second. I've been a little worried that I won't be able to tell when I actually go into labor, but I'm thinking I'll be OK in feeling the difference. I've asked lots of people and read up on the internet so...we'll see.
Sleeping is getting harder and harder. It's VERY difficult to find any comfortable position, and even when I finally do, it's only comfortable for about 3-5 minutes. Poor David probably isn't sleeping well at all with me moving around so much! :-/ And of course I don't sleep as well either. But I guess it'll make adjusting to the baby's lack-of-sleep schedule a little easier. ;-P
David is so cute! (He probably won't appreciate me saying that on here...) But he's definitely getting excited!! He's already figured out the approximate number of shifts he still has to work before Chloe gets here, the number of Awana nights we have left until she's probably here, etc. etc. He wakes up every morning and one of the first things he says to me is, "Guess what?!?! ...only __ more days!!!" :-) The countdown is making the time seem to fly by!
I'm excited too! I just can't wait to meet my daughter!! (It's really weird to hear myself say that - "my daughter"...strange but wonderful!)
"Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is."
-Mark 13:33
