Baby Bump | 37 Weeks

Well, better late than never, I suppose! Still, almost a week? I suck…

I still wrote this update last week, though, so you can keep that only-barely-relevant thought in mind.

I am finally starting to feel the way so many moms and people have warned me I would feel as I approached my due date. I am getting anxious for this baby to be born. I still hold fast to my true desire/belief, which is that Baby Tarchala will be born on either Sept. 17 or 21. I know that is odd, but I just like those days and decided to pick them. I guess it’s me saying “if you’re going to come early, only make it a couple days so daddy doesn’t freak out too much” and “if you’re going to come late, please come before they induce me.”

We finally have the nursery finished!!! There are tiny things that we’re waiting on but they are things I have no control over and will just happen when they happen. We won’t get our glider until mid-September to mid-October so that will be a big thing to finish it off. I also have two images being framed to hang over the crib so when Hobby Lobby gives me the go-ahead I will have those. I also have dreams of making a knit hook-rug for the floor, but that is going to have to be a post-baby project. All other crafts are either supplemental (such as additional burp cloths and blankets and changing pad covers), or for other babies and mommies I know. Those are also things that can wait until post-baby if they need to.

Post-baby. That is one of the huge things on my mind (besides thinking constantly about child-birth and labor). In all these matters I really have no clue what to expect. I feel like I’ve filled my brain with advice and tips and warnings from moms and parents everywhere, but it really doesn’t prepare you that much because every person, situation and baby is so different. So I try to focus on the things I can pretty much depend on. Things like knowing that by the end of this month I will have had a baby, that he will have a name, I will be able to hold his little, swaddled body and touch his tiny fingertips. Whether I have a long, miserable labor or a quick, wondrous one and whether he is a quiet, easy baby or a loud, demanding one, these things will be true and I will love him just as much and be just as happy to have this baby.

Physically, there are other signs that I am ready for this. I basically have given up on bending over, getting up or doing really anything that I don’t want to do. I have essentially settled for laying back and waiting for labor to begin. There are still a few things I MUST accomplish before then, but I am just going to have to try to force them in between naps and  pee-breaks. Here are the victims of my procrastination:

• Choose Pediatrician
• Prepare and freeze some meals
• Finish packing the hospital bag
• Pack up the boxes of garage sale items in our hallway
• Photograph some images for my maternity book
• Clean off my desk

I feel like some of those things will just have to happen at the last minute and some might just not happen (like freezing the meals. We don’t even have room in our freezer, so I’m worried it’s just wishful thinking anyway).

So that’s where we are right now! Stay tuned for week 38! :)

The Bump

Baby’s Size| like a stalk of Swiss chard

How far along | 37 weeks

Sleep | This is primarily a continuation of last week. There is just such a MASS of baby and belly there that gets in the way anytime I want to shift around.

Clothes | I don’t think clothes really even rank right now. I’m mostly happy to have clean clothes to wear and something that keeps me cool.

Cravings | Beth and I were lucky enough to taste a bite of hotdog in the new King’s Hawaiian hot dog buns when we were at Walmart. That means I have been craving hot dogs. SO healthy. Haha. Also we made this amazing apple dip with cream cheese and caramel. I may have indulged a few times.

Food Aversions |  Nope!

Symptoms | The main things have been that I’m sweating like nuts, experiencing joyous twisting sensations in my nethers, and sore feet as I waddle around all day in a cloud of stink. Pregnancy is so pleasant…

Doctor’s Appointment | I promised an update from my first cervix-check appointment, so here you are! (s0 fun) I was almost a 1. Dr. said she guessed the baby was around 7 lbs and head down. Everything is looking good!

Movement | Shifting around in his tiny little home. I get what I call “butt bumps” when he sticks his little booty out the left-front side of my belly. Streeetttcchiinngg.

Belly Button | OUT. Oh it is officially out. Not very pokey, but it is OUT.

Gender | Baby Boy

Best moment of the week | Finishing the baby room and becoming full term!

What I miss | All of the usual.