Thirty Seven Weeks

What Baby is Doing:

Measuring up
"Gaining a little weight every day helps me get ready for the big day." It's likely that your baby is more than 19 inches long and weighs between 6 and 6.5 pounds, nearing her final birth weight. These last few weeks are important, though; she's still gaining half an ounce of fat per day. This fat helps her body regulate her temperature and keep an even blood-sugar level. The brain, and the skull that houses it, continue to grow.

Ease on down
Is your baby sitting lower these days? You may feel as if she's dropped down into your pelvis—and perhaps she has. This dropping, called lightening or engagement, can occur a few weeks before your baby is born. The new, lower position may take some pressure off your squished lungs and diaphragm, making breathing easier for you.

What Mommy is Doing:

Bag it!
Have you packed a bag for the hospital yet? Only 5 percent of babies are born on their actual due date, so it's handy to have a packed bag waiting by the door in case your little one comes early.

Close scrutiny
Your health care provider may start performing pelvic exams at your weekly prenatal visits around now. She will check to see if your cervix is dilated (opening up) or effaced (thinning) and will look for any signs of labor. Many women start to dilate or efface weeks before actually going into labor, while some don't show any signs of labor until it's time to go to the hospital.

Waiting Game

Everyone keeps reminding me that Squirt could be here any day now, but I just can’t seem to believe it.

Am I in denial?

I’m reading childcare books and breastfeeding books and sleep training books.

I try to imagine myself with a deflated belly and a baby in a sling.

I try to imagine Chris holding Sqirt in another room.

I try to imagine not being at work on a Tuesday morning.

It just doesn’t seem real to me.

Will I ever be ready?

How long will we wait to find out?

Between a Rock and a Gallstone

Chris had a doctor appointment this morning and we learned that the pain he has been having is either a result of acid reflux or gallstones.

Of course, we have fixated on the possibility that he could have gallstones, which would require outpatient surgery. This normally wouldn’t be such an ordeal, except for the fact that we are having a baby at any minute and Chris has had adverse reactions to general anesthesia in the past.

It’s amazing how having a baby suddenly makes you acutely aware of your own mortality.

Personally, I feel empowered in knowing that I can finally support Chris as he has done for me during the past nine months of this pregnancy. He always assumes the role of provider and protector and I like to have an opportunity to show him every once in a while that I’m willing to take care of him, too. Maybe just to reassure him that he doesn’t have to carry the weight of the entire world on his shoulders because I am here to share that burden with him.

Although that probably won’t make Chris feel any better because he will be faced with possible complications of surgery, recovery time, time off of work, and allowing me to take care of him.

In all honesty, this is the most ideal time for Chris to have surgery if he needs it. I will be home from work on maternity leave and will be able to take care of him and keep him company while he recovers. I suppose God already thought of that…

Let’s just pray that it’s acid reflux.

Snow Baby

Our mild winter is over.

It is officially zero degrees with a -23 degree windchill.

Over 645 schools in Northeast Ohio are closed today.

And Squirt has been practicing for birth!

I’ve been having Braxton Hicks contractions all weekend and I’m slowly losing my mucous plug.

Chris is so excited that he can’t even sleep. He was sure that the cramps and back pain that I was feeling last night were the first signs of labor. He was really hoping to stay home from work today and have a baby.

Hurry up, Squirt, Daddy is waiting for you!