35 & 36 Week Update!

We are officially three weeks away from meeting our sweet baby girl!! We are so ready, so calm, and so excited to welcome her whenever she decides to make her debut. I honestly can't believe how little time we have left and definitely will miss being pregnant (even though life is sweeter on the other side)! Despite the rough first trimester, painful varicose veins and uncomfortable compression hose, acid reflux at night, and the other normal aches and pains of pregnancy, I really do love being pregnant. Ten months is such a short amount of time in the grand scheme of life and I love having the responsibility of carrying a baby -  something I might only experience two or three times in my life. I love knowing exactly where she is at all times...safe and sound in my belly! Here is a quick update on how I'm feeling:

How Far Along: 36 weeks!

Size of Baby: baby is supposed to be gaining about an ounce a day. She now weighs approximately 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long - about the size of a head of lettuce!

Development: Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath.

How I'm Feeling: Overall, I'm still feeling really great! Don't get me wrong, there have been a couple days of pain and no energy, but I feel like I'm doing awesome this close to meeting baby girl. Ethan and I have been walking two miles in the mornings about six days a week. I definitely try and lay down at least once during the day while Ethan naps - most days I can catch a quick nap for about 30 minutes and feel somewhat refreshed when I wake up. Baby girl's movements have become very intense and last week was the first time we could see an actual body part moving across my stomach...so weird. Dr. Stowell was able to confirm (because of the way she's laying) that it's her elbow/arm and it just protrudes out of the right side of my stomach when she moves. She throws a pretty good jab too! While she's pretty active all day, I can always count on her dancing in my belly around 8pm and then very active from 10-11pm.

I'm certainly feeling the emotional hormones creeping up on me too =) I'm starting to feel maybe a little overwhelmed with all that's about to change. I think I'm good at accepting change, but probably am on the slower side of adjusting to it. Even when it's good change, change is change and it's just different. Life will be different. It's not just me, Eric, and Ethan anymore. I've spent 22 months with just my little man and now it's about to be plus one! I'm sure I'll have a more emotional post on that later, but I have felt a little more 'weepy' than usual lately =)

Cravings/Aversions: Last weekend, I had to have angel food cake with strawberries. As soon as I put Ethan down for bed, I headed to Kroger to pick up my impulsive craving. It lived up to all my expectations! After the angel cake was gone, I moved on to strawberry shortcakes. I literally bought three pints of strawberries in four days. Wow. Another random thing is I never drink Gatorade or flavored water...I actually really dislike stuff like that. Eric had a bottle of blue Gatorade the other day and it's been like heaven on earth. Last time I was at the grocery I stocked up on a couple bottles...but just the blue kind. I did this with Ethan too - spent one or two weeks drinking flavored water which is sooo not like me, but it tasted good at the time!


9 months!

35 Weeks w/Ethan and Baby #2!

9 Months w/Ethan and Baby #2!