Thirty-Seven Weeks

Full term, baby! I've made it! No matter what happens now, baby Carlos will not be born a preemie so reaching this milestone is extra special. Not to mention that I've made it to the very last fruit in The Bump's time line. A freaking watermelon, yo.
Sigh. I remember when he was a little poppy seed, a blueberry, an orange and so on. Now? A gigantor melon resting in my belly. Excuse me while I get a little sentimental here.

And somebody had another growth spurt by the looks of these weekly photos:





From above:


This past week has been more of the same and most of my updates were in my last post, if you care to review. HOWEVER, one other fun fact? Those contractions I mentioned are a lot more frequent than I thought. Nate even noticed one randomly as he rubbed my belly the other night and was all, 'Woah, dude. Why is your stomach rock hard?' and I was all, 'I'm pretty sure that's a contraction and they happen all of the time now.'

So I used Contraction Master to time the bad boys on Sunday morning for awhile and they ranged from 30 to 90 seconds long each, with 4 to 8 minute rests in between. They are not painful at all but my whole gut tightens up and then releases. Do you think these are still Braxton Hicks contractions? I do. But just in case it's something I need to be more serious about I printed off an hour's worth of timed contractions for my OB to peep at my appointment on Monday. Remember, this is the one where she will do another internal and figure out a game plan now that I'm full term. The good news is that my urine results came back and are still normal so I do not have pre-eclampsia yet, still just 'pregnancy induced hypertension.' I'm guessing she won't jump the gun with induction this week because my labs are still good and I'd be she'd wait until the 38 week mark at the earliest now. But perhaps my body has other plans with these contractions, huh?

Another fun happening this week: my fifth and final baby shower. This is the part where I mention yet again how incredibly blessed Nate and I are to have such supportive and caring people in our lives. My mother-in-law threw us this shower and it was filled with friends and family and fun. And lots of food:) I can honestly say that there isn't anything else we NEED for this baby, maybe just a few more things to get but we are more than ready for baby boy to arrive as far as gear goes.










My cousin-in-law, Michelle, let letting me borrow their 50mm f/1.4 lens for a bit and I'm ALL over snapping pictures of this adorable little man: Erin's Henry. So far I like the lens a lot! Still not sure if I want to buy my own or not, but I totally want one of these little guys for myself:)



What a fun weekend! I'm totally exhausted after being so social all day long but it was worth it, of course. Everyone was predicting that I'll have the baby in the next week by my serious nesting syndrome and contractions. Did I mention that I made labels for the drawers in the nursery? Yeah. It's bad.

I truly hope that my doctor's appointment on Monday yields good news, as in my internal exam shows at least some signs of dilation. I feel a bit 'off' today as I write this, just different somehow, like either I'm going to catch a cold or drop a kid in the next few days:) I can't sleep at night and even napping has proved more difficult lately. Something is happening with this body and it's really started to hit me that these might be our last days without baby boy on the outside!

So 37 weeks: full term, finished with baby showers, and looking extremely pregnant with a few contractions to prove it:)

_____________________________________________
Update Monday evening after appointment:

Well, no news is always good news. BP still the same, non-stress test still showing baby boy kicking up a storm, haven't gained any weight since this ordeal started at 34 weeks (whoo hoo!), and.....not dilated. I was bummed but my OB assured me that doesn't mean much, as many women won't dilate at all until the day of labor. She liked that I've had practice contractions because that is definitely a good sign of things to come. And so, I return on Thursday....no talks of induction yet, no changing work plans, just more of the same. I'll take it as a good appointment!

Oh, and I feel less 'off' today and more like my norm. I think I was just exhausted after a crummy night's sleep and the shower yesterday because I made it a full 8 hours at work treating patients the whole time so things are still going well! Now I'm trying to get used to the idea of having a few more weeks possibly....we shall see. One day at a time...