Littlest Miss - 36 Weeks

Somehow, another week got a way from us -- although the last week has been BUSY -- packing, two days of vacation, my sprinkle, visits from grandparents, two days of work, and now another day off.  Wow, I live a rough life, huh?  Figure I better live it up the next 4 weeks until Littlest Miss comes!  So with that, here's the 36 week bump date.

Size of Baby: Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long (about the size of a head of romaine lettuce). 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. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered "early term." (Full-term is 39 to 40 weeks. Babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term, 41 weeks is late term, and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely your baby is already head-down. But if not, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an external cephalic version (ECV). That's a fancy way of saying that your practitioner will apply pressure to your abdomen to try to manipulate your baby into a head-down position.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: At this mornings appointment, I was up 12 lbs.  Figured I'd gained some weight has baby girl is clearly growing and I may have had to very yummy meals this week (Spoon & III Forks!)

Maternity Clothes: Ugh, I have no cloths.  Thankfully, I am in single digits of work days, so somehow I'll make it work -- pretty impressive given that I only bought one pair of maternity pants, a pair of maternity jeans, two dresses and a handful of tops.  Cannot wait to have my full closet back at my disposal.  Although who am I joking, I'll be living in yoga gear for the next four months or so.

Gender: More pink and tu-tus.  Another sweet baby GIRL! 

Movement:  24 hour dance parties.  I hope this is not indicative of this child not needing sleep in the future.  Some of the movement is painful, but I'll definitely miss it!  At least she is still head down and in the right position.

Food Cravings:  Nothing really.  I did randomly buy sweet tea this week, and WHOA it was sweet, but oh so good!  Continue to crave gatorade as well. 

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach.  Seriously, its the little things. 

Sleep: Still cannot get enough.  I've been averaging 8+ hours of dead-to-the-world sleep, and still wake up exhausted.  Thankfully, if I wake up in the middle of the night, I end up going right back to sleep.

Symptoms: Ugh, back pain almost all the time.  BH contractions if I sit to long.  But otherwise nothing -- wedding rings still on and loose!

Best Moment this week:  My sprinkle!  I am so blessed by so many sweet people in our lives!  Now if only I had remembered to take pictures.  Thankfully, the grandmas did! 

Second best moment of the week was my doctor's appointment today -- there's been no progress to date, which  makes this Momma excited -- especially with the Husband out of town today and tomorrow!!

What I am looking forward to:  Just enjoying the last few weeks as a family of 3.  Meeting her.  Introducing Littlest Miss to Little Miss and hopefully moving into the house before all of this happens.