35 Weeks

12/21/11

This week Big Baby is about 5 ¼ pounds and is over 18 inches long. It just has some more fat to put on before it’s ready to be born, hopefully sometime in the next 5-6 weeks  We’re getting so excited! I’ve been majorly nesting with huge to-do lists every night when I get home. Andy’s been great about helping me get stuff done. The only frustrating thing to me is being at work and not being able to check things off my list.

We had our midwife home visit this morning. We’re getting supplies ready for the birth, and hopefully we’ll pick up the birthing tub this weekend. As of today, I can officially give birth at home (until 43 weeks).

We’ve been working on our baby names. We’ve had a girl name picked out for a long time, but the decision on a boy name remains difficult. We said we’d have our names picked out by Christmas, so we have a few days still to decide. There are a lot of funny guesses as far as names on our baby pool (bebepool.com/jillcpullen)  I really doubt we’ll name the baby Hermeker or Festis.

This weekend is Christmas! We’re heading down to see my family on Friday, and then we’ll come back up on Monday. It will be fun to see everybody. I’m anticipating lots of comments on my belly from people at my parents’ church. It’s kind of strange that we’re celebrating our last Christmas with just us in our family. We’re excited that we’re going to have a baby to share Christmas with next year.

The night before last I dreamt that our doctor friend Guesly had an ultrasound machine on his phone and he scanned my belly. Then he and his wife Sara knew what the gender of our baby was, and she told me that it was a girl. I told her not to tell anyone and I wouldn’t tell Andy in the dream. That was the first gender dream I’ve had about this baby. Every time I dream about it it’s just a baby, not a boy or girl. Andy keeps dreaming that it’s a boy… so we’ll see!

Changes this week: I’ve been having major hip pain in both hips by the morning. Getting up and walking on the treadmill or doing yoga helps. Last night I curled around my pregnancy pillow and made a cushion for my hip and slept on top of that with another pillow between my knees. That seemed to help, so I might just have to do that for the next month. Also, the baby has been pushing all of my organs around so much that my stomach is way high. When I drink anything and then bend at all, it gurgles really loud  It’s kind of funny. I’m still feeling good overall at 35 weeks! I’m excited about that. I have little to no swelling and mostly only weight gain in my belly area. I’m really liking pregnancy!