37 weeks

Woo! Three weeks to go. I'm at what they used to consider full term, but the terms have changed recently. I believe it's now early term, and actual full term isn't until 39 weeks. But Baby Heartbeat's organs are all developed, and it would likely do just fine if it was born now. I had lots of Braxton Hicks this morning, but I also drank a big cup of red raspberry leaf tea, so that's probably why.

I've been doing my evening primrose oil and easy birthing formula again. I think that helped with my labor with Ruby. It really feels like it's getting close now. There's so much to do still though! Which brings me to talking about the second worst week ever (last week was officially the worst). After we got home from the hospital with Ruby, Andy and I went to birthing class with Amy, our doula on Monday night. That ended up being great. We got to practice mock labor, which I really think will help as far as getting mentally prepared for birth. The bad news is that I started getting sick on Wednesday. And I mean really sick. Thankfully I didn't get the fever that Andy and Ruby both had, but I'm so congested at this point that my face just hurts. My sinuses are completely clogged on my left side, which is very painful. I took a Tylenol tonight to try to relieve it, and I think that has helped, but I can't really take much else. Andy's still really sick too and has a nasty cough that won't go away. Needless to say, our house is a disaster since neither of us has any energy to keep it clean right now. And having a toddler around doesn't really help with the messes. :)

In other news, I had my midwife appointment on Wednesday. I thought I had been having low iron and that's why I've been tired and out of breath, but it turns out my blood pressure is just really low. I think it was 88/56 or something, which is really low even for me. They said to take Bragg's Liquid Aminos every day and that should help. I'll get some at the health food store tomorrow while Andy's at the dentist. We haven't gotten out all week, so that's why I haven't gotten it yet. Hopefully that will help. It's really bad in the mornings and I have no energy and am light headed usually. Pregnancy is tough.

I also think that my stomach muscle on the left side has been tearing or something. It hurts really bad in this one spot, and that happens to be where Baby Heartbeat's bottom is all the time. Ug. I'll just have to deal with it and hopefully it will get better after it's born. Can't really do much about it now. I'm doing my Group B Strep test at my appointment this Wednesday. I'm hoping it's negative and maybe they'll check to see if I'm dilated at all. I think last time I was dilated to 1cm or something at this point, and was about the same until I went into labor. So it doesn't really mean anything yet. The baby will be here soon!

Changes this week: I'm getting really huge. And sleeping horribly because of being sick, but otherwise not too uncomfortable in bed. That's been nice. I've had to pee at night way less this time than last time. I think I drink more water in the morning and not as much at night.

Cravings this week: I can't taste a thing right now because of my congestion, so even if I was craving something I probably couldn't satisfy it. :(

Link to Ruby's 37 week post