Week 37

Baby is now the size of a Watermelon... that just seems a bit impossible in my mind!
Good thing God doesn't rely on the ability of my mind to process things!

I sure don't feel like I'm carrying a Watermelon...
The doctor says I am carrying deep in my ribcage though, so maybe that's why.
And baby has definitely dropped some.
I can't really tell by just looking, but I can feel the effects of her dropping, ie. leg cramps, back pain.

Abby is approx 18.9 to 20.9 inches long and 6.2 to 9.2 pounds.
At my appt on Friday the nurse said that based on the fact that she's dropped and she's measuring to size, she's most likely high 6 to low 7 right now. But she should be gaining 1/2 an ounce a day, so who knows how big she'll get. The nurse said it's likely that she'll be around high 7 to low 8. Nothing is for sure, so who knows how big she'll actually be.

TheBump says that she's getting her first sticky poop ready, and she's practicing all those life skills she'll need like blinking, sucking, inhaling and exhaling, and gripping!


Me:

• Heartburn still sucks! It seems to have come back with a vengeance the last few weeks. It's awful! I have to really make sure that I do not overeat at any meal... which basically means... don't eat a normal sized meal, eat way less... which is really hard to do considering my love affair with food! 
• With this stupid weather acting up the way it is, my allergies have been going crazy. I typically take an allergy pill every night, but now I've been having to bump that up to twice a day now. It's thoroughly irritating! 
• My belly is continuing to stretch still, it's itchy quite often... so we're going through another little growth spurt. And b/c of this, it's increasingly clear that she is running out of room in there. Her movements have gone from kicks to more of really huge rolls and twists, it is the craziest thing to feel! I love it! I love to just watch my belly as she's doing her acrobatic twists and turns inside. 
• My back is finally beginning to feel the pain of lugging around this watermelon. It's not too bad, but every so often it just feels really sore. 
• I am getting leg cramps every so often, I'm assuming from her dropping and my hips trying to deal with the new pressure. 
• I'm having to pee like crazy, all the time. But I'm trying to chug that water to make sure that I'm not swelling too much, and just b/c it's what I should be doing, drinking a LOT of water. And, I want to avoid being hooked up to an IV so badly that I'm trying to make sure that I am super hydrated. (btw, I am aware of the risks of not being hooked up to an IV, therefore I am asking to have a hep-loc in case of emergency. The hep-loc is where they still hook you up, and your hand is all ready to go, they just don't actually hook it up to anything else. But in case of emergency, you're already set up and can easily be hooked up to whatever they need to hook you up to). I am very much into having as much mobility as possible, and being hooked up to an IV will just be an extra thing in the way. 
• I'm still not experiencing any braxton-hicks contractions, and everything is going as smooth as ever.

Dr. Appt.

• The nurse said that everything is looking great. I still did not gain any weight. In fact, I actually lost 3 ounces... I'm not really sure how that is possible considering the fact that at the women's retreat I stuffed my belly full of food and threw caution to the wind! O well, I'm not gunna argue! ahaha! 
• Abby is measuring right on schedule; still 37 like last week
• She's still in the correct position, head down. The nurse said she's as far down as she's going to get until I go into labor.
• She said my urine and blood pressure look great.
• I'm still a little anemic, and need to continue taking my iron pills.
• The BEST news of the week: the GBS test came back negative! The test is a Group B Step test; they are testing for bacteria that is found in about 25% of all pregnant women. It is non-symptomatic, meaning that we will never have symptoms and know we actually carry the bacteria. But, if the baby contracts the bacteria upon delivery, it can be very serious, and therefore all pregnant women are tested. If the test comes back positive, you are hooked up to antibiotics throughout labor and delivery. This of course would hinder my desire for mobility, so I have been praying and praying that this test would come back negative! 
• The nurse really didn't have much to say b/c everything looks so wonderful.
• The nurse said that I'm at Term now (37 weeks is term, and 40 weeks is full-term); But she said that I don't have that "look," and therefore I'll probably be seeing her next week for my next appt. haha. Not that she can predict, but it was cute. 

Progress:

Sorry for the blurriness- it was a combination of the camera phone and the rain