Week 38

It is officially March and I am having a baby this month!

I am a day behind on this post which means only 13 days until Alexandra's due date! Friday was my last day of work until June. It was very surreal to leave my classroom knowing someone else will be teaching my students for the next three months! I am looking forward to having a few days of me time starting with a prenatal massage today and a pedicure on Monday! I started an online pool for people to guess her arrival date and time. Here is the link: ExpectNet!

About Baby: At 38 weeks, Alexandra is almost ready to make her grand entrance into the world. Most of what is happening amounts to last minute details like shedding skin protective substances (vernix and lanugo), adding fat and fine tuning brain cells. Many resources that I read talk about baby dropping, but she is still high. My mom said I never dropped before the day of my birth, so we will see what happens with Alexandra.

How am I feeling? Okay. I have been really tired by the end of the work day. In the evening, I have been feeling lots of Braxton Hicks contractions - the practice ones. They don't hurt, but they do make it hard to breathe. I have been feeling some pain in my lower back that I think is related to Alexandra being "sunny side up." This means her spine is to my spine so she is pressing on it. Hopefully she will turn around before birth to make it much easier to get the shoulders through. Thankfully she is head down and has been that way for several weeks! The numbness in my hands continues to bother me. It is worse on my right side than my left. In fact as I type this my right hand is numb all the way to the elbow! The coughing is still bothering me, although it is better since starting the Zantac twice a day. Perhaps the doctor was right and it is acid reflux.

Movement: Alexandra has been a squirmy baby this week, which is a good thing. I can't really do kick counts but as long as I feel her move a lot, I know she is fine. On Monday at the non-stress test she was moving so much that it kept messing with the monitor. As I said in my previous post (Baby Shower #3), it might have had something to do with the red velvet cupcake mommy had at lunch.

Updates: I had an OB appointment on Thursday and was down a pound so am at a net gain of 15 pounds right now....and it is almost all baby and related items!! I have not made any progress in terms of dilation or effacement so he thinks it will be at least a week before I meet her.

Food: I had a major craving for Mexican food from a local restaurant called Los Primos on Tuesday. I had rolled tacos which tasted so good. I have not had that overwhelming of a craving for anything in a long time. I made sure to take some Mylanta with my lunch to divert the heartburn.I am starting to think about foods that I have not had in 9 months, but that I will soon be able to eat again - like a rare roast beef deli sandwich and bacon!

Prepping for Baby: On Thursday we had our second child birth class. While it was interesting and we learned some things, neither of us thought it was worth the full price they normally charge. Due to the instructor being sick and cutting the class time in half, we only paid $20 instead of the usual $75. The instructor was very nice, but she got off on tangents a lot.

I would like to spend some time this week making some meals that we can freeze and then easily cook in the days right after delivery. This would include some crock pot recipes.

This Coming Week: I have non stress tests Tuesday and Friday, an OB appointment Thursday and a prenatal massage planned for today.

Bump Photos: Here is a comparison of Week 32 and Week 38 wearing the same clothes. There is definitely a difference that 6 weeks has made! I now really feel like I swallowed a basketball!

32 Weeks                                                                                          38 Weeks