39 Weeks, 2 Days

Oh boy. More strong contractions that are inconsistent. Not helped by the snow storm that's suddenly forecast for our neck of the woods tomorrow! 12 inches! That's certainly not helping my stress level.

Dad arrives in an hour! He'll be here for 3 weeks or so to be a helping hand with our little one. Doctor thinks our little guy might come this weekend! We can't wait. :)

38 Weeks

Full term! And with no sign of labor happening any time soon. We had our weekly checkup today and baby is looking good. Strong heartbeat, and measurements make it look like he's moving lower. Also that he isn't a giant baby. I'm happy to hear that, although I suppose we won't know that for sure until he comes out.

With the thought of "a watched pot never boils"... I'm trying not to be impatient. Key word there being "trying." I'm also trying to keep my emotions in check and not succumb to random feelings like I'm going to cry. Craziness!

I just have to cross the last few things off my pre-baby list, enjoy one-on-one time with my husband and relax!

37 Weeks, 1 Day

Baby will be here soon! Just what "soon" means is anyone's guess though. I have to remember that even if the baby waits until our due date (or if the doctors have to get their induction on at one week after the due date), he's less than 4 weeks away! The last 4 weeks have blow by, and while I think the next 4 will take f-o-r-e-v-e-r, I know they won't.

Baby feels a lot heavier lately. We had our 37 week checkup yesterday and all is well with our little guy. He gave our doctor a big smile by poking out of my belly at all angles, showing off his mad elbows and heels and maybe trying to give her a high five. He is quite the flirt already! My cervix, on the other hand, isn't playing nice. Ha! I'm still shut. Thinning but basically shut. I'm a "Cheerio"... so we have a long way to go dilation-wise.

I'm trying to bask in our family-of-two status and enjoy quiet time. I'll enjoy it more when I can get more solid sleep (even if it's in short bursts). And when my hips don't ache so much.

Only getting more excited every day. :)

36 Weeks, 3 Days

Hello early labor! This is only enjoyable if it means that labor is imminent. Unfortunately it doesn't. We were at the hospital for a few hours yesterday, but no cervical change so hope we went. (We'd also gone in because little one was sluggish and not moving around as much as normal. His movements picked up late in the afternoon so we were cleared to head home.) I'm still contracting regularly, but nothing of stronger intensity than I was feeling yesterday. When the resident said early labor, I asked the nurse what that meant. She said it means my body is practicing for active labor, but real labor could start in 2 hours, 2 days or 2 weeks. Let's hope it isn't 2 weeks, as long as baby is ready. I'm not due for 3.5 weeks. If we're not close, I hope the contractions ease/cease. Only time will tell!

36 Weeks

I'm feeling much better today! I hate the whininess I've been rocking lately. I assume my emotional swings are due -- at least in part -- to me being tired or not eating enough/the right foods. A nap is already planned for later today!

We installed our car seat bases today and had them checked out by WHPD. I had just purchased two seat protectors to go under the car seats -- and those were vetoed by the officer. Guess I'll be returning those today! Safety of the baby matters more to me than what happens to our seats, so I have no problem taking those back to the store.

35 Weeks, 6 Days

I'm ready to have this baby! I'm tired a lot, I'm emotional out of nowhere all of a sudden (while I know hubby goes to work on Monday mornings, for some reason this week that was reason enough to cry on Sunday), and I'm uncomfortable. Sleep doesn't come easy. It's like I went from 60 mph to zero -- feeling awesome to suddenly not feeling so awesome. I feel sort of bad because it's not that I want him out so I can hold him and love on him... it's so he's no longer causing a ruckus inside my belly! While I can't wait for him to be here -- I might be more excited for him just not to be IN here anymore. Is that bad?

I just want everything from here on out to go as smoothly as it has thus far. Baby is healthy and seems to be doing all the right things and measuring all the right ways at every visit, and that's what matters most. If baby is ready to come, I'm ready to have him. Every day I get more and more ready, packing things, cleaning things, all that good stuff. My sister is due next week and after some preterm issues of her own, she's still pregnant! She'll be induced next Wednesday if the baby hasn't come on its own. I'm jealous of her due date! Haha :) If her little one hasn't come yet, I suppose there's no reason to think mine will come early either. We'll see! When we were having our preterm contractions, it was her idea to tell the little ones that the competition was who stayed in the longest -- I wouldn't mind losing! (As long as baby is healthy and ready, of course.)

Time to go rest my eyes a bit...