Thirty-Seven Weeks: "Things are not the same"

KarenD's baby blog has been a source for all things pregnento these past nine months. I check up on my belly progress compared to hers, on my aches and pains, etc. I hadn't read it in a few weeks, but I remembered a post entitled, "Things are not the same," and I thought, "Boy, that sure would describe me lately." And sure enough, that was the title of her 36-week update!

And though everyone's pregnancy is different, mine does seem to be following a similar pattern as Karen's. I've already mentioned that this week my feet have gotten swollen...not bad, but it doesn't go down no matter how much I put my feet up, drink water, or even wait it out overnight. They seem to be happy in their swollen state, and I expect they'll stay that way until Caleb comes. Sunday evening I noticed that my ring wouldn't come off very easily, either. Today that's better, which is good.

On Saturday, I vowed to knock out as much Christmas shopping as I could. After a photo shoot at 9am, I headed home, gathered coupons, and hit the stores. I didn't come back home until 4pm! However, by the time I'd left the second store, I felt VERY tired...almost shaky! I called Jon to meet me for lunch. By the time we got together (one store and three gifts later!), I was walking pretty slowly and sat for as long as I could. I've never been a big shopper, but I couldn't believe how quickly I'd tired out! When I got home, I felt very accomplished and very pooped. I napped while dinner was cooking, and I took a nice long nap Sunday afternoon. I think it's something I'll be incorporating into my daily routine, if I can.

Speaking of napping, maybe the worst pregnancy ailment so far is that I've become a SNORER!! I have NEVER snored, except when sick or really really tired. Jon doesn't snore either, so we enjoy a nice quiet sleep time. Not any more, evidently! The first night Jon suffered through it, and went off to take a mid-term the next morning sleep-deprived. The next night he moved to the couch for a little bit, but the couch was not made for a 6'4" sleeper, so he eventually came back. Tuesday night I slept on the couch, and all was bliss. It may be a standing arrangement for awhile.

But really, how embarrassing. A friend of mine said it was inevitable since pregnant women gain weight so quickly, and we also deal with more sinus stuff. I tried those nose strips. They are pretty neat, and at first I thought it was great, but I woke up the next morning with the inside of my nose feeling chapped, I guess because I'd opened it all up to the cold air. And now I think I've got a cold, and I'm blaming it on the nose strip. I'm taking some cold medicine, so maybe that will help with the snoring, too. In the meantime, it's the couch for me!

Also on my shopping trip I picked out a couple of nursing bras. I hope they'll work okay and I get the hang of the little snaps pretty quickly. It's disappointing how little variety there is in nursing bras, but I was pleased that there was at least some variety. I came away with a beige bra with light pink accents, which was about as "designed" as they come. All the others were solid black, white, or beige.

On Tuesday I took the carseat to the hospital, where they installed it for me. The experience was a little bit of a letdown overall. First, the safest spot in the car for the carseat is the back middle seat. I quickly realized there was no way it would fit back there and still allow Jon to drive or even ride in the car. So, we had to move it to the passenger side back seat. Now Jon can drive, but the front passenger seat is scooted up so far that my knees almost touch the glove compartment. And babies have to be in carseats for how long??

Then the lady installing the seat for me highly recommended I not use the car protector pad I'd gotten, because it had not been safety tested and approved. Okay...that's fine.... She also said no to the head positioner I'd gotten and the baby bunting for cold days. We'll just have to see about those. I'm sure they're fine. But guess what IS safety approved?? Pool noodles! Yep, they used pool noodles stuffed between the carseat and the seat to get everything at the proper angle. Isn't that weird! She showed me how to put the baby in the carseat and that was pretty much that!

Tuesday night I decided to start packing my hospital bag. All I did was add a few toiletries to my toiletry bag. And I went through Caleb's clothes and picked out all the newborn sizes. There are about 8 outfits, so I'll pick a couple from those to take to the hospital with us, and leave the others in an easily-accessible spot for when we all come home.

I can't believe we're already at the point of doing this kind of stuff!

At 37 weeks, Caleb has officially made it to full-term. His lungs and everything else should be fully-functional if he were born today! Baby Center estimates his weight to be about 6 1/3 pounds, and length to be 19 inches.

And that, my friends, is the update!