Week 36

So it's week 36. Or 37, depending on how you look at it.

You've all read my rants about due dates, so I won't go back into that again, However, there are some very important milestones in pregnancy. Today is one of them: According to the charts held by my midwife, I am now 37 weeks pregnant. Which means baby can be born at home.

I don't know why I have been concerned about this so much. I never really worried about that with any of the boys. Yet, I have had a feeling this little one might come early, and as I mentioned a few weeks back, with my friend Teri having little Rowan at 28 weeks, it's just been on my mind the whole time. Honestly, our hospital experience wasn't a total nightmare when Athan was born - I still had a totally natural, intervention free birth. That's a rare thing in hospitals these days. But I had to fight for it, even in the short 2 hours from arriving until he was born. Add to that the battle to get OUT of the hospital, which included me signing him out AMA (Against medical advice), and those are the things I really do NOT want to have to repeat. Bottom line: I am VERY grateful that from this point on, baby will be born at home. Most likely in my bathroom in the birth pool that was delivered last week.

Which is a very good thing, as for the past two days I have been having pretty much non-stop contractions. They aren't the painless Braxton Hicks that women get throughout pregnancy, but they are pretty mild so far. Aside from the crampy, aching sensation in my back I can mostly just keep moving and doing whatever I am doing while they do their job of getting my body started in the birthing process. In reality, women can have these kinds of mild but useful contractions for weeks at a time before baby comes. In my experience, I tend to do about 3 days of these before kicking into full blown labor. Which would have tomorrow be bay's birthday. I mentioned last week I REALLY want to stay pregnant through Thanksgiving, but if baby has other plans I can't exactly argue.  Well, I can argue all I want actually, but little good will it do me! Oh, and yes, they are continuing today. Just had to stop typing to pay attention to that one!

Blood sugar levels continue to be good - I'm not testing them very often now, just when I feel 'off' and want to see what's going on. Which is a good thing because those test strips are EXPENSIVE!!!! I've been very good (Santa, bring me an extra present?), eating mostly every 2-2.5 hours, lots of high energy carbs & protein. I don't feel like I am getting the most balanced diet at the moment, because I am eating the same few things over and over again. But hey, if it's working it's working, and I only have a few weeks left of needing these restrictions.

I had a pretty big burst of nesting energy yesterday - I felt the need to either clean the entire house, or find a project to keep me occupied. I ended up painting the hall bathroom. The white walls all over the house were really getting to me. Actually it's the dirty fingerprints all over the white walls that were getting to me. I figured one less space for dirty fingerprints would be nice, plus I generally don't like white walls anyway. I was able to use paint we had on hand, so no expense to the project either. It came out very nice - copper & green, bright but subdued by the copper. I kept the bathroom fan on the whole time so the fumes were pretty minimal. I am glad that Thanksgiving madness starts today, though, otherwise I might end up painting my bedroom today...

It's going to be a busy 36th week. I will be leaving the house around 2 today - I get to start off the craziness with a massage from Kristen at Salt Lake Prenantal Massage. For now, I'll have her stay away from labor triggering pressure points ;). Then it's off to pick up my Grandma from the airport, take her to dinner, and get her settled at her hotel. Tonight, Mom, Jesse, and my awesome nephews arrive. Tomorrow, Dad gets into town; Thursday it's Jeremy & his new wife, Meghan. The turkey is defrosting, the groceries are getting picked up by Craig today. I plan to do a LOT of sitting & chopping vegetables while everyone else does the big work. I am so grateful to be able to be with my family this year. Thanksgiving is a big deal with my Dad's side of the family in particular. Last year I cried because no one was here & I couldn't even reach a single family member by phone for a couple of hours. I can't imagine dealing with that in my pregnant, hormonal state ;). I am happy that this year I will be surrounded by members of my extended family. I just keep telling baby s/he will get to meet them all soon enough, so STAY PUT for another week, will ya?!