36 Weeks!

Today marks my 36th week! One more week until I am considered full term. Woohoo! Man, this has felt like a LOOOONGGG pregnancy for some reason. My appointment on Thursday went great. Blood pressure was "perfect", urine was clear and baby girl actually cooperated for the NST-which meant I was only hooked up 20-30 minutes. A new record. Normally she's moving so much they lose the trace and I spend about an hour hooked up! I have another appointment tomorrow for my 36 week check....which includes the works: pelvic exam to check for strep B, standard blood work, ultrasound and NST monitoring. It's going to be a long one! Guess I need to get to shaving tonight. Which, by the way, is getting much trickier now. Nothing like going at yourself with a razor blindly because the belly is too big to see anything....

This being 98% my last pregnancy, it has been kind of bittersweet. Mostly, I want it to be over so I can hold my baby girl and put fertility issues behind me. But then, I was thinking about how much I would miss the kicking and squirming  and hiccuping....all those sensations of growing a baby inside of oneself. It actually made me a bit melancholy. So I made a list of the things I can do once I'm no longer preggo to make myself feel better.

1. Indulge in a few...ahem...adult beverages
2. Eat cold cuts and SUBS!!!! I've told everyone that they need to bring me a Danny's Favorite sub before they are granted access to my hospital room.
3. Eat brie
4. Eat medium rare meat again
5. Not have to worry about everything I put in my mouth and wonder if it will affect the baby (i.e. diet coke etc)
6. Enjoy a big iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts
7. Not have to visit the doctor so dang much!
8. Hot baths!!!
9. Go in the hot tub
10. Go in the hot tub with an adult beverage (deserved its own category)!
11. Not having to cross my legs when I cough or sneeze (hopefully)
12. Not having to pee every 30 minutes
13. Being able to sleep on my stomach and back again!!!!
14. No more acid reflux keeping me up at night!
15. No more random nausea
16. Appetite will come back (although this may be counterproductive to my fitness/health goals)
17. Can work on getting the body that I want

BUT there are also upsides to pregnancy. I mean, of course there's the baby at the end and feeling her move inside me and being pregnant after fighting so long for it....butttttt....

Pregnancy has also given me super clear skin and the metabolism of a 14 year old boy! I will GREATLY miss both those things!!!!

So here's to another week of not having Pre-E. Continuing to pray for a safe delivery for little Hayden and myself.....