36 weeks....Baby D is free to come whenever :-)

How Far Along: 

36 weeks

Due Date: 

June 13^th, 2013 (ish), though for whatever reason I keep thinking this baby is going to be coming sooner.  Maybe that is just me trying to make sure I am prepared, lol.  Braxton Hicks contractions increased in the 36^th week so maybe that’s a good sign.

Weight gain: 

Officially up 16lbs which turns out to be 5lbs more compared to with Alethea. J

Bump Picture: 

Baby Development:  

Baby D is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He/she now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. Baby D is shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected their skin during their nine-month amniotic bath. He/she swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.  At the end of this week, Baby D will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.)

Symptoms:

I haven’t really had any new or crazy symptoms.  I have begun getting some positional hip pain that I can actually nip in the bud if I lift my belly.  A bit of a crazy feeling, but it works so I do it, lol.  I also have had a lot more Braxton Hicks contractions in the 36^th week of pregnancy so my body is definitely starting the birth preparation process already.

Currently craving: 

I haven’t had any cravings, but I have had a lot more sugar in the past few weeks because of various celebrations that have taken place.

Currently Avoiding: 

As a result of the sugar eating mentioned above, I have gone through phases of abstaining from sugar just to recover from my sugar highs, lol.

Belly button status: 

It is still in, but the top part has a lip that sticks out sometimes.

Movement:

Baby D moves A LOT.  This baby likes to rock n’ roll in my belly, especially after meals and in the evenings.  Thankfully my sleep still has been left undisturbed.

Name:

We have both a boy and a girl name officially decided.  If it’s a boy the initials will be DTH and if it’s a girl the initials will be DBH. J

Any appointments?: 

I had two appointments over the last month and both were pretty uneventful.  My 33 week appointment baby’s heart rate was 149bpm and the doctor made sure to go over all of their concerns with VBACs and going beyond the due date.  Then the 35 week appointment baby’s heart rate was 129bpm (thought to be because of naptime) and they did my group B strep test, but I have still yet to hear the results of that.  Starting next week I am on to weekly, most likely uneventful appointments, yay…

Any baby related purchases?:

During this month we had two baby sprinkles so we received our Ergo, some miscellaneous supplies, and a gift card to get some goodies at Babies R Us.  Then my parent’s gift, they decided, was to give us the double B.O.B. we wanted so we will have that all set for running once baby arrives. J

Alethea: 

She loves to talk about Baby D and has finally gotten to the point of saying D instead of “deep”.  We have set up the pack n’ play and a few other things to get ready for Baby D’s arrival and Alethea has gotten in the habit of saying some pretty sweet things about Baby D as a result.  She loves to point to the pack n’ play and say “Baby D come out and sleep in Baby D’s bed.  Lala sing Baby D ‘so big’ song”.  She is so excited to sing to Baby D.  She also scolded Baby D the other day when we were talking about Baby D kicking so much during dinner.  She said “Baby D be nice! No hurt Mommy!”  I am so excited to see what a great big sister she is going to make.

Exercise:

I am still running typically 4 days a week for about 3.5 to 4 miles making my weekly total usually between 14 to 16 miles.  One fun motivator for the month of May has been a contest I joined where you have to run 26.2 miles before the end of the month of May.  It took me 7 days of running to complete the challenge.   I have had to do more walking on a few occasions when I can’t knock a cramp, but overall my running hasn’t changed much (other than being really slow).  I am noticing more pressure on my bladder during running so I am sure that will be a struggle eventually, but it hasn’t messed it up yet.  It’s hard to believe that Baby D has already run 450+ miles with me!