37 weeks

I'm 37 weeks! Wow! Time is just flying by! Really, where has this month of February gone?? It feels like my birthday (Jan 31) was just the other day!! On my countdown for week 37 was to get my hair done by my awesome cousin! :) So here's my "after" hair pic and my big tummy!

So last Wednesday we had our home visit with Sherri! She came with her helpers, Roxanna who is also a midwife, and Hannah who is an apprentice. So one of the main goals is to make sure they know how to get to my house so we can check that off!! :) We talked about where to put the birth tub (in the living room) and how we'd fill it up (she brings a big garden hose and you get a special attachment for your sink to connect it to that). It was just exciting to have them in our home and feel like this is really gonna happen!

Sherri did my prenatal there at the house and my blood pressure was a little high and my urine analysis showed I was spilling some protein so she said I really needed to watch my nutrition and eat lots and lots of protein! And she said NO SUGAR. Yikes. Can't say I'm doing perfect there but at least her saying NO sugar means I'm sure eating a lot LESS than I probably normally would! That's good, right?

So during the past week I've tired to get 100 grams of protein a day - this may or may not have been accomplished by eating a double quarter pounder or some days one or two McDoubles... may or may not... I've also eaten a lot of eggs, even steak and eggs for breakfast, fish and chicken, cheese sticks, almonds... just lots and lots of protein. Lindsay gave me some protein bars to try that were yummy! Lots of greek yogurt too! Love that stuff!

I've also been trying to drink tons and tons of water.... with all this water drinking and baby's head dropping lower and lower I am going to the bathroom kind of all the time. Super fun!

Ok so something that is kind of hard is the fact that I had Robby at 38 weeks last time I am so much more.... on edge? I don't know if that's the right word... it's just that when Robby came early I was not expecting it AT ALL and I just went into labor and it was the first time I'd ever had contractions, they just came, kept coming closer and closer so I figured it was time and we went to the hospital and had the baby. Great. Now, I keep thinking she COULD come early and I'm having Braxton Hicks ALL THE TIME and now I'm feeling the period like crampy feelings too which is what my contractions with Robby felt like and so it keeps making me stop and wonder.... like this morning laying in bed they kept coming but I laid there wondering and paying attention to them for a while... then I figured I'd get up and just go make breakfast and I guess they went away or now I'm not paying attention to them at least... But it's just hard knowing it COULD happen and have so many little feelings/twinges - I'm just going to try to ignore them until I can't any longer but at the same time I could have ignored my contractions with Robby for a lot longer but then it would have gone too fast... does that make sense? I am concerned that it could go too quick so I don't want to ignore them too long! I want my midwife and my team to be here when she comes!

So there has to be some balance! I'm just trying to be as prepared as I can be, try not to expect it, but just go with the flow. And those who know me know how well I am at going with the flow! ;) I think my hypnobabies scripts help with that though. I feel like I'm still feeling really positive about everything... I got all my birth supply stuff gathered together in the laundry room! See:

 Some of the stuff is just where it goes in the house but here's a good chunk of it... ready and waiting!

At my appointment with Sherri this week everything was looking good - protein levels were good, blood pressure good, baby's heart rate was good. She said I was measuring a little smaller than I usually am (I'm normally measuring ahead like 2 weeks - this time I was 36 cm when I was 37 weeks) but that probably means the baby's dropped some! We talked about how I was feeling pretty good and how I wondered if I'd need to get miserable before the baby comes out - she said maybe not miserable but that I'll probably start noticing more pressure down there. Maybe she said the magic words because after that visit, mostly yesterday and this morning, I am certainly noticing more pressure and like I said a lot more crampy feelings. So that's good!

I just have this church dinner groups thing I'm in charge of tomorrow so I keep saying any time after that she can come! Wouldn't that be fun if she came tonight just to throw that off? I wouldn't really complain...