How your baby's growing:
Baby's now the size of a honeydew! She is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's 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 her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby 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. Baby's skin is getting smooth and soft, her gums are rigid, her liver and kidneys are in working order, and her circulation and immune system are basically good to go. Her lungs are the only organs that still need to fully mature, but every day she gets a little closer to breathing on her own.
At the end of this week, your baby 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.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.
Do I look as tired as I feel? Because I am freaking exhausted! And sore. And soooo over this. I know my belly is still really small for someone who is only a few days away from being "full term" but trust me, there's a full-term-sized baby in there and she likes to stretch out. She likes to wedge her precious little head right up against the bottom of my sternum....you know, right about where my lungs should be. I guess I should be grateful that she's not kicking me in the ribs like her brother did, but honestly, right now I'm not sure which is worse. Not being able to breathe is kind of awful.
Kyle is almost visibly excited about the baby now. This is HUGE considering he really doesn't get excited about things. He even picked out an adorable outfit for her (all on his own) when we were at the mall earlier this week. I think it's finally starting to hit him that we'll have our tiny, perfect, baby girl in our arms very soon. He's constantly touching and kissing my belly and gets a huge laugh out of watching her treat my uterus like a moonbounce. (For the record, I find it significantly less entertaining.) I think she already has him thoroughly wrapped around her itty-bitty finger.
Logan has been really well-behaved lately (except for getting kicked out of Vacation Bible School not once, but twice - but that's a story for another time), but has been kind of clingy, which is REALLY unlike him. I think he's probably getting nervous about having to share Mommy and Daddy with his new baby sister. Ordinarily, he tends to ignore us once we get home, but lately he's been all over us. He's even been doing a lot of snuggling and hugging and kissing with Daddy and that's just bizarre. Kyle teases and torments him a lot so Logan like to tease him back by refusing to hug or kiss him at night before bed or before we leave in the morning. Except for recently. Anyway, I've got his "big brother present" from Vivienne all wrapped and ready to go in our hospital bag (whenever I get around to finishing up packing it). I tried to pick up some things to entertain him quietly while I'm tending to the new baby or that we can do together while she's napping. He got some movies (Yo Gabba Gabba), a paint with water book, dominoes (my mom taught him how to play and he LOVES it), a tea set (I know it's super girly but he has one at my mom's house that was mine and he always asks if we can have tea parties at home but we don't have a set, so I caved and bought him one), one of those Zhu Zhu pets for boys (his is blue and black - very manly for a stuffed hampster that giggles like a baby), a new play cell phone because he got his wet and it died, and some reading flashcards. Originally, I was just going to get him one larger gift, but I thought a bag of smaller things would buy me more quiet time....and quiet time will be a veeeeery good thing.
I'm feeling pretty ready now...for the most part. V's room is done except for a little cleaning and putting away that I still need to do. We toured the maternity ward where I'll be delivering and it seems nice. I still have some questions, but the maternity nurse didn't have the answers so I'll have to wait until I talk to my doctor. I have 11 days left of work but a ton of stuff to try to wrap up before I go, so I may not be doing much commenting on your blogs over the next few weeks. I'm still reading, just trying to do it quickly, so I can get back to work. I have a crazy long "to do" list hanging on my refrigerator at home, but I doubt I'll get it all done before Baby Time. I got our dining room and kitchen floors swept and mopped last weekend and even got on my hands and knees and scrubbed the baseboards. I even ended up painting all the lower cabinets in our kitchen, but again, I'll save that story of "nesting insanity" for another day. I'm finding myself torn between working my ass off the next few weeks to "get ready" and trying to spend what little time I have left relaxing. Lately, relaxing has been winning over cleaning, but I have my moments.
It's really hot here. What are you guys doing to stay cool?
