my pregnancy: week 36

Surprise! A Thursday pregnancy post!

The weeks are counting down, and our excitement is still high. This week was not supposed to be another honeydew melon like at 35 weeks, but Crenshaw melons were no where to be found! Turns out they probably won’t be in the stores for another month around here.

Since the honeydew was so tasty last week I just decided to find one that was a little bigger.

So how is Hunter growing this week?

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 ½ inches long. He’s shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during his 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 his first bowel movement.

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 he’s in a head-down position. But if he 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 him from the outside of your belly. — from babycenter

He is being a good little boy and staying head down. Really far down.

At my 34 week appointment my belly measured at 33 cm. Then once he dropped last Thursday (the day before my appt), at my 36 weeks appontment I measured 33 cm again. First I thought that was bad — no change! But my midwife assured me it’s just because he’s so low now. She estimated he was around 5.5-6 pounds at the time, so growing just fine.

The only real complaint I have this week is the discomfort I feel down yonder now that he’s dropped. So-much-pressure. I’ve tried many times to describe it to Jacob with analogies he would still not understand being a guy, but here’s how it feels.

I was in gymnastics for a while growing up, and if you’ve ever been on the balance beam and fallen landing on it between your legs, that bruised feeling afterwards is kind of what it feels like all the time. Not the pain of when you hit the balance beam, but the soreness after. Kinda make sense…. ?? If you are looking for a good gymnastics club, I recommend visiting https://www.coventryphoenixgymnastics.co.uk/.

Any other mamas out there know the feeling or am I just weird?

This week has been super full of fitness. I’m subbing tons of classes… probably the most I’ve taught in 1 week my entire pregnancy. Here’s what it looked like:

Saturday – taught 60 min bootcamp
Sunday – rest
Monday – taught 60 min bootcamp
Tuesday – taught 45 min express body pump class
Wednesday – taught 60 min strength class + 60 min body pump
Thursday – rest day
Friday – will teach a 60 min strength class

Poor Joe got no walks in. The days have definitely been jam packed leaving me super crazy tired. I told Jacob if there was ever a week that working out was going to put me into labor it’s this week… has not happened yet. I’m looking forward to next week filled with more walks, hopefully water aerobics twice and extra relaxation time 🙂

Tomorrow I am full term and have another midwife appointment — every single Friday now!

I’m really proud of what I accomplished this week:

• Picked out a pediatrician!
• Washed all baby clothes and blankets
• Made more freezer meals (waffles, pre-marinating steaks, pizza dough, apple sauce, bean + cheese burritos and shrimp enchiladas).
• Got the bag out to use as the hospital bag…. still empty though
• Created our birth plan
• Purchased cliff shot blocks (for me) and Starbucks fridge drink (for Jacob) for the hospital bag

Weight is definitely a funny thing. Last week I only gained 0.5 pounds, which I thought was because I got better about not eating as much sweets, but then this week I gained 3.5 pounds! Holy moly, don’t even know where that came from. I’ve officially crossed the 40 pound line bringing me to a total of 41 pounds gained.

Tomorrow is when I hit the 37 week mark which means I’ll be allowed to have a water birth (can’t if you baby is pre-term). So exciting!

When will you get here little guy? I haven’t had many painful contractions yet, but my Braxtons are definitely getting much much stronger. We shall see. My mom had all 4 of us right around our due dates, so maybe I’ll follow her pattern? We shall see…

Hope your Thursday treats you well! Remember to enter to win some healthy and yummy snacks from NatureBox.

Heather