my pregnancy: week 39

39 weeks!! The end is so so very near. Today I’m officially 2 days from my due date. That.is.insane.

Do I feel like he’s coming anytime soon? Not really. Over the past week I’ve randomly felt a little cramping and a contraction or two, but they go away. It’s hard for me to tell if the contractions I feel are just stronger braxton hicks, but they always go away so it’s obviously not labor.

He’s dropped even lower though. At my latest appointment on Friday I was describing the new feeling to my midwife… like he’s taking his little baby nails and scratching my cervix (yes, kinda uncomfortable!). Luckily that only lasted a few days, then it switched to a feeling like something was stuck in between my legs ready to fall out. He did not fall out.

Hunter at 39 weeks…

Your baby’s waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it’s likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath. — from babycenter

My belly still measures on the smaller side. At 39 weeks I maintained the 37 cm I measured at my 38 week appointment. My mom told me her belly was always smaller too, which makes sense cause all 4 of us kids were around 6 pounds.

Jacob and his brother were both a little over 7 pounds, which makes me think he’ll be somewhere between 6-7 pounds.

However, I could be totally wrong. My brother Josh (who was also around 6 pounds) and sister in law Chelbe (not sure how big of a baby she was) had almost a 10 pounder… where did that come from?! They are both much taller that Jacob and I, so I’m hoping that has something to do with it. I would be totally shocked if Hunter was that big.  Totally shocked.

My hunger has been insane. I just can’t eat enough. Emily mentioned that if he dropped again it’s giving my stomach more room. I think that’s definitely the case here. I don’t feel stuffed like I did for the couple rare weeks. Now I just can’t stuff my face fast enough.  Especially with things like double dark chocolate almond butter brownies… which are all gone now. 🙁

This explains the again 1 pound gain (although I totally thought it’d be more). I’ve reached 45 pounds total now. It’s kinda crazy to think that I’ve gained 45 pounds already. I really don’t feel like it, which is another reason why the number on the scale isn’t all it’s cracked out to be. Most of the time I only feel about 20-30 pounds heavier. I totally think the power of exercise has helped me there!

My belly is shifted over to the right in this picture… his normal side 🙂

Exercise was awesome again this week. I have this urge to be even more active (probably to bring on labor!), but still I keep it around the same level as I have been the entire pregnancy.

Saturday – 1 hour walk (our normal Saturday routine to get coffee)
Sunday – 25 minute walk
Monday – 25 minute walk
Tuesday – 60 minute water aerobics class
Wednesday – 60 minute strength class
Thursday – planning tons and tons of walking if it’s not rainy + cleaning the house
Friday – 60 minute strength class planned + more walking

This upcoming weekend I really hope to get tons of walking in, of course only if he hasn’t shown up. 🙂

Jeans are out of the picture now (well not this picture, but since yesterday).  I’ve officially resigned to the stretchy stuff.  A bit of tightness is uncomfortable now, and a 9 month preggo mama needs to be comfy!

Any guesses on how big he’ll be?  I think he’ll be little, but I could be totally surprised!

Heather

PS:  2 DAYS!