Bumpdate: Week 36

My goal is to make it through this pregnancy without cleaning my bedroom mirror. So far so good.

Well, we are officially under one month away from having this baby! To see a countdown on my What to Expect app that says 3 weeks and 6 days is just pure insanity to me! 

The phrase "the calm before the storm" pops into my head when looking back on this week - I'm not exactly sure why. But it was a good, easy, fun week. It didn't necessarily start out that way though. 

On Tuesday, there was a point at which I was near tears as I was having so much pain in my pelvic area. I napped when Sammy napped, and when I heard him waking up, I just could not fathom chasing him around the rest of the afternoon in my condition. I frantically googled "how to ease pelvic pain in pregnancy." Judging by the number of results that popped up, I was far from alone. Nor did there appear to any good solutions. The consensus was that I just have to deal with it until the baby comes. That afternoon, I was convinced that I would not make it through the rest of this month. Rather, my sanity would not make it.

I woke up on Wednesday morning feeling pretty much back to normal, and by Friday, my attitude had completely changed. Throughout the weekend, I barely felt any discomfort, and now I'm preparing myself to be in this pregnancy for the long haul. Which is fine - I'd much rather have a healthy, full-term baby than one that comes early. 

With the shift in attitude came a resurgence of nesting. I checked many things off my to do list this week. Baby Sister's newborn and 0-3 month clothes are all washed and folded (is there anything that smells sweeter than Dreft detergent?), my hospital bag and Sammy's big brother bag got a bit more organized, and we've got a new video monitor en route. 

Oh, and one more thing happened this weekend. My big boy slept in his new big boy bed!

Opening the drapes the morning after.

Now we can get down from bed and open the door when nap time is over. Great....!

In case you don't feel like reading my usual Bumpdate answers, I'll get to the point - this was by far, the best part of my week. I can't begin to describe how proud I am of my little (big) boy. 

I had actually tried to get Sammy to nap in his new bed twice earlier this week, only to be met with "no, no, no, no, no!" I didn't want to push it, and figured that maybe bedtime might produce better results. On Friday, we had quite the full day. We went to a farm, we went to the playground - twice, we went out to dinner, and then out for ice cream. The kid was clearly exhausted, and I figured he would barely have the energy to contest if we tried putting him down in his new room. For the most part, I left it up to James, and was not totally surprised when I heard him carry Sammy to his crib awhile later. 

Saturday, I was actually on my own as James was away for the night enjoying a little pre-birthday celebration. I almost didn't even try to get Sammy to sleep in the new bed, but decided that at the very least, it couldn't hurt to again reinforce that this new bed was his. It took me about 25 minutes of talking about what a big boy he was (just like Elmo in this book that we have been reading religiously every night), and singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star over and over, but eventually Sammy laid down and didn't leave his bed for the rest of the night. And we somehow got him to nap and to bed again tonight with relative ease! I'm pretty sure that we're not totally in the clear, but I feel great about our progress. And now, perhaps I can finally get started on transitioning his old room to Baby Sister's room!

But enough about our firstborn. What's going on with Baby Sister this week? She is now the size of a watermelon (as evident by my self portrait above) and weighs about six and a half pounds, gaining a half ounce every day.  

Once I complete this next week, I will officially be considered full-term. I'll begin seeing my doctor every week, which should be exciting, but which I actually dread. Not only do I always end up waiting around for what feels like hours, just for a dinky five minute appointment, but the doctor will also eventually begin the internal exams, which only leads to discomfort and anticipation over how far I'm progressing (even though the numbers the doctor provides basically mean nothing). 

Total weight gained: I think I'm up about 28 pounds. I've kind of stopped caring or really even looking at the scale. 

Belly / movement: I'm officially at the point where I'm experiencing much less movement. To the point where one morning this week, after drinking my usual cup of coffee loaded with a pound of sugar and still feeling no movement, I again started frantically googling "loss of movement, 36 weeks." Thankfully, a half a granola bar later, she was back to kicking like usual. 

Symptoms: Blah blah blah, pelvic pain, blah blah blah. I also now lose circulation in my hands at various points throughout the day. But who needs use of their hands?

Sleep: If only it were acceptable to start each day at 4:30 a.m., and to end it by 4:30 p.m., my days would be much more productive.

Food cravings / aversions: I never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I'm tired of eating. I don't feel particular averse to food - I just am not interested in it right now! And that's not to say that I've cut back on meals or anything, as I know it's important for me to provide nutrients to Baby Sister, but I have to make a conscious effort to eat each meal, which has never been a problem before. 

Best moment(s) of the week: In addition to Sammy's foray into big boy bed world, we had a really nice end of the week as we got to spend plenty of time outside. 

And, we had a fantastic visit with our friends Misty and Clark!

I'm not sure who is busting out of their outfit more in this picture.

Workout: Monday night, feeling rather tired, I made the executive decision to take this week off from working out. And I don't feel guilty about it in the least. (However, a few good swims would likely have eased my pelvic pain.) Regardless, I'm excited to get back to my routine this week.

What I'm looking forward to: Quite a few things this week. Life beyond black yoga pants, a cold beer (or three) outside, summer in general, seeing Sammy interact with his little sister, and just meeting Baby Sister of course. Also, in the more near term, I'm super excited to see all my high school friends this coming weekend as we celebrate our friend A and her forthcoming baby boy!