Week 36

This week is week 36 -- the first week of the 9th month and the last week before she will be considered full term! This week she weighs around 6 pounds and is around 18 1/2 inches long (obviously the weights and lengths are pretty variable from here on out. Let's hope she remains on the dainty side of things, for mommy's sake:) ) Her little cheeks are now pudgy with fat and she has shed most of her lanugo and vernix (the fur and the waxy stuff that coated her skin). She is much more alert to sounds, movement, and light and will respond to all of these things. She is more than likely in the position now that she will stay in, although there is a chance she will still do some flips and turns. I'm hoping she'll just chill right like she is because, if things haven't changed from last week, she's in the correct position now!

I feel like the next few weeks are going to really drag on, but I also know they are (luckily) packed with a few things to break up the monotony. Tomorrow Travis gets to work a day shift so that we can go to infant care class together at the hospital. I don't know what to expect -- if it'll be a bunch of basic stuff that we already knew or if it will be very helpful, but I'm think it'll be closer to the latter because how much do we REALLY know anyway? :). Then Wednesday we have our weekly appointment, this time with Barb, to discuss some final details. Sunday will be our last shower with mommy's side of the family and friends (AND daylight saving time begins. I hate to lose the sleep but LOVE all the extra sunshine!!). The following week we have a doctor's appointment on Monday, class about breastfeeding on Tuesday night at the hospital, and then Friday we have no students at school for my last school institute of the year :). Then that next week will be my last until the baby comes. Hopefully.

And yet I know any of these plans could be altered at any given point of any given day. I have made an effort to really pay attention to my body and my aches and pains, but I don't think I'm doing the best job at identifying exactly what is happening. As far as I know, I haven't really had any Braxton-Hicks contractions, although I have definitely had some momentary pains and cramping. But every time that happens, I feel my belly and it feels like my regular ol' belly -- hard with baby, but not any tighter than usual. And yet I know some people that never experienced them and others that did but weren't even aware of them. Ah well, I suppose everything in life has its learning curves.

Lastly, this I have to share. I was straightening things up a bit last night and I came across my journal that I started senior year of college. I have only written in it a handful of times, but each entry is at an interesting crossroads of my life. My last entry was dated July 13, 2009. In it I wrote about a few various things, but the main focus was on the weekend I had just spent with Molly and Alex while the boys were away at Trevor's bachelor party. I wrote about how wonderful it was to just snuggle up with Alex and doze off together, how much that time spent with him confirmed for me how much I wanted to have a baby of my own one day, and how I also knew God would grant us a child whenever we were meant to have one. I read the entry, thought to myself "It couldn't have been" and then checked a calendar to confirm my suspicion: the entry was written the exact day we got pregnant. I had no idea that God was already placing this little life inside me while my pen stroked those words. He really has been here for every, single step of the way. That realization has given me a new found strength for this final leg -- He has been with me unceasingly up until this point and He will see us through to the end, to those moments when we finally see our little baby girl for the first time.