Thirty-Seven.

How Far Along: 37 weeks.  Well friends, this may be my last post while pregnant.  Samantha will be here by the end of next week.  Happy Birthday to me.  Boom.

Total Weight Gain: I gained 0 pounds this week - holding steady at 37. Let's see if I can keep it at zero for  the next 10 days and just transfer some saddlebag fat from my thighs to Samantha to chunk her up a bit.

Maternity Clothes: I know I'm going to be in stretchy pants for the next several weeks even after this baby is no longer in my belly, but the thought of having even a remotely flat stomach again has me jumping for joy.  Let's hope I can make my way-too-tight work pants work for the next 4 days of work without ripping them down the butt seam.

Sleep: I'm going to share a secret from this momma-to-be.  if you are 9 months pregnant the night before your birthday, and if you think it would be great to get a good night's sleep for the first time in 9 months, take two Benadryl.  You will sleep like a baby (wait...I thought babies don't sleep very well?).  Well, anyway, take two Benadryl.  I slept all night last night with only one potty break and limited tossing and turning for the first time in as long as I can remember. THANK YOU JESUS.

Sam's Things: Sam's nursery is finally totally complete.  Pottery Barn Kids sent our bedding (thanks to Maw Maw and Paw Paw Pubber) after having it on backorder for what seemed like ages.  Here is the finished product:

She will need some more books eventually to fill out the bookcase.
Right now, this is the entrance to her room.

The finished changing table with diapers and wipes galore.
I caved and decided to use a diaper pail.
Fingers crossed the Ubbi helps the poop smell stay away.

The finished crib with the adorable bedding.
I bought that huge dog on the floor from FAO Schwartz when I was approximately 12.
Who knew it would fit in perfectly in my first kid's nursery?

This is my favorite corner of her room.
The curtains and rocker are so fetch.  

And just because it's fun and a little bit creepy,
here's a panorama of her room from my iPhone.

Best Moment this Week: Hands down, without question, no holds barred, today's doctor's appointment was the best moment this week.  Doc is back from surgery (doing great by the way).  We thought maybe we would actually get to schedule my C-section this week since she's been breech for about 5 or 6 weeks now, but during my exam the doc thought maybe she had flipped.  While I strongly disagree (I can feel her moving her head around up by my ribs just like she has been for as long as I can remember feeling her move), he wanted to make sure that she hadn't flipped before we schedule anything.  The good news is this: no matter what, Sam is coming by the end of next week.  Because of my low fluid levels and her less than stellar growth (he said my stomach actually measured smaller than last Wednesday), there is no reason to keep her in my dysfunctional uterus up until 39 weeks.  You will not see this miserable pregnant lady arguing with you anytime soon, Doc!  If she's still breech during my ultrasound tomorrow, then he will call me on Wednesday when he's back in the office to schedule my C-section for the 26th, 27th, or 28th.  If she has somehow miraculously flipped and her butt is what's movin and shakin up by ribcage now, he will call me on Wednesday to schedule my induction for next week.  Yay for a 2012 tax deduction and one insurance deductible.  Hallelujah!

Movement: She has been quite active this past week.  We've finally seen a lot of rolls and kicks on my belly.  Several times now my belly has been completely misshapen because she moves her whole self to the right side of my uterus so it sticks out and looks like some kind of freaky alien.  As much as I love knowing she's okay, I will never get used to the feeling of an actual human being moving around inside of me.  It is miraculous, and totally weird.

Food Cravings: If you've never seen a pregnant lady on a mission to enjoy every last second of her pregnancy while she continues to stuff her face with every unhealthy item that she fears she will never eat again, please come hang out with me for the next 10 days.  I will a) make you feel great about your eating habits, b) entertain the hell out of you, and c) show you how to do holiday treats up right.  There's not a Christmas treat I haven't indulged in. All I have to say is: sorry for partying.

Symptoms: I limped around all day today on my birthday like an 85 year old woman in need of a wheelchair.  Sciatica SUCKS and I pray that no other pregnant woman ever has to deal with it.  I look like a beached whale trying to get up off the couch or out of bed in the morning.  I continue to grunt every time I move.  I will be so happy to not be pregnant anymore.  I can't even begin to describe my excitement.

What I Miss: Not being pregnant.  Is there anything else to say at this point?  I'm OVER IT.

What I am Looking Forward to: Because the blatantly obvious answer at this point in time would be "meeting my child next week", I'm going to go with the less obvious one.  My sweet, adorable, loving husband turns 30 on Saturday.  I think he's less than excited to not be in his twenties anymore, but I am excited to celebrate a pretty momentous occasion with him.  I hope his big day is super special even though I'm tired and boring and grunt all the time.

Exercise: I'm going to soak up these last 10 or 11 days of gluttony and laziness while I can.  There's no doubt in my mind I'll get back on the wagon a few weeks after Sam gets here, but right now I am so uncomfortable all I want to do is lay in my bed.

Noteworthy Items:

-Our friends from church had a couples shower for us on Sunday and the men's softball team all chipped in and bought us 3 months worth of diapers.  I cannot say how thrilled I am to not have to worry about purchasing any diapers until I go back to work.  Thank you thank you thank you for that wonderful gift!!  We got our first pack of our Honest diapers in the mail today and they are adorable.  I hope they live up to their hype.  (We recently learned that the cloth diaper service in Cincinnati was raising their rates by about $20/month, enough that I could no longer justify paying more for the cloth diapers.  A friend of mine told me about Honest diapers that are biodegradable, chemical free, and are delivered to your door every month, so we are going to try them out and see how they do!)

-My work also threw a shower for me on Tuesday and they got us our high chair along with some more really cute outfits for our little diva.  I have been so overwhelmed and humbled by the amount of support we have received from everyone in our lives, it's been incredible.  I feel blessed to work with such great people.

-Anyone have any recommendations for a cheap but good newborn photographer in the Cincinnati area?  I can't decide if I want to do them or not but if I hear about some sort of great, and ahem, cheap, deal with a photographer with a great studio and lots of newborn experience, then that might help me make up my mind.

-The crazy baby dreams have finally begun.  I had two dreams last week about nothing more than poopy diapers.  So now I guess I'll dream about them and change them all day.  Great.

-I can't wait to meet this little monkey.  I am still terrified out of my mind that I'm going to royally screw up as a parent, but I do think that Jake and I will be pretty good role models for her (toot toot my own horn).  If nothing else, I know we'll love her more than anything we've ever loved before.  I guess if you don't know what else you're doing, that's the best thing you can do.  

Thirty-Six.

How Far Along: 36 weeks.  THE FINAL COUNTDOWN...

Total Weight Gain: I gained 2 pounds again last week - 37 total. I have officially exceeded the recommended weight gain.  I'm going to blame my fabulous weekend for this week's weight gain, and I'm not even sad about it because it was so much fun.

Maternity Clothes: Getting dressed has become a daily struggle.  I don't ever feel like doing laundry, so I have half of my limited wardrobe to choose from each morning before work.  While I'm still wearing heels, I am limited to about 2-3 pairs because my other pairs are just a little too tight on my semi-swollen feet to wear all day.  My boot selection is down to one old pair that still fits around my fat, non-defined calves.  My pants are too long to wear flats to work, so until I physically cannot wear my heels anymore, I need to save the bottom of my pants and continue to wear heels.  I can't afford giving up pants for 2-3 days to have them hemmed.  I have officially reached the point however, where I would prefer to be in sweats (and not just any sweats, Jake's sweats) 24 hours a day. 

Sleep: I wish I could report that this is better, but it's not.  I hardly find my obnoxiously expensive, state-of-the-art, I would have killed 10 months ago to have this mattress, mattress comfortable anymore.  I flop and roll around and grunt and whine all night.  My I can't sleep and I hate being pregnant noises rival Jake's snoring but somehow he continues to sleep through the night.  I have a feeling when Sam gets here and he is up all hours of the night, he is going to feel like he got hit by a semi-truck.  Maybe I will consider that the one positive of being the female in a pregnant relationship?  There will be no shock for me when I have to function every day on 4 hours of sleep.

Sam's Things: Our laptop decided the most opportune time in the world to break would be two weeks before Christmas which is also two weeks before the arrival of our little one. I am so pumped about spending $500 on a new computer I can hardly stand it!! However, this means no pictures this week because I'm writing this post from my phone. Blah.

Best Moment this Week: Any weekend that I get to see my college friends automatically becomes my favorite moment of the week.  We spent all weekend together hanging out, catching up, celebrating Christmas, and celebrating ENGAGEMENTS (congrats LR & PV!!!).  We also spent a lot of time eating, hence my 2 pound weight gain.  At one point on Saturday night we had 14 people on our sectional couch in our living room.  14 includes two fetuses in-utero, but they count too!  It was a absolute blast, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't exhausted from constant stimulation for 48 hours straight.  I can't believe the next time I'll see my bestest friends, I'm going to have a baby. 

Movement: She's still moving around quite a lot in here.  Sometimes I wonder what she is doing.  I kind of thought I'd be able to tell a little easier what kind of position she's in and what kind of movement she is making, but most of the time it just feels like a crazy dance party or some big stretching yawn.  For the life of me I can't understand why she hasn't made an attempt to stretch her body out and move her feet away from her head.  I keep picturing her coming out of my belly and being stuck folded in half for 2-3 weeks after she is born.

Food Cravings: We had "baking day" with my family Sunday afternoon.  I'm going to estimate I had about 1,500 calories in cookies and cookie dough during a 3 hour span.  I literally could not stop sticking my finger in the dough, and I hoovered 2 chocolate chip cookies in 45 seconds at one point.  I am a sick individual.  It's the first time at Christmas I haven't really felt guilty about eating whatever sweet treats I see, so I am still living by the mantra "enjoy it while you can".  In about 3 weeks this whole 3,500 calories a day is going to come to an abrupt hault.  It's quite a wonder I haven't gained 75 pounds the last 2 months of my pregnancy because I have really, really let myself go.

Symptoms: Pretty much every time I eat any amount of food, I am so uncomfortable for several hours that I just squirm around like a toddler in church.  I can't even lay in my bed and adjust the elevation of my feet or head to make me comfortable.  It's horrible.  It feels like Sam's feet are up IN my rib cage and have separated my lowest ribs on my right side.  I am just desperately sick of being pregnant and I am ready to meet this precious little babe who's been kicking me in the ribs the past few months.

What I Miss: While I was laying awake one night this past week, I thought of three things that I have disliked about being pregnant more than anything else. They pretty much encompass my attitude about the physical part of being pregnant.  So here they are, in no particular order:

1. I hate not being able to drink alcohol.  I realize I sound like some raging alcoholic when I say this, but it's true.  I am a casual drinker.  I like to have wine with dinner, I like to drink beer before Reds games or while watching any sporting event.  Water at 10pm while I'm out with my friends got real old, real fast.  I am legitimately sad that I can't have a glass of wine on my birthday, or celebrate with Jake in boozing style on his 30th birthday in two weeks.  I am sincerely looking forward to being able to have an occasional drink when she gets here, and I really don't feel bad about saying that.

2. I am sick of constant raging back pain/being uncomfortable.  Again, I realize I sound like a whiny biatch when I say I am never comfortable, but the truth hurts.  I feel like I have a pretty high pain tolerance, so I don't think I'm overexaggerating any of these symptoms of discomfort.  I sit at my desk at work all day in a constant state of discomfort.  I don't sleep because my back hurts so bad.  I can't eat an apple without feeling like I've eaten a 7 course Italian feast.  I'm at the point where several days I week I have shooting sciatic pain down both of my legs and I walk around my house like an 85 year old woman after double hip replacement.  I know I'm going to be tired when she gets here, but I will be happy to be able to lounge on my couch for more than 10 minutes without having to change positions because something is causing me pain. 

3. I hate having no control over my body.  I am an independent person, and not being able to lift things around my house because I might hurt my baby or send myself into pre-term labor has also gotten real old, real fast.  I don't like that it's difficult for me to carry laundry up and down the stairs because my belly is in the way of carrying the laundry basket.  I hate that my hips are expanding and my boobs are both the size of Mt. Everest and there's literally nothing I can do about it.  I don't like feeling like a hormonal nightmare who has no control over her feelings.  I have no idea what kind of mood each day is going to bring, and I am ready to feel normal again.

I recognize that things could have been a lot worse for me. I never got sick, I didn't gain 90 pounds, I didn't develop diabetes or preeclampsia, but these three things for me have been really hard to deal with and I'm sorry I'm not sorry for complaining about them!

What I am Looking Forward to: Meeting miss Samantha in the true live flesh sometime in the next few weeks!  It's so close I can taste it.

Exercise: The doctor at Christ on Friday said that I could still be exercising, so I really am going to make a valiant effort this week to do that pregnancy video 2-3 times when I get home from work this week.  We'll see how that goes.

Noteworthy Items:

-Sam continues to grow.  I am still going bi-weekly for BPPs until she gets here.  It's pretty cool to get to see her twice a week now, so I guess that's the one plus of having issues with your pregnancy!

-I need to pack my hospital bag.  That was a goal of mine for the beginning of December.  It's December 10th, I need to get on the ball.

-Although I have not done much more than complain about being how much I hate being pregnant over the last 8 months, I must say that the closer I get to having this baby the more excited I get about being a parent.  I am 150% terrified, but I am also 150% ecstatic.  I am ready to see her sweet face, and hold her in my arms instead of in my belly.  I want to dress her up in her bows and her cute little baby outfits.  I want my family to meet her.  I can't wait to see my parents be grandparents and my brother and sister be an aunt and uncle.  I want to see how Callie reacts to her.  I'm excited for all of our friends to meet her.  But more than anything, I want Jake to meet her.  I am ready to tackle parenthood with my partner in crime, and I can't wait to see him interact with her because I just know I'm going to fall in love with him all over again.

Thirty-Five.

**Disclaimer: this post has not been proofread.  My sincerest apologies for all of my grammatical and spelling mistakes but I'm tired and I don't feel like proofreading**

How Far Along: 35 weeks.  Five more weeks WOOO!

Total Weight Gain: I gained 2 pounds last week - 35 total now.  Hopefully some of this weight gain will start making its way to my small child!

Maternity Clothes: Still no shopping.  Still sick of my maternity clothes.  My black work pants are so tight that I would prefer to wear them about 10 times before washing them so they can get nice and stretched out.  However, that's disgusting.  Also if I eat lunch anywhere remotely smelly (see: Skyline chili) it's a requirement that I wash them immediately.  This is cause for rotating more dresses with leggings into my weekly work wardrobe.  I will be so happy when I am at home for 3 months and can wear yoga pants all day every day and only put real pants on when I leave my house.  I will also be happy when I can catch some after Christmas sales on regular people clothes.  #shopping

Sleep: I find it ironic and extremely annoying that on Saturday and Sunday when I could sleep all day if I wanted to, I wake up at 6:45.  On Monday - Friday when I need to be out of bed at 6:30, I can't drag my lazy ass out of bed until 7:15.  Also - Jake likes to snore on Sunday night through Thursday night, but come Friday and Saturday - he is quiet as a church mouse.  COME ON MAN.

Sam's Things: I have been in major major nesting mode the last week and had no time to take any pictures of anything.  I have been so focused on getting our house completely put together in time for baby.  I want to enjoy the clean and organized while it lasts because I know when she gets here, picking up my house is going to be a low priority.  

Best Moment this Week: Non-pregnancy related best moment this week was finishing our basement on Sunday night.  It is finally a functional room that I am not embarrassed to have people to hang out in.  Our house is now being used to its fullest extent and I feel like it's worth paying a mortgage for my whole house instead of just the first floor and our master bedroom. 

Movement: Little Miss is moving around a lot in here.  She doesn't really have a schedule anymore.  Sometimes it's at night, sometimes it's in the morning, but she normally moves around for a little bit every time I eat.  Over the weekend Jake and I watched my belly do all kinds of waving movements for about 10 minutes straight.  It was so weird.  I'm glad she is active, but seeing my belly move is creepy.

Food Cravings: Ice cream.  Reese cup trees.  Half-baked cookies.  Boom.

Symptoms: Inability to pull my boots or shoes on and off without grunting.  Inability to sleep through the night.  Inability to walk without waddling or whining.  Inability to breathe after consuming food. 

What I Miss: I'm having trouble thinking of anything new this week that I miss more than usual.  I'm going to go ahead and assume that the next few weeks with all of the holiday *cheer* I'm going to be back to missing booze again.  I would love nothing more than a glass of wine at the end of most days. Sigh...

What I am Looking Forward to: Reunion party and ornament exchange with my bestests this weekend!  I can't wait to spend a full 48 hours with my college favorites.  And most of us are fully expecting to gain 10 pounds during this 48 hour period.  We love to eat, and I'm pregnant so that doesn't help mine or anyone else's cause :)

Exercise: As much as I miss running and a really good ass beating at the gym, I'm feeling extremely lazy and in no mood to exercise recently.  I'm still going with the "my baby is small and I don't want to burn any calories that could be going to her" excuse.  I think I'll probably stick with that for the next few weeks until I deliver.

Noteworthy Items:

-Still wearing heels. And people are still surprised.  I might actually make it to the delivery room in these things...especially if I have a scheduled C-section.

-Good news: Sam has been growing!  She weighed about 4lbs 11oz on Friday.  She is pretty small still, but the growth and progress is what's good.  I am going to be going back for these Bio Physical Profiles twice a week until I deliver.  She is still breech (still folded in half I might add).  My doctor is out recovering from surgery of his own until the 17th.  When I go back that week to see him, he said if she is still breech we will go ahead and schedule a C-section at that point.  My initial reaction to the scheduled C-section was disappointment, but the more I think about it and the more I have time to accept it, the more I don't really care how she gets here, I just care if she's healthy.  There's a part of me that will definitely be sad if I don't get to experience the whole going into labor experience, but I'm sure it would turn out nothing like I have always imagined it would be anyway, so I guess I just don't really care.  Just make sure my baby is okay and I'm alive and healthy enough to meet her when she gets here, okay!?!?

-At this point in my pregnancy, with how crazy things have been at work, I'm really starting to wish I lived in Canada where they get a full year of maternity leave.  I'd definitely be taking advantage of that before she gets here.  I am more than done with getting up zombie-eyed every morning to go deal with the stresses of my job every day and would love nothing more than to spend these last few weeks relaxing and doing things around my house.  But unfortunately that's not an option for me, so I'll bite the bullet for a few more weeks and suffer through some long work hours.  Knowing I'm going to have a little monkey to snuggle sometime in the next 33 days is definitely getting me through it.  I just can't wait to meet her!!