37 Weeks

I am exactly 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant! I'm definitely ready to meet my little girl and things are definitely getting more uncomfortable but I would by lying if I said I was miserable. Sure, miserable compared to "normal" but compared to most other pregnancies (and even mine with Caden) I'm far from miserable. This has been a very easy pregnancy. I really only feel about 7 or 8 months pregnant, and I suppose there is a reason for that as my teeny tummy is only measuring about that size. I'm not swelling, bloating, or anything like that. My complaints are few, but here they are none the less:

Grace is putting pressure on nerves that cause sharp shooting pains to go down my thighs. This only happens occasionally (like every 4 or 5 days) and once it starts to happen it will last an hour or so at most. She's letting me get pretty good sleep at night these days though, so I'm grateful for that. It's not the most comfortable sleep, but it's at least sleep! I'm still having a lot of contractions, although some days are more intense than others. I have had hours where I will have them every 10 min or less and then they just kind of go away. It will be hard to tell when I do go into labor I think until I get to the point where they are pretty painful. Dr T said to go to the hospital when contractions are 10 min or less... when I told him that was "normal" for me he said to make it 5 min or less. About the only time I "waddle" or have any major discomfort is when I'm having a contraction. Other than that this pregnancy has been very easy on my body.

I've finally picked up on gaining weight. At 36 weeks I had still only gained about 16 pounds, but in the week since I've added 2 more to that making my grand total 18! I'm much happier knowing that I'm closer to the 20 pound mark. I will say that a good bit of that weight was because I started eating a lot more, but I hope it helps Gracie to put some weight on as the doctor and nurses are all saying she's going to be a "small baby." Wish I knew exactly what that meant... small as in 5 pounds, or small as in 6 pounds? I just want her to be healthy and strong.

My belly is still quite small. Last week (at my 36 week appointment) my belly measured 32 weeks. Dr T said it was nothing to worry about b/c the number was going up (I was measuring 31 weeks at the previous 34 week appointment). Today I only measured 30 weeks. That has me a little worried, but the nurse said it was okay. I forgot to ask Dr T if it was okay because I distracted him talking about Grace's position when he came in the room to see me.

Last week, at 36 weeks, Dr T was feeling on my belly just checking the size of Grace when he said he thought she might be breech again. I was hoping for a confirmation of that today, but instead he just felt my belly again and said that she still felt breech and that we would do a scan next week (at 38 weeks) to get an exact position. He told me if my water breaks to get to the hospital immediately because with a breech baby the cord could fall out and that would be very dangerous for Grace. He also said that depending on the scan results next week he would be willing to try and turn her, but that it's very painful and not very successful... The good news is that she still has time to turn head down again and I'm hoping and praying that she will. I know that if she doesn't then there is nothing wrong with having a csection, but my heart is really set on having another vaginal delivery and so I'm having a hard time being content with whatever happens...