36 weeks

By the end of this week, I will be considered full term.  As of today, I have 24 days until my due date.  The end is finally approaching and it feels very close.  I am finding that I think more and more about what labor will be like and I am a little scared.  My emotions have been a little stronger this past week, probably out of anticipation, excitement, fear...all sorts of things.  It doesn't help that I haven't been sleeping quite as well.  I'm now dealing with lots of swelling in my hands, and at night my hands and arms are falling asleep.  It is rather painful and unfortunately does not go away when I change positions or get up.  The only position I can sleep in now is on my left side.  If I sleep on my right, my arms instantly fall asleep.  If I sleep on my back, I get dizzy because the baby is pushing on my blood supply back to the heart.  So I build myself a nest which I crawl out of between 3 and 6 times every night to get up and go to the bathroom or to sit up and wait for the numbness and burning in my arms to go away.  I think the baby has dropped because I'm going to the bathroom a lot more and can sit much more comfortably without pressure in my ribs.  I'm still having a lot of Braxton-Hix and some have been a little painful, but otherwise no signs of labor yet!

Today Brad and I practiced putting the carseat in the car, adjusting the straps in the carseat, and folding/unfolding the stroller.  Now we'll both be ready when the time comes!  I washed all of the 0-3 month clothes this week and all of his blankets, towels, washcloths, and burp cloths.  I even packed a bag for the hospital with his things...now all I have to do is pack my bag and we'll be set!  

I have my next appointment on Tuesday 7/29.  I am not sure if they will check my cervix or not, but I'm hoping they do!  They have decided that if I have not delivered by my due date, they will most likely induce me.  This is for a few different reasons.  One, the midwives and doctor who If have been seeing will be out of town the weekend after my due date.  We have a new doctor in our practice who is also going to be doing OB, and she is the one on-call that weekend.  Because I do not know her yet, I really would prefer not to have her do the delivery.  They said they completely understand this, so if I haven't delivered by then and my cervix looks favorable, they will induce me.  The other reason is because of all of the swelling.  It is not a "medical" reason, but rather something they do when a patient becomes really uncomfortable.  That, coupled with them being out of town, means it's pretty unlikely I'll be going past my due date.  

So get ready world...Baby Black should be here in 3 1/2 weeks or less!