37 weeks

STATS:
37 weeks 2 days
Starting weight: 128
Weight: 157
Waist @ bellybutton: 41.75''
Issues: Oh my lower back is killing me. I can't stand in one place too long or it's hell on my back muscles. So I guess no more cooking or washing dishes for me :)
How Big Is The Baby This Week? according to the reference I've been using for these comparisons, he's "as lofty as a stalk of Swiss chard", which weighs about 6 and 1/3 pounds. But I asked the doctor to give me an estimate of his size this week, and she said he's about 7 pounds.

TJ and I had our childbirth preparation classes over the weekend. I'm glad I went, I learned some things I was curious about; and I'm glad that TJ went because I think he learned a lot about how to help me through the labor. And even though TJ complained pretty much the entire weekend about having to go, I think he's glad he went too. I could tell he kind of felt sorry for me after watching some of the birthing videos, knowing what I'm going to have to go through, cause he would start rubbing my back to comfort me. And I must say that after the classes I'm now slightly leaning towards keeping Kash in here forever, isn't there an easier way to get him out?

I also had a super strange cramping episode over the weekend. I woke up at about midnight with pain the encircled my entire uterus, and even radiated into my cervix at times. It wasn't horrendously painful, but it didn't feel good. I started to think maybe it was a contraction, and maybe I should time them or something, but the pain never really stopped, so I couldn't figure out how to time it. I was pretty much in constant pain for about an hour. I tried walking around, sitting up, laying down. I finally fell back asleep a little after 1 am only to wake up a little later to the same pain, but luckily it didn't keep me up for another hour the second time. When I explained it to my doctor at my appointment on Tuesday, she said it might have been an atypical contraction, but who knows, it was weird.

The doctor also discovered at that appointment that my blood pressure was a little on the high side, so she made me go get some blood work drawn to see if there was an issue that would cause me to be induced a little early. She also made me go get a pressure gauge so I could take my blood pressure twice a day, and write down my readings, and come back for a check up on Friday. My readings didn't exceed 140/90, which is what it was at the office on Tuesday, and my blood work came back fine, so I guess Kash gets to stay in there a little longer.

And you know how on TV pregnant ladies are always portrayed eating a bunch of food and sitting on the kitchen floor at midnight eating out of the refrigerator? Throughout this whole pregnancy I've been thinking "what a crock, I can barely eat half of what I normally do and I'm stuffed", until this week. I'm freakin' starving lately, especially during the first half of the day. I eat my normal bowl or two of cereal before work, and as soon as I get to my desk I'm starving, so I have to another breakfast, then I need a snack between that and lunch, then lunch, another snack, a snack when I get home, dinner, and dessert. And then maybe another snack before bed, or in the middle of the night. I know right? That's a ridiculous amount of food, but I'm just really hungry. Oh, and if it's even possible, I'm even more thirsty than I am hungry. I probably drink about 120 ounces of water a day, at least.

Ooh, and my last comment of the week, I'm sick of going to the grocery store only so everyone can comment on how my stomach looks like something I'm purchaseing. One week it was "oh, that watermelon looks just like your belly", yesterday it was "hey, you're kinda shaped like those eggs huh?". Yes everyone, I'm aware that my stomach is huge and shaped funny, I guess I need to stick to buying square shaped items.