How far along: 35 weeks completed 09/04/2012.

Weight gain: I had a check-up with the midwives on Tuesday, and I netted the same as 2 weeks ago (147 lbs, for a total pregnancy weight gain of 14 lbs). Thankfully the midwife I saw didn’t seem concerned at all.

“Are you eating more than you used to?” she asked.

“Yes!” I cried, determined to convince her that I’m not undereating. “I just had a banana and a Mexican pastry chock full of cream and a big cup of coffee for breakfast, and I’m about to buy a bagel!”

“Well,” she said, “just try to eat another half a sandwich per day. But the baby is measuring and sounding great!”

In short: nothing to worry about. She even told me I didn’t have to come in to my appointment next week, so there you have it.

Clothes: After our amazing and hideous and incredible and painful and marvelous Ikea trip last week (more about that soon), my clothes now have a home again: a dresser! And a closet! However, having unpacked everything into these lovely pieces of furniture, I’m having trouble quickly locating my baby-belly-friendly clothes. I think I need to go back to the old drill of planning out my outfit the night before, which I’d recently become a little lazy about.

Purchases: Our Ikea trip resulted in a ton of stuff, and as for specifically baby-related purchases, we now have a crib and a crib mattress. And don’t get me started on bins–I’m writing a whole separate post about how bins are now my life. And there shall be no separation betwixt the Jenna and the bins for the remainder of her days.

Body: I’ve got some back pain (probably from lifting boxes and the like when I shouldna lifted), but other than that, no major changes from previous weeks.

Sleep: It’s been tough–a lot of waking up around 3am and just being awake for an hour or so. A lot of overheating in the night (hence one of my husband’s nicknames for me: “The Heater”). And restless leg syndrome up the wazoo. Hmmm . . . intermittent sleep . . . waking up at odd hours . . . fidgeting . . . am I having a baby or becoming a baby??

Best moment(s) of the week: The moment Monday evening when everything in our new apartment was moved into place, pictures were hung, etc., except for Alice’s room. I then swept the steps and dusted and vacuumed and experienced that wonderful feeling of domestic peace and order. One room to go!

Even after Alice’s room is set up, there are of course a few little things remaining to be done–printing pictures to put in the Ikea frames I hung in the 3rd bedroom, getting some kind of mat to stabilize a rug that slips and slides around like crazy, getting some hooks for the hallway shower so guests can hang up their washcloths–but nothing major.

Movement: I’d been thinking lil’ Alice was lying sideways, because for the past couple weeks there’s been a consistent hard lump to the left of my belly button, and consistent pushes of something on the right side of my belly. I figured the hard lump was her head and that she was extending her body and pushing her toes against my side. I had started thinking I should do some side lunges or some of the other movements recommended to encourage your baby to turn head-down.

Well, the pieces poking out on my right side are definitely her feet, but after the midwife investigated the situation on Tuesday, the bump in the middle is her bottom, and her head is down. Hallelujah!

Food cravings/aversions: Must eat more food. This shouldn’t be a problem.

Symptoms: Shortness of breath (my lungs are starting to feel the schmoosh) . . . a wall of tiredness around 3pm . . . annoying awakedness at 3am . . . some back pain . . . nothing too terrible. Basically, I’m feeling tired but good.

Emotions: I’m feeling the love! We spent Labor Day weekend with my in-laws, and my husband’s aunts (Laura, Louann and Missy) and cousin Kate came up as well. It was lovely to spend time with these funny, kind and wise women. I only wish they all lived closer so that I could see them more often. Anyway, we had a little baby celebration brunch, and they all pitched in to get us a car seat, the last remaining big-ticket item on our list. (Thank you thank you thank you!!) Of course, there was also some other fun stuff for baby and me thrown into the mix–in particular, a sleeper that looks like a ladybug, with a hat to match!

And then, to top things off, Tuesday my blogging friends led by the amazing Veronica all threw me a virtual baby shower. I feel so undeserving of all this love and attention . . . though that won’t take away from my enjoyment of the chocolate treats Veronica mailed, heh heh. Anyway, you should all check out their blogs and soak up the marvelousness of each one of them!

Sniff, sniff. Thanks gals! Sniff, sniff.

I’d also like to point out that though I’ve been crying quite a bit, it’s not because I’m sad! In fact, it’s become the signpost that I’m really, really tired. When the tears start falling and they start falling fast, that’s my cue to go take a nap.

And of course, I do have lots of emotions about meeting Alice. I’m excited, but to be honest, right now I’m not in a hurry to get to the end of my pregnancy. I’m enjoying carrying her around inside. I’m enjoying feeling her move. I’m enjoying still being a woman with no dependents, able to move freely. I’m enjoying being able to focus all of my at-home time on my husband. I’m in no rush for this to end . . .

. . . though I know when the time is right, I’ll be ready. I’ll have to be.

Hopes and dreams: I’m really digging how things are right now–in every sense. We have over a month to go before our little girl joins us in the outside world, we’re pretty much all moved in to our apartment, and now we can just enjoy our new space, each other, freeze meals, rest up, and chill out.

The other night, when our work for the day was done, my husband and I just sat in our livingroom for about an hour, looking at our surroundings, talking a little, and just kind of existing in a cloud of domestic bliss.

What I miss: Being able to push through tiredness without all this crying nonsense!

And I’m about to miss cow dairy products . . . a lot. That’s right: I’m giving them up 1 month before my due date (which is this coming Monday!) because of some info from a nutritionist who said that some infants can’t tolerate cow products for their first 3 weeks or so of life, and can become very colicky if they’re getting cow dairy from their mom during breastfeeding. And since cow dairy products take about a month to leave a person’s system, now’s the time for me to cut ’em out. Alice may not be sensitive to all this, but for me, it’s worth the chance of reducing the fussy factor.

I hope to find some good goat’s milk and sheep’s milk alternatives so that I can keep eating creamy stuff. (In case you missed the memo, I love creamy stuff.)

What I’m looking forward to: This evening. And tomorrow. And the next day. I’m looking forward to every single day before her birth, just being and enjoying and reveling.

Husband update: He’s so pleased to be almost fully moved in! Having peace at home gives him the mental freedom to focus more of his energies on his dissertation, which is what he really wants to be doing right now.

Also, I don’t know why this amazes me–it shouldn’t, after setting up house with my husband in 4 different places throughout our marriage–but he’s really darn good at organizing space. He tackled both the back closet (our cleaning/coats/luggage/shoes area) and the closet in the 3rd bedroom (for our instruments, photography stuff, sewing stuff, games, etc.) while I rested, and did an amazing job. If it had been up to me to whip those closets into order, I don’t think I could have matched what he did–not even close. He outdid any expectations I had for those closets. He’s got skillz. I should know this after being in a relationship for 11 years, but it’s still been a fun reminder of his awesomeness.

Enjoy your weekends everyone!

How far along: 34 weeks completed 08/28/2012.

Weight gain: Not sure, but I’ll know next week at my appointment whether or not I gained back those 2 lbs I lost. We shall see! With the Devon Market bakery right next to our new apartment, I’m thinking the pounds should pile on no problemo. My breakfasts for the past week included a Mexican doughnut, a pastry filled with some kind of pineapple curd, and two giant butter rum muffins peppered with tiny chocolate chips.

It’s all part of the ‘exploring the neighborhood’ experience . . . right?

Clothes: We’ve been unpacking all our clothes, some of which I had boxed up a long long time ago when I discovered I couldn’t fit them with my preggo belly. Rediscovering them has been fun, because I’ll be wearing them all again soon! Maybe not in exactly 6 weeks, but hopefully . . . shortly after that?

Purchases: I bought DVD’s of Anne of Green Gables and the sequel. I figured I want a nice stash of chick flicks to watch during my Hibernation time when Alice is first born, and these childhood movies are going to fit the bill perfectly. They’ve been sitting in my amazon.com cart for about 5 years (no kidding), so I finally ordered them and will save them for those long afternoons when (I’m told) it will seem like all I do is feed my baby girl.

Body: I’ve been feeling heavy in my belly for the first time. I’ve felt heavy overall before, especially going up long stairways (that happened pretty early on in pregnancy), but something this week has felt different. I hate to use the cliche of a bowling ball . . . but it really does feel like there’s a big, heavy sphere in my stomach, especially by the evening.

Alice should be weighing around 4 lbs now, and though she feels heavy I can still kind of tuck her away somewhere in the recesses of my absurdly long torso.

And after musing last week about how I need to stop lifting things, I’ve continued to struggle with this . . . and have lifted things anyway, even though my body has been telling me it doesn’t feel right anymore. I find it distressing that I don’t have more self-control. I’ve been valuing my physical independence over my physical well-being (and possibly Alice’s). Why can’t I just stop?? Why do I find it so hard to ask someone else to do things for me (someone else = my husband)?? Argh. I didn’t realize what a high value I put on my independence until now. It’s given me all new respect for people who are disabled long-term, and find a way to live fully and joyfully within their limitations.

Accepting limitations is hard, man.

Sleep: I seem to be needing a lot more of it all of a sudden. Sunday, for example, we got home from church, lunch and goings-on around 3:30pm. I was feeling beat, beat, beat, so I lay down on the couch and napped. And it was no cat-nap–I’m talking two hours of sleep, from 4-6pm. I woke up feeling much better, but wondered if this hefty nap would interfere with my 10:30 bedtime.

Well . . . it didn’t. I slept like a rock.

Best moment(s) of the week: I know I can’t shut up about this, but feeling my roly poly little girl rollying and pollying inside is just indescribably wonderful. Giving her a poke and feeling her kick back . . . well, indescribably = I can’t describe it. ‘Nuff said.

Movement: She’s startled me a couple times with the strength of her punches, but most of her movements seem to be rolls and squirms.

One night, Adam was kind of jiggling the spot where her head/butt/lumpy part was pushing out, and she pushed back! He did this four or five times, with Alice pushing back when he stopped. It was the most precious father/daughter conversation I’ve witnessed.

Food cravings/aversions: Nothing to report.

Symptoms: Like I mentioned, I need more sleep! I’m feeling more fatigued after regular days at work that didn’t used to exhaust me so much. I’m glad this extra tiredness hit after the move and not too much before! Though it does slow down the setting-up-house process a bit . . .

Emotions: I’ve been feeling great! Eager to be fully moved in, but also enjoying the process of getting furniture in the right place and moving things into drawers and so forth.

My job has felt harder than usual, but not because there’s more work–quite the opposite! As I put more and more into the hands of my (very competent) temp, I have more time just sitting around with nothing to do. Which is boring. And makes me antsy and stir-crazy. But this is a good problem! It means when my maternity leave starts, I will no longer be holding onto any reins at the office, and I can sever myself fully for 3 months.

Hopes and dreams: I’m thinking a lot about giving birth. A few of my friends who have given birth recently have had rough experiences, which is a wake-up call to me. Things might not go according to the pretty plan in my head, in which I labor at home until contractions are 1 minute long and 3 minutes apart (for at least an hour), proceed to the hospital where I have a fully natural birth that is painful but manageable and brings me and my husband closer together, and within 6-7 hours of arriving at the hospital have a healthy baby girl who immediately goes onto my chest (where of course she latches on to breastfeed within the first hour or so).

So I’m trying to let go of expectations . . . not put pressure on myself or deceive myself into thinking that I am fully in control of what happens (I’m not!) . . . and ultimately, trust God. He created my body, and the little girl inside me. He not only knows exactly what’s going to happen in about 6 weeks, but also is sovereign over everything. And he uses everything for good. So I have nothing to fret about.

What I miss: Physical independence, baby. And energy!

What I’m looking forward to: Um . . . physical independence and energy? Baby?

Husband update: He’s been encouraging me to respect my body’s limitations and let him do things for me. He’s challenged me to prioritize my health (and Alice’s health) by exerting self control and deciding not to move that box, or not to bend over to pick up a pile of books. And also, he’s been unfailingly patient when I’ve failed to act wisely.

In short, a better companion has never been seen.

Have a good weekend everybody! And if you’re in the U.S. (and have a nice employer), enjoy your Labor Day off!