How far along: 37 weeks, completed 9/18/2012.

Weight gain: I saw the midwives on Tuesday morning, and I’m up to the magical 150 (3 lb gain in the last 2 weeks), for a total pregnancy gain of 17 lbs. Much better!

Clothes: There are only 3 pairs of pants I can wear at the moment, 2 of which are uncomfortably tight. So make that 1, since I’m never in the mood the choose the uncomfortably tight ones first thing in the morning. So what I’m really trying to say is, if you see me wearing the same things over and over again, just . . . you know, roll with it.

Purchases: Well guys, there was a big one. Saturday we bought a car.

*pausing in disbelief*

*was this a dream or did it really happen?*

Yes, it really happened. We have been carless and LOVING it for our 3 years in Chicago, but with little Alice joining us, we decided it was time to become vehicularly empowered. We don’t plan on driving a lot, but for out of town trips to see our parents and friends, it just didn’t seem possible to coordinate our usual bus/train/bum-a-ride combo with a baby that needs to ride in a car seat for safety. We’re still pretty freaked out by our wheels, and mostly the car has just sat in our parking space looking way too shiny and intimidating. It’s funny, because the sales guys that sold us the car were more excited about us owning a car than we were. We were of the “necessary evil” mentality, which they just couldn’t wrap their minds around, bless their little car-selling hearts. But I know it’s going to be so useful . . . like for getting me to the hospital when it’s The Big Day! Or for getting to Stevens Point for Christmas with my family. Or for getting back to Dominick’s where I hope to find goat milk yogurt. Anyway, we’re thankful for God’s provision of this car, but don’t expect to see us driving all around tomorrow or anything. We’re easing into it.

Body: I still feel pretty much the same as I have. I was expecting to be bigger at this point, but I feel like I’ve been holding steady at roughly the same size for months.

On that note, the midwife said my fundal height (according to wikipedia: measurement from the top of the mother’s uterus to the top of the mother’s pubic bone in centimeters) hasn’t changed since my last visit two weeks ago, and ordered an ultrasound to make sure little Alice is measuring what she should. The midwife didn’t seem too concerned and said my long torso may be the cause, but she just wanted to be safe. So that’s where I’m headed next Tuesday, after reshuffling my regular appointment to Wednesday.

And because I can’t stop now, here’s the belly in all its glory, followed by a still fairly successful disappearing act.

Sleep: Sleep has been marvelous this week, which is a welcome change from last week. I feel really tired in the morning and don’t get out of bed with the vim and vigor that I used to, but I’ve been passing out quite easily on my body pillow when 10:30pm rolls around.

Best moment(s) of the week: Finalizing Alice’s room. Every time I walk past it now, I gaze in at the order, at the beautiful quilt hanging from the crib, at the framed Alice in Wonderland paperdoll, and my heart thrills that our soon-to-be little roommate now has a bedroom ready and waiting. And it’s so much prettier than I thought it would be (I can’t wait to show you guys!).

Movement: Same as last week–she’s head down and will in all likelihood stay that way until delivery, so her movements are now twists from side to side, stretches and squirms. Every now and then I reach down to find a foot or her bottom, and just connect with the fact that she has this little body that is inside my body. WILD! I know I don’t get to have her in here much longer, so I’m treasuring every squirm!

There’s also a lot of pressure on my bladder and the floor of my pelvis. I wondered if that meant she had dropped, but according to the midwife, it ain’t happened yet.

Food cravings/aversions: Now that I’ve been off cow dairy products for a week and a half, it’s getting a little easier. I’m starting to enjoy my coffee black (probably healthier for me anyway), and the project of avoiding cream and cheese made with cow milk and the like doesn’t seem as daunting as it was. The biggest challenge was when we were at a dinner party Saturday night, and I had to say no to some farmer’s market Greek yogurt over top of a fabulous homemade apple tart. The tart was awesome (and, let’s be honest, may have had a little butter in there), but denying myself those piles of heavy white glorious yogurt . . . sad, sad moment.

I’ve also started freezing meals! As of now, I have a bag of Chicken Marsala, two bags of Split Pea Soup, and two bags of Indian-Style Chicken Curry. And it’s just what I envisioned–flat stacked freezer Ziplocs all in a neat pile, marked with the name of the dish and the date I made it, looking orderly and wonderful.

Symptoms: Increased pressure in my pelvis, which feels painful sometimes when Alice moves in certain ways (almost like she’s scraping my bladder with her tiny nails or something–though I’m not sure if that’s even possible).

Emotions: All of them. Peaceful, overwhelmed, excited, peaceful again, tearful, in disbelief, cool as a cucumber, freaked out . . . yes.

Hopes and dreams: We finally put our hopes for the birth down into an official birth plan Monday night, which I went over with my midwife and she approved and filed away. We wrote a nice big disclaimer at the top: “Barring any unforeseen problems or emergencies, we would prefer . . .”

I know the unforeseen will probably happen, at least in some small ways if not big ways. So I’m trying to plan and dream while still holding loosely . . . but while still having a clear idea in my mind of what I want and how we can accomplish that.

We also made a big logistics master plan for my husband, which has a list of everything he needs to remember on that big day, all in order: the phone number for the Midwife Group to call when I’m 3-1-1 (contractions 3 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for at least 1 hour). Request a volunteer doula to be there when we arrive. Call our mothers. Call my insurance after I’m admitted. All that kind of stuff, which I’m sure we will both appreciate having in writing when our minds and emotions are running all over the place.

Next on our list: figuring out what all we want in the hospital bag and packing that bad boy up!

What I miss: Nothing comes to mind at the moment . . .

What I’m looking forward to: Seeing that sweet girl’s little face. It’s unbelievable to me that soon I will get to see what she looks like!

Husband update: Tuesday night he decided to work on a playlist with songs for Alice’s bedtime. I love that he’s already thinking about how to share the gift of music with her, and putting time into thinking what tunes might make a tiny girl sleepy.

All in all, I feel like we’re both going back and forth between different emotions–feeling peaceful and prepared, feeling sad about the end of our days as “just us,” feeling excited about going from couple to family, feeling like we can’t wrap our minds around what’s about to happen, and sometimes even feeling totally up for it.

After writing out the birth plan, when I asked how he was feeling he said, “let’s do this thing!”

In fact, at this exact moment I’m feeling ready to “do this thing”. . . but my answer may be totally different in about 30 minutes.

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!