36 Weeks

* I have gained exactly pounds 30 so far, so I will probably be right around 34-35 pounds total by the time this baby is born. My doctors are often reminding me that I'm on "the upper range of normal" for weight gain. I guess they think they're doing me a favor so I just smile, nod my head and think "Thanks for that super helpful reminder! Not."


*Ironically, though I am in this "upper range" of weight gain, one of the questions I have been asked several times is "Do you just feel so thin only having one baby in there?" That's an easy one... NO! I sometimes have to keep myself from retorting back "Did you feel thin at the end of your pregnancy?" Find me a woman who feels "thin" when she's just a few short weeks away from giving birth and I will find you a pig who flies.

*Lots and lots of movement. He has been a very active little boy all along. He often kicks so hard and frequently that I have to stop what I'm doing and walk around to get him to stop.

*People keep asking me if we're "ready" for the new baby. Well... yep, as ready as we'll ever be. He's a third child and we won't be living in the same house for too long after he's born so there's not much to get ready for. It's another boy so we already have all the clothes and gear we need, he's not getting his own room, and I feel much more competent this time around so I'm not stressing too much about having everything "ready" for him. We borrowed a small pack and play from a friend for him to sleep in-  prior to that I had actually considered having him sleep in a laundry basket at the foot of our bed! I've pulled out the boys' old newborn clothes and they're in a plastic bin on the windowsill. Uhhh, and I think that's about the extent of our preparations this time around. Oh, and I guess I should probably buy some diapers huh?

*We haven't settled on a name yet but we have it narrowed down to 3 or 4. Neither of us feel super strongly about one particular name this time around, so it may be another last-minute decision. Or not, we still have a month to go :-)

*The one thing I am starting to stress about is labor and delivery. I never went through any of it with the twins (scheduled c-section) so a part of me is really looking forward to experiencing it this time around... but another part of me is getting anxious about it. I didn't want to pay for another one of those birthing classes, or find childcare while we attended it, so I've just been renting books and videos from the library. And I've started calling up all my friends and getting all the gruesome details to prepare myself for it.

*Still having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions and a little pain in my back/hips/legs, but nothing to complain about. I am also having some trouble sleeping, one day I'll be exhausted alllll day long, sleep 10 hours at night and take a nap... the next I skip the nap and still can't sleep at night. Overall, though, I'm still feeling pretty darn good. So thankful for that as I have two active 3  year olds to chase around all day!

*My wedding rings still fit (though they're pretty hard to take off at certain times), my maternity clothes still fit (as opposed to nearly growing out of them with the twins), but my shoes are a different story. I tried wearing "real" shoes (i.e. not flip flops) for the first time in a few months to church on Sunday and realized pretty quickly that it was a bad idea. Between the humidity and pregnancy, my feet were totally swollen up by the time we got to church and I had to sit in a pew in the back with my feet up the entire service.

*We're very excited for our families to come out and visit next month! I haven't seen anybody in my family since Christmas so it will be awesome to have them here with us after the baby is born. Especially Violet, I miss her so!