Full Term

I'm full term now. Not the best picture, but I'm not looking the best these days... Haha! Cpt. Adorable has now taken over my whole torso. I get many kicks to the lungs and some heartburn. Handsome Husband has commented that Cpt. A is definitely the most active baby we've had because pretty much every time he puts his hand on my tummy, Cpt. A moves. With the girls they would be much more coy and only treat him with a kick every so often. Handsome Husband likes to tell me that I'm getting pummelled or beaten up. I guess I just ignore the little kicks and rolls since they are so frequent. It's the big movements that get my attention. He's definitely more active at night, but that's not to say that there is a fair amount of activity all day long...

I have been very protective of my belly, I can't STAND it when Handsome Husband tries to rub it. It's like rubbing my feet together with socks on, it just annoys me. It could be because ANY TIME my belly gets touched Cpt. Adorable wakes up and moves around. He's pretty sensitive. He is sensitive to noises as well. My aunt Abra put her mouth up to my belly and started talking to him and he went crazy moving all over the place. I'm ok if Handsome Husband puts his hand on my tummy and doesn't move it, though. Maybe it's because I'd prefer movement on just ONE side.

Cpt. Adorable tends to be on the right side of my tummy and he kicks all along the top of my belly. He gets hiccups all the time. I get plenty of Braxton Hicks that raise my belly up into my lungs and make breathing uncomfortable. I've also had some sharp round ligament pain. No real contractions yet.

My feet like to get good and puffy if I sit or stand for too long. So, I take some time to lounge on the couch which the girls like. My weight gain has been disastrous and I'm sure it doesn't help that I am not exercising much will power over my cravings for sweets. Luckily, I started out my smallest before this pregnancy. Stopping the weight gain is probably the biggest reason why I'd want to have the baby now, but if a baby is born this early they could have issues with nursing, like Baby Dragon did. I definitely have to make nightly trips to the bathroom and I am often woken by Braxton Hicks. At my most recent midwife's appointment I had not dilated more than a loose 1 and I was 50% effaced. I doubt I'll dilate more than that until delivery since that's where I was when I was induced with both girls. But I'll probably get a little more effaced.

My biggest symptom is feeling BIG and uncomfortable. Bending over and getting up is just not fun. If Sweetie tries to lay on my lap, I have to reposition her so she's not squishing the baby. My energy is really not there and I am often tired enough for a nap by noon even after a full 8 hours of sleep. The nice thing is that Baby Dragon is pretty willing to help out with almost everything I do around the house if I recruit her (getting dressed, getting a clean diaper for Sweetie, throwing away a dirty one, sweeping, putting things away, getting the dirty laundry). And Sweetie is pretty well trained. If she is done with a cup she'll say "all done" and throw it in the sink, if she has finished a snack she'll throw the trash away on her own. If it's time to go do something else she'll often say "Qween up!" and start putting away whatever she was playing with.

This week we've been dealing with 100 degree weather and I've been so happy for AC! That's one of the first questions I get when people talk to me about my pregnancy: "Do you have AC?" When we were house hunting, AC was not a maker or a breaker, but I'm SO glad that we got lucky in finding this house and that it happened to have AC. Not many of the houses in our neighborhood have it. I've also been drinking lots of water with crushed ice.

Last week I dealt with some pretty bad back pain, but Handsome Husband took pity on me and pulled out the massage table and gave me a great massage. I am also going to use the massage that my friends gave me this week. A friend of mine who has decided that she is done having children handed her entire maternity wardrobe over to me and it has been WONDERFUL to have a revived wardrobe this late in the game! You know how you get tired of the same clothes, but you don't want to go spend money when you only have a month or two left? Well, this has been so nice! And she has some really cute, stylish clothes (see the top in the above picture)!

Handsome Husband and I came up with a master To-Do list in preparation for the baby. We have purged our movies, our junk drawers, our bedroom closet and reorganized the craft cupboard to make room for the kids' games that were just piling on top of the fridge. The nursery is pretty much ready, stocked with baby diapers and size 0-3 clothes in drawers and closet. We just packed the hospital bag this weekend so we're ready to rush off to have the baby now. I have a couple of the Young Women in my ward "on-call" so they can come sleep over if we leave in the middle of the night.

The other night I dreamt that I had Cpt. Adorable, but that my mind was not with my body during the delivery. He weighed 12 pounds and 2 ounces. Randomly, my cousins' wife, Tina, was with my body when I had the baby and I kept trying to grill her for details of the birth. How long did I push? Did I make it without the epidural? And she just couldn't give me any answers.

I keep wondering what it'll be like to go into labor and I have to keep reminding myself that it won't happen for at LEAST another 2 weeks since I showed no sign of going into labor at 39 weeks (when I was induced) last time around. Right now I feel like time is dragging. I'm SOOO close to the end, but really, not since 2 1/2 weeks is kind of a long time.

Sweetie has come around and started to pat my tummy and talk about the baby boy or baby "broder." She likes to have me lift my shirt so she can see my tummy. I think it helped to see some of my friends' little baby boys to help her draw the connection. Baby Dragon is very excited for me to push the baby out (she's seen the video of Sweetie's birth). She likes to talk about how she will be nice to her baby brother and kiss him and share her toys with him.

So, just a few more weeks and I'll be dealing with all the lovely post-baby stuff and I'll be snuggling a sweet little baby. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.