Week 36: "Crenshaw Melon"

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly. (http://www.babycenter.com/)

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I'm just 6 days from being full term -- woohoo!!! Here is my 36 week belly pic.

I crossed a milestone this past week...my 30th birthday! I cried, but I tried to take comfort in the fact that I'm extremely happy to be having a baby. We are very blessed and I wouldn't change a thing -- it was worth the long wait. And at least I have Bebita to focus on right now, instead of how old I'm becoming.

I've been feeling pretty well aside from the SPD pain I've been having. I have my good days and bad days -- unfortunately, today is a bad day. Other than that though, I feel relatively good. I had a chiropractor appointment on Monday and I told her that my blood pressure had been high at my last appointment with the midwife, so she took my blood pressure and it was 140/90 (extremely high). If I didn't already have my appointment with the midwife scheduled for today, I would have called her, but I just waited it out until today.

I was a little nervous going in for my 36 week appointment today, but my blood pressure was down to 128/80 today, so not horrible. There was still a little protein in my urine, but I'm not overly swollen so the midwife still wasn't too concerned about Preeclampsia. They rechecked my iron and it was 12.1, and they like it to be at least 12 or higher, so I'm good there. I also had my Group B Strep test today -- I'll get the results at my appointment next week. The baby's heartrate was 140 bpm today, but I forgot to ask what my belly was measuring. The midwife also did an internal and my cervix is still closed with no effacement. I'm hoping by next week I'll have a little progress since I'll be full term, but I have a feeling I'm going to be a 40 plus weeker. I'm really hoping I can avoid being induced, but I'm prepared for the worst.

I get to go meet with Jen and Lisa and their babies this afternoon. I'm very excited to see them since its been awhile. I haven't yet met Sophia, Lisa's little girl, who was born on Christmas Eve day, so I'm excited about that. Speaking of which, I need to finish up a few things before I head out the door, so I'm making this short. Until next time...