37/38 Weeks

deep thought: how do people take mirror selfies and avoid all the crap on their bathroom counter?!

+ Today I am 38 weeks, 2 days pregnant

+ Baby girl is the size of a WATERMELON

+ I've had a few contractions, but they are all very sporadic and they never last long. I hope this at least means I'm progressing, even though I know they don't mean labor!

+ I think we can officially say we are FINISHED with the nursery! I hope to get photos taken and posted soon, but, you know...

+ Sleeping is pretty hard. I feel like I have to change positions a lot to stay comfortable and changing positions is a physical feat! haha It's so hard to move around. I especially hate bending over to do anything, like put on my shoes or pick something up off the ground... I'm such a pregnant lady.

+ Devin and I were just talking about how lucky we feel to have had such a textbook pregnancy. But really, every symptom, every milestone has been 100% normal and average. And that's really the best we could have ever hoped for!

+ I broke the 20lb mark! I am up to a 20 pound weight gain now. I'm glad I haven't put on a ton of weight in pregnancy like I was so sure that I would, and let's be honest, who wouldn't be glad about that! But I've also been worried that my low weight gain is probably the result of a smaller appetite for the bulk of this pregnancy, and so far that hasn't seemed to be a problem for baby girl, but I just hope that is still the case by the time she is here, and that she's healthy. Because honestly, if I had to gain 100 pounds in order to make sure my baby was healthy, I'd do it without hesitation. That's what is most important to me.

+ I had another baby shower! My sweetest friends Danica & Chelsey threw me the cutest donut shower and it was so fun to hang out with all my cute friends and talk about babies and pregnancies. Not to mention, 4 of them brought their adorable babies with them, and that really just gets me all the more excited for mine to be here! It was the funnest afternoon! I wish I would have taken pictures!!!

+ I went to Lindsey Shipley's Breastfeeding Basics class this weekend! She's gained a lot of attention on instagram (@lactationlink) and she's a certified Lactation Consultant, worked as a labor & delivery nurse for years, and has two kids of her own - she is FULL of knowledge and experience on so many levels and I left the class feeling way more in-the-know, way more confident, but also maybe slightly overwhelmed?! I've really tried to make a conscious effort to be easy going when it comes to things like a birth plan or parenting, because I want to be able to go with the flow and make adjustments as things happen, rather than freak out when they don't go exactly according to the plan I had pictured, but breastfeeding is the one thing I've really put pressure on myself to do, and be good at! It's the only thing I've been adamant about - I want to exclusively breastfeed for as long as possible. After going to Lindsey's class, I feel way better about my decision and way more certain that I can do it! And also, way more prepared for when my baby comes!

+ As impatient as I am getting, I am also trying to set my mind one week past my due date, the day I will be induced if I haven't gone into labor before then, which is October 8th (unless by some miracle, I can convince my doctor to induce me earlier than a full 7 days late!). There are a lot of pros and a lot of cons to going a week over due, but what ends up happening is really so far out of my control that I'm just trying to accept it! I would love for her to come this very instant, but again, the closer I get to my due date, the more and more content I am with doing whatever is best for this baby. And if she needs an extra week, then goodness gracious, she can have it! She can have whatever she wants! That's how it will be once she gets here, and that's how it's been for the last 9 months, so why change now?!

+ The first week of September was really stressful for me with work, and I was adjusting to a lot of discomfort as the baby started dropping. Around this time, my uncle was also hospitalized with some health issues as the result of a serious alcohol addiction. It wasn't much longer than a week later that he passed away, and it's been a really difficult thing to process, but the last thing Quincy said to Devin and I was that he would say hi to our baby girl for us, and having said goodbye to him on such a sweet note made everything a lot easier. The funeral service was beautiful and it was so good to be around family, and all of it just made me feel extra grateful for the little life I have the privilege of carrying right now. That week put a lot of things into perspective for me, and it's made it easier to refocus on what's really important! 

+ Basically at this point, we are just anxious as ever to meet this sweet girl! We're kind of just sitting ducks, waiting around and it's a little nerve-racking! I hope I can find some ways to distract myself over the next couple weeks!