37 weeks and appt.

Babycenter.com: 6 1/3 lbs and over 19"

Yay, baby is full term!  I am so happy and excited that he can be born now and do well!  I really want him to come sooner than later for selfish reasons, but most of the things that I've heard and read state that baby boys have a harder time nursing when they are born early, so if he cooks a little longer, that will hopefully not be an issue.

I am now swelling in the ankles and calves.  I have about +3 pitting edema (for all my nursing friends).  No matter how much water I drink or put up my feet, it doesn't go away.  That is what I'm blaming my weight gain on and not my food intake (which really hasn't been much).

I also have my first stretch mark.  1 mark right near my belly button where my piercing is/was.  I guess I'm pretty lucky since I'm fair skinned which is more prone to striae, but maybe in the next few weeks a whole bunch will pop out since this one just appeared.  Baby is still growing.

I was on a decluttering binge yesterday and today.  I love to play the wii, but all the stuff that goes along with it was piled in our living room corner, so I just moved the "problem" to the basement.  I guess this isn't a solution, but I feel better that our living room has less stuff in it.  Dan suggested we buy an entertainment center or something that has doors to cover all the clutter.  Again, I don't know if that would be a solution, but it would make me feel better!  Also, it would be good to have the cords all contained before baby starts crawling...but we have a while.

Last week Dan noticed a "smudge" under my eye.  I started to wipe and then went to a mirror to look and laughed.  I've had the "mask of pregnancy" pigmentation under both eyes for a couple months.  I think it sort of looks as if I used too much bronzer.  While I'm talking about pigmentation, I do not have the linea nigra on my abdomen.

I have my appointment at 4pm today.  I'm guessing my weight will be up because I'll be fully swollen by then and will have drunk over 2L of water by then.  I am going to ask my midwife about the braxton hicks contractions.  I have them all the time and they last over a minute...sometimes as long as 3-4 minutes.   Last week one of the doctors told me to not walk or take short walks and walk slowly.  This caught me off guard since I thought you were to walk a lot at the end of pregnancy.  I get the contractions just by getting out of a chair or shifting my weight.  I really don't want Pitocin, a drug that helps with contractions, so I am ruling out that I'll ever need it!!

My appointment went well, but I went in a bit confused about the contractions.  My midwife said that I just need to take it easy.  I drink a lot of water, but she wants me to try uping my intake even more.  It's weird, my back is so much better (no pain this week) and I have all this energy with nesting, but now have to take it easy.  Uggh.  I just want the baby to be safe and to cook for a couple more weeks.

Wt: 144.8
BP: 120/80
Fundal Ht: 38cm (no dropping lower)
Baby's HR: 130s (but it slowed down while she was taking it as I was having a contraction)

I haven't bought anything recently off of Craigslist, but though it is way too early for baby to play with these, I was very happy with this purchase!  8 wooden puzzles with stand, 2 shape blocks, a tray of different size, shaped, and color blocks, and of course the awesome train!  I'm an excited mama!