36 Weeks

Officially 9 months pregnant. Woah. I'm pretty sure I'm waddling at this point. I'm also pretty sure that I increase in size daily. This may not actually be true, but I sure feel like it. In this passed week my husband as spent much more time touching and rubbing my belly. It's really the cutest thing. He's also been going out of his way to tell me just how beautiful he still finds me. I always seem to tell him he's crazy because i'm really struggling with my body image.
The acne has been rough from the beginning, but I never expected to get stretch marks on my thighs. I sort of expected them on my belly, but those haven't appeared. If I do end up with some, I like to think I will react pretty well. It's just that with my thighs, I know they mean that I allowed myself to get out of shape and pack on the pounds there. I could have prevented those by taking better care of myself. I honestly feel like my belly is the most beautiful part of my body right now. Yea, my bellybutton is looking quite stretched but I'm housing a small human in there!

Also in the last week I managed to get tons of things checked off of my to-do list! I officially finished the nursery as well as did a little crafting for a new mom I know.

Saturday while my husband was at the movies with one of his guy friends, I did a little shopping! I had coupons in hand and headed into Target only to be terribly disappointed. I had intentions to get a pack of 7th Generation newborn diapers, but there were none. Actually, there was basically nothing in newborn size. I also ran into possibly every ignorant and rude person in the entire store. So, before I punched anyone I felt it was time to leave. I saw that Old Navy was having a huge sale but since it was apparently "every-person-for-themselves, get-out-of-the-way-or-i'll-hit-you" day in there, I also exited quite quickly. I did have luck in Rue 21! I had been thinking about buying some palazzo pants for the longest time for after baby arrives and I was just in luck. Rue 21 had a great selection and was having a huge sale! I figured they were just part of the BOGO 50% sale that was on most of the store's items BUT I got extra lucky and they were part of the BOGO for $1 promotion!!!! I'm incredibly frugal so finding this deal and treating myself to something I REALLY wanted was just heavenly. So, on to my next adventure- the ever dangerous Babies R Us. I figured that they might actually have some newborn diapers. My husband and I had not previously invested in much of anything newborn sized. Literally they only diapers we had was about.....70 pampers swaddlers sensitive. I know the hospital will give me some, but I'm a planner and would rather be safe than sorry. Since I had originally intended on trying out the 7th Generation diapers at Target, I immediately began looking at the more natural and organic brands. They ended up being pretty low on newborn sizes as well! I almost gave in and just got the last pack of 7th Generation diapers, but then there they were- Earth's Best. They also had one single pack of newborn sized diapers left. I had heard such great things about them, there was no way I was leaving without them. Since we plan to switch to cloth around (or even before) 3 months, I really wanted to go with the "better" disposables (that I could afford). So then I was off to my last adventure, Once Upon A Child. I love love love this second hand store! I had purchased about 10 pre-loved newborn onesies there a while back, but it was brought to my attention that maybe I should invest in a few more. For $5.06 I left with 7 more onesies. I call that a pretty successful trip. I spent the rest of my time hanging out in my car, enjoying a snack and phone call with my sister until my husband's movie was over.  

This passed week I also had my breastfeeding class. I'm pretty indifferent on it. It was led by one of the hospitals internationally board certified lactation consultants, that apparently doesn't usually teach the class. We were given two packets of papers and we watched two videos. One videos was rather old and European. It showed what should happen in that first hour of skin-to-skin after birth and how baby will begin looking for mother's breast to latch on to and feed. It was incredibly boring. The other video was Dr. Jack Newman. It was filled with tons of great information. I already knew quite a bit of it, but I was glad they atleast chose a video by him. He is so straight forward and unforgiving, and I love it. I learned one or two new things! There was little that the LC actually spoke about, so that was a let down. We also never even briefly went through the packets of info we were given. What I've decided to do is create a list of questions I have and meet with an LC at the hospital one on one to (hopefully) get some answers. All else fails, there is another IBCLC in the area I can ask. 

This morning I made a quick trip down to Nossi College of Art in Nashville to help out an art student! She spent about an hour and a half photographing my bump. It was tons of fun and the school seemed pretty awesome! 

This afternoon I had my 36 week appointment at the hospital with my midwife. It was honestly annoying. That's the only way I know how to describe it. I'm incredibly tired of hearing that I'm in pain because i'm petite and that I should just pop Tylenol like candy. When I told her I usually consume an average of 72 oz of water a day she actually said she was surprised I drank so much. Well I mean when i'm constantly being told that all of my problems must be because i'm dehydrated, I try to drink as much as I can stand. Also, when she looked over my very simple birth plan she honestly seemed unhappy I was declining any kind of temporary pain relief. If I decide I "need" it, I would like a standard epidural. If I decide too late, too bad. If it doesn't work, then we can talk options if I really just "have" to have it. I guess I just thought a midwife would be all for going as natural as possible. Last on the list of super annoying things was when she told me I might want to reconsider my "no pacifier" rule, that I could become the pacifier. How about no?! I know that I might become a human pacifier but why is that such a bad thing? Latching baby as much as possible will help my milk come in. If we are struggling to establish a good latch and I give in, I will ask for a pacifier. But I just have this gut feeling that if I don't specifically state not to give my child one, they will shove one in his mouth the first chance they get.  Maybe it's my hormones but that just really offended me- probably because it's one of the things I feel incredibly strong about. Good news from the appointment was that baby is head down and she showed me where his back/body is and where his limbs seem to be. His heart rate is also still great. 

This mama is so ready to be done being pregnant, but it seems like my husband is just now starting to really enjoy it. He touches my belly all the time now, he's even talked to it once! It's so magical to finally see him so excited to meet his son. A month (or less) to go!