My Big Fat Belly - 35 Weeks

I’m technically 36 weeks now but never did my 35 week post when I said I would after I had my first weekly appointment so I’ll start with 35 weeks and then later in the week I’ll post on how my 36 week appointment went.  So, at 35 weeks:

• I’m not too miserable, but definitely getting there. 
• I’ve found that when I sleep, my joints get VERY sore.  When I wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I can barely close my hand around the door knob to the bathroom without it hurting my knuckles and wrist.  It feels like arthritis.  I get the same joint pain in my hips, shoulders and elbows when I sleep too. 
• I don’t think Carter has dropped yet.  They say that when the baby drops, the pressure will be off my lungs so I will be able to breathe much better, but he’ll be on top of my bladder and my pee frequency will spike.  This hasn’t happened to me yet, so I’m assuming he hasn’t dropped.
• Back pain is still an issue.  Now it’s upper and lower back pain though.  It was just upper back pain, but now the weight of my belly is getting the best of me.
• I’ve gained 31 pounds now and am officially worried I may go over 35, but honestly, I don’t think I have control over it at this point.  I can barely eat because my stomach is being crushed by Carter so I get really full really fast and by day’s end, I haven’t eaten near what I used to eat.  So I’m not sure where the weight gain is coming from at this point.
• I had my 35 week appointment last Wednesday and the doc checked me for the first time.  Unfortunately I’m zero centimeters dilated and 0% effaced.  He said this is what he expected at 35 weeks, although deep down, I was hoping to be at least somewhat dilated.  I know so many people that were 1cm or 2cm for weeks before their babies finally started to make their debut.  Given that I’m 36 weeks today (even though this post is for 35 weeks, I am 36 as I’m writing this) I hope that won’t be the case for me because I really wanted to have Carter before Christmas.  I know that some people aren’t dilated at all and it will all happen in one day and the baby will come quickly, so maybe that will happen to me.  Who knows.  On the bright side, blood pressure is good, iron levels are good, weight gain is good and the belly is measuring on track.
• My 36 week appointment is tomorrow (November 30th).  My doc said he wasn’t going to check me because I wasn’t dilated at all at the 35 week appointment.  I’ll start getting checked again when I’m full term at 37 weeks.  In the meantime, I’ve picked back up on my nightly walking routine with Justin and the Giz in hopes of getting things moving down there.  I’ve read that walking and  hot baths help labor progress (the hot baths loosen ligaments apparently).  I now do both of those nightly if possible.
• I have gotten yelled at by almost everyone I know because I have STILL not packed my hospital bag.  I promise I plan to do that this weekend.  We also still need to get our car seats installed in our cars.
• Carter’s room is almost ready!  When Justin got back from his travel schedule for good, he was SO helpful.  While I was working, he opened and put together all of Carter’s things (the pack n’ play, the co-sleeper, the high chair, the strollers, etc).  So everything in his room is ready with exception to his letters that my sister is in the process of painting and the organic bloom frames that will hold his newborn photos.  So the walls look pretty bare, but everything else is ready.  I’ve even washed ALL of his newborn-3 months clothes so they are ready to wear!

This was taken at 35 1/2 weeks.  It’s starting to get cold in Birmingham so the sweaters are starting to come out, which is actually kind of unfortunate, because I feel like sweaters make me look even bigger than I already am.  Maybe it’s just me though.

That’s all for 35 weeks.  Check back later in the week for 36!