Pregnancy Update: 38 Weeks

Term! This baby probably won't be here for 2 or so more weeks, but he could come any time now and that just seems crazy. 

It was surprising to us all that I did weekly updates as long as I did, but I did skip last week - I had a really busy weekend with our residency graduation ceremony! Although I have some more work to do, the end of residency is feeling very real.

Bump: This week I'm wearing a Motherhood Maternity Dress.

1. How far along are you? 

38 weeks

2. How big is baby? 

Apparently a winter melon. Can we all just agree he's the size of a baby? Estimated weight on my app is 6.61 pounds, but really at this point the range could be anywhere from 6-9 pounds. I haven't had a size estimate since my 26 week anatomy ultrasound. At that point he was 80th percentile, but that doesn't necessarily mean much now.

3. Total weight gain/loss

I had a total gain of 21 pounds at my last update. My gain was slow for a couple weeks. Well, I always make up for it. At the next visit I had gained 4 (in a week apparently!) up to 25 pounds. Then the past couple weeks I've gained a pound each, so overall pretty healthy. I feel like I'm able to eat ok still, though I can't eat a lot of volume at once.

4. Purchases

No big purchases, but our big Target order arrived and everything is set up, washed and ready. He can arrive any time!

5. Sleep

Still some insomnia, but mostly sleeping fine. I hear about women who completely stop sleeping well at this stage and I'm definitely still getting my rest so I consider myself very blessed.

6. Symptoms

LOTS of Braxton-Hicks contractions. Swelling is also getting worse, especially since it's literally 80 degrees by 8 AM (and 100 by 12) this week and the heat really makes me puffy. I'm also just big - it's definitely a challenge to get up when I'm lying down. 

7. Rings on or off?

Off. I'm still wearing my substitute ring that's a little bigger in place of my wedding band, though now with the increased swelling, I think it's time to take that one off too.

8. Belly button in or out?

Out. Definitely out. In the past couple weeks it definitely looks more like I expected it to in pregnancy. Like a classic outie that's been streeeetched.

9. Food cravings

Fruit all the time. Also we had a Father's Day/Baby shower BBQ hosted by John's work and look at this cake! Completely homemade by the wife of someone in his department.

10. Fitness

Luna and I walk regularly and I'm still going to yoga. Last week we walked down from our house to the Pride parade, about a mile each way, and it definitely felt like an effort, though some of that was probably the heat. 

11. Feelings and Mood

I was feeling a little stressed this week with what I had accomplished for research, which is the rotation I'm technically on right now. As it turned out, I had a lot of pieces done, but they were separated enough I was feeling like I wasn't close to combining it into something helpful. Turns out I wasn't so far away and was able to submit a (albeit very rough) draft to my PI this week so we can work on our next steps. That really helped me feel a lot more calm. I haven't cried in a long time: I fear the moodiness has gone dormant and is going to come raging out at an inopportune time. 

12. Pregnancy Perks and Snarks

Nothing stands out. I mean I'm super pregnant and it's pretty uncomfortable, so I could snark about that but I think I'm probably more comfortable than a lot of people at this stage, so I feel like I shouldn't. 

13. Best moment this week

John's work had a BBQ for us on Friday (see the cake above) and it was really nice to get to spend some time with his coworkers. John labelled the bump with his little name tag: Future Structural Engineer. We'll let him pick his career path of course haha.

And that's it - thanks for reading my 38 week update, see you soon.