Week 35

As I wrote the title of this blog post (Week 35) I couldn't help but remember my first weekly post: Week 6.  It was really scary to me, to start counting weeks.  At that point in time I was so hopeful to (specifically) get to 35 weeks and yet so worried that I might not.  Writing a pregnancy blog, it turns out, is a little bit of a scary prospect since you are documenting a process which travels along a length of time.  It occurs regularly and there is an end goal.  It's not like a travel blog where someone just sits down and writes about France and Thailand and stuff whenever they feel like it.  There is a build-up to something that is going to happen and OMG if I wasn't SO WORRIED that I might not get there when I first started writing these weekly posts.  But here I am!  At 35 weeks and everything seems to be going so well.  I'm just so thankful...and relieved.  I don't get very many comments on the pregnancy portion of this blog - but I do hope that ladies are still reading AND perhaps, still sending me good vibes.  To all of you who do: thank you so much!  We're almost there and my words I've stated all along this journey: that I've been cautious to celebrate any of the small milestones since we will only truly be done with the journey when we're holding our baby in our arms; this will be happening in just a few weeks!  All I care about at this point is coming home safely with Baby and Hubby and starting our life together as a family of 3.

How far along: 35 weeks, 1 day
What did baby do this week:  Baby is about the size of a honeydew melon at around 5 1/2 pounds give or take and 18-18.5" from head to feet.  Obviously these sizes will vary from baby to baby since we know babies (even those at the same gestational age) are born such different sizes.  And all this variation really starts to come into play in these last weeks.  So the sizes I'm quoting are roughly the averages - your baby could easily be smaller or larger.  Baby will start to gain 1/3-1/2 pound for the remainder of being in utero.  Baby's brain is continuing to mature as are his/her lungs but of course most babies born at this stage fare very well.  Whew!
Total weight gain: 28 pounds - almost 2.5 up from last week!  Eeeks!  But at least we're still under that 30 pound mark.
Symptoms:  The latest annoying symptom is pregnancy-related carpal tunnel.  This is due to swelling in my arms.  There is a "tunnel" on the underside of your wrist, which contains the median nerve, which runs from your forearm to your palm.  This tunnel is already very narrow.  So as/if you have swelling in your wrist, the nerve gets pressed on which can lead to tingling, pain or numbness in the hands which can radiate up the arm.  So it's really a lot of fun, you know?  It was really bothering me on Tuesday even during the day, but prior to that I was only bothered in the mornings after waking up.  Because of the annoyance on Tuesday, I ordered a wrist brace for my right hand that should arrive today.  I was reading that if you can keep your wrist straight while you sleep it will help the pain.
Queasy or Sick: Not really
Sleep: I've been waking up a lot through the night to use the restroom and the carpal tunnel has really been bothering me.  I think I'm even subconsciously concerned about trying to keep my wrist straight while I sleep so I wake up worrying about it and then sometimes wake up because my wrist hurts so badly!  Blagh.  Also - I started sleeping with a very flat/thin (old) pillow; I place the lower half of it between my knees while I'm on my side and the top half under my belly - it's way more comfortable to me than those huge body pillows which just made me hot.  Oh and BTW, I had tried this pillow out months ago, before returning it - and not only did it make me way too hot, but the fabric is nowhere near as nice as sheets fabric so it felt rough on my legs compared to my sheets.  I've heard of ladies sewing some pillow cases together as a cover, but it wasn't working for me anyway so...bye-bye body pillow.
Best moment this week: Not sure if this is a “moment” but my blood sugar numbers have been super low this past week.  I’m feeling great about that - and happy that I never had to go on insulin (well, at least not yet).
Hardest part of the week: I guess since I've talked about it so much: the carpal tunnel.  I hope it goes away SO FAST after delivery!
Looking forward to: This last week of work being over so I can just concentrate on what I need to get done to prep for project Baby Arrival (and Christmas!)  There are still a handful of things I want to finish up - but fortunately nothing too huge.  Mostly I need to wash some items (sheets, blankets, burp cloths, clothing, diaper pad cover, etc.) and pack my hospital bag.  The other things on my To-Do list are more nice-to-haves.  Christmas shopping while pregnant has been a bit of a challenge - I can't carry as much as I usually can and don't move quite as fast either.  But I do so much Christmas shopping on Amazon anyway that it's not a significant problem.

Movement:  YES.
Food cravings: Totally craving breakfast carbs.  I can get away with other carbs and even small servings of dessert/Christmas cookies in the afternoon or evenings (that is when my body, and most peoples' bodies actually, are the least insulin resistant - meaning we use the insulin our bodies produce more effectively to absorb the glucose in our bloodstream).  But in the mornings I can basically have very small amounts of carbs or my blood sugar levels are higher than we'd like to see.  Therefore...I am seriously craving pancakes and waffles, French toast, crepes, coffee cake, Danish pastries, even oatmeal and cold cereal with milk!!!
Happy or moody: Pretty happy.  I LOVE the holidays and LOVE anticipating a cozy winter with my little baby to cuddle.
Labor signs: No
Belly button in or out: In
Wedding rings on or off: On
Stretch marks:  No more than the two I sadly discovered a few weeks ago.
Learnings from the week: We got our carseat a couple weeks ago and were going to put it in.  But then I realized that even if Baby came (2 weeks ago was 33 weeks) they likely would not be coming home from the hospital with us and would need to spend a little bit of time in the NICU.  So I didn't rush to put it in, especially since I didn't want it taking up room in my backseat before it really had to.  So fast-forward to now...I just made an appointment at our local police station for next week to check our install.  By 36 weeks, Baby COULD come home with us, so I wanted the seat installed and checked by then just in case.  I was happy to find that not only will they check the install, they'll DO the install for us if we want and show Hubby and me how to do it too.  We're taking the carseat + base, plus the 2nd base, plus both of our cars and should hopefully have EVERYTHING ready for a tiny little passenger in either car, by this time next week.

Final Thoughts:  Yesterday was my last day in the office.  It was such a weird feeling knowing that I won't be back for 5-6 months.  Of course this is the longest I'll have ever been away from my office before.  Those 3 week long vacations I've done in the past look like nothing compared to maternity leave.  And can I just say (no seriously, I don't know why this matters so much to me - I guess 'cuz I just wanted to look like as stylish a pregnant lady as possible!) that I wore heels to work all the way through my entire pregnancy?!  In fairness it wasn't always pumps; yesterday I had on wedge heels: but my heel was still higher than my toes.  I'm also very proud of the fact that I used the stairs every day to get to my desk on the second floor.  Every day I had my computer bag, water bottle and purse and sometimes a bagged lunch.  I was always SUPER careful to hold onto the railing, but this was an important little milestone for me since I've always climbed those stairs (pre-pregnancy) and it's never been a big deal at all whatsoever.  It got harder in the end, but I still did it yesterday.  :)