36 Weeks

Today marks 36 weeks and while not full term, it is the official point in pregnancy where my OB office no longer would stop labor if it started!  Scary thought!  In light of that I started packing my hospital bag Sunday evening.  I've got all the toiletries and my Boppy in there ready to go so all we will have to throw in will be some clothes and makeup and my wallet.  I've even started storing the clothes I want to go along on top of the suitcase when clean so it will be easy for my mom or Brad to grab them in case of quick departure!  I'm still itching to get the carseat installed, but am doing my best to hold off until after July 4.  We did do some test installs to see how both carseats would fit in the new car and with the two HUGE carseats we use we can't get them both side by side so I'd like to keep the middle row clear for another couple weeks since we'll be taking my new car most places even when mom comes down this weekend.  Speaking of, how amazing is my mom?  She's heading down this Sunday to stay with us until baby boy is here and home from the hospital.  At that point she will head home until Brad goes back to work, and them come down again to help me until I'm situated in my new roll as a mom of two.  I'm such a lucky girl!

I'm still feeling pretty good, although the last two days or so my Braxton-Hicks are becoming increasingly uncomfortable and are accompanied by some low back pain.  My poor little toes are also back to looking like sausages so I'm doing my best to keep them up when possible and pushing as much fluid as I can tolerate.  Its amazing to me how the swelling can reside only in my toes, though, instead of my whole foot/ankle.  I'm also experiencing the loss of appetite that often comes at the end of a pregnancy, which makes it very hard to plan and prepare meals for the family since I don't really want to eat them.  Once again, thank goodness my mom is coming to my rescue.  She doesn't mind cooking at all as long as someone else tells her what to make!   Next week I do hope to employ her baking skills and get some banana bread and muffins baked up and frozen, as well as some cookies/cookie dough.  I think those will be handy to have on hand once the little one is here.  Instead of doing big freezer meals like I did with Sophia I just stocked up on lots of meats at Costco last week and will grab fresh fruits and veggies to go with them.  This way Brad can grill and I won't have to do lots of prep work while dealing with postpartum hot flashes in the summer heat!

Now, on to some pictures!

36 weeks