My BIG girl!

"Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pound." This is the quote that I received from my weekly email updates on my pregnancy for last week. According to MY calendar, I'll be 36 weeks tomorrow. According to the doctor's calculations, I'm about 35 weeks and 4 days, but who's counting?

I said all that to tell you about my ultrasound and doctor's appointment today. Guess what little bit weighs???? Go ahead, guess........I was shocked. In fact, I muttered an expletive a little louder than I should have (luckily the ultrasound tech and I have become friends over the last year). 6 LBS 13 OZ!!!!!!! She's a chunky monkey! Don't get me wrong - I'm thrilled that she's so healthy that she's tipping the scales - and in the 86th percentile, might I add (it was the 66th percentile at the last ultrasound). I was just REALLY not expecting to hear that she's nearly 7 lbs already and I still have about 4 weeks to go. Wow.

She was head down, which I already pretty much knew, but was a relief to confirm. At this point, she's not likely to flip again because she's really running out of room. She's been hanging out on the right side of my belly with her butt under my ribs and her head down. She gets the hiccups at least once a day and I can tell that she's head down when she does. It's cute as can be - watching my belly jump with each hiccup - but I feel so sorry for her! This week she's also been sticking her little feet out so that I can feel them and could even measure them if I had a ruler! She doesn't kick quickly and then pull that little foot back in like she used to. I guess she just doesn't have the room anymore, but it's precious to feel those little feet and knees sticking out.

After my momentary freak out and a marathon long wait in the waiting room, we went in for the doctor's appointment itself. She measured my uterus, which was measuring at 40 weeks! Apparently, at my appointment 2 weeks ago I was measuring 39 weeks (she didn't tell me) and that was why she ordered the ultrasound this week. The doctor didn't seem concerned about her size. She wants to do another ultrasound when I'm "term" (37 weeks) and see if she's still getting bigger. If she's too big, they will schedule a c-section. I asked for her educated guess as to what Em will weigh when she gets here. Her "guess" is in the high 7's, low 8's. I'm PRAYING that she's right and that I don't have to take the c-section route. We'll see. It's in God's hands now.

It was a great appointment all in all. I gained my 1 lb per week that they want me to (14 lbs. total for the curious). I have ample amniotic fluid and Emma looks great - big cheeks and all. I may scan an ultrasound photo tomorrow, but they weren't great because her head's so low. we WERE able to see those big old cheeks though! The doctor DID notice how much she had dropped, but still has a way to go. I asked if she thought that I'd deliver on time or had any chance of being early, considering that the ultrasound machine projected June 28th today. She said that I'd likely be on time. I have a slight risk of an earlier delivery because of her size, but it's not likely.

These past 2 weeks or so I've been having some ankle swelling and redness, which the doctor got to see today and was ok with. She said that the swelling was really minimal and that the redness was just from the normal edema from this point in pregnancy and was to be expected. The only real issue that I've had this week has been my hands falling asleep and some pretty serious pain in my right hand that radiates down my wrist. She said that it's pregnancy carpal tunnel and that it's also very common. Not much to do other than wear a wrist brace occasionally (which I have been doing) and keep it elevated, as well as my feet. I told her that it was great timing because I've finally reached the point in the school year where I can sit back and put my feet up a little more often.

That being said, I can't begin to tell you how busy we've been this week. Brad installed the carseat this week and we've really gotten everything done that we could possibly get done at this point. We've almost finished packing "the bag." It feels great to get so much accomplished. I keep realizing that there's always the possibility that I could go into labor any minute. It's a good thing that we didn't procrastinate on this one! Hard to believe that my 9 months of "cooking" this baby are almost over! I'm DEFINITELY ready!