36 Week Update

Baby's the size of a crenshaw melon!
Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement. At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.)

No idea what a crenshaw melon is, but I think they're running out of fruit that's big enough! I know the weight above isn't exactly accurate, but that's an average. At my 36 week appointment on Monday, the doctor measured my belly and said it was a little small. He's been perfect in size until this point. She didn't seem too worried about it, but she wanted me to have an ultrasound. On Friday we went for a growth scan with the ultrasound tech. She did a lot of measurements and showed us some of the body parts. I found out that the huge bulge that hurts me is his butt! As a surprise, she turned on the 3-D function and we got to see his face! Here's his face with a hand sticking up!
After the ultrasound, the more we thought about it, the more we thought the baby might have to come out early if he doesn't have a enough room to grow. Saturday was our awesome baby shower at Long Grove Cafe (upcoming post) and I was exhausted by the end of the day. As the night went on, I started to get lower back and hip pain which turned into some really painful cramping in my right thigh and pelvis. The more it hurt, the more scared I got. I was up half the night thinking that this might be it. After a few hours of being awake and using the heating pad, I was able to get back to sleep. The cramping has been kinda on and off since then, but nothing too bad.

That experience really shocked me and it all seemed so real. I was SO scared and I wondered how I would survive the pain of labor when these were just some cramps. I know so many women go through it, but I have no idea how they do it!

The pain has been better since then, but I've had some cramping and Braxton Hicks on and off. On Monday, I went back to the doctor to discuss the ultrasound from earlier. She recommended we go to the hospital for a second ultrasound where a high-risk doctor could look at the measurements. The high-risk doctor there said the baby was in the 19% percentile, but still in the normal range. His stomach is looking a little small, but everything else seemed to look good. So I think he should be fine, but I'm always a little worried about it.

On a good note, here's some pics of me before the baby shower over the weekend!