35 Weeks

About the baby:

In week 35, your baby already weighs about 5 pounds, 5 ounces, and is going to keep up the 1/2-pound-per-week-plan. Fat is being deposited all over your baby's body. Cute, little baby fat rolls. 

Growth is tapering off in the height department though. Your baby will likely not grow much more in height at all and are probably somewhere around 20 inches tall. 

Not only is your baby packing on the fat in these last weeks, but also brain cells! Brain development continues at a mind-boggling pace during this time in pregnancy. And though your baby's head is certainly big - by comparison - it's also very soft which will allow it to pass through that tight squeeze of your birth canal. 

Because of this increasing size, your baby is now cramped and restricted inside the uterus — so fetal movements may decrease, but they may be stronger and more forceful too. If your baby is in a headfirst position, his or her head will rest on your pubic bone in preparation for labor and that can be no fun at all for moms-to-be.

Most of you know this was a crazy week - even more so than usual with all my crazy blood pressure stuff that happened on Friday. I haven't taken my medicine since Friday and plan to just discuss that with the OB at tomorrow's visit. Unfortunately that means the good ole uterus has been contracting away :/

Oddly, I'd only been experiencing those really tight contractions on just the right side of my uterus (and the ones that make my stomach like rock hard). I'm now having those on the left side and all across the top of the uterus too. Not sure if that means anything, but it's a new development. 

Swelling is a new development too. Ever since my blood pressure spaz-out on Friday my feet and ankles have been so swollen. Even up the leg in the calf and stuff too. Saturday morning my hands and wrists were also swollen. I'm not liking the swelling things at all. It makes my joints and stuff feel all stiff and super uncomfortable. I wasn't even able to wear some of my regular shoes over the weekend. Luckily, it seems to be going down. I can at least make out my ankle bones again and wear most of my shoes. But, it's still puffing up and deflating at odd times. 

The swelling has also added a lot of feet/leg pain. My feet have hurt sporadically in this last trimester, but they've hurt a lot since the swelling started.

Over the last 3 or 4 days I have been super exhausted. Just like total wiped-out feeling. I can't seem to conjure up and keep hold of any energy.

I'm still determined to keep this little man in there till March though (as if I have control over that). It's ironic to me that most people are so eager to just have their babies already once they're anywhere near the 36 week mark and I've been trying to just hold mine in since 24 weeks! Especially since lungs and brain development literally continue to grow at rapid rates all the way up to week 40. I want my baby well done, please. 

My doc has mentioned inducing me before and I'm whole-heartedly against it. It makes labor harder (and sometimes longer). I mean, again, if there was a strong case presented to me in regards to some kind of danger to Nolan that's a different story, but just in order to speed things along? Won't happen. That's just me though, I know everyone is different and completely entitled to their beliefs/stances on these issues.

Another week down, Lovebug. One more week and we're technically considered full-term.