35 Weeks

Well, I'm 35 weeks tomorrow.  I can't believe that our Baby Girl will be here soon.

She is very active in the womb, much like her older brother was.  She kicks and punches at all hours of the day.  I'm moving around so much during the day (with Miles and Viv) that I don't stop to experience it, but when I'm sitting in the recliner or lying down trying to fall asleep, I feel her flexing her little muscles.  She often seems to push or press on my sciatic nerve (or some other nerve?), sending a piercing pain down one of my legs.  Sometimes it's so intense that I'll actually cry out in pain for a second.  Luckily, it goes away almost immediately, but certainly gives Mommy a good jolt.  I have also noticed her hiccuping a few times over the past few weeks.

Physically, I'm definitely slowing down.  The 90+ degree heat that we have had this week has not helped.  I have been trying to go for walks (and mow the lawn) at night after the kids go to bed, because the temperature is much more bearable.  I'm starting to notice a little swelling in my hands and feet.  However, this is nothing compared to what I had at this point with the twins.  I just looked back at my blog and realized that I had man hands, cankles and carpal tunnel syndrome by this point in my first pregnancy.  (I had totally forgotten about the carpal tunnel syndrome until just now.)  I weigh just over 180 pounds right now, and I was over 200 by this point with the twins.  So, from a purely physical standpoint, this pregnancy has been much easier.

However, now I have two 2-year-olds to chase around, and I think that they compensate for how much easier this pregnancy is on my body.  At the end of every day, I'm pretty exhausted.  Heck, sometimes at the beginning of a day, I'm exhausted.  Luckily, Jason is a very active and engaged father and really helps to make things easier on me.  Also, my parents have been a huge help with the kids and given me a little downtime to nap and get errands done.

At my OB appointment this morning, they said everything looks great.  My blood pressure was 108/50, which is actually a little high for me, but they said that it's nothing to worry about.  My weight looks good, and my belly is measuring about 36 weeks.  The baby is head-down (very thankful for that, because I would need a c-section if she were breech), and her little heartbeat sounds like a horse galloping.  The midwife mentioned that I shouldn't be surprised if this baby comes a little early because that is often the case with women who have previously carried twins.  They want me to get past 36 weeks, though (which would be a week from tomorrow) before this little angel makes her entrance into the world.  If I were to go into labor before 36 weeks (which seems really unlikely to me), they would try to stop it.  After that, they will let me deliver her.

We think that we might have a name for this little one, but we're still not 100%.  I'm pretty sure that she is really going to be named at the hospital once we meet her.  We have gotten lots of great suggestions from friends, like Lesleigh and Jayson.  I think Lesleigh is a winner.