37 weeks!

How far along? 37 weeks, 1 day. We are officially term! As far as I'm concerned, this baby can come today.


Total weight gain/loss: +32 pounds. I gained an extra pound this week! It certainly had nothing to do with all the donuts. No, that can't be it...

Maternity clothes? If the above photo is any indication, I'm going for maximum comfort at all times now. :)

Stretch marks? I found new ones - on my arm! Are you kidding me?

Sleep: I can get about 3 hours, maximum, before I have to pee. It's super awesome.

Best moment this week: Our anniversary was a lot of fun. Ben took me out to eat and the restaurant was perfect. Then we went to an old-fashioned drive-in (that's been in Peoria since the late 50s, basically unchanged) for root beer floats. It was perfect!

Movement: Poor little man has been getting the hiccups so much lately! But Ben told me that means his breathing is well-developed. So I can't complain!

Food cravings: I really really really wanted scotcheroos this week. So tonight, I went ahead and made some. Only I somehow messed them up. I do not know how this happened, but they were rock-hard and weird tasting. I am so disappointed. :( And so is my sweet tooth.

Nursery: Nursery furniture is coming home this weekend! I'm really excited to get the room put together, and sit in there waiting for our munchkin to arrive.

Labor Signs: Saturday night he dropped down into my pelvis, which was confirmed at my OB appointment today when I suddenly "lost" three centimeters on my belly from last week. I did not have my cervix checked - I want to do that as little as possible. But I have been having real contractions off and on all week, so I've likely made some change. Now it's just a waiting game!

Belly Button in or out? Now that he has dropped, I am no longer worried about it sticking out :)

What do we want to teach Henry about? Modesty - which might be an uphill battle with his Daddy around. (Love you Ben!)

What I miss: Washing a sink full of dishes without watching my feet double in size.

What I am looking forward to: Saturday I am going back to Fired Up with my family while Ben goes to his 10-year high school class reunion. It's too far away for me to join him this late in our pregnancy, so I'm glad I won't be spending the whole weekend alone. Plus, I love painting pottery!

Weekly Wisdom: I feel like I've learned very little this week. Things have gone by so fast! I hope the next few go the same way.

Milestones: I feel like both reaching "term" and our two year anniversary are huge milestones! I love our life, and I am so excited to be expanding our little family. :)


Daddy's Thoughts: 


I'm post-call and rather tired again tonight.  Sorry about that.  Post call days are way more fun than working, though, especially when you get to run errands and go to OB appointments with your very pregnant wife!  We're at that stage of seeing our OB every week, which is both kind of strange and also kind of useless.  It's the standard of care, but even I question whether my OB patients need to see me that often.  I guess I have to admit, though, that none of them have ever seemed angry or frustrated that I had them come back that often.  Maybe it's just nice that with all the changes and ligament pains and babies bouncing in their tummies at 3 a.m. there's someone who cares and is going to see them through, all the way to the end.  Maybe it's just nice being reminded that this whole crazy thing does, in fact, have an end.

I've been thinking more about how labor and delivery are going to go.  I keep telling Nicki that I have no doubts that she'll do really great and will be a model labor patient.  (And I really do know that she's going to do great!)  I kind of wonder if we'll really "know" when she's in labor here at home, or if it will sneak up on us.  She's had more day-to-day discomfort than before, and we know her cervix is definitely favorable, so who knows?  I've even been thinking about the moment that Henry's little head is going to be crowning, but I swear I cannot picture one moment past that.  I guess he'll be here soon enough to find out for ourselves!

When I searched "Baby Crowning" this is honestly what came up.  The internet is strange.

I passed my Step 3 that I wrote about a few weeks ago.  It's the last academic hurdle between me and being a doctor who can go out and practice on my my own, and now it's over.  Huzzah!  Now I can moonlight and make some extra money for the fam.  I hear that it's a fairly fine line you have to walk, though, so that you don't spend too much time moonlighting and making money while you have the chance.  There's an ER down in Canton, IL where I was offered some shifts and I think I'm definitely going to take them up on it.  And apparently working Proctor First Care shifts is also a pretty good way to spend your time.  These are some serious daddy-type things to think about.  :)

Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd in starring roles?  I clearly need to go back and watch this show.

Lamaze was pretty good this week.  We finally learned some of the breathing techniques that I had heard so much about.  We haven't practiced too much yet, but they do seem like they'll be effective to some degree.  I know one thing that's nice for Nicki is that we keep going over how labor is supposed to go, what we should expect and basically how long it will last.  That's got to be helpful. The video we watched had three stories filmed in real time about labor and delivery.  It was on VHS and the haircuts and sweaters were all adorably from the Reagan era.

As you know we're not planning on having an epidural.  Apparently my sister Carrie didn't have one either time and said that while it was rough, it was good knowing that there was end up ahead somewhere.  Sounds exhausting, but worth it, I think.

To completely change the subject, I went up to visit my grand friend Eric on Saturday.  As always, he loaded me up with a huge stack of comics to catch myself up on.  I just finished Gotham Central vol. 2 and must point out how amazing it is.  It deals with the Major Crimes Unit (M.C.U.) at Gotham P.D. and reads just like an episode of Law and Order.  Except everyone knows that Batman is out there, somewhere, even though their official stance is that he doesn't exist.

I think this could possibly be every little boy's dream.
Either that or being Batman.  Always be Batman.

The level of detail with the detectives and officers involved is truly astounding, and that's not even to mention how much these books expand and deepen the world and city of Batman.  One awesome little detail they expand on is that the M.C.U. has a secretary named Stacy who is actually not an employee of the city but technically hired through a private support service.  Her position makes her unique as she is the only non-municipal employee in the department, and thus, the only person who is allowed to turn the Bat-Signal on.  Because she's just a citizen, not a cop.  Awesome.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again, I hope Henry likes comic books.  His old man has a lot to show him.

Until next week,

  Daddy