35 Weeks

Uuuugh. Ok, seriously, I'm in the mood to whine, so I'll keep this short. First of all, this is not a great picture of me. I look like a house! yuck. What happened? :( Next week better look better - I don't want to spend month looking like this. Poo

Second, I have been sick all weekend, and now I am very tired, have a headache, and not looking forward to working tomorrow. I kind of lost my voice today, and I have a weird sort of squeaky teenage boy voice. Hopefully it goes away before work tomorrow. I don't need another reason for people to ask me how I'm doing :p

Caleb was a busy busy guy this week. He kicks (or punches) me in the hip a lot, which is a weird feeling. I'm thinking "How did you get all the way over there??". He also gets the hiccups at least 3 or 4 times a day, and the bigger he gets the more I can really feel him hiccuping. I took a video of him moving around in my stomach, but I haven't figured out how to upload it to my computer yet. When I do, I'll post it on my blog.

I *think* Caleb is head down right now, but it's hard for me to tell. The midwife couldn't tell last time if he was head down or not, so she is going to check again at my appointment on Wednesday. Unfortunately, if he isn't head down by now, that means he may not turn on his own and I'll have to do some things, like chiropractic work, or a version (painful - the doctor squishes your stomach around and tries to flip the baby) to get him to turn. If he still won't turn by 40 weeks, that's a c-section for me. So here's hoping he is upside down at this point. I'm not too worried about it, there's still time.

We had our 2nd hypnobirthing class with our doula on Saturday. We practiced some relaxation techniques for dealing with contractions, and talked a lot about what labor would be like (based on the average labor). Ethan and I have exercises to do at home. I have to hold a bag of ice in my hand for a minute and practice deep breathing and visualization techniques. It's supposed to be like a simulated contraction. I think the main lesson is that time goes by much faster when you are practicing the relaxation techniques, and it really helps focus your mind off of the pain. We also went to the store and got some aromatherapy oils for the labor room, and we are picking out music to listen to also. The idea is to create a very calming spa-like environment. We are having fun with it, and I'm looking forward to the birth. I just hope everything goes smoothly so that we can at least try some of the stuff we are practicing.

I have weekly midwife appointments from here on out. I can't believe that it's already that time! Ethan tried (unsuccessfully) to put the carseat in this weekend, and next weekend we'll probably start gathering up the stuff we want to take to the hospital so that we are ready when the time comes. Since it was hard for Ethan to put the carseat base in (I guess it's just tough to get it tight enough), we will have to ask them to help us at the inspection place. I'm going to try to find a place that does inspections on a weekend so that Ethan and I can go together and see how it's done.

I'm going to skip the baby update for the week - I don't have that much to add anyway. Caleb is about 5 and 1/2 pounds now according to the averages. Check out babycenter.com for more info!