The Stingeries: Week 37

How far along: 37 weeks, 5 days

Size of Baby S: 19 in, 6-1/3 lbs

Fruit/vegetable comparison (according to Baby Center): Swiss chard

Total weight gain: 26 lbs. I am officially over the recommended weight gain my doctor gave me back in October. :-/ I am hoping it's mostly water weight since I have been noticing a little swelling this week.

Sleep: Good. I'm still comfortable and have been able to sleep most of the night. I did have a couple early mornings though. I woke up and think that everything running through my mind kept me awake. I finished a major report last week and have two major presentations coming up this week. In addition I started thinking about all the stuff I needed to get finished this week - pack hospital bag, pick out Madison's going home outfit, etc. Fortunately I've had a huge burst of energy that's kept me going!

Movement: Lots still. She was going crazy last night and Jason and I found ourselves watching her wide-eyed. She kept twisting from left to right and making my stomach lopsided.

Unglamorous body changes: I already mentioned that I'm having a little swelling. Besides that nothing else too major. Oh, except, honest question - how in the heck is one supposed to shave their legs anymore?! I successfully was able to shave them on Monday, but it wasn't without significant effort. I am thinking Jason has to put up with slightly hairy legs for awhile...

Maternity Clothes? Yep. Except for the weekly pictures outfit. :-)

Showing: Yes! And I think starting to make my co-workers nervous, hehe. By this point the Norwegian women would be out of the office on their maternity and here I am trucking along (albeit slower than before). I'm being asked more regularly when I start my maternity and believe I would love to know the answer myself, but Madi is staying mum. Although it might cutdown on the number of questions after my presentations if I start having contractions... ;-)

Food cravings: I desperately want cake. Not Norwegian cake. I'm sorry to my Norwegian peeps that read this, but your country cannot do cake. I would give anything for an Ooh La La cupcake or slice of cake.

What I miss: Honestly nothing really. Pregnancy has been sort of easy (hope this doesn't jinx me) and while I have temporarily missed certain things (alcohol, icing, American food in general), I don't think I have much cause to complain about missing anything.

Anything making you queasy: Nope.

Strange experiences: I was having a lot of pressure this morning - almost feeling like a constant braxton-hicks contraction. Fortunately, it's gone away now and I am feeling back to normal now.

Milestones: We are FULL TERM!!! This means if Madi decides to make an appearance before my due date (June 15), then she will be able to breathe on her own. She's practicing inhaling/exhaling, blinking, gripping, and sucking. Oh and squirming! I know I said this before, but she's definitely running out of space now. :-)

Best moment this week: We had our Week 37 appointment with the midwife. Everything is still looking great and the midwife is really happy with how we are doing. I will see her weekly from now on. Next Tuesday we will try acupuncture during my appointment. It's a natural pain-relief method during labor, but they recommend trying it ahead of time if you've never done it before.

I decided to purchase my own delivery gown for the hospital. I got two since we will be staying there fore a few days afterwards. My mom got those shipped out (along with our bassinet mattress pad: long story short - the moving company lost the one that came with it and slightly cracked a piece of the toddler bed conversion kit so we got reimbursed for the entire crib and found the pieces we needed to replace them). Anyway, I LOVE the Gownies and would highly recommend them (and the matching headband obviously).