40 weeks here!
How Far Along? 40 weeks, 1 day – as of today 3/18/2017

Week 38 Began: Friday, March 3

39 weeks in this photo with our dog, Lily
Week 39 Began: Friday, March 10
Week 40 Began: Friday, March 17

Size of Baby (at 40 weeks): the size of a red panda, minus the fluffy tail or a watermelon (average is 20 inches tall and 7.5 lbs)

Gender: A girl, Margaret

Weight Gain: hovering around 188-194 pounds most days

Maternity Clothes: I’ve finally really popped at 38 weeks, with the baby continuing to drop down I think I’m really showing now at weeks 39 and 40. Shirts can barely cover my stomach!

Nursery: We have been given so many gorgeous gifts the past few weeks – handmade items! A handmade quilt from one of my boarding school professors, two knit hats and a throw blanket from someone who trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with M, and the spouse of a coworker of M’s sent him home with a stroller blanket and a throw blanket. So girly and sweet!

Quilt from one of my retired boarding school professors – gorgeous and matches the nursery perfectly!

Movement: Margaret is still moving a lot all day long. She has definitely dropped but she has still really active so the Docs have no concern about rushing to induce me before we get to 41 weeks and then we will reassess.

Symptoms: Heartburn, calf stiffness, and now hip stiffness on both sides from when I’m sleeping and moving from side to side overnight. Side-sleeping really has been an adjustment.

Side Effects: We’ve had some global warming weather shifts that have been really dramatic lately. So we’ve been running 3 humidifiers in the house but I’ve had more issues tied to that than this pregnancy – dry nose, dry eyes, sniffles, etc.

Sleep: It’s fine… except I’m now getting up due to needing to pee all the time. I mean, ALL the time. Totally wild. But trying to keep up with as much sleep or naps as I can.

Cravings: Just hungry in general quite often!

What I Miss: No heartburn. No muscle aches. Being able to bend over easily to put on socks!

Best Moment This Week: Finding out at 39 weeks 5 days I was finally ONE whole CENTIMETER dilated. haha. But also good progress in that my cervix is anterior. She’ll arrive when she is ready!

What I Learned This Week: You can eventually run out of things to do when you aren’t working and your baby is due to arrive at any time. Also, I got a manicure and pedicure last week and that was really nice – that pedicure felt AMAZING!

Looking Forward To: Active labor starting at some point.