37 weeks!

bump watch: definitely growing by the day now! at my last few midwife appointments, i've been measuring anywhere between 1 to 1 1/2 weeks ahead, although there's no talk of changing the due date. baby's just chubbing up and that is a good thing! 

sweet pea: is FULL TERM!!! the ideal time for delivery is still as close to 40 weeks as possible, but it's reassuring to know that baby is developed enough at this point to thrive in the outside world. sweetpea weighs an estimated seven pounds (probably a little more if he's a he, according to the gurus at What to Expect), and will keep adding ounces on over the next few weeks. baby's lungs are producing more and more surfactant, which lowers surface tension on the alveoli to support normal respiration. 

image credit from What to Expect When You're Expecting

best moment: last night, Nick and i and sweetpea enjoyed an organ concert at our church. any time the low pedals sounded, baby started kicking. and for one incredulous thirty-second span, those kicks were exactly in time with the music. even though we're 90% sure it was a coincidence, it's still fun to imagine our baby's own future forays into music-making. 

symptoms: more intense Braxton Hicks contractions! i had the first few uncomfortable contractions at work last week (previously, i've just felt my belly tightening but it wasn't actually painful). there were only three of them, but they were 10-15 minutes apart and i started to think we might be meeting Sweetpea sooner rather than later! now they're just sporadic, and an excellent way to practice my hypnobabies techniques before the real deal. it is amazing how you can literally feel the tension melting away. 

also, i have random bursts of energy. i don't know if it qualifies as "nesting" -- i think it has more to do with the Reminders app on my phone that (shocker!) reminds me of all that's left to do before baby arrives. plus, it's way more fun to stuff and fold cloth diapers than it is to mop the floor. sweetpea's bum is gonna be stylin'!

cravings: back to the sweets this week. and i've started drinking red raspberry leaf tea, which one midwife had warned me tastes "like artichokes", but i find it very similar to green tea and quite delicious with a little honey! 

what i miss: being able to roll over in bed without feeling like i'm making a 15-point turn in a schoolbus. 

looking forward to: snuggling this little one. i've run the gamut of typical third-trimester emotions, from being so excited for baby to get here, to terrified of how much will change once we become a family of three. but over the past few weeks, i've come to truly believe that we'll figure it out and that, apart from the inevitable self-doubt and over-reacting of first time parents, we'll settle into a family routine that works for all of us. we love our sweetpea so much already!