36 weeks

The belly is bigger and the hair is fluffier, although I don't think they're correlated (don't mind me, I just finished prepping my class tomorrow on correlations). I had my 36 week appointment today and everything looks good! The baby is still about the same size (26th percentile) and is weighing at about 5 lbs 9 ounces (plus whatever error. Man, I really can't get out of statistics mode). So at this rate (they are gaining about 1/2 pound a week) it looks like he'll be about 7 1/2 pounds if I go to full term. Ok, this still sounds like statistics so I need to switch gears....

I got my doctor's note for the plane (just in case) although the midwife I saw today said it was "none of their business" when I was due so she wouldn't write down my due date because "pregnant women can fly on airplanes". So needless to say, she doesn't have any concerns about me flying! She also said my iron level was really high (a good thing) which I was shocked at since in my non-preggo state I feel like I boarder on anemia (must be all those prenatal vitamins and extra B12 pills). But she said it was a good thing especially for breast feeding (apparently you can't have too much iron). I also know that he is facing head down - which is the good way to come out. Lately my gall stones (or whatever they are) have been a lot better and I haven't had that sciatic pain in weeks so I'm pretty excited since I know this wedding will be c.r.a.z.y (crazy fun of course...but crazy). My dress got tailored back in so it doesn't look so tent like and I have a couple different shoe options.

We also got our ac fixed today! Yeah....it was broken for 3 long days and nights. Luckily it has cooled off in the evenings so we could keep the doors open (but screen doors shut) and have the fans going. It was manageable....and interesting. I learned that there are donkeys, roosters, and one annoying and neglected dog in our neighborhood. But 5K later, we have a nice cool house. We also have been busy with other house projects. I don't know if it's nesting so much as panicking that we thought we had a lot more time to get all this stuff done (it really annoys me when people keep pointing out that next week I'll be considered "full term". Not. helping.).

We took a preparation for childbirth class on the weekend which was basically a 3-week course condensed into one super long day. It was good though. I think we learned a lot and it made me less apprehensive about a lot of things (I guess information is power....plus after you watch those graphic videos 3 or 4 times it starts to dampen your stress response). We also hung out with our friends that recently had a baby (he was one week on Saturday) so we got to practice holding him and watching him pee in the air when his diaper came off (they did not have the pee pee tee pee's).

Something I realized I have to make a decision on is should we get newborn pics? You know the ones they take a couple days after they're born? And what about couple photos with the belly (i.e., before the birth)? I was originally thinking no but I saw someone's the other day and they actually looked pretty cute. Plus I have this stretch-mark free belly that people tell me also may not last (depending how much longer I'm pregnant and how big he gets). Thoughts? We did decide to get photos done with our wedding photographer at christmas - but he'll be about 2 1/2 months by then so obviously not the same as newborn photos.

We leave for Newark on Thursday morning and won't be back until late Sunday night so I'll be offline for awhile. I'll let you know if anything dramatic happens!