Chestnut Week 37

Maybe this is my last
pregnant picture?...

An eventful week, but alas, no baby yet! I can't believe I've made it this far. Onto week 38!

Technically, this is what's going on this week:

• Chestnut is the size of a winter squash - ~19.1 inches and weight could range from 6.1 - 9.2 pounds. 
• He is official full term now, but can still benefit from extra days in the womb. 
• Baby continues to practice breathing movements. 
• At 37 weeks of pregnancy, grasp is firm. 
• A few weeks ago, your baby would move his eyes toward light. Now he turns towards light outside the uterus. 
• The lanugo is gone except on the upper arms and shoulders. 
• Fingernails extend beyond fingertips. 
• Small breast buds are present on both sexes. 
• Head hair is now coarse and thickest. 

Physical: 

Chin snoring away on the hospital triage bed (in my place).
The nurse threatened to check his cervix.

• Weight: 144 lb (+31) 
• Belly circumference: 42.25 in (+13.75) 
• Dilation: 4 cm 
• Effacement: 90% 
• Station: +1 
• Midwife's estimate of baby's weight: between 7 and 7.5 pounds 
• Baby's head: engaged and ready to go 
• Mucus plug: still no sign of Danny Tanner yet 
• Leaking fluids: none 
• Cervical position: posterior (needs to move anterior before baby is born; but the move from posterior to anterior could take place in a matter of minutes) 
• Number of false alarms (trips to the hospital) so far: 3. THREE!! 
• Tara, our friend and trusty doula, came over for a visit on Tuesday. Tara recently earned her Master's in Nurse Midwifery from the UW! We're kind of getting away with murder having secured her as our doula. :) So when she was over on Tuesday, I asked her to check me to see how I was doing and at that point (yes, a bit beyond her scope of practice as a doula...but definitely not as a nurse!), I was 3cm dilated, 90% effaced, and at station +1. She even showed me how to check myself. I got to feel Marcus's head. He has a lot of hair! 
• After the 3 false alarms, I am pretty tired. They all happened in the middle of the night and they all resulted in sleepless nights. I'm so tired and I want to sleep all the time. Except I can't. My hip pain has worsened and I can only sleep a few hours at a time. :( 
• I got 2 fleets enema at the hospital on Wednesday morning and they were totally awesome. I am not kidding. 

Spiritual & emotional: 

• Everyday, I keep rationalizing that, "This is the day!" On Sunday, he would have been a Father's Day baby...which would have been a beautiful gift for BaBa and the grandfathers. On Monday, it would have been perfect for Marcus to come out because my new MacBook Pro arrived that day (in Portland). On Tuesday...well, I actually didn't want him to come out Tuesday because 8/19 was Penelope's birthday and I wanted her to have her own day. On Wednesday, I really hoped he would have made an appearance that day because (1) I had walked a ton the day before, (2) it was the first day of Summer, (3) I had a parking ticket that was "pardoned," and (4) it was just a beautiful day. On Thursday, again, I didn't want him to come out because 8/21 is Chin's birthday and Marcus needs his own day. Today, it would be nice for him to come out since family could come up to see him this weekend. Also, because I'm tired of being pregnant. 
• I talked to Tara earlier this week that all the things I thought would happen for labor this time based on my knowledge of labor last time have not come true at all. From the contractions to the lost of mucus plug to the feeling of impending labor to the many false alarms. Tara commented that Marcus is his own person and he wants that to be established right at this point. He is definitely his own person. :)
• After returning home from our third false alarm and taking a long nap, I woke up feeling so crummy. "I am so done being pregnant!" This pregnancy has been hard for me from the beginning to end. Yes, I am totally complaining! I was full of disappointment and frustration. I had been contracting for over 2.5 weeks with contractions that were painful enough to cause sleepless nights and general discomfort, but not enough to be productive. My hips are hurting so bad that I have a difficult time moving around. (If you've seen me recently and thought, "Hey, I think Bao was moving around just fine." It's because I was trying hard not to worry you.) Later that evening, Chin and I had a difficult talk. I asked him whether my hip pain went away soon after giving birth to Camille. He responded with a long explanation of how I did not bounce back very gracefully and was a total bitch during the postpartum period. Wow, really Dude? I totally did not ask about that. I even had sex with you tonight, Insensitive Jackass! So, I decided to throw myself a pity party and go take a hot bath. Surprisingly (or perhaps I shouldn't be surprised), God really met me in that dark place. I had a candid conversation with Him about guilt, needing forgiveness, desire to be restored, and all my hopes for Marcus. I felt so refreshed after that. In the morning, I asked Chin for forgiveness in the ways that I was being critical of him during my postpartum period (if you've heard me talk about my relationship with Chin, you may know that I rarely ever apologize). I also confessed a number of sins in my life to him and asked him for forgiveness, too. It was good. It felt really good to have that conversation. I felt like a huge load got lifted from my chest. I think I'm ready to have this baby.

Room is ready for you, son!

Ah!  Camille was born at the beginning of Week 37 so there's no more comparison. :)