Creating a Human: 37 Weeks – Engaged!

I will try not to bore you with endless pregnancy stories, but have decided to do a weekly re-cap of events, developments (both biological and otherwise) and gained knowledge. Please feel free to skip over these posts if you are not interested! Catch up on the whole series here.

BabyCenter told us that at 37 weeks, the baby is a bit over 19 inches in length and weighs 6 1/3 lbs, about the same length as a stalk of Swiss chard. There is no Swiss chard here, and I don’t look any different from how I have looked the past week or two, so I am going to cheat and put up a photo of Kevin and I from last week, taken by Luke Chaya, the owner of BKK BJJ. Besides, isn’t it time Kevin was in a shot with Fergus as well?!

Dress: Gap Maternity; Flower belt: J. Crew; Behind-the-Scenes: Power Mama by Spanx

Activities of the Week: Saturday I finally got the energy up to go to Ikea! We got an inexpensive rocking chair to keep in the bedroom for nighttime feeds, plus a few odds and ends we were needing. They have great wooden baby hangers, by the way!

Sunday I was pretty worn out and felt terrible physically and emotionally. It was perhaps the first day of the pregnancy that I felt like I was sad and a bit depressed and overwhelmed. I pretty much did nothing but the minimum around here. Monday we received exciting news at the doctor (see below). The rest of the week I tried to take care of loose ends around the house and in the land of the laptop, in preparation for what is to come. My friend R. told me that babies are a lot like the Biblical passage regarding the second coming of Jesus – they tend to come like a thief in the night - and so I want to be as prepared as I can. Bills paid, mail sent off, unanswered emails sorted out, papers filed, laundry done, dry cleaning dropped off and picked up, etc. I’m trying to stay on top of things around here, as they are sure to fall apart after we return from the hospital as a threesome! I was also sprung with some revisions to a manuscript for publication that I was hoping was a done deal, but instead turned up with an unexpected two-week deadline to complete…

Doctor, Doctor / Symptoms of the Week: Our big news of the week: the baby is now engaged! No – we have not found him a bride on Indianmatchmaker.com - his head has simply descended into my pelvis and he is ready to go! Fortunately (or unfortunately?), I am not! Things must be getting serious, as we got ‘the talk’ from the doc about when to come in to the labor ward. Nothing like impending vaginal birth to get you going on a Monday morning. I was told that I will soon be experiencing some pains down below, and low and behold Monday night on one of my numerous journeys to the bathroom, when I was mid-squat, I got a sharp twinge of pelvic pain that sent a shock wave through my body. It happened again, although to a lesser extent, when I was walking to Central on Tuesday evening. I’m feeling a bit ‘weird’ in general, and a bit crampy and achy – much like I do right before starting my monthly period. No distinct contractions, though… I have been as constipated as a meat-and-cheese-gorging Eastern Orthodox Christian right after the Easter fast is broken, but in addition, there is this downward pressure being forced on me, and for all practical purposes it feels like I could just sit down on the commode and poop Fergus out in one big grunt. I’ve even been at least half expecting it to happen. Seeing as that I can hardly manage to poo actual poo out lately, I suppose I am safe, but I think I am now beginning to see why so many things I have read suggest sitting on the toilet during labor (particularly during transition phase) to help the woman get through and manage the sheer uncomfortableness of it all.

Weight: 57.65 kg

Belly Measurement (End of This Week): Still 42.25 inches. I am convinced now that this is due to the fact that the belly is ‘dropping down,’ which masks any ‘expanding out’ that may be occurring.

What The Heck Is Going On In There?: (from BabyCenter) “Your baby is now considered “full term,” even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb.”