36 Weeks!

3 or less weeks to go until our future Olympian arrives!  I had my 36 week appointment today and although it was long all went great!  I started with an ultrasound (which as far as I know will be the last one) and BB is measuring just a few days ahead of my due date and he is head down (phew)!  All of his measurements have slowed a bit from the last ultrasound but he is happy and healthy and that is all that really matters.  His statistics averaged him in about the 50% range with his head still being his largest measurement (70%).  The estimate on weight at 36 weeks is six pounds and 3 ounces.  Thank goodness I can't go full term- I'd be conerned this baby would be huge!  They say the baby grows about a half a pound/week so if this estimate is anywhere close to being correct we could say BB will weight close to 8 pounds.  I'll be curious to see how much he actually does weight.  Speaking of weight, I am going backwards and have lost a pound and a half since last week.  This brings my total weigh gain to just shy of 20 pounds.  The doctor was not concerned so I will just keep on eating what I love =)

The doctor completed my Strep- B test (will know the results in 5-7 days) and did a cervical check.  I am about 1cm which really means nothing other than my body is getting ready for BB.  He won't check me again until 38 weeks unless of course he has a reason to.  At that point depending on how my body seems to be doing he may recommed an induction around 38 weeks or hold out until the following week.  The end is so near!

According to babycenter.com here is how BB is cooking up this week:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.


At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.
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My to-do list is still long but it will all get done.  Here's what is left on the list:

Pack my hospital bag
Get a peditrician
Finish the nursery
Make some freezer meals

Hopefully by the end of the weekend this list will be completed.