Week 38

+ Week 38 has been a bit of a challenge. It is hard to get comfortable and when I do, I have to go to the bathroom every 1.5-2 hours! I also feel puffy so I am sure I must look it.

+ I know pregnant women always complain about the comments they receive. Some women get comments like " Are you sure there is only one in there"? I on the other hand receive the comment  " There is no way you are due in two weeks, you are too small". This isn't just once or twice either. Its pretty much every single time I go out in public. Some people have no filter.

+ In other news, I was checked this week at my 38 week appointment. While I am "not dilated", baby girl's head is supposedly " right there" and my cervix is thin. She anticipates that I will still pregnant this Thursday at my 39 week check and I am starting to agree with her. However, she said if I am not dilated this week we will need to discuss our options. I have a feeling they will try to get me to go ahead and schedule my induction for 41 weeks, regardless.

+ Its been really hard to plan for work. I always said I would " work until the end" assuming I felt fine. And since I really haven't had too many complaints this pregnancy this hasn't been an issue. But I am finding that now I am in this weird limbo. I hate to schedule appointments outside the office or make promises to outside providers who don't know I am pregnant, for fear of not being able to keep the commitment. For example, I am scheduled with one provider for a meeting Thursday.... in Bradenton... I have major anxiety about being that far away while we are in single digits till baby's due date. I have asked for them to allow me to conference in so we will see...

+ Tim and I put out the sleeper and the swing this weekend in an attempt to get the dogs use to things. Lola is afraid of the sleep and tries to tip-toe quietly past it. I am so curious to see how my pups are going to adapt to having a little one in the house!

+ I hope in my week 39 post I can say " Charlotte was born"... Wishful thinking! :)

Week 37

+ Had my doctor's appointment last Thursday. We officially have a full term, in position baby!

+ I thought it would be fun to mix things up this week! 

• How far along: 37 weeks, 5 days.
• Total Weight Gain/Loss: I officially hit the 20 pound mark at my last appointment :( 
• Maternity clothes: To work yes! Home it is yoga pants with the band up and regular work out t-shirts ( just in a larger size). 
• Stretch marks: None yet! I am hoping this doesn't change in the next few weeks. No linea nigra either!  
• Sleep: In between bathrooms breaks :) 
• Best moment this week: Hearing my OB say " See you Thursday or before" after last weeks' appointment. 
• Movement: TONS! I often have a baby butt or foot visible from my left side. 
• Food cravings: Baby girl LOVES watermelon and it always gets her moving! 
• Gender: GIRL! 
• Labor signs: Tired, feeling baby much lower, being able to breath and contractions although not consistent. Yesterday I felt really off and Tim was convinced it was THE day. 
• Belly button - in or out? In- again hoping this doesn't change! 
• What I miss: Having energy, being able to sleep on my stomach, and exercise. 
• What I am looking forward to: Baby girls arrival ( although nerve wracking at the same time) 
• Wedding Ring: Some days on, some days off. 
• Milestones: Baby is full term!! 

+ Tim and I also spent some time looking at our old baby photos. We laughed a lot. Well, I laughed a lot. I always make fun of Tim's " fivehead" which I assumed was due to his receding hairline. Nope, it was present at birth! Here is a side by side of us around the same age complete with the same 1980's background. 

Meghan ( L) & Tim ( R) 

Week 36

+ I went to the Doctor on Friday and am now on weekly checks. I was up 2 lbs from two weeks ago. I met the last OB doctor in the practice ( there are 8 doctors in the practice, 6 of which do OB). They want you to meet all 6 over the course of your pregnancy because they obviously can't predict who will be on call when you go into labor. I LOVED her: she was very patient with me while I asked 100 questions. Charlotte has switched sides ( she is now on my lower right) with her head "down and low". The doctor was very happy with her position.

+ I have continued to have Braxton Hicks. Nothing unbareable just tightness. I am getting shooting pains in my upper thighs when I walk. The doctor said it is completely normal and due to increased blood flow: one of our body's ways of preparing for baby.

+ I think my nesting has kicked in. I want to clean everything and be prepared. Tim installed the car seat the other night. However, I still want to get in inspected. On my agenda? Packing a hospital bag.

+ Oh and my employer threw me a surprise baby shower the other day. It was incredibly sweet and unexpected!

A fully functioning guest bathroom...finally!

Two and half months ago, I purchased a new shower fixture for the guest bathroom. I mentioned it here but didn't really get into details. Basically, I wanted to swap out the shower fixture for something detachable: both for the dogs and for the baby. Detachable shower fixtures are not cheap, especially when you factor in the Oil Rubbed Bronze. Back in June, Save-A- Lot had a promotion of Home Depot gift cards where you got a $25 gift card for $15. When the promotion ran, they didn't have a limit so Tim and I bought a bunch of them with the intent of purchasing a new shower fixture.

 I came across this Glacier Bay fixture on the Home Depot website. While Glacier Bay isn't the best brand, it was virtually the only one that matched our current set up and would cover the pre-drilled holes in our tile. We went to one of the local Home Depot's and they had NO detachable Oil Rubbed Bronze Shower Fixtures. We walked the store as we had a few other items to get. I randomly stopped at the clearance section near the shop vacs and found one of the Glacier Bay fixtures, box still sealed marked down to $84. SOLD!

The next day we took everything apart. Turns out we had to replace the ENTIRE shower valve to make the unit work. Since that is beyond the scope of our knowledge, we had to call my dad. He of course knows how to do this with his eyes closed but we have both seen so busy that my shower has looked like this for the past 2.5 months.

In my own defense, we don't use the shower in there much. Mainly for washing the dogs but I also have a slop sink in the garage so we weren't in any huge rush. But with my due date in approximately 24 days, we decided it would be best to get it done now. Saturday, my dad come over and we went to remove the access panel inside my linen closet. Turns out what we thought was a wooden " panel" was really two layers of drywall.

All we did Saturday was to open up the wall, check the connectors and make sure we had everything we needed to switch out the valve on Sunday. Since I am HUGE and not very helpful at this point, Tim and my dad worked on this project. First we had to cut the boards to have access to the valve. We later reattached them. The whole process went fairly well. We did end up have to cut out a small piece of tile which made me extremely nervous! This is how things were looking about half way through...

Aside from the whole drywall incident, we only had one small glitch. After we were all installed, we had no hot water. First we checked that we flipped the breaker back on and we did. The new shower valve has a anti- scald feature that comes enabled. It was an easy fix once we realized the cause.After that we switched out the drain (the one item we had to purchase separately). And here is the new fixture all installed.

While we are on bathroom upgrades, we made one more minor addition to this bathroom as well. If you remember I painted the bathroom ceiling a few months back. I still love the color but always felt like something was missing. After completing our Kitchen Tray Ceiling, I realized what it was... moulding! So we picked up a couple of pieces of mini crown moulding and installed it where the gray paint met the ceiling in the guest bath.

So much better! It really is amazing to me what a difference it can make! I think that officially wraps up the list of " To Do" items for this room! :)

Oh this morning, I tested out the new fixture by giving the dogs a bath after their walk. It was so much faster than rinsing them with a cup ( the way I used to). Lola however was not amused!

" What is this thing"?