36 Weeks Pregnant – Size of Romaine Lettuce

36 Weeks Pregnant!

So we are officially in the full term “safe zone”. That means Baby Sandee is in fact fully cooked and would be good to go if she came out from here on out. Most doc’s don’t want babies to come out before week 39, but physiologically she’s ready to go. Obviously I’m hoping she hangs out for another month because clearly, we could use the time to put our new home together. That’s right, we moved! We are now in St. Louis as of only a fee of days so it’s chaotic, but I’m happy that she stuck with me through the road trip here. I feel like my belly really grew this week, but then again, I feel like that happens every week, especially these final weeks. I mean, if baby is really longer than 16″ and weighing in at over 6 lbs, it’s definitely showing to me, but since I’m so tall, apparently my belly is not looking as big to others, but it is measuring 37-38 weeks according to the midwife.

TMI of the week: Despite all the madness of road tripping and moving this week , I really can’t complain. I didn’t have crazy timed contractions where there was plenty of opportunity for it, and started back up with my prenatal care here in St. Louis. Everything pretty routine. Had my Group B Strep swab (GBS) which is routine between 35-37 weeks and virtually painfree (just a swab of the VaJJ and rectum with a cotton tip applicator) which I was able to do myself, in the bathroom at the midwife’s office. I thought it was pretty cool that I got to do it myself!

GBS is a very common bacteria that does nothing to us as adults but can be very harmful to newborns, so we just want to make sure she’s protected when she comes into this world by making sure I don’t have it, and if I do, treatment can be administered during the birth to prevent her from acquiring it.

Old (New Symptom): More of the same! Persistent left upper rib pain (right under my left boob) which likely comes from pressure from the growing uterus or baby’s persistent kicking….either, or, it doesn’t matter but it never quite leaves me!

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Highlight of this week : We’re are all moved in to our new place here in St. Louis! The downside is we have boxes EVERYWHERE, but I trust we will slowly get through this and make this house a home. If you missed the 35 weeks pregnant update, Winecoach was transferred here and had been commuting every week for the past few months, which was pretty exhausting for him. With our pregnancy, we decided it’d be best to move at the last month of and take my maternity leave here so we wouldn’t be apart, or more importantly, he wouldn’t miss our birth! Especially since he is the birth coach, so I really need him there, so here we are! I plan to return to work once baby is at least 3 months old, but for now, we are focusing on getting her here healthily and nothing else!

Exercise: I would be lying to you if I told you I’ve been exercising at all. It’s been insane and I have not, especially because I was still getting rid of that crazy cold, but also because of this move. I plan to get back to my walking, at least once a day, and I did go walking around the neighborhood this week! Ran into this beautiful lake I didn’t even know was there!

Cravings: No time to have cravings. It’s a crazy life at the moment but I wouldn’t turn away my sister-in-law’s homemade Dutch apple pie during our stopover in Kansas City. Oh yea!

Aversions: Thankfully no aversions. I’ve been lucky!

Mood: I’m pretty proud of myself! The hormones have been in check this week despite all the craziness! I also don’t think I have the time to think about getting sad or upset. The anxiety level is also pretty low given the current condition of my house. I think I decided I have to just take it slow and that’s it. Plus I’ve been so busy on the phone changing addresses and installing services I basically don’t have time to be sad, or have baby blues. Too busy!

Ultrasound and Baby’s Sex: I think we are done with ultrasounds now. Weekly visits are mostly to check baby’s heart rate and positioning. Belly is measuring 37-38 inches, which means she’s still measuring about a week ahead of the due date. I will share the interaction below, caught by my mom! And yes, she’s still a girl!

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Movement and Positioning: Head down, booty and back on the left and feet on the right side. Daily hiccup sessions, sometimes 2-3 times a day, and lots of movement, all hours of the day, but mostly at night upon sundown. She is definitely a night person like her mama and daddy.

Weight gain: Can’t find my scale, it’s in one of the boxes, but at the weigh in this week at my appointment it seemed I was closer to 35lbs weight gain with clothes on, which probably means I’m around 33lbs weight gain (nakey, how I usually weigh myself).

Nursery and registry:  Good news: the nursery is in! Not so great news, still in boxes and needing assembling. We will likely get to it this weekend though! It’s basically the only room in the house that isn’t crowded, it just has her furniture. It all arrived here the day we were moving in actually, so it worked out! Hopefully it will be all done in the next 2 weeks just in time for her to arrive! Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who jumped on our registries with Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby (also all consolidated on The Bump)and sent us gifts. You guys melt my heart <3.  You are just wonderful, thank you for flooding Baby Sandee with love and blessings!

FUNNY STORY: I caught the mail person delivering my bassinet to my neighbor!! Who does that? I literally went for a leisure walk with my mom in the new neighborhood and I see this guy climbing out of his truck delivering MY bassinet to someone else! I was like, excuse me sir, can you double check on that name and house number? He was like, Oh…. really?? LOL…wow.

Names: We will be sharing her name as soon as she’s born!

Midwife or OB: From my experience, you really can’t go wrong with midwives, at least if you have an uncomplicated pregnancy. I LOVE my midwife in Oklahoma, and have now interacted with both the midwive’s in the birthing hospital I’m going to and they are just so sweet and caring. I couldn’t be happier with them and they are the specialists in birthing. In no way am I discrediting OBGYNs as they are quite important, especially during times of mother or baby distress or other medical complications. One of my best friends is in residence to become an OBGYN, and I would go to her immediately upon finding out I’m pregnant, but I’m just highlighting WHwhat  how amazing my experience has been with midwifery, so hopefully you are also open to trying it out!

So happy with the birthing center we chose and midwifery care! It is attached to the hospital if higher level of care is needed, otherwise all natural births in the center itself.

Photo of one of my potential birthing suites where I’ll be birthing my baby! I will post a tour of the birthing center for you guys on my YouTube channel If you guys want!?

Aches and pains: That left rib pain though….wow….

Currently Wearing: Still sporting non-maternity tops!! It’s all about the stretchy leggings! The rest you can wing, especially if you have flown tops and scarves!

Still in Oklahoma by the cotton fields close to our house. This was the day we left OK and started our drive to Missouri.

Yes, it’s your baby! She’s getting so big!

Sleep: I must admit, I’ve been sleeping well since I got over the cold. The getting up to pee happens, of course when you’re 9 months pregnant, but besides that, I can’t really complain. I’ve gotten used to her moving and shifting all day/night long. I’m just happy I made it here to our new home without going into labor at this point!!

Traveling – I survived the road trip to Missouri! Winecoach drove my mom and I from Oklahoma to St. Louis over the weekend. We made 3 stops: Wichita, KS (since we left already late on Friday after the movers were done packing up our house around 8pm) so we had a good 3 hours ahead of us. Slept over there and another 3 hours to Kansas City, KS which is where my beautiful sister-in-law lives! 

We spent an amazing time with them and the kids, had homemade Dutch apple pie and good old fashioned KC BBQ followed by a typical Dutch breakfast in the morning! Then, after a bit over 3 hours we finally arrived to our final destination here in St. Louis, MO area, where I now live! I love our backyard, and can’t wait to share more of the house with you as we de-clutter and empty boxes. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but baby is our priority, so the nursery + getting her stuff ready to go. She will debut in less than a month (more than likely), so we need to get ready! Wish me luck friends!

For all the Dutchies out there, we celebrated Sinterklaas at my sister-in-law’s and Winecoach got a gift from him in his shoe as per the Dutch tradition! Below is our family in Kansas City!

I want to thank my friends, family and even some of you beautiful followers, for all the help with the registry and gifts you’ve sent to Baby Sandee! I’m stitll taking suggestions on the best products and “gear” needed to kee a newborn alive and well, so please leave me your comments on anything else that is crucially necessary for baby’s arrival because I AM still clueless. Don’t forget to follow @ColorfulPregnancy on Instagram for my nutrition tips during pregnancy!

Xo, Ana

Count Colors, NOT Calories!
Color your Plate, Color your Life.
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SNAPCHAT: AnaSandee – I will continue to snap and cook so get the recipes in real time before they make it to the blog! I’ll continue sharing more awesome things about the pregnancy and my adventures as I learn them! Videos stay up for 24 hours, so get following there!