This week went by a bit more quickly, I think, probably because it’s been a stressful week at work. Overall, I feel OK. I’m very uncomfortable at times, but there’s a big difference between discomfort and feeling bad – sick or in pain, even mild pain. A lot of people aren’t feeling so hot by the time they get to this point, so I’m pretty happy that I’m feeling as well as I am. Sleep quality has definitely gone down, but I’m still getting a good 6 hours most nights.
Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she’s over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you’ll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.
We can’t wait to meet our daughter, of course. When I first found out I was pregnant, I felt this moment of elation, but that disappeared quickly, as I literally started throwing up the day we found out. At that point, I sort of started getting scared of being sick. Also, when I’m feeling sick, the task of caring for a newborn seems insurmountable; when I feel well, I’m confident we can handle it. Anyway, I have to say those weeks of morning sickness changed the tone of pregnancy for me. I had this pregnancy book I’d been all excited about writing in, but the questions were all, “How are you feeling?” (Like death.) “What foods are you craving?” (None. Hate food.) And so on. I put it away, and I haven’t touched it since. It was hard for me, and it was hard for my husband as well.
Lately, though, with the end in sight, we’ve been getting super-excited. Finally, the waiting is nearly over! No more worries about premature labor or anything like that. Obviously, childbirth is always risky, especially for the baby, but for whatever reason, I’m just not that worried about it. I feel like everything’s going to go fine. My body has been very good at making me uncomfortable, but so far it’s been good at keeping us healthy – at least in terms of the few things the doc can measure, like her heart rate and my blood pressure and weight and so on.
As a plus, today I found out I’m group B strep negative. Hurray! That means there’s no reason I’d need to go in to the hospital immediately if labor starts.





