37 weeks: Full Term!

Baby Girl is size of a wintermelon! (What in the world is a wintermelon?)   She is between 18-20 inches and probably weighs 6-7 pounds!

Little Lady Loeffler is officially head down and has been for a few weeks.  She is practicing inhaling and exhaling.  She is quite comfortable hanging out on the left side and still loves to kick mama in the right side.

How far along? 37 weeks which means we are full term

Maternity clothes? belly is getting bigger and clothes are getting smaller.  Thankfully I don't see people on a regular basis otherwise they would see the same few items of clothing in rotation.

Stretch marks? let's not talk about it.

Sleep: still exhausted all the time.  I end up going to bed later and later since this week I have been up working every night.  But once 7am rolls around, I am up because my hips and legs just hurt too much to stay in bed.

Best moment this week:
36 week appointment and everything is going well.  Thankful for an uneventful and boring pregnancy

Miss Anything? SLEEP!  And the dreaded rib and back pain is back, so it would be nice to be able to sit for longer than 2 minutes without being in pain.

Movement: She still tries desperately to make more room for her growing body.  She kicks me a lot in the right side (that's where her legs are). Sometimes I can feel her inhaling and exhaling.
We got a little nervous at our doctor appointment because she wasn't moving a whole lot that day.  They hooked us up to the monitor just to make sure that her heart rate was good.  LLL didn't like that at all.  As soon as the monitors were on her, she started kicking, almost like she was trying to kick them off (which was fine with me because those monitors made my belly so itchy!)  Everything turned out to be fine, heart rate went up when she started moving as it should.  The doctor gave her her first A+ :)

You might have already seen this big belly on FB.  Hooked up to the monitors to measure fetal heart rate and movement.

Food cravings: Eh, food still doesn't sound awesome.  Don't get me wrong, I have eaten my fair share of Halloween candy this past week, but nothing really stands out. 

Exercise:
Exercise is getting harder and harder.  But I can't complain at all because there was a woman at prenatal yoga on Friday who was also 37 weeks pregnant, but with twins.  And she was STILL doing yoga.
I still try to get out and walk the girls every morning, but our route is shorter and shorter.  We're averaging between 2 and 3 miles now, maybe?
And I'm still trying to keep up with prenatal yoga, but that is getting harder too with all of this extra weight to hold up.
However, I'm determined to continue exercising in someway because there's already a lot of weight to lose and I know that I'm not going to birth a 30-40lb baby!

Anything making you queasy or sick: sometimes eating.  I just haven't felt stellar this past week

Gender: Pretty little lady!  

Labor Signs: not officially, just lots of pressure.  I feel like my pelvis is going to fall out most days.  She is getting heavy

Symptoms: achy hips, sore ribs, back pain, lack of sleep, CONGESTION (I still can't breathe through my nose)

Belly Button in or out? not really in or out

Wedding ring on or off? ring is off. 

Happy or Moody most of the time: Ready to be done!  This week has just been plain uncomfortable, so I am ready for the little lady to be on the outside and no longer an inside baby. 

Looking forward to:
37 week appointment on Tuesday

Dear little peanut,

You're not so much of a peanut anymore!  You are getting to be a very strong and big girl.  You still try desperately to make a little more room in there by kicking and stretching as far as your long little legs will let you, but you're using up all the space I have to give you.  It's not going to get any bigger no matter how much to push, kick, stretch, and punch.

We have officially finished your nursery (which I will post pictures in another post).  Your bag is packed and I have started to pack mine up.  It's so hard to believe that in less than 3 weeks your due date will be here.  However, I have no doubt in my mind that you will take your sweet time and come when you are ready.  While I would like to have you here by your due date, I would not be surprised if you make us wait another week.

We were a little worried about you last week when you weren't as active as you usually are, but you made up for that as soon as you were hooked up to the monitors.  You continued to pay me back for the monitor incident the next day.  There was a lot of punch, kicking, and nose diving on my bladder.  You were not a fan of that monitor on your chest/head and tried to buck your little back/butt to get it off.  I'm sure the few sips of Dr. Pepper I had helped out a little bit too. :)   The doctor said that all was good and gave you your first A+!

Everyone is waiting on pins and needles for your arrival.  Your big sisters would rather that you take as long as possible because I don't think they are ready for you yet.  But everyone else would like to see you soon!

Love,
your mama