36 Weeks

36 Weeks 1 Day at Jimi's Law School Graduation

How far along? 36 Weeks 5 Days
Total weight gain/loss: +39 pounds
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? Yes
Sleep:  Not too bad.  I wake up 1-2 times a night to go to the bathroom.  I'm using my wedge pillow under my ginormous belly and it has actually alleviated my hip pain and the way that my hips were falling asleep.  It's realllly hard to turn from side-to-side, so I just start out on my left side and hope that I stay there most of the night.
Best moment this week: Jimi graduated from Law school!  He still has 12 hours of summer school left, but that starts next week and he'll only have 12 weeks of it.  I'm so proud of him for doing the 2-year program.  It takes most people 3 years to complete the required 90 hours, but he will have gone both summers and even some weekends in order to shave the third year off.  He's amazing!
Miss Anything?:  This sounds strange, but I miss driving around and shopping/running little errands.  Ever since I've been put on bed rest I haven't been driving and I certainly can't go shopping like I used to.  It's just so hard to walk at a quick pace, not to mention the swelling that would occur.
Movement:  Ava is still moving lots.  I feel her feet up by my ribs, her butt in the middle of my stomach, and her hands down by my pelvis.  I can usually count 10 kicks in 10-20 minutes every day.
Food cravings:  Applesauce, apples, mandarin oranges
Anything making you queasy or sick: No
Have you started to show yet: Yes
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Heartburn, high(er) blood pressure, minor swelling in ankles and feet, swelling in hands (to the point where the joints in my wrists and hands hurt), proteinuria
Belly Button in or out? Out
Wedding rings on or off? Off
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy - b/c I've been able to rest at home and get the swelling in my ankles and feet to go down
Looking forward to:  Continued rest and getting my students' grades done and turned in.  I'm going in to work for 1 hour this weekend to get this done and then it's back home to the couch!

Here's some info. from babycenter.com on pregnancy at 36 weeks:

How your baby's growing:

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.

Doctor's Appointment Update - We had our 36-week doctor's appointment on Wednesday. Here are the highlights:

• My blood pressure - 122 over 88 - this is prehypertension.  The diastolic is higher than last time and only 2 points away from hypertension.  I'm supposed to call if I have any symptoms of hypertension (headaches, blurred vision, upper abdominal pain).
• Ava's heart rate - 143 - lower than last time, but still normal.
• Fundal height - 40 cm
• The Group B strep test was positive - this means I have to have an IV of antibiotics (penicillin) as soon as labor begins and every 4 hours after until the baby is delivered.  This will protect Ava from getting sepsis, pneumonia and meningitis.  We will have to stay in the hospital for 2 nights so the nurses and doctors can watch Ava and make sure that she doesn't catch anything.
• The edema (severe swelling) in my ankles and feet has greatly decreased.  As a result, the scale showed that I've actually lost a couple pounds since last week.  The doctor said that it was probably the water weight that was collecting in my feet. 
• I am on continued modified bed rest since I'm still on the borderline for having preeclampsia (blood pressure, proteinuria, edema)
• Baby girl is still head down (thank goodness)!
• The doctor did not schedule an induction for us and we will see him again in 1 week.