35/35

I reached yet another milestone on Monday. 35wks pregnant and 35 days to go! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Wow...time is really flying now. I sometimes wonder if I'll miss having my baby on the inside once she's born. I've read that a lot of mothers sometimes get pregnancy withdrawal once the kid is born into the world. I can certainly understand that. It's like while pregnant you don't really have to share him/her with anyone else. She's all yours and then once she's born you have to share. Pregnancy is truly a special time in a woman's life. I mean, lets go deep here for a sec....who else has heard your heartbeat from the inside? No one! You alone get to experience her sleep/wake/activity schedule long before anyone else. You get an insight into the personality of your child based on how active or inactive she is. How and when she awakes you at o'dark thirty in the morning b/c it's time to eat. I suppose I'll miss those things, but more than anything I will cherish having my baby girl in my arms and watching her grow and mature. Such a precious gift and privilege to mother. I'm excited and totally up for the challenge!

how far along? 35wks 1 day

weight gain? 16lbs

maternity clothes? yes, will I ever want to wear regular clothes again?
how big is baby? About 5.5lbs and 20inches

stretch marks? yes, still very faint. My linea nigra is barely visible.

sleep? Sleep? What the hell is that and where can you purchase it?

best moment this week? hearing baby girl's heartbeat

movement? yes, she's my little karate kid

labor signs? none, thank God!

cravings? whatever sounds good at the moment. It's fleeting. Yesterday it was Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies

belly button in or out? in, but stretching a great deal horizontally

what i miss? SLEEP!!!

what i am looking forward to? the birth of Olivia Gabrielle!!!

weekly wisdom? There isn't much that amazes me these days but the pregnancy experience is a mighty, awesome wonder.

milestones? Starting weekly appointments Friday!!!!

More on baby: Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.
More on mama-to-be: Your uterus — which was entirely tucked away inside your pelvis when you conceived — now reaches up under your rib cage. If you could peek inside your womb, you'd see that there's more baby than amniotic fluid in there now. Your ballooning uterus is crowding your other internal organs, too, which is why you probably have to urinate more often and may be dealing with heartburn and other gastrointestinal distress. If you're not grappling with these annoyances, you're one of the lucky few.From here on out, you'll start seeing your practitioner every week. Sometime between now and 37 weeks, she'll do a vaginal and rectal culture to check for bacteria called Group B Streptococi (GBS). (Don't worry — the swab is the size of a regular cotton swab, and it won't hurt at all.) GBS is usually harmless in adults, but if you have it and pass it on to your baby during birth, it can cause serious complications, such as pneumonia, meningitis, or a blood infection. Because 10 to 30 percent of pregnant women have the bacteria and don't know it, it's vital to be screened. (The bacteria come and go on their own — that's why you weren't screened earlier in pregnancy.) If you're a GBS carrier, you'll get IV antibiotics during labor, which will greatly reduce your baby's risk of infection.This is also a good time to create a birth plan. Childbirth is unpredictable, and chances are you won't follow your plan to the letter, but thinking about your choices ahead of time — and sharing your preferences with your caregiver — should take some of the anxiety out of the process.