Week 38

I LOOK: Other than the fact that Drew is clearly lower, I have nothing to say so I'll use other people's words.

• "You get bigger every day Mrs. Pfeffer," says a ninth grade girl on Wednesday.
• "It looks like you have a basketball in there," says a tenth grade boy on Friday.
• "He is a lot lower than yesterday," says a co-worker.
• "Um, are you sure you're not going to pop now?" says another co-work.

I had minor swelling on Wednesday and Thursday after two really long days and hotter than average temperatures. Thankfully it doesn't seem to be a daily issue and it goes away pretty quickly once I get home and put my feet up. I have eleven (yes, I counted) half inch (yes, I measured) stretch marks that have appeared this week where my B-belly use to indent, but has now completely turned into a D-belly. I thought I wouldn't get any considering how many I have from childhood/teenage years, but it hadn't occurred to me that my significant indent would stretch out so significantly. It is pretty funny considering they are all across the middle/frong of my pregnant belly.

I FEEL: sore. My hips and lower back hurt a lot whenever I get up in the morning. The pain goes away as the day goes on, or at least I'm not focused on it at work. By early afternoon, the pain comes back depending on how much I stood during the day. By the evening, everything hurts no matter what. Getting up and down from a chair, couch, or bed isn't comfortable. Oh well, such is life at 38 weeks pregnant. Overall though, I can say that I'm not totally uncomfortable.

• Baby Preparations: everything is done baby wise. I spend some more time working on the baby book and organized the nursery more (not that it needed it). Most of my "baby prep" this week has been on maternity sub plans. I'm sure I'm making them much more complicated than I need to be... but between four different classes for nine weeks... that is 180 hours of unique teaching that needs to be done. It makes me tired thinking about it.
• Baby Movements: Lots of pushing around... sometimes it feels like Drew's head is bouncing off my hip bones.
• Weird Pregnancy Symptom: On Friday morning, I lost my mucus plug. Yep, it is just like it sounds--a whole lot of mucus--this means pretty much nothing in the grand-pregnancy time table. After losing your mp, labor can start in one day or two weeks.

I CRAVE: after weeks of not being hungry, my hunger has kicked into full gear. I'm pretty much hungry constantly--I've been eating a lot of string cheese, apples, cuties, and ice cream.

I THINK: it is a really good thing that I have five days of work left (last day is March 25) and I'm questioning why I didn't decide to stop working earlier. I'm pretty sure that the "cleaning" nesting stage won't come, or if it does I won't have the energy for it.

I HOPE: Drew stays an inside baby until at least next Friday or Saturday. I really, really don't want to start labor at school, nor do I want to have to suddenly not be at school. I hope that I'll be able to finish Act III and IV of Romeo and Juliet before Friday. OH, yeah, on the baby front, if he does decide to come out this week I hope that he's happy, healthy, and I actually survive labor.

I'm EXCITED: to meet our son! And to only have 5 days more of work (repeat from last week)!

DOCs SAY: Appointment tomorrow--I'll update then :)

This week was a bit stressful with Dave getting sick (he's now feeling a lot better), me sleeping on the couch and in the nursery (not a good idea), and trying to prepare for nine weeks of maternity leave (I haven't left school before 4:45 pm).