The Countdown is On!

We have one month - four weeks! - left in this baby countdown. I never thought October would arrive, but things are getting real. Here's a birthday pic from last week. I turned 34 on week 35 AND celebrated 7 years of wedded bliss! We're going to sneak this baby in before I hit "advanced maternal age". Although, to be fair, I feel like 29, so that should count for something.

Things are progressing nicely. My blood pressure has remained low at ~92/58 this entire pregnancy, the heartbeat is going strong at ~140-145 bpm, the fundal height is creeping along right about where it should be, aligning with the weeks. My doctor had a slight concern with weight gain, in that I basically did not gain any weight between weeks 25 and 35, which is obviously less than ideal. Through week 34, I was only up about 14 pounds. Even though Adam has been practically force-feeding me high-fat dairy, avocados, more meats, and Stillwater sweet treats, my body has been craving mostly fruits. I probably eat about 5-7 servings a day of apples, oranges, peaches, plums, grapes, and berries - whatever I can get my hands on. We/I ate about 20 pounds of peaches in one week after we/I thought it would be a great idea to buy a case of Michigan peaches. Then we/I immediately followed it up with a full peck of apples. I don't know what you would eat with winter babies. Frozen cranberries, maybe?

We had an ultrasound today just to check on the baby's growth, and (huge sigh of relief!) everything is fine, although I will likely not be delivering a 10-pounder, or even an 8-pounder for that matter. I'm not entirely sure on the ultrasound stats, but it looks like we're tracking at about the 34.5 week mark, plus or minus 2-3 weeks. Obviously, we know our due date (and implantation date), so we're not too concerned overall. Interestingly, the baby is right on track with femur length and his little feet are huge at 3 whole inches! (That explains the kicks.) I really wish we had photos to show, but ultrasound photos at 20 weeks are far superior to the pics we saw today. Adam and I had a very difficult time locating his face, even when the tech was right on it. The fluid gets in the way, I guess. His little wiggly butt has been hanging out in the upper right quadrant of my uterus for weeks now (which I already assumed), and he's thankfully head-down. Let's hope he stays that way. I had a few rough days with Braxton Hicks contractions last week, but things seem to be back to normal now.

So the goal is full-term and then some, just to add a little more weight to this guy. He's likely just a hair over 5 pounds now, so best case scenario would be adding half a pound per week (quite ambitious!) to arrive at 7 pounds. I think that's do-able. I'll be laying off the apples on my end and switching to all the fine protein products that Adam has stocked in the fridge. I'm already up almost 3 pounds just this week!

Here are a few wedding photos from last weekend, followed by some sweet maternity pics shot during week 35. We like to wait until the last minute whenever possible.

I can't say enough good things about our photographer, Krista, from The Moments of Life in Rochester. Adam has been friends with her husband, and then of course, with Krista, from their days in Mitchell, and it's always a blast to catch up with them again. I got to hear a whole new round of high school stories about Adam the last time everyone was home, and trust me, I couldn't make them up any better if I tried. 

We headed to downtown Stillwater for some of the photos, and then across the highway to TJ's favorite park for the rest. Here's a small preview of her work. (And I should mention that, yes, my belly button has fully popped up. Nowhere to go but out.)

There is another sweet photo floating around Facebook, too. I'm sure it won't be hard to find. 

Full-term in one week, baby!