38 Weeks!!

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Well this is the first time I've ever updated this late in the week! This week has been insanely busy for me. I had my external cephalic version last week and despite being ridiculously painful - it was a success! It honestly wasn't THAT bad because the whole thing lasted less than 10 minutes. She was very cooperative (for once) and the doctor was able to easily turn her into position. Then I had to lay there in the hospital for another hour to make sure she didn't go into distress and everything was ok. All in all, a pretty successful event! I did manage to find out though while we were there and I was being monitored, that apparently I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions and didn't even realize it! I'm glad they haven't been bothering me though.

I am very fortunate that my doctor also happens to attend my church and is in the Sunday School class that I go to with my mom. So on Sunday he was asking me how things were going and how I felt. He said he was kind of surprised with the contractions that I was having on Thursday, that things hadn't kind of started moving along. In fact, he told me he wanted me to come in on Tuesday so he could check things out and see how I was progressing. He told me to also keep my initial appointment on Thursday because he might want to check things again on Thursday depending on what he saw on Tuesday. Well, I got there Tuesday and nothing. I hadn't progressed at all. He said my cervix had thinned some but I was dilated at all yet. So I had gone from thinking "oh my goodness, she's coming this week!" to having my appointment for Thursday canceled and told that he'd be really surprised if she did come this week. Sad! I had run around like a crazy person trying to finish up last minute things and get all of my bags packed for the hospital. The good news is that I am all packed and ready to go! :)

So I go back on Monday afternoon to see where things stand. I'm about ready to start trying all of those old wives' tales to see if anything will help speed things along. :) I went walking with a friend of mine yesterday and it definitely got Nugget up and kicking, so maybe walking is going to be the thing. Mom and I are going to start going walking every day next week. We're also going to go to Suwanee Days this weekend and walk around there. If we get desperate and she's not here by next Friday, we're going to Provino's for some Eggplant Parmesan!

In the meantime, we're going back to my house this weekend to try and finish up last minute cleaning so that my house can be in tip top shape for when I finally come back there in November when Joe gets home. It's going to be a VERY busy weekend. I'm hoping that come Monday I will be showing some progress towards this baby being born!

I would appreciate prayers though for this coming arrival. My biggest fear in all of this is that Joe is currently 5 hours away (6 if he's at work when he gets the call) and I'm worried that he won't make it in time for the birth. My prayer right now is that she holds off and comes next weekend (the 24th or 25th) because Joe will be coming home that weekend and he'll already be here. That would be my ideal birth situation. Of course, I know that this is all in God's time and this little girl is only coming when she's good and ready, but it never hurts to put in a request, right? :)

I would also appreciate any prayers for my sanity. :) I am currently training my temporary replacement at work this week (which may spill into next week, we don't know yet) and it is definitely a bit stressful and frustrating. I don't think I'm a very good trainer as I don't always have a lot of patience - I know, not good for dealing with babies and children, but I'm hoping to learn some along the way!! ;) But, in the meantime, I'm struggling to train and keep from losing my mind because training means I'm really not getting much of my work done at the same time. I really want to be able to go out on maternity leave next Friday (the 24th) and have everything caught up and up to date and not feel worried about things when I'm gone. I know that once Nugget gets here I won't even be thinking about work, but for the time being I don't want to go off and leave my bosses in a bad situation. So I'm working my butt off to get it all done. I know it'll all be worth it in 6 work days when I don't have to go back for 2 glorious months!! Woo-hoo!

I promise to update again (on time next week!) when I go to the doctor next Monday. Fingers crossed for lots of progress and good reports from the doctor then!!!