Week 37

This week has been fairly uneventful as far as blood pressure is concerned. I take it 4 times a day and it hasn't gotten back up to the evil magic number, so that is a good thing. It does seem to help that I am forcing myself to not be on my feet quite as much each day. However, it turns out that being on my feet isn't the only thing that causes my BP to go up though. On Friday at work, things got a little stressful since everyone seems to want to get me to finish as much as I can before I have to drop everything and run to the hospital. The stress of it all finally built up on Friday afternoon and starting around lunchtime, I was getting pretty regular contractions every 10-15 minutes. Some of them were more painful than others but I definitely noticed when they started. The only thing that seemed to make them stop was lying down on my side once I got home (thank goodness). Things seem to be back to normal this morning (Saturday).

People at the grocery store seem to have 3 main questions for me these days, and everyone feels compelled to start up a conversation with "the pregnant lady".

1. How much longer do you have? (I see the concern on their face that "today" might be my due date and after finding out that it isn't until 3/17 they tell me there is no way I'll make it that long.)

2. Are you having a boy or a girl?

3. Is this your first?

Blake continues to be active so that is comforting. Whether I have high blood pressure, puffy feet and hands, contractions, stress at work, or even when I'm trying to sleep, I can count on him to wiggle around in there. I still can't convince his daddy to feel him very often... he says it's freaky feeling. While I agree, I guess I'm a little more used to it since I feel it all day.

I've heard that it isn't very common for your water to break before going to the hospital, but then we know some people had that as their first sign of going into labor. Since it's a possibility, we decided to stash towels around everywhere just in case it happens. I have towels and plastic bags at work, in my car, and in the bed. Crazy?... Probably... but hopefully we won't ruin the bed, car, or work chair if it happens, haha.

The last main component to the nursery arrived on Monday.... the glider! Ok, it is actually a La-z-boy swivel glider/recliner, but it is glorious! It took months and months to figure out what we (I) really wanted and it seemed that standard gliders and regular recliners each had things missing. I'm really looking forward to spending a lot of time in the new glider. While I have trouble getting comfy on the couch these days, it is always super comfy to lounge in the glider with my feet up. If it is this great with Blake in my belly, I am sure it will be even better once he is out.

And a quick little video where you can see Blake moving my belly. Watch my hand and you'll see it moving about half way through the video.