37 Weeks and Counting

Tomorrow marks 37 weeks for us... hard to believe!  I will start by sharing my belly picture:

I took this one myself, hence the reason my arms are not showing... looks kinda funny.  Anyway, I went in today for my 37 week appointment.  They did another ultrasound (I am not used to so many ultrasounds) and everything looked really good.  She is weighing approximately 5 lbs., 13 oz. right now so she should be right on track to weigh around what Maddox did when he was born.  I have made some progress since they checked me last.... now 2 cm dilated, 70% effaced, and 0 station (head can't get any lower!).  I only have 1 more appointment... my last one is scheduled for next Thursday and if she has not come on her own yet, I am still planning to be induced on the 25th.  So while all of you avid shoppers are getting your Black Friday deals,you can think of me laboring away in the hospital! :)

I am feeling pretty good for this point in the pregnancy.  I had to take off my wedding rings a couple of days ago b/c they were getting uncomfortable to take on and off.  I am hoping not to gain any more weight with this pregnancy than I did with my first.  I am about 10 pounds shy of where I ended with Maddox so as long as I don't gain 10 pounds in 2 weeks I should be good!  Although I worked right up to the bitter end with Maddox, I guess I have been even more active this time around with keeping up with a 1 year old.  I have good nights and bad nights as far as sleeping goes, although lately I have had more good ones than bad (thank goodness!).  We still have not put her carseat in the car yet, but let's face it... that only takes about 10 minutes so I think we will be ok!  Some days I am feeling really productive and am wanting to get last minute things done, but others I am only wanting to rest.  I may have had a couple of Braxton Hicks contractions the other day, but nothing major to report on the labor front.

Last night I got to looking back at my first few months of blog posts from when Maddox was born and it made me so much more excited about giving birth a 2nd time. Now, I am not crazy enough to think it is not going to be hard this time, too.  But I do think I am going to adjust to life with 2 better than I did with 1.  Going from no babies to 1 was super hard for me, and now I feel like I am in the groove of tending to someone else's needs 24/7.  I truly think Maddox is going to be a great big brother and I can't wait to see what he thinks of his sister once she is actually here. 

My mom is coming in town tomorrow to be here for my church shower this weekend, and then a week and a half later Daniel's family will be here to stay for a while.  I am looking forward to having so much help this time and I am thankful our families are able to spend so much time with us!