38 Weeks

Feeling: The past 2 days I've been feeling horrible. I think I'm feeling Braxton Hicks contractions, crampy, and just overall tired and achy. Work has been particularly hard because it now hurts to bend over with baby so low in my pelvis and hard to do anything but stand or walk around. The past 2 mornings, I've had a lot of thick, brownish, mucousy discharge as well, but only when I first get up and going in the morning. The doctor said the mucous plug is more like a "dripping nose than a one time plug" and now I know what he was talking about....I know its just my body getting ready for the big event, but its making me more anxious for the big event to happen already because my days of happy go lucky pregnancy are coming to a close! I am up at least every 2 hours for the bathroom or to get water to calm my contractions the last 2 days as well....so I've been going to bed pretty early to try and get some sleep in between all those interruptions. The doctor didn't check my cervix at my last appointment, but I think I'm going to make sure they do this Thursday. I asked how big he thought the baby would be and he predicted 7lbs 8oz with a highly scientific grab of my belly and estimate of how much ground beef that would be. ;) I've been wrapping up a lot of stuff at work and actually hoping I'll be able to get email access from my boss at home so I can keep up with my research projects and various things over my maternity leave. Its a big deal to get email at home with all the protected patient information that funnels through our emails, but I'm hoping I'll get access before I have to leave! It could be any day now, I can't wait to finally meet Baby Bee!! :)

Weight 152 lbs

Fun Facts About Week 38: Hey, your little one isn't so little anymore, weighing close to seven pounds and measuring 20 inches long. Fetal development is nearly complete as your baby tends to a few last-minute details like shedding the skin-protecting vernix and lanugo. He's also producing more surfactant, a substance that prevents the air sacs in his lungs from sticking to one another once he starts to breathe. Most of the changes this week are small but important: He’s continuing to add fat (so he can take advantage of all those photo ops by sporting a round, cute baby look!) and fine-tuning his brain and nervous system (so he can deal with all the stimulation that awaits him once he makes his entrance into the world).

Just as your baby is preparing for life outside the womb, your body is tending to its own final touches before the big day, one of which is getting that milk machine up and running. Part of the process is producing colostrums, a thin yellowish liquid that's the precursor to breast milk. Colostrum is full of antibodies that protect your newborn, and it has more protein and less fat and milk sugar (the better to digest it) than the breast milk that arrives later. Chances are you're leaking colostrum so you might want to break out those nursing pads now. If you're not leaking but you are curious about this miracle substance, you can gently squeeze your areola to express a few drops.