35 Weeks

by Amanda | Jun 23, 2021 | Family

How far along? 35 weeks! I know for most people, 35 weeks just sounds like any other week in the 3rd trimester on the journey to 40 weeks, but for me, it’s a major milestone to have passed because I went into labor the day I hit 35 weeks with Myles. Here I am now at 35 weeks and 5 days (I’m writing this on June 23 and I hit the 35-week milestone on June 18), and Baby Girl has stayed PUT so far, and that’s SUCH an incredible relief. We have to make it to 37 weeks to continue on with our home birth plan, so I have to pass July 2nd and we’ll be good. I’m starting to finally feel confident we’ll make it. My intuition is still telling me she’s going to come a little early, but not too early. If I had to place a bet, I would say the week of July 11-17. I guess we’ll see if My guess is right!

Baby Size: According to the Baby Center app, Baby Girl is about 18.25″ from head to toe (about the size of a honeydew melon) and around 5.25 pounds. What to Expect says she’s as big as a spaghetti squash.

Total Weight Gain: Still negligible. I went up 2 pounds, lost a pound, gained a pound, went down 1.5 pounds … it’s all been mostly a wash. My midwife doesn’t seem to be worried about it, I guess because my fundal height (37.5 inches at my last checkup on June 17) and belly are growing just fine. She said with having such little weight gain, once the baby is born I’ll weigh LESS than when I got pregnant… so there’s that! I’m hoping with that and the calorie demands of breastfeeding, that I can get a jumpstart on a little weight loss in the second half of this year. (But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there!)

Maternity Clothes: Same. If I wear pants, it’s my maternity leggings or overalls. I wear a mix of maternity shirts and regular t-shirts/sweatshirts (XL or 2XL) with no issues. I’ve been mostly wearing cotton-jersey tank dresses that are just standard 2XL. They’re big and loose and breezy on hot days. It’s been nice not having to buy an office/work wardrobe in maternity clothes. It’s definitely saved me a TON of money.

Sleep: Sleep is very broken at the moment. I’m up and down to use the bathroom every 2 hours or so most nights. I also find that I wake up extremely stiff because rolling and moving in my sleep is so difficult that I just don’t move at all. Some of my 3am hikes to the bathroom are pretty pathetic-looking

Best Moment of Week: On Saturday, June 19 we had my baby shower – “sprinkle” – at my mom’s house. We kept it relatively small because I felt very weird asking people to attend a second baby shower for me, even if it HAD been 8 years between babies. I feel like people still went overboard with gifts, though…

I had SO much fun. Actually, I can’t remember a day I’ve smiled and laughed so much in quite some time. (Not that I’m grumpy frequently… but I was just having a really, really great time.) It was so good to see everyone and I definitely felt the outpouring of happy excitement people had for us… and that was kind of overwhelming to feel that love.

Miss Anything?: Just generally annoyed at my inability to do some physical tasks.

Movement: Lots and lots! I feel like this baby is much busier than Myles was. I remember in the last few weeks before Myles was born that some days I wouldn’t feel him move for a while, and I’d worry. This baby moves very consistently. She also tap-dances on my bladder and other internal organs quite a lot.

Food Cravings: Ice cream, ice cream, and more ice cream. I could probably eat it every day. Normally I’m not that big of a fan of ice cream (salty snacks are more of my “thing”) but it’s my absolute favorite right now.

Anything Making You Queasy or Sick?: Anything spicy or acidic makes me pretty miserable. I also seem to be going back to the coughing/gagging thing again. Random things make me gag, and then I start to cough, and then I wind up throwing up. Ughhhhh.

Happy or Moody?: Mostly happy and also very emotional (but not in a moody/grumpy way). I’ve been crying a LOT about every random thing. Not sad things, but like sweet, kind, happy things. My reaction is to cry about it. Hormones, man.

Labor Signs: Thankfully not really! I’ve had some Braxton Hicks but not much. We only have a little over a week till we are in the clear (37+ weeks) for our home birth so I’m counting every day WITHOUT labor signs as a huge WIN.

Shopping/Nesting/Preparation: Oh man… ALL the nesting going on! I tried my best to restrain myself till we got done with the shower. Now I’m buying all the last few “loose ends” items, washing all the newborn and 0-3 month clothes, and assembling all the things (glider rocking chair, stroller, etc.). I’ve been hanging pictures, taking tags off stuffed animals and arranging them in baskets, -oh!- and I got my label maker working and when I started folding and putting away freshly washed clothes, I was SUPER excited to label everything…

Looking Forward To:  At this point, I’m starting to get a little anxious to meet our baby girl. I’m also anxious for maternity leave. I’m not to the point of extreme discomfort, but I am getting very tired and very achy. I’m extremely grateful that I can work from home, so I can at least wear comfortable clothes and I suppose worst-case scenario, I could even prop myself up in bed and work if I had to be on bed-rest or something. So, I’m WELL aware how fortunate I am, but I’m still very much looking forward to a break where I can just focus on bonding with our daughter and spending time with other friends and family.