Past the 38 week mark

The 38 week belly doesn't seem too much different from the 37 week belly. Sorry for the crappy shot though - I waited till well after sundown last night to take it, and then I get all sorts of shadows. The belly button is pretty flat, but the center is starting to poke out a little at times. Please God keep me from getting stretch marks at this point in the pregnancy!

DH and I went out for Indian food last night for his birthday. Poor guy didn't get a card or present. I never know what to buy for him, since he always buys what he wants/needs for himself. He just bought himself a fancy pants universal remote control and a new pair of hiking boots, and got himself a fancy new camera at Christmas, so he didn't really have anything he particularly wanted. At least he got to keep his birthday all to himself, since squirmy didn't make her grand appearance yesterday.

I had a doctor's appointment on Wed. This time I escaped without an ultrasound. BP check, pee in a cup, FHR by doppler. And then the 45min wait for the doctor to show up to the clinic (I was the first patient of the day). I wasn't too impressed with that. Nor was I impressed by the fact that he's making me come in again next week. Apparently now that I'm past the 38 week mark, he's going to make me toe the line and show up weekly, like most people do after 36 weeks. That meant a bit of a scramble to find someone to cover for me at work on Monday so that I can leave an hour early without cancelling some patient's surgery. It's a little tricky now that I'm no longer a resident! Luckily one of the guys agreed to come down and finish my list rather than finishing the endoscopy list upstairs (whoever is doing the colonoscopies/gastroscopies can tell the nurse to give different kinds of sedation than we give them, so that should be ok).

The Braxton-Hicks have started to pick up again in frequency now. I had them fairly often last night, but there's been no sign of show or anything else at this point. I was an evil person and had a feel of my cervix last night, and the part that usually sticks out 1.5-3cm is only 4-5mm long now. External os slightly open, but not dramatically different from before. The doc is planning to check me on Monday at my next appointment. I'm not really looking forward to that - I'd rather keep most people out of my vagina, thank you very much. It's been around enough in the last 4.5 years.

I'm getting a few more baby clothes washed today. Can't finish setting up her room until the contractors patch the holes in the drywall in her closet though, which hasn't happened yet. Then I'll finally be able to put the mattress in the crib and get clothes and toys a little more organized.

Must also finally pack the hospital bag, I guess. I don't feel like I need all that much stuff though, so I'm not worried that I haven't done that yet.

That's pretty much it - nothing really happening here, just waiting for things to happen. And for the construction to finally finish!