Week 36 - Welcome to Month #9!!!

Well, we've made it to 9 months. I remember with my 1st pregnancy I was a little bugged when I found out that pregnancy is really counted as 40 weeks which can be loosely translated to10 months, NOT 9 months. I've since gotten over that since my babies don't know any different, they'll just come when they're ready! And as of my appointment yesterday the midwife did say all my "signs" are looking good and progressing quite nicely, so we may not have to wait until May 18th to meet Miss Ashely Megan!

Here's the baby update I got for this week:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

Thankfully Ashley is head-down and very low, which is a really good thing! Although it makes my daily life a little difficult at the moment, I'd MUCH rather have her low now than have to convince her to "drop" while in labor! We attended a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) class with our doula today up in Seattle where we're planning on delivering and that went really well. We were able to take another look around the birthing unit and our doula got more familiar with the location herself. The anticipation is building everyday!!

Although it would be fun to have Ashley join us any day, our birthing class is this weekend and Kevin and I REALLY want to be able to take the class before she comes. It's not your typical birth prep class, it's more of a mini-marriage retreat with the baby being the focus. We took the same class before Kristen and were amazed at what we took away from it. I was able to process a bunch of "stuff" from Katelynn's birth experience and go into Kristen's with a whole new perspective on what WE, as a team, were doing and what we were capable of. I also gained a new understanding and appreciation for what God has made my body to do and felt truly empowered to take on birth for all it could be, something I didn't do with Katelynn. We left that class almost 2 years ago feeling we could take on the world! Little did we know we'd be asked to go through what we did, but we both agree that we were able to get through many parts of that experience because of what we learned and practiced in Patti's Class. So when it came around to "Round 3" there was no doubt that we'd be taking the class again.

So until my week 37 update....stay tuned!! :)