Getting Closer!

37 weeks - I will probably take a photo today (I last took one at 35) and post it. Maybe it will be the last time I have to get the tripod out and do that. Hey, I just found a random mini Nestle Crunch bar sitting here. Anyway, my body hasn't changed much since two weeks ago, but I had a doctor's appointment yesterday - my weight is the same, my belly is about the same size, and a cervix check revealed that I am almost 4 cm dilated (I was at 4 cm at 38 weeks last time)! I was thinking I might be 1 or 2 at the most. There's no reason to think I'll go into labor this weekend or anything, but it gave me the reality check that it won't be much longer. I still haven't devoted enough thought to make this all seem real, despite the belly constantly reminding me. I decided that over the next week or two I will make more of an effort to mentally, emotionally, and spiritually prepare for the upcoming change in our lives, because until now it seems like it's just been happening in the background. Is it even really possible to get ready?!

Anyway, I look at the dilation as progress in the big picture, and hopefully a little less time that I have to spend at home or in the hospital enduring contractions!

One thing I have lately are very extreme appetite shifts, and extreme energy shifts. Either I want to eat nothing at all throughout the day, or I will eat a huge plate of pasta. I get spurts where I want to clean the house top to bottom, or else I just want to lay around and do nothing. Just this morning I slept through 3 half-hour cartoons while Lucy played on the floor and when I woke up I saw her laying on the floor watching Clifford... so I'm feeling a little guilty about letting the TV babysit, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open! At least she wasn't getting into trouble (although I woke up from a dream where she had gotten a huge glass pitcher of ice water out of the fridge... which we don't even have in there). Speaking of dreams, I finally had one about the baby's gender: and it was a girl (newborn) with dark hair. Maybe it's a sign, or maybe it's just more random craziness going on in my brain.

The nice thing about the first time I was pregnant was I could rest as much as I wanted. Overall, though, it's not as hard as I was afraid it would be, taking care of one kid while growing another. I expect (hope) to feel a lot better physically after the baby is born, and then I'll be better able to get out and do fun things - just in time for my favorite season, autumn, and pumpkins, orchards, apple cider, maybe even a hayride this year (I'm pretty confident Lucy would sit still on a hayride and love it... and the new baby wouldn't have much of a choice!). The leaves on our trees are actually starting to change color a little bit...