I missed noting a milestone last week - as of last Friday, I am full-term! So the baby should be ready and developed enough to come at any time now, and that's the last milestone before next Friday, when it will be my (estimated) due date :)
This week we made some good progress on the nursery. The crib has since been disassembled in the nursery and reassembled in our bedroom, since we changed our mind about using a Pack N Play (with bassinet) in our bedroom the first few weeks and instead the crib is in our room now and the Pack N Play (in like-new condition off craigslist for less than half the cost new!) will be downstairs in the living room. All the baby clothes and most of the bedding and other baby stuff has been washed and put away (at least for now), as well as all of the diapers. I still haven't finished packing the hospital bag, but at least I made a handy checklist so that we don't have to scramble to figure out what we planned to pack if I go into labor before it's done :)
I had been feeling unprepared because of the nursery and hospital bag, but having made some progress on those, I'm feeling slightly better about it now. I was also feeling completely unprepared to leave work, but the person who will be filling in for me while I'm on leave started last Monday, and when I went in last Saturday for the last weekend work I volunteered for, I was able to get a lot of filters and delegations of authority set up in our various systems so I'm not quite as worried about having to leave the office quickly and having all of my stuff sit there, stuck, for three months. Still have a lot of other prep to do, but I definitely feel more comfortable about leaving now, so that weight off my shoulders was welcome.
I also had my weekly appointment with the midwives, and while they said everything continues to look fine, they did drop a bomb on me that the high risk doctor had apparently recommended that I deliver between 39 and 40 weeks since they're concerned that the baby will be too large. Given how often ultrasounds are off at estimating weight (and I've since heard that they apparently tell just about all of their patients that they shouldn't be permitted to go past 40 weeks), it's not acceptable to Ryan and I that we would be pushed to induce prior to my due date. So I discussed the risks with the midwives (some of which I agree are actual - albeit small - risks, others I don't buy as anything more than covering themselves from a liability perspective), and let them know that we would like to waive that recommendation. The midwives agreed that we didn't need to induce by 40 weeks based on that waiver, but did mention that they would be more open to inducing before their usual cutoff of 41 weeks 4 days, and wouldn't be as prone to "heroics" in helping me push the baby out naturally. I'm still not happy about those changes in their thinking, but who knows, maybe the baby will come early, won't be nearly as big as it was estimated, and this won't be a problem anyway.
On a happier note, the baby's heartbeat was still good, it's still moving around and doing position shifts as it should be at this point since it's still facing off to the side instead of towards my back. The midwives also recommended swimming to help with the swelling in my feet, ankles, and now legs. Ryan and I were a bit skeptical, but wow. It ended up making a significant difference. So now after walking to the pool, water walking/swimming for ~45 minutes, and walking home (about a mile round-trip) nearly every day for a week, my feet will almost get back to normal in the evenings. My ankles and legs are still pretty puffy, but I like to think that it's a good thing to at least get the fluid that had been sitting in my feet moving around and circulating elsewhere. Pictures are below the regular comparison picture, in case you want to avoid pictures of my puffy feet :)
I've been told by a few different people now that the baby has dropped, but I'm still not seeing it...
Before/after swimming and walking (it's slightly more impressive in real life)