36 Weeks

This week I continued to be stressed out about work, but hopefully the worst of it will be over after next week. We figured out who would be taking what of my agreements, so I started transitioning work over to one of the ladies last week, and should be able to start working with the other person next week. I will feel much, much better if I can do most of the transition next week so that hopefully I can still do some cleanup and help with questions for my remaining time there to best prepare them for when I'm on leave.

Due to the weather this week, I didn't end up picking up the birth tub as planned, so that should happen next week instead. Consequently, we didn't finish preparing the sun room/birthin' room, since the birth tub was a large part of what we needed to set up and test. So I did finish gathering all of the supplies except for a couple of things, which kind of needed to happen anyway since our home visit with the midwife is on Monday, which will be in part to check that we have everything ready. I was going to pack a hospital bag too, just in case, which I think I'll be able to finish tomorrow.

We did finish Josie's room though (yay!), and also have the nursery pretty much done. We just have a little bit more cleaning to do (mainly the stuff that Josie used/spit up on/gnawed on and that then sat in boxes for a couple years), and moving the crib out of the nursery and into our bedroom.

Believe it or not, I am still sick. It actually got worse this week, since my rib popped while I was coughing once towards the beginning of the week, which instantly caused some pretty awful pain. I wasn't even able to clear my throat for a while after that since it hurt too much, but at least after a few days it got a little better so that now it's mainly just a dull ache. And luckily the coughing has slowed down a lot, although I am still congested and wake up with a sore throat each morning.

It looks like I'm going to need to get more serious about repositioning this baby pretty soon. I really wasn't that concerned when it was facing to the side, since Josie was in the exact same position and I didn't have any sort of painful back labor with her. But I ended up sleeping on my back a few times this week, and after the first time, I could definitely tell (by the big hollow spot at the top of my belly) that the baby was fully facing my front now - not good. So I'm starting to do cat/cow more, and trying even harder to make sure I don't lean back when I sit. In fact, I'm attempting to write this while bouncing on our over-inflated physio ball so that my knees are below my hips and I'm leaning forward (well, and also because the baby was moving so much when I was sitting on the couch - in a less roomy position for it - that I was becoming pretty uncomfortable).

So yes, new baby seems to be most active around 8pm and 4am. I've been up a few times this week in the early hours of the morning since Josie is working on her 2-year molars right now (and therefore hasn't been sleeping so well), and I was able to knock out kick counts in 5-10 minutes a few times (rather than the usual hour or so when I start at 8am). And then, just as I had finally gotten back to sleep one of those times, new baby woke me up for the first time ever with a sharp kick to the belly :)