38 Weeks

2 weeks to go!!! I feel like I'm in some kind of time warp!

All is good except for a little sciatic pain and some crazy swelling. My feet and legs are huge. They burn by the end of the day when the skin stretches to the max.  But blood pressure was great today at 106/76. No signs of labor really. I did encounter 2 days over the last week where I had nonstop braxton hicks for about an hour, but then I'll go a few days with none. Looks like the little guy is happy being inside for now.

We had our prenatal appt with our doula last week. She spent 2 hrs at our house getting to know us, getting a tour of our home and designing our birth plan. She interviewed us to figure out what she can do best to help support us through a med-free labor. She really helped us figure out exactly what we want as far as a birth goal and everything related to the baby's care after he's born. We really like her!

We had our 2nd midwife appt today. We get a different one each visit so we can get to know as many as possible before I go into labor as you never know which one will be on duty. We LOVED today's midwife and are praying that we get her for the delivery. She was hilarious, compassionate and we just really clicked with her. She felt my belly and said that I was all baby... love her! Baby is in perfect position, head down facing to one side. Then I lifted my shirt so she could use the heart doppler. Heartbeat was perfect. She commented that I have no stretch marks... love her! I just hope my belly can hang in there for another 2 weeks or so of stretching.

The midwife we had at our last appt had an opinion that perineum massage didn't make much of a difference. Because of that, I guess it discouraged Kerry and I from continuing the massage since it seemed it was going to be a waste of time. Well today's midwife had the complete opposite opinion. She said it makes a huge difference and she can always tell who did and did not do the perineum massage prior to labor and that there is a big difference in the amount of tearing. So now we're like oh crap, we just skipped this for an entire week! So back to it we go again, oh fun!

We then headed over to Vanderbilt for our tour of labor and delivery. We are soooo excited and soooo glad we made the move!!! The rooms are huge and have everything you would ever want to help you get through labor. The bed is like some kind of transformer, it transforms into every kind of position you'd ever want to give birth in. The room has a shower with a seat in it to help with labor. Two of their rooms have labor tubs, which we immediately had them put in our records that we would like one of those rooms if available. In addition to all the things that cater to a med-free birth, the room is fully equiped to handle every kind of intervention or emergency that could pop up. They also have a high level nicu on the same floor. We couldn't be more pleased with our decision.

The nursery is really coming along and is very close to being done. We realized that until our rocker-glider comes in, we don't know for sure how far down the wall the dresser and crib will go, which means we can't hang anything on the walls yet, which means we're not ready to share pics just yet. Soon, I promise!

I have been nesting like a mad women, washing all of baby's clothes and linens and trying to put everything into place. But I have yet to pack my hospital bag! We're also getting the guest bedroom ready for my dad and step-mom who are arriving this Sat and will be staying with us for however long we can convince them to stay. I'm soooo excited, I haven't seen them since Jan 2008!

This week's belly... getting bigger and starting to get a faint brown line above the belly button now. Notice my Michelin cankles?

I'll end this with a "baby loves funk" video. We watched Glee for the first time last night and baby went crazy when he heard the funk tune.