Week 36: Cooking, Decorations, Swimming, haircut, tennis...and I'm still here and pregnant...

We've had a great week!! I got off of bed rest on Tuesday! It is wonderful to be able to do things for myself, but it is frustrating to have lots of things I want to do but be too tired and week to do it.  Luckily I've had so much help from our parents!

Here's the bump at 36 weeks and 5 days ( I had Tyler at 36 weeks and 4 days....why am I still here and pregnant???)

 Week 36 with Tyler:

Fern (Week 31) and Me (Week 36 and 4 days)

Check out what we've been up to!

 

Anna, Ty's babysitter, was here yesterday.  I organized a cooking project (Energy Balls)...thanks to Adrianne for the recipe! I made a board on proloquo (a program I use for work for communication) on the ipad to tell which ingredient he wanted to add next and also to understand the sequence of what we were doing! Check out the board and all the pics!

 We also put up summer decorations on the window as well as sports decorations to get ready for the olympics!

 

Swimming has been a big hit! Since I'm not on bed rest, I got to go with my parents and see what a fabulous job Ty did with his float! Thanks to Buh Puh for taking him! Check out the pics and videos!

 

Ty and I also got our haircut on Tuesday! So much fun!

 

I also got to watch Ty and J.D. play tennis this morning! What a treat! Ty is so excited that I'm not on the couch anymore!

 Are my guys the cutest?!? I love them!!

 Welcome to Week 36: Baby Bluey is a Beach Ball!!

Baby's Length: 18.75-20.75 in.
Baby's Weight: 6 lbs.
What's happening with the baby:

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 scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

• Your baby is almost ready and most likely, so are you! The only organ still to mature is the lungs. While certainly you are both growing anxious to meet, remember that each day (up to 42 weeks), that your little one stays within your womb will multiply his chances to breathe on his own.
• If he hasn't already, this week your baby may drop into the birth canal. While breathing for mom becomes easier, walking may be the exact opposite! If he's not your first baby, this "lightening" may not occur until right before labor.
• Fat is dimpling your baby's elbows and knees, and forming creases in the neck and wrists.
• His skin is growing smooth and, shall we say it, "baby" soft.
• His gums are very rigid. It won't be many months before you'll see his teeth.
• She has a fully developed pair of kidneys and her liver has begun processing some waste products.
• Your child's average size is now 18.66 inches (47.4cm) and 5.78 pounds (2622 g). Between now and birth she will gain about an ounce a day!

What's happening with me:
Now that your baby is taking up so much room, you may have trouble eating a normal-size meal. Smaller, more frequent meals are often easier to handle at this point. On the other hand, you may have less heartburn and have an easier time breathing when your baby starts to "drop" down into your pelvis. This process — called lightening — often happens a few weeks before labor if this is your first baby. (If you've given birth before, it probably won't happen before labor starts.) If your baby drops, you may also feel increased pressure in your lower abdomen, which may make walking increasingly uncomfortable, and you'll probably find that you have to pee even more frequently.