{36 weeks}

Black is slimming, and there aren't many things that get me out of sweats these days.

Even though Cade has dropped some and I can breathe a little easier, it doesn't mean I'm not still carrying around 30+ pounds of extra weight, and it's a workout in itself. My back is feeling about the same, and my ankles pretty much just stay swollen now. My right-hand numbness has progressed from a morning occurrence to an all day ordeal. That's right, all day. My doctor told me to take Tylenol arthritis to help with the pain in my hands when I wake up in the morning, but all the fingers on my right hand (except my thumb) are pretty much numb all the time now. Not painful, but definitely annoying. If I shake my hand sometimes the feeling will return for a few minutes, but it quickly goes away. So my morning make-up routine now consists of me looking like  I'm having some kind of weird intermittent tremor...because it's super awkward putting make-up on with your hands when you can't feel one of them!

I've still not had any contractions, but I have had some cramping and that's mostly when I'm overdoing it (like long days at work). I start my weekly doctor appointments this Thursday, and she'll check to see if I'm dilated. The husband was out of town this weekend and next weekend, so baby has been instructed to hang tight until at least January 21st (which so happens to be the husband's birthday), and after that will be full-term and he can come whenever he wants!

The nesting is becoming absurd, because I stay pretty annoyed with my house most of the time. So this weekend has been a 4-day break from work and I finally got some work done on the nursery! I feel better about my life now :)

We go for our hospital tour tomorrow (we're mainly doing this to pre-register so if we get there in a panic most of the paperwork will be done). The backs are semi-packed and waiting patiently in the nursery (this is probably way too early, but it makes me feel better). Now all we'll just twiddle our thumbs until he decides to make an appearance.
I wish.
I'm scheduled at work through February 8th.
Maternity leave should be at least 6 months.
And it should begin in your last month of pregnancy.