Week 36: Big baby

I've finally switched to the once-a-week appointments with the midwife and at my latest one she told me the baby is measuring 2 weeks bigger than normal. She predicts I will have an 8.5 to 9 pound baby! I would be worried, but I've always been big and I have strong sturdy bones and, frankly, good child-bearing hips, so I'm not. Labor's going to hurt no matter what, so a big baby doesn't scare me. As long as she's not 10 pounds, I think I'll be ok. My instinct tells me she won't be terribly huge though, but who knows. My friend who had a 10+ pound baby told me to trust my instincts. She thought she was going to have a big baby and no one believed her. Turns out her son was huge and she had to have a C-section. So, I'm trusting my instincts that it won't be a problem. I just hope labor is something I can handle! I'm getting a little freaked out now that it's getting closer, even though I feel pretty prepared. There are a lot of what-ifs.

Since she's so big it makes sense that Baby's foot is pretty much permanently lodged in my side. She's in the optimum position for birth, though, so that's good! She's just getting cramped and I'm starting to feel like I'm going to hurt her when I move quickly or lie down or something! I don't really want her to come out (because I love being pregnant and feeling her in there), but something about having a baby this big inside me makes me think she'd be safer on the outside than the inside. I suppose generations of women have had the same concern.

This week I had a very nice surprise from my coworkers. I came in for a meeting on Tuesday. The meeting was for just me and one other person, but he scheduled it in a conference room rather than his office. First, it was scheduled in a room that was closer to his office, then he moved it further away and said for me to "come by before the meeting and we can go over together." I was slightly suspicious, but didn't want to assume anything. I didn't think my coworkers would do a party for me. So I went to his office and we went over together and sure enough all my coworkers were waiting with a cake, a card, and a gift card to Babies R Us in a HUGE amount! I was floored! I've never had a surprise party before and it was incredibly sweet of them to do that for me!

Then, later that day, my husband's coworkers threw us a shower. That was planned and very special. He works with a lot of women and they were very excited to give us lots of baby presents and share labor stories. They were incredibly generous and I felt so incredibly blessed after all that!