37 weeks baby 2.0

holy crap.  3 weeks away.  the end is near!  i keep hoping/thinking that she may come early, like 38 or 39 weeks, but maybe that's just because i want her to come a little bit early hahaha.  we'll see what happens.  i'm still able to control the GD without insulin so far, so maybe i won't have to take it at all, i hope!  this past week i packed my hospital bag and a bag for the baby.  i've just been doing small things like closet organizing and going through maternity clothes that no longer fit me.  i'm dying to do things like scrub the entire kitchen down, go through my clothes and purge, just random stuff i've been wanting to do for awhile.  but it's hard for me to get these kinds of things done now.  i can do one thing during the day---like running an errand or taking z somewhere, and then get the daily stuff done like cleaning the kitchen, laundry, lunch, z's nap, cook dinner, and that's about it.  by 6pm i'm done.  and poor hubs has had some stomach virus or something for the past week, so he's been resting and trying to get healthy.  i'm hoping that i don't get sick, too, since i'm just finally getting over the cold i had.  z seems to have not really gotten the cold that we got, he was congested and had a runny nose for a few days but bounced back really quick.  he has been a typical toddler, both frustrating and super sweet within the span of a minute.  i heard him walk into the nursery and after a couple minutes i walked in and asked what he was doing.  there he was, he had climbed up into the crib and covered himself with the blanket i made for the baby, and he says "i just taking a nap in the crib!"  it was so cute.  and then there was last night, when i gave him a little chocolate milk as a special treat, and i explained it's a special treat and we don't have chocolate milk everyday.  then this morning he stood in front of the fridge demanding at the top of his lungs some chocolate milk.  when that didn't work, he started throwing a tantrum.  ah, toddlers.  anyway, this week has been pretty non-eventful, just got z a haircut (all of a sudden he HATES getting his haircut and he thrashes around, so it's hard to get him a good cut these days), trying to keep up with the day to day, went to our friends' 3rd birthday, took z to the children's museum with some more friends. i'm trying to take him places every few days so that he doesn't get bored out of his mind at home. oh, and hubs scraped the popcorn off of the ceiling in the family room.  he totally kicked butt with it, and it looks sooooooooo much better.  hopefully we can have ceiling lights installed soon.   as far as the pregnancy, i am big and tired and uncomfortable.  this sciatica is very painful, i have heartburn at night but not nearly as bad as when i was pregnant with z.  i still have lots of braxton hicks contractions, but i'm not sure that anything is necessarily progressing.  i have an appointment with the midwife next week, so maybe i'll have her check me to see if there's any progress.  i plan on busting out some of the things that are supposed to induce labor (without medication) soon, so we will see.  i did some of those things when pregnant with z, and i'm not sure anything really worked, i just went into labor when my body and z were ready.  i've been trying to focus on preparing myself mentally for labor.  i have been reading some positive natural birth stories from Ina May Gaskin's book, watching some documentaries about birthing, and started listening to the hypnobirthing stuff i had from the first pregnancy.  i never really used hypnobirthing per se, but the audio affirmations and meditations are very relaxing and help me to envision the baby coming down and my body responding, and it helps get me excited about seeing my baby.  it's good.  there is a Bahai prayer that my friend sings, and it is amazing, i listened to it everyday when pregnant with z, and i am starting to listen to that everyday, and saying some special prayers.  this time around i am lacking confidence in myself to be able to go through birth naturally and without any interventions, so i'm trying to pump myself up again.  there is no reason that i shouldn't be able to do this again, and maybe it will be faster and easier this time around if there are no problems.  so, send good thoughts and prayers our way please!

How far along: 37 weeks

Size of baby: about 19-22 inches and around 6.5 lbs or so, the size of a winter melon or as long as a bunch of swiss chard, still considered early term at this point, baby is practicing inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, sucking, blinking, and moving around
Total weight gain:  well since i've been packing on 2 lbs per week i may be up 35 lbs or so  
Gender: girl
Movement: i've been trying to pay attention to her movements, and it seems like she may not be quite as active as before, but during her awake times when she is normally active, she definitely moves around more than 10 times in 2 hours, which is what the midwives and ob want to hear, but her movements are more like her just shifting around a little bit with some kicks as quarters are tighter for her now!
Sleep: hard to stay comfortable but it's been ok outside of the heartburn, sciatica, crazy dreams (i had a dream last night that i was in labor), and the fact that i need a tow truck to move from one side to the other
What I miss: feeling physically normal 
Cravings: carby stuff since i really cut down on all kinds of carbs, i want to eat cake so bad
Symptoms:  same as last week
Best moment this week: i learned that two separate sets of close friends are expecting, and i'm so so so excited.  also, i am looking forward to halloween (even though i can't have any candy!  boooo!) because we will have some friends and cousins over and z will be dressed up as harry potter!!!!!  i die!!!!

sneak peek of the cutest harry potter ever!