The Derrick Adventure: Bumpdate: Week 37

This week I turn 37 weeks pregnant....HOLY COW! Where did the time go? Baby is officially considered "full term" and could technically come any time (which is crazy to me). I cannot believe we are at this point of pregnancy. Our theme song these days has been "the final countdown". We have just about everything we need for him to arrive and the nursery is almost complete. I have decorated for Christmas and just need to put up the tree. I have my final list of "to do's" before baby arrives and am checking them off one by one! This weekend we are going to back a hospital bag... our hospital bag. AH! At my last doctors appointment (almost 36 weeks) I was dilated almost to a 1, 50% effaced and soft. HOO-RAH. My biggest fear throughout pregnancy is that my body would not cooperate in this regard so I was SO happy to hear at least something is happening. Sometimes I feel like he is so happy in there I might stay pregnant forever... wow, what a dismal thought haha :)

Symptoms: The third trimester has not been as bad as everyone said it would be-thank goodness! However, I still have 3 weeks left so maybe the worst is yet to come haha. Honestly, I would rather go through the 3rd trimester twice than do the 1st trimester again! That being said, it is not a cake walk and I definitely have my "MIKE, I AM SO DONE BEING PREGNANT" moments. Overall though, can't complain.

My sciatic nerve pain went away--hooray! It only lasted for a couple of weeks and I am lucky enough to say I am pretty back-pain free. Most ladies have it until they deliver so I am counting my blessings.

I am very fortunate in the swelling category. I have not had bad swelling at all and am so thankful! I am still able to wear my wedding ring (just not the bands that accompany it) and I think that is pretty good for 37 weeks!

Unfortunately sleep has been rough lately...yes it will prepare me for a newborn blah blah blah BUT from everything I've read, newborns wake up every 3 hours or so to eat and a couple of nights ago I woke up every hour! I would literally be getting more sleep with a newborn.

The dude is massive. haha:) He is about 6.5 lbs according to the average baby born at 37 weeks (so he could be a little more or less). Space is getting rather limited thanks to my tiny torso--my leg to body ratio is very skewed--too bad we don't carry babies in our legs! Poor guy is constantly trying to stretch as far as he can, which leaves both of us rather uncomfortable. I have a feeling he is going to love being free of his currently confined space. BE FREE BABY!

Best Moments Lately: I GRADUATED COLLEGE! Okay remember a while back when I posted all those graduation pictures? Lies I tell you. Mike was graduating in April and I only had two classes left, so we decided to walk together and I was going to finish them up online over the summer. This was in 2014. Whelp, a year and a half later and I still hadn't finished them! Building two small businesses happened to be a lot more time consuming than I thought! I was SO embarrassed and frustrated that I still hadn't officially graduated. However, I made a promise to Mike that I would have a degree before I had a baby. So, on September 1st I started my two classes that had to be completed by October 24th. That gave me exactly 4 weeks to finish each class. Which meant taking a midterm and final every 2 weeks on top of the papers and reading required for the classes. AH! Talk about stressful. Mike and I decided that I work better on campus, so I drove down with him to Provo everyday and while he was working I would plow through school. (it was also awesome because my cutie pants best friend Jay is at BYU, so we got to see each other a lot). I have never read/written/memorized so fast in my life! And I did it! I cannot tell you what a relief it is to be done. I definitely appreciate my degree SO much more than I did before and can now tell babyD that I finished for him, while he was inside of me:) I'm tempted to go to December's graduation ceremony just so I can bring my newborn and get a picture with him in my cap and gown. I really am so proud!

I have also LOVED having baby showers! I have been so spoiled to have family, friend, and a ward showers this past month:) They have been so fun and we feel so ready now! It was like having 5 birthdays in the month of October!

Kirton family shower

baby and I were SO spoiled!

Ward shower--love these ladies!

darling decorations from the Derrick family shower

I was so bummed! The only photos I took the night of my cute friend shower were these awkward ones of me trying to button up my coat :( It was such a lovely night with friends:)

Hardest Moments Lately: The anticipation. We have no idea when this kiddo is coming! I was so paranoid that babyD was going to be breech, but when Mike and I talked about it...at least if I had to have a c-section I would know when this baby was coming and how he was going to get here! Luckily, baby is head-down and the guessing game continues. So, I could have the baby tomorrow or not for 4 more weeks....who knows!? This would be the ideal time for a time machine (not to skip into the future but just to take a peek:)

stretch marks. yup. My tummy hasn't grown very much over the past 7 weeks, but for some reason around week 35 baby dropped my stomach decided to rip. Mike still thinks I'm pretty though, so I'm not too concerned about it.

Overall, we have just been feeling so grateful. I don't know what it is, but lately I have seen or heard about such sad things regarding parenthood on Instagram and Facebook. My heart goes out to all the couples having a difficult time getting pregnant, staying pregnant, dealing with pre-term babies, health challenges with babies, still births, or losing a young child. Mike has banned me reading these stories because I just sit and bawl over my phone. It hurts my heart so much. I just feel so grateful. Mike and I got pregnant so fast, we were able to keep our first pregnancy, he appears totally healthy and has made it to full term. No matter how hard pregnancy is... there is always something to be grateful for. Keep growing healthy babyD...we can't wait to meet you. Soon!