Thursday, June 25, 2009

36 Weeks...

I was planning to wait to post this until I had a picture to go along with it; but because I've been feeling supremely UNphotogenic, there won't be a picture. Not tonight anyway. Not all this past week. Maybe tomorrow? Or maybe not. Maybe after the baby is born. :)

Some tidbits from this 36th week:

~ I measured my "waist" last night, and it was 44 inches. When I looked back at this post, I was reminded that at the end of my pregnancy with Josiah, my waist was only 42 inches. At 38 weeks, 5 days, with Tobin's pregnancy, I was 45 inches. Here I am at 36 weeks, 4 days, already measuring at 44. I'm not sure I can stretch much bigger! :)

~ The general consensus, when people see me in person, is "I don't think you're going to make it to your due date!" :)

~ As far as when this baby will be born, I'm going to hold a contest to see who can get closest to the date AND the time. If you want to play along, leave a comment on this post with your guess of the baby's birthday and time...and whoever is the closest will receive some kind of prize in the mail! The contest will be open until...well...until the birth, I guess!

~ To help you make an educated guess, let me remind you of some facts. My due date is July 18. Josiah was born one day early, David was 12 days early, and Tobin was four days early. Obviously, there is an early trend, but it's not definitive; anything is possible. For the time of day, Josiah was born at 11:23 AM, David was born at 9:40 PM, and Tobin was born at 6:37 PM.

~ Last evening when we were discussing the birth, I believe Jeff said that his guess is July 14th.

~ My personal guess is that it will either be the 14th, 15th, or 16th...for the simple reason that in our family, we have a birthday on the 11th (in December), the 12th (in January), the 13th (in June), and the 17th (in April), so it would be nice to fill in one of the dates between the 13th and 17th. Very scientific guess, I know. :)

~ I remember this from the end of Tobin's pregnancy so it's no surprise, but I am finding such satisfaction with ticking off the dates and getting past certain events that I was hoping to be past by the time of the birth! For example, Josiah's birthday...I did not want this baby to be born on or near that day because I wanted it to remain special just for Josiah. The week of VBS at our church was another big milestone to pass, since it would have been incredibly inconvenient to give birth that week! Each date on the calendar, each meeting, each obligation that passes makes me breathe a deeper sigh of relief and think, "Whew, we made it past that one!" :) Now that I'm basically a day away from being officially full-term, I'm very grateful to have made it this far; and there's really no indication that I don't still have a few weeks before the birth. But the only thing that I'm really holding out for now is to make it to July since I think it would be more convenient for future birthday celebration plans to have Josiah's birthday in June and this baby's birthday in July. The funny thing about this stage is that I can't just sit here and twiddle my thumbs until the baby's birth, so we continue to make plans and be active (sure, we'll go to an Independence Day party on July 5th--yes, we'll be at the annual Huffman Reunion on July 12th--a dentist appointment for Josiah on July 15th? no problem!)...although everyone that we plan something with knows that all our plans at this point are tentative--subject to change without much notice!

~ One more tidbit about the date, Misty and I were pregnant at the same time with our 3rd child, and she gave birth to Elissa four weeks to the day before I had Tobin. Lo and behold, we were also pregnant at the same time with our 4th child! She had Anastasia on June 8, so if I follow the pattern and give birth four weeks after that date, it would be July 6. I'm just trying to think of all the helpful advice I can give you so that you can make a smart guess; I'm nice like that. :) Oh, two more things I didn't check: the date of the full moon in July, and the Farmer's Almanac weather predictions for that month (since, of course, low atmospheric pressure can make babies suddenly pop out, right?) You're on your own with those two factors! :)

~ Changing from the date to the other BIG QUESTION: boy or girl? I find it interesting that in the blog poll, there have been 14 votes for boy, and 33 for girl. I'm sure the majority of you will be happy to know that the Chinese fertility calendar predicts a girl. :)

~ A little while back, I made a comment about the odds of having another boy; and in response, Bekah posted this. She's right, you know; they do say the odds with each conception are 50/50. But doesn't experience teach all of us that somehow, boys or girls do tend to run in a family, despite the scientific odds? Anyway, I was honored that Bekah thought about and wrote about the question that's been so much in my mind recently. :)

~ One more issue to mention: contractions. Margie asked, in a comment on this post, if I'm still having contractions. The short answer is yes. Detailed answer is this: I seem to have two phases these days. Phase A includes pangs of cramping which are noticeable, but very short-lived. If they lasted longer, they would feel like a regular contraction to me. Phase B involves a constant feeling of muscles being squeezed, like one long contraction with no release. I often notice this in the evenings, especially after I've spent some time sitting in front of the computer without getting up to stretch. That happens consistently enough that I'm very glad I don't have a desk job because I would definitely be uncomfortable most of the time in that kind of situation! With the short "contractions," I've gotten to the point of thinking that maybe they're related to the baby's movements. With both Josiah and David, there were certain spots that got very sore from their kicking: a place near my right ribs with Josiah, a spot near my navel with David (and I can't remember with Tobin). But with this one, the movements--although very consistent and obvious--are almost gentle compared with my first two pregnancies. It feels like my insides are being kneaded and convulsions are happening, but they almost seem to be slower, more deliberate movements, rather than sharp jabs. At any rate, they don't hurt...at least, I thought they didn't hurt, but now I'm wondering if those "mini-contractions" are really just a response to the baby's movements. I don't know if that's making any sense or not...

Enough from me. It's your turn to venture a guess--and maybe win a prize! :)

29 comments:

Bonnie said...

July,12- 7:42 AM. Girl.

Unknown said...

July 9. 3.24 AM. GIRL!

But you know I'd love for you to have this baby before I leave....6 days! That sound good with you? :-)

Jenn Heatwole said...

July 10, 1:00 a.m. Boy :)

Amy said...

July 10, 1:00 PM Boy

Anonymous said...

Hello from Singapore! I have really enjoyed strolling down Sylvan Drive and sitting on your porch many times! I miss those mountains and I love to see how your boys are growing! Well, I vote "girl" because we have 3 friends that have just had a girl in families of boys! I am seeing a trend! Most of all I want you to know we are praying for you! Blessings, Sheryl Lee

Mindy said...

July 8 (my birthday), 3:00pm

And I pray that you don't get as big as I did with my #2 child! At 36 weeks I had a 51" waist and delivered a 10lb 2oz baby 1 week later! I thank God he came early!! It's amazing how much your body can stretch to support such a miracle!

Elizabeth said...

July 9, 10:00 PM Girl :)

Tim and Michelle said...

July 7, 8:00 pm Boy!

Misty said...

July 9th, 2:47am :)

Chris said...

LLALALBABABABLALA...(I'm speaking in tongues and prophesying) July 11th , at 11:59pm 8 lb 10 oz A BOY! And you'll be a 47 inch waist when you have him. LOL j/k This is my prophetic guess. :)

Emily Joy said...

Oh Kate! You've got to be kidding!!! I was going to pick July 9! :) Oh well... July 8, 7:12 PM, and a GIRL! :)

~Emily Joy

JFisher777 said...

July 14th, 8:15pm, a boy... 8 lbs 2 ounces...

Kristen said...

OK, so perhaps I should have Adam guess because he is usually right...but, since he doesn't blog I'll guess. ;) July 14, 5:34 am, 8lbs. 3.2 oz, 20" long, screaming, healthy BOY who makes his mom and dad proud. (how's that?) :)

Elizabeth said...

Never being good at this...July 12, 10:30 am, boy, 8 lbs, 4 oz...

Unknown said...

July 11 (because noone else so far has chosen this) and 11:38am in the morning. Let's see how prescient I am! (I've never even guessed a child's gender correctly!)

Beth said...

July 15th 3:05 p.m. Girl. 7 lbs. 3ounces.
Exciting!

Margie said...

I can't even hazard a guess. I'm terrible at these things! But, okay: July 12, 9:50 pm, girl, 7.5 lbs.

Anonymous said...

July 12, 2009 7:20PM 8lb 3ounces.
Kim Wilson

Sarah-Anne said...

I've been a long time reader, but have only commented once!! It's never to late to start, is it?
Anyways, here's my guess for Baby Fisher's arrival...
Time: 2:22pm
Date: July 10th
Weight: 6 pounds, 3 ounces
Hair: Dark Brown
And, of course, the gender...
A GIRL!!
Boy, did I go all out on the details! But I'm a detail tpye of person, you know.
I'm glad I came out of the woodwork, so to speak...
Have a safe and happy Fourth!
Saran-Anne in Eastern NC

Valerie said...

Hmmm, your 37 week pictures look to me like the baby dropped. So I'm thinking sooner than later.
Let's go with July 9th (I think 7-9-09 has a nice ring to it) As for time I'll say somewhere around noon. Weighing in at 7lbs 9oz (I think I like those 2 numbers) Wouldn't that be neat though?

Whenever baby comes it will be lovely. It's fun to guess though. :)

Blessings to you as you wait out these last few days (hopefully not weeks) :)

Michelle said...

A little girl on July 15th at 5:15pm. Blessings to you all!

Sally said...

I left a comment, guessing the day and all, a while back. I must have goofed up because it's not here. Let me see if I can remember everything....
July 18th, 8:00 p.m., girl, 7 lbs. 2 oz., 19 inches.

I'm checking your blog very frequently, excited that the time is right here upon us and wanting to know the news when your baby comes.

Chris said...

Oh, God said that he changed his mind, he didn't say July 11, but he said July 16th, but I got everything else right 11:59pm 8lb 10 oz, a boy, and a little 47 inch waist when you go into labor.

New Mom said...

The 17th, 3:11am Girl!

Bonnie said...

So can I guess again?

July 22, 8:46 PM - GIRL
8lbs. 7 oz. 21 1/4 inches.

Julie said...

Joelle thinks it's a girl. She also thinks it's going to be born on the 20th of July at 9:00 in the morning. She's been asking me to post her vote for weeks now and I just now got around to it.
Thanks,
Julie

Anonymous said...

I'm going to guess!
I think it will be July 19th at 9:09 pm. BOY! :)

New Mom said...

Well, I'm going to go ahead and guess again! You can eliminate me from the contest if need be, but this is fun! Hmmm....

Sunday at 3:15am...girl...8 lbs. 6 oz!

Jolanthe said...

I never guessed! :) So...I'm going to guess, Tuesday, July 21 at 4:22 am - and just since this little one has thrown so many surprises your way..a girl.