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! :)