Aaaaand....I'm done.

37 weeks and holy crap did all the symptoms I haven't had for nine months show up all at once!  I knew this easy pregnancy thing was too good to be true!

Heartburn...check.

Huge belly and non-existent stomach muscles impeding sleep...check.

Baby dropped and pelvic pressure is out of this world.  I feel like I'm carrying a 20lb bowling ball in my cha-cha.  When I walk it looks that way, too.  You're welcome for the visual.

Swelling is not horrible but I am retaining some fluid so my engagement ring doesn't fit anymore.  My wedding band and still fits but not nearly as comfortably.  Some of my shoes have straps that are leaving marks in my ankles but it's not too bad, I suppose.  Just there.

My personal favorite symptom right now is pregnancy induced Carpal Tunnel.  Yeah, I'd never heard about that one either.  Basically both my arms go completely numb and then scream at me in pain.  It happens mostly at night, making the little sleep I was getting non existent.  I spend the majority of the night trying to find a position that doesn't hurt my hips, doesn't involve being on my back and allows my wrists to be straight so they don't DIE. 

My attempts to get comfortable are not working well and I just wake up pissed off and for the most part, miserable as far as my body goes.  At that point I limp to the couch where I sit like a lump all day with the fan on full blast praying the dog behaves so I don't have to attempt to get up and run after him.  Matt is such a lucky guy. 

I had my 37 week check up today, the first of my cervical checks.  I gained two more pounds, I'm 1/2 a centimeter dilated and 50% effaced, blood pressure and protein levels are perfect, so basically nothing is happening.  He is definitely head down, which is good.  I'm measuring right at 37 weeks but due to the family history of monster babies, my always amazing doctor scheduled an extra ultrasound for next week so we can measure him again.  If the tech was right and he was 6.5lbs two and a half weeks ago and is growing according to the expected half a pound a week, he's almost eight pounds right now.  If they measure him there again she might consider an early induction.  I'm almost praying for that because three more weeks of the non-sleeping discomfort might cause permanent mental damage.

Matt finished the board and batten in the nursery last night after probably 50 hours of really hard work and it looks AMAZING.  I almost started crying when I saw it done.  It is better than I could have imagined.  Today I'm going to clean out the closet (there's a lot of dust in there), wash and sort everything (again) and then tonight or tomorrow we'll probably set up the crib and really get things moving.  The crib bedding came last week and it's better than I could have hoped for, so it's nice to have that all done.  Now we have to buy the bookshelf, dresser, light, twin bed frame or base, curtains (which I may paint if I get the courage) and bedding for the twin bed , then we'll probably paint the dresser and eventually paint stripes on the one wall that doesn't have board and batten.  I'm also trying to figure out some kind of cool, original mobile type thing that won't cost a million bucks to go above the crib.  Obviously we're nowhere near done but the rest of the stuff is easy compared to the walls that Matt completed and hopefully one trip to Ikea will take care of most of the things we need and then we can get it all put together.

I had maternity pictures taken last week.  I found a photographer who I love and she had a full year package for babies - pics are taken when they're brand new, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months, so we decided to go with that so we didn't have to think about it anymore than that.  She was super generous and threw in a maternity session for me which I got pretty excited about until I remembered I was NINE MONTHS PREGNANT.  I spent all sorts of time trying to find outfits that didn't make me look like a whale, then my great friend Janae curled my hair, I spent for-ev-er on my make-up and my sister helped trek us out to the middle of the desert for our shoot in 106 degree weather.  God smiled on us that day because, despite the horrid temperature, there was a nice breeze and beautiful clouds from an impending Haboob which gave us amazing lighting and an even more amazing sunset.

Here's one of the pictures that the photographer posted on Facebook.  There are plenty more she took but I haven't seen them yet.  I love love love this one and I also promise I don't usually look like this.  She worked some serious magic.  If anyone who reads this lives in Phoenix and needs a photographer, you should probably hire Selena of Sorensen Studios.  She is really so so so amazing.

Well, that's it for now.  This chair is starting to hurt my butt and I've successfully made my hands numb while typing so I think it's time for me to resume my position on the couch and watch the final season of Felicity and pray about taking some caster oil to get this baby out of me.