Less than 4 weeks to go!

Here it is - the 36 week belly!

This is one of my four black maternity dresses that I wear to work. I'm to the point now where not a lot of my maternity clothes fit all that great, and I don't want to buy more, so I pretty much wear the same thing every week. And I don't even care! Comfort is the biggest issue right now....I've even given up wearing my dress shoes to work because having socks on at all is just not good. So I wear flip flops or sandals most of the time. Everyone understands, and even if they didn't, no one's going to say anything to a pregnant woman about what she's wearing not fitting into the dress code!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and I gained 2 more pounds! So I'm up to 20 so far with 3 1/2 weeks to go. I'm measuring right on target too. Yesterday was the first actual exam I had since we had the very first ultrasound way back in March. Let me tell you, it was NOT comfortable! But I found out that I'm 70% effaced. What does that mean? Your cervix has to be completely thin and dilated by the time you're ready to have the baby. Effaced is how thin your cervix is, and they tell you in percentages. Dilated is how big it is, and they tell you in centimeters. I'm not dilated at all, so being that much effaced doesn't really mean anything....at least to me it doesn't! The Cliffster is positioned with his head down already, so that's good news. My doctor was 98% sure he was head down, but she did a quick ultrasound anyway just to make sure. And the Cliffster is still a boy!! Brad and I were glad to be reassured because we'd kind of had some anxiety about that over the past week or so. I mean, what would we even do if he turned out to be a girl? Everything is blue/sports/boy....and it's all been washed already. But no need to worry about that anymore....it's been confirmed once again!

We went to our Baby Business class on Wednesday - basically we just filled out pre-admission forms and birth certificate forms. That way they'll only need to know the name once he gets here and we won't have to do it at the hospital. It's so funny - even random people try to get me to tell them his name, like the cashier at Old Navy the other night. Like I'm going to tell her when I haven't told anyone else!!

Tomorrow morning is our breastfeeding class. Hopefully it's pretty helpful. I've been getting tips from my sister-in-law Melissa since she breastfed both of her daughters, and from my friend Meghan who's a 1-week expert! By the way, congratulations to Meghan & Treg on Baby Olivia Jo born last week....we can't wait to meet her!

Things are going pretty well, I'm still feeling good for the most part. I'm pretty tired in the evening, but that's expected. My heartburn keeps getting worse, but once the baby drops I've read that it almost goes away completely. I'm very thankful that my feet aren't enormously swollen, and that I haven't gained so much weight I'm unrecognizable....thanks to Nurse Polly's constant reminders to watch what I eat and drinking plenty of water!

We'll keep you updated on Baby Cliff's progress and eventual arrival....for some reason I have a feeling he's going to come early, but we'll see! Start your birth date (and name, for that matter!) pool now, just in case!