37 Week Bumpdate!

37 weeks. Full term. I am so happy to have made it to this point. I told Ryan while we were waiting at the doctor's office that I had been so scared we wouldn't make it to a full term pregnancy. I encouraged many of you ladies who have emailed me about your own miscarriage stories to not be fearful in your following pregnancies.
I would not allow myself to be happy about this pregnancy or celebrate it until I was 20+ weeks in. I was afraid if I got attached to the baby, started buying outfits, looking at cribs - we would lose this pregnancy too, and I would be even more devastated than if I chose not to celebrate that I was pregnant. Looking back I wish I would have been more excited, and I encourage any of you who have experienced loss to be overjoyed when you get the chance to be pregnant again. All we can do is continue to pray for Rilynn, that she will be healthy and born without any complications. I have definitely had to trust God through this all and I am truly excited that we are 20 days or less from meeting our sweet little girl.

Marcy has taken to a new position over the past week. Whereas she used to just snuggle up to me and the bump, she now insists on putting her face on it. This happens every single night and Ryan and I can't stop laughing. The best part is that as soon as she does it, Rilynn starts kicking her in the face. I'm sure they will grow to be best friends one day...

We took care of a bunch of stuff this weekend that we kept putting off. I thought they were all small, simple tasks, but I am glad we finally did them. One was installing the carseat. That took a lot longer than I thought it would! We looked ridiculous trying to read through the manual and figure it out - we couldn't get it "level"...and then realized it was because we were parked in our slanted driveway. We finally got it all set and are now ready to head to the hospital whenever the time comes. We also finished the nursery and I'm excited to share how it turned out next week.

The temperature did drop over 20 degrees yesterday and it was supposed to storm. I thought this might cause my water to break...well the storm never arrived, it just drizzled all day like it is again today. I loved seeing all the instagram comments of how many of you went into labor from a rain or snow storm. It's the change in pressure that does this. It actually happened to my friend out here.

I finally got to pick up my Ergo yesterday along with the rest of the cloth diapering things I was waiting on. We now officially have every piece of baby items that we ordered. I prepped the rest of the cloth diapers and inserts yesterday so I am at peace that I don't have that to do later on.
So pregnancy update: We went to my 37 week appointment yesterday. My doctor doesn't check your cervix until 39 weeks unless you ask. I decided I wanted to have her do it for multiple reasons. One, I am pretty sure I've been losing parts of my mucus plug and I heard that checking your cervix can encourage the loss of the plug. I figured I will take anything that will help this process along. Two, if I wait until 39 weeks I won't know if I am "progressing" at all. I know that you can be dilated for weeks without going into labor, but if I am staying at the same point and not progressing, it would be good to know that.
Well, I am very happy to say that I think the Evening Primrose Oil is working! When I got checked two weeks ago at the hospital, I was "hard" and "closed". Yesterday I was between 0-1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. She said I was very "soft" and she thought that I probably wouldn't make it to my due date. My main reason for taking the Primrose Oil was to try and get as effaced as possible, so hopefully if I had to get induced, I would have more of a favorable cervix. I also am hoping it helps prevent bad tearing. Evening Primrose Oil is not meant to induce labor, just provide those two perks and prep your body. I am also still drinking the Red Raspberry Leaf Tea. I'm up to 4 glasses a day, so I'm hoping it makes labor shorter and allows less bleeding in the weeks that follow the birth. I'll get my cervix checked again next week to see if things are still moving along.
The nausea has been better this week. The swelling of my feet has been a lot worse. I've been having horrible back pain, especially around my right shoulder blade. Sleep has been terrible and I wake up so often. It hurts to switch from side to side. I think I may be only getting 1-3 hours of sleep a night. I am up to a total of 28 pounds. My friend who had her baby last week lost 20 pounds by the time she left the hospital. I couldn't believe that much of her weight was "baby". It is an encouragement though that a bunch will come off in the beginning.
So we are just hanging out, waiting to see when this baby comes! Time is actually passing very quickly. Ryan's birthday is next weekend. He thinks I will either go into labor at the end of next week or beginning of the week after (38-39 weeks). I will definitely be posting on Instagram, so if I am missing from the blog for awhile, check that to see if perhaps a little baby has arrived.

Lastly, I received a package yesterday from one of my dear blogging friends. Kenzie and I happened to get paired together for Cara Box and became very close friends. She has been an incredible blessing in my life and is one of the many girls who make blogging so worth it. She created this adorable hospital survival kit for me. I am actually going to have her guest post on it because a lot of ladies asked what was in it so they could make one for a friend.


Check out one of the sweetest ladies I know: