36 weeks and holding

"Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of his first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely he's in a head-down position. But if he isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating him from the outside of your belly (babycenter.com).

I talked to a friend of ours who's husband is a doctor and based on the baby's measurements and the week we are in he thinks our baby will weigh about 7 lbs. at birth. He is around 5 lb., 6 oz. right now. This weekend some other friends of ours had their baby a couple weeks early. All of this is telling me it could be any day.

Yesterday we had our shower with the dads and our friends and some family. It was lots of fun to have everyone together and we got some really good gifts and gift cards. Bugaboo has a closet full of clothes, more clothes than his mommies combined.

This afternoon we worked on putting everything away and made a list of what else we need to get that we will need right away. We made a trip to babiesrus and walked out with 2 carts full. We were able to get his stroller and the cutest swing ever. It is by Graco and it is one of the sweet sleepers with the really plush seat with giraffe decor. It's funny because we had started out getting him mostly monkey stuff because I really like monkeys, but in the past week he has received several giraffe themed items. They go so well with the monkey things he has so I'm excited about that too.

This week we meet our pediatrician to make sure it's a good fit and go over our plans with baby. We need to pre-register at the hospital, pack our bag and wash all the bedding, towels and clothes, and we need to sterilize the breast pump and bottles. Things are coming together and I'm feeling good about it all. All we need now is the baby. Good thing Wen only has a week left before her leave at work.