36 weeks

Home visit from the midwives is next week! I spent this week getting together the birth kit and generally nesting (washing things for the umpteenth time, making my husband rearrange furniture, last minute sewing projects). I bought some soap nuts and have been doing my laundry with them... it seems too good to be true, but they really work. It's cheap, easy, and it's 100% safe for your family and the environment (and cloth diapers!!). I highly recommend them.

I finally broke down and bought one of those big body pillows.... I was at Target today, buying supplies for the birth, and they had a big long pillow for only $10. I took the LONGEST NAP EVER today with that thing. Lesson learned!! Pregnancy + big pillows = SLEEP. Of course, it's 1:30 in the morning now and I'm wide awake :)

Changes in the last couple weeks have been numerous... in the second half of the day, I basically have BH contactions one after another! It's starting to feel a bit uncomfortable when it happens; it's not painful, just tight in my back and tummy. My feet hurt like I've been walking for miles, even though I stand only about ten minutes at a time. When I get up to pee at night, I feel like an old lady in my hips! It seems like my legs are slightly out of their sockets as my hips widen out. I feel really large in general. At this point, Lucca is always up on my liver, so there is no stopping that pain anymore. It hurts about 90% of the time, and 30% of the time it's excruciating. I just hope it's not distracting during birth (maybe he will drop down and move away from it?).

Last night I woke up with a yell because he punched me in the cervix! I didn't even know babies could do that in there. It's weird to have such intense feelings in organs which I was previously unaware of.

Boy am I tired of peeing. I think I pee every ten minutes now.

It's weird to feel so healthy while feeling so crappy! I feel like a really well oiled machine carrying a load that's just too heavy. I've never eaten better in my whole life. I feel vibrant but... exhausted. I got the OK from my midwife to stop taking my prenatal vitamin, since I'm eating so well and supplementing with iron, vitamin B12, dandelion/raspberry tea and bone broth every day. Stupid prenatal was the only thing keeping me from staying regular!

I have been trying to do more reading on elimination communication, since I've mostly been hoarding cloth diapers and I don't want to forget about it! This website has some great stories and photos from one family.