35 Week Recap: Seriously, 5 Weeks to Go!?

This is getting a little bittersweet.  On one hand, I have 5 weeks to go, which means I have a little over a month to really get it together.  On the other hand, I HAVE 5 WEEKS TO GO!  I wake up sometimes in full on panic mode.  Yet somehow the procrastinator in me that has caused countless late-night paper writings and science fair project completions comes into play and immediately calms me down.  I can't tell if 5 weeks seems like a short period of time or not.  In retrospect, I found out relatively early that I was pregnant - on Christmas Eve.  So when I consider that I've been pregnant for the entire calendar year including Christmas, New Years, my birthday, almost everyone else's birthday, April Fools, Memorial Day and 4th of July, I feel like I've been pregnant forever and 5 weeks seems like a really short amount of time.  But then again, for a serious procrastinator like myself, the whole 'more than a month' frame of thought really doesn't freak me out at all.  Oh, how sweet it is to be completely bi-polar when it comes to gauging one of the biggest events in my life. 

So I go to the doctor every week now.  FUN.  I still get really excited to hear the baby's heartbeat, so it makes the inconvenience of it all incredibly worth it, but it seems like overkill to me to spend so much time going back and forth downtown just to be there for 5 minutes and discuss anything that we could have easily gone over on the phone.  But whatever, stick that doppler on me and let me listen to Cohen's heart race for a few minutes and I'm thankful for the weekly updates.  This week's appointment was a little different though.  I was at work and started experiencing some pretty serious braxton hicks.  With that and the fact that I'm only 5 weeks away, I freaked out, made Drew take me to the doctor and serioulsy contemplated whether or not I needed to put my hospital bag in the car because of course I had convinced myself I was having a baby THAT NIGHT.  Wrong.  So wrong.  The doctor did an internal (OMG - OUCH) and I'm 0cm dilated / 0% effaced / 0% chance of being a mommy in the next 24 hours.  However, all good news - the baby's heart is strong and healthy, he is growing just as he should, and if he was to be born right now, he'd be a little over 6 pounds and completely viable to survive in the outside world.  I still have a really tight grip on the hope to hold out for the golden 37th week when I can really breathe a sigh of relief and know that I'm full term, but it's nice to know he's big and strong and could totally be born happy and healthy with only very minor medical interference.  So, minor freak out over, he's still in there cooking away...

We left Thursday evening for the lake for Momma's birthday and my Lake baby shower!!  Momma had been really sick all week, so we took it REALLY easy.  It actually turned out to be pretty nice for me because rather than wearing myself out like I usually do when I'm at the lake out in the sun, we laid on her bed and watched hours of the DiY and HGTV channels.  It was nice to relax.  We did mix in a birthday pedicure - and I hope it lasts because it'll be the last one I have before this baby is born.  Can't deliver a baby with uggo toes.  Saturday night Brandon and Denise arrived and so did Aunt Patty! 
Sunday we all went to church and at the end of the service, Andrew and I went up to the alter and had Jody pray with us, since it would be our last trip before the baby.  He prayed such a sweet prayer and it really made everything come full circle, considering he's the one that married us almost 2 years ago - now he was blessing our son!  It really did mean the world to me.
Sunday afternoon a bunch of my 'lake family' came over for a baby shower!  It was smaller than my Clt shower, but it was so nice to see everyone and I was overwhelmed once again by all of the love everyone had for me and Drew and Cohen.  Oh, and instead of traditional baby shower food, we went with an ice cream sundae bar.  It was a kids (or pregnant lady's) DREAM.  Enough said.

Ice Cream Sundae Bar!
Best.  Idea.  Ever.

Sunday right before the shower, Karen and Conrad (and Cody) came to spend a few days with momma and AP.  They had all gone out on Brandon's boat during the shower, but we all got to spend some quality family time together that night with dinner at La Fogata.  I love eacha nd every second I get to spend with my family - we laugh like no other and get eachother like no one else does.  It's always the best feeling in the world to be surrounded by such amazing people - and to be blessed with the fact that we're all blood related is just too much sometimes.  BEYOND blessed.

KYDU.  Ole'.

WEEK 35 CRAVINGS:  No new cravings.  Except for the pain in my groin to go away or maybe the feeling that I've actually had enough sleep.  But I guess I'm gonna have to get used to that one.

WEEK 35 'Dose of Daddy':  As mentioned earlier, Friday was momma's birthday.  And Tom Mack, who is known for giving really kick-A gifts, got her what she's been wanting for a few years now - her very own paddle boat!!  Now, given her weakened state from being so sick and the fact that I can barely move, we weren't really as excited to try it out as we could have been.  So we walked down to the water so Tom could show her the gift, and Drew was assigned to be the one to dock it beside the monstrosity that is the pontoon.  (Trust me, it looks even more gargantuan with a 2-person paddle boat next to it).  But the funniest part was Drew in the boat...it seats 2 people in the front and 2 in the back, but it can be operated by just one person, they just have to straddle the steering column and peddle on their own.  He's always such a good sport - even though he looks like he's riding on the nautical version of the short bus.

Meep - meep!

WEEK 35 "To Remembers":  The other night I wanted sushi, and instead of trucking it to our favorite, RuSans, we decided to venture out and see what our area had to offer by way of good sushi.  We came across this cute little place not too far down the road and gave it a whirl.  Not only was it really good (not as good as RuSans, but nothing really is), but this is the fortune I got at the end of my meal.  I'm one of those people who's fortunes always seem to jive with my life at that particular moment (i.e. the fortune that said 'Good clothes open many doors - go shopping'.  I mean, when does that NOT apply?)  But this one brought tears to my eyes because it was undeniably true.  It's self explanatory - and perfect.  The best fortunes usually are.

Like I always say, BEYOND BLESSED.