35 Weeks. Gobble Gobble.

Babycenter:

How your baby's growing:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

How your life's changing:

Your uterus — which was entirely tucked away inside your pelvis when you conceived — now reaches up under your rib cage. If you could peek inside your womb, you'd see that there's more baby than amniotic fluid in there now. Your ballooning uterus is crowding your other internal organs, too, which is why you probably have to urinate more often and may be dealing with heartburn and other gastrointestinal distress. If you're not grappling with these annoyances, you're one of the lucky few.

From here on out, you'll start seeing your practitioner every week. Sometime between now and 37 weeks, she'll do a vaginal and rectal culture to check for bacteria called Group B streptococci (GBS). (Don't worry — the swab is the size of a regular cotton swab, and it won't hurt at all.) GBS is usually harmless in adults, but if you have it and pass it on to your baby during birth, it can cause serious complications, such as pneumonia, meningitis, or a blood infection. Because 10 to 30 percent of pregnant women have the bacteria and don't know it, it's vital to be screened. (The bacteria come and go on their own — that's why you weren't screened earlier in pregnancy.) If you're a GBS carrier, you'll get IV antibiotics during labor, which will greatly reduce your baby's risk of infection.

This is also a good time to create a birth plan. Using our form will help you focus on specifics — like who'll be present, what pain management techniques you want to try, and where you want your baby to stay after you deliver. It will give you a starting point to discuss your preferences with your medical team. Childbirth is unpredictable, and chances are you won't follow your plan to the letter, but thinking about your choices ahead of time — and sharing your preferences with your caregiver — should take some of the anxiety out of the process.

Alphamom:

Week 35

Your Baby:

• Is over five pounds now, although these weight guesstimates will start getting very useless very quickly over the next few weeks.
• Since most of your baby’s organs are fully functional and major developmental milestones behind him or her, the next month is all about weight gain. And since “normal” weights for newborns these days can be anything between six and 10 pounds, it’s hard to predict how big YOUR baby will be from here on in.

You:

• Are the very picture of motherly grace and beauty. Also: waddling.
• Fatigue may be a big problem right now. You may need a daily nap, or find yourself crawling into bed by 9 pm. (I can barely make it to my toddler’s 8:30 bedtime most nights.) And while I’ve always seethed at people who love to cheerfully remind pregnant women to “Get some sleep! Once the baby’s here you won’t get any sleep!” I have to say…dude, get some sleep.

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Me: If 'nesting' can come in the form of massive online shopping, well then I Am So There. It's just so darn convenient. I watch the camelcamelcamel deals roll though, and before I know it, its: "The brown minky dot changing pad cover has dropped 4 dollahs with free shipping from Amazon? Must. Buy. Now."

Thanksgiving was fun, with lots of sitting around and eating too much. And got to meet some more California relatives.

I sure miss solid chunks of good ole' fashioned sleep. I'm up at least 3-4 times a night to visit the restroom, after I had taken forever to fall asleep in the first place, with the heartburn, knee RLS and general can'tfallasleep-ness. The next person that tells me to 'Sleep Now while you can!! yuk yuk yuk' will receive a baby shoe upside the head.