This morning I went in for what may be my last regular OB visit before BebeDeux arrives. Once again the exam went perfectly fine and the doctor tells me that there is no need for any worries.

I declined an internal exam because heck, I was only 1cm dilated 12 hours before I went into full-on labor with Claire, and while the doctor offered to strip my membranes if I were wildly uncomfortable, I refused because when I had my membranes stripped with Claire I went into labor within 48 hours…and I still want BebeDeux to stay in there for another week! (Exactly one more week would give us the 11/1/11 birthday I’ve been hoping for!)

Now that I am in the home stretch, my weight gain seems to have leveled off, and I have even lost a couple of pounds between last week and today (which is perfectly normal). Comparing my belly pictures from 36 weeks and today, there doesn’t seem to be too much of a difference:

I still remain VERY uncomfortable. As you can tell from the picture, BebeDeux has certainly “dropped” and has her head firmly planted right above my nether regions. This, unfortunately, adds another two symptoms to my already-mile-long “ohmigawd this pregnancy is going to KILL me” list:

• Severe tailbone pain (because she is pressed RIGHT UP against my tailbone). Now, even sitting is uncomfortable. I want to lie in bed all day.
• BebeDeux’s hiccups now hurt like heck. And she gets them at least thrice a day.

I can wait it out one more week. I will wait it out at least another week.

The good news is that I have finally made the preparations for BebeDeux’s arrival. I got all of Claire’s old clothes out of storage, washed them, and organized them in drawers. (I can’t believe how SMALL she used to be — she was too small even for premie-sized clothes, and they look like they can only fit dolls!) We purchased items such as newborn-sized diapers and nursing pads. We’ve packed a hospital bag, and I’ve even started sleeping with puppy training pads under me just in case my water breaks in the middle of the night.

I still can’t believe there’s a full-sized baby inside of me right now! (image source)

As was the case with Claire, I am not too worried about labor & delivery. I do not have a birth plan, and I trust the doctors and nurses to do what is the best for me and the baby. I was not too scared about pain the first time around, and this time I am even more relaxed — after all, I’ve been through it before, and even the doctors tell me that the pain I experienced from my appendicitis was worse than labor pain.

And if I end up having to get a c-section? No big deal. I’ll get through it.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers in this final phase of the pregnancy!

In Claire news…

She said her third word! Her first was “umma” (the Korean word for mommy), her second was “baba” (the Chinese word for daddy), and her third was…

Can you guess?

“NO!”

As in, shaking her head while proclaiming her refusal “No!”

We’re in for one heck of a ride.

She just said her fourth word hours after I published this post! Her fourth word was “Bye,” which she said while waving to her dad as he left to walk Comang. 😀