C is also for...

cankles.

Holy crap

Not sprained - this is just at the end of the day. Somehow when you read the pregnancy books and they say that you may retain water and get swollen feet and ankles, it doesn't really conjure up quite this image. I'm down to two pair of shoes that fit my feet, both Crocs. Not exactly "dress casual" but my office seems to be fairly accepting of my wardrobe. After all, I'm still showing up every day! (Um, except today which I took off in order to try and get over a cold that is making it impossible to breathe).

Last Friday was my 36 week appointment, and the first "check." The baby was (is) head down, and I was 0.5 cm dilated, which was "exceedingly normal." Also, I've gained exactly 30 lbs, which is "perfect." Basically, I think I'm right in the middle of the bell curve here. Next appointment is this Friday and it will include a sonogram (yippee!) to guesstimate at baby's size.

Bigger update to come soon with baby shower updates, baby craftyness, and maybe even something non-baby related (if there is anything else these days).

C is for...

Crazy!

It's been an interesting couple of days around here... but I'm pleased to say that everything is fine.

On Monday, though, I made an unscheduled visit to my doctor's office with some interesting symptoms... extreme swelling of feet, hands and fingers (at 9 AM, which is not normal!), headache, vomiting (OK, the morning sickness is still with me, but this was a little unusual), and a general feeling that something was weird. When I got to the doctor's, my blood pressure was 145/120... pretty high, especially when my bp on my last visit to the doctor (3 days before on Friday) was 90/72. All of these symptoms add up to potential pre-eclampsia. Yikes!

So I had a fun day staying at home on Tuesday to do a 24-hour urine test (yes, just as much fun as it sounds!) and then back to the doctor on Wednesday for more blood tests. Thankfully, my blood pressure calmed down for the rest of the week and the other symptoms seem to have calmed down a bit. My feet and hands still swell up over the course of the day, but it's not first thing in the morning. And I've only thrown up one other day (which we can blame on the morning sickness!). And, my test results appear to have not been too concerning, since I haven't heard back from my doctor. I have an appointment this Friday, so we'll double check.

Meanwhile, here we are at 34 weeks:

34 weeks, 2 days

That's pretty Crazy, don't you agree? I can't believe I have 6 weeks to go...

I've been amusing myself recently by coming up with the best descriptive verb for my mode of locomotion. I'm definitely not walking anymore. For a while, waddling was perhaps best, although I liked wobbling, too. If I'm in a hurry, I tend to bustle. Today I've been in some pain (baby position no doubt) and I think I was lumbering. Who knows what tomorrow or next week will be!

I've also been keeping myself busy with some (non-knitting) Crafty! I've been working on some wool covers for cloth diapers, and I think I'm starting to accept that I might not get enough of them knit up (6 weeks to go!). Luckily, I found some great patterns and tutorials online for making baby clothes out of recycled wool sweaters. My mom gave me her old serger when I was home for Christmas, and I was looking forward to trying it out! A thrift store trip, and look what I've come up with!

From the Baby Bum Sweater pattern and a merino sweater, I've got a few gray covers:

Baby Bum Sweater!

The one on the bottom was the first one that I made, and it will only work if she's born with skinny chicken legs (hey, you never know!). A little recalculation, and the top one looks like it might just work. There's a newborn fitted diaper inside to help visualize...

And with some Sweaterpants instructions and a striped sweater, this is what I have so far:

Baby pants!

They still need an elastic waistband, but for that I need to excavate my regular sewing machine from where it's been buried in the basement. That might be a project for Dan for one night this week or this weekend...

So that's the update from here. We're looking forward to some quiet times over the next few weeks staying pretty close to home and trying to get everything ready as best we can... 6 more weeks!