36 Weeks and Some Summer Fun

This past weekend Kristy, my best friend from college, came to visit us!  She moved to California after graduation so I definitely don't get to see her enough.  We did lots of fun things like go to the Des Moines Arts Festival and the Iowa Cubs game.  We also did a lot of our favorite college activities.... like laying around, napping, and watching movies on TV :)

Des Moines Arts Fair, by the Des Moines sculpture garden

Nomade, one of my favorite sculptures in the Des Moines Sculpture Garden

Go Iowa Cubs! 

Baby Kane's "first" Cubs game

Then after a week of work with totally opposite schedules and not seeing each other, James and I went out on a date night last night.  We went out to dinner and then found a nice spot to watch fireworks downtown.  We were able to catch fireworks from the Iowa Cubs game and then city fireworks over the Des Moines River.  It was great to catch up with each other and reflect on past fourth of Julys-- fireworks in Barrington when we were in high school, fireworks at the Taste of Chicago, fireworks in Bloomington when we stayed there one summer after college, and now fireworks in Des Moines.  We've had 11 great 4th of July weekends together so far!  And of course we couldn't help but mention that this time next year we'll have a little almost 1 year old with us for his or her first fireworks!

Capitol Building to our right

Des Moines skyline and river to our right

Capitol Building

This past week I also officially started my 3rd and final year of residency-- wow, that is hard to believe.  I also finished up my term as Chief Resident.  Now all I have to do is work like a "regular" resident until this baby comes!  We had our 36 week appointment this week and it sounds like while there is some progress, Baby Kane will likely stay warm and cozy for a couple more weeks.  That's fine with me for now Baby, but my maternity leave officially starts July 25th so if you could make your appearance before then that would be fantastic :)

Here's the 36 week picture!  I had never heard of a crenshaw melon before... I think we're going to cut it open today and see what's inside!  (It looks small here but it's definitely heavy!) Happy Fourth of July weekend!

How your baby's growing:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.)