36 Weeks

Baby Size

Caleb is about the size of a papaya at 18.75 inches long and 5.8-6 pounds.

Highs

I had another doctor’s appointment at the end of last week and got to meet another doctor in the practice who I liked as well. She did a quick ultrasound and Caleb was head down and face down, and she said that might be why his movements were more painful lately – since his back and his butt are what’s pushing out against me.

Saturday was my last baby shower! It was great to see so many of my friends from Berry and catch up with them. They spoiled me with great food and cute presents, and I really enjoyed the onesies they designed as well as the playdough babies.

More of a fun fact, but sometimes when Caleb is moving around, I’ll hear a click or a pop like when you crack your knuckles. I Googled it, and apparently it’s a thing! Pregnancy is so weird.

Another fun fact, shared with me by my friend Jacque, is that eating 6 dates per day in the last 4 weeks prior to delivery is proven to help shorten labor in a majority of women. 6 dates is a LOT in one day, and I’m still working up to that many, but I’m thinking that eating some dates is better than none! Although that story continues below…

Lows

Oye. In an attempt to get more dates into my diet, I bought a pack of Cashew Cookie Larabars. My friend Keri introduced me to them, and they only have 2 ingredients – dates and cashews! Since they have 2-3 dates per bar, it was a more tasty way to eat dates.

I noticed on Thursday that my lips were stinging, and then I woke up on Friday morning with tiny blisters on my lips. I am very thankful that they weren’t terribly noticeable, but it was both physically and emotionally disconcerting. Google was no help because if you search anything about blisters on your lips, everything says herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) which is not what I had.

The blisters persisted through the weekend, and Sunday night I was back on the internet trying to find an answer. The only thing I found that looked anything like what I had was a lady who wrote about getting blisters and a rash from eating mango because mago is in the same family as poison ivy, and the skin can have urushiol oil on it.

I’ve had poison ivy enough times that I realized that is what it looks like what was on my lips, so I typed “poison ivy on lips” into Google and found that not only are mangoes related to poison ivy but so are CASHEWS. And that the more reactions you’ve had to poison ivy, the more susceptible you could be to a negative reaction to cashews or mangoes.

Further searching let me know that others have had reactions to Larabars specifically, so needless to say, I won’t be eating them anymore. I’m not sure if it’s a pregnancy-related allergy or just the type of cashews in those bars, but I will likely avoid cashews all together now just to be sure.

I did a couple of baking soda paste applications on my lips to dry the blisters out, and now I’m just waiting on everything to fully heal up.

Other than that saga, it’s just the normal ups and downs of late pregnancy. Everything is big and heavy and swollen, and I’m tired a lot. But now I know it could be worse!