Life, meet Megan. Megan, meet Life.: 34 Weeks!

How far along? 35 weeks and one day today! But this will review week 34.

Total weight gain/loss: I'm up to a very solid 122, so I'm hoping the scale bumps up a little more this week to 123 too! That means I'm up a little more than a pound from last week, for a grand total of a 16-pound increase. I'm hoping I can keep up the steady pace of at least one pound a week from here on out, which would put me at a total gain of 21-pounds for the pregnancy. I know I'm supposed to have gained 25 to 35 pounds in pregnancy, but my body has had a hard time putting it on, so I'm just glad I'm looking like I'll be getting above the 20-pound mark.

Maternity clothes? ... are kind of a must-have these days it seems. I'm trying so hard to hold out and not buy anything else maternity-specific for these last five weeks because I feel like I won't get much wear out of them. It's not really the pants I have an issue with, although the BellaBand is slowly becoming less and less of an option for me because I can't zip up some of my pants more than a couple of centimeters because of this growing tummy! I have enough pants to get me by though between the BellaBand and with a pair of skinny jeans, a pair of skinny cords and two pair of skinny colored denim that are all maternity-friendly. However, in the shirt department, things are getting more tricky. I'm noticing that if I wear non-maternity tops, my belly makes a nice "indent" in them that you can see after I take it off at the end of the day. Oopsies. I'd rather not ruin a whole bunch of clothes, so I'm trying to make an oath to not do that anymore. Unfortunately, I don't have any tanks to wear underneath cardigans or blazers that are maternity. So I did finally break down and order a few from Old Navy yesterday. Hopefully this is all I'll need to make it through!

Stretch marks? Still have a stretch-mark-free tummy as of now!

Symptoms: I actually felt really good this week. My back pain wasn't quite as bad, which was a really nice surprise. Still using the bathroom often, but no more "five-times-a-night" trips. The minor acid reflux persists, always beginning and ending at the same time: four o'clock in the afternoon until about seven at night. I'm having loads of Braxton Hicks contractions, which isn't anything new for me within the last few weeks, but what's different about them is the height of my uterus. I can tell my uterus is getting higher and higher into my rib cage, because my contractions are becoming extremely uncomfortable when my uterus contracts and presses hard against my ribs. I also noticed last night that my feet seemed a little swollen... so I think I'm retaining a little bit of fluid in my ankles and feet.

Sleep: I've noticed a few more sleep interruptions lately. Don't get me wrong: my sleep still remains pretty fully intact, but I seem to wake just enough to worry about squishing baby in my tummy with the way I'm laying several times each night. It's not like I fully wake up, but I just become aware of it, adjust accordingly, and go back to sleep.

Best moment this week: My baby shower on Saturday! It was ridiculously adorable, and we got ridiculously spoiled! My sister and sister-in-laws did a beautiful job of putting it on and even had some non-lame baby shower games to play. We had a baby quiz that made you think, a baby-shower version of my favorite bridal shower "the Newlywed" game, and a hilarious game that required teams of four to dig through a diaper to find and diaper, dress, swaddle and give a pacifier to a Cabbage Patch doll all while being blindfolded. I could honestly hardly believe that I was lucky enough to have a baby shower the whole time. It's something I truly wondered for quite some time if I would ever be lucky enough to have. We have been blessed with so much love from so many people! (Photos below!)

Miss Anything? Nothing at all :) Except for missing not eating those walnuts (ack! Five weeks to go!) and maybe not stretching out my clothes. Minor details, though, and so worth it :)

Movement: She'd been so great the last week and had really been wiggling like crazy in there! Until yesterday rolled around and I couldn't get her to move for anything. So I called the doc and they asked that I come in to have her monitored, just to make sure all was well in there. They basically did a non-stress test, which charts baby's heart rate and momma's contractions. It was totally neat to see the print out, and she looked just perfect. You could tell when she would move because of the spikes in heartrate when she would wiggle, and my contractions drew another line that looked like rolling hills. Anyway, it was good to see that all was well (the nurse said the "picture" of her heart rate was "beautiful"... proud mommy and daddy! Yeah, we're pretty much proud of anything when it comes to this sweet little one) and they sent me home. Maybe she was just sleepy yesterday. It was a big weekend after all, with the shower and with her cousins home to visit -- so maybe she was just catching up on some much needed rest :) She was more active today, so that's good.

Food cravings: Still nothing much. Milk and OJ pretty much... otherwise, I think I've escaped the cravings!

Anything making you queasy or sick: The same old, same old: ice cream, pizza and anything chocolate-peanut butter combo.

Have you started to show yet: Yes! Andy says I look bigger everytime he sees me :)

Belly Button in or out? This belly button is in, and I think it's staying in! It doesn't have much time to pop out now!

Wedding rings on or off? On... but starting to wonder if that will change in the next few weeks!

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy but still anxious about this sweet baby girl. I wish I could peek inside!

Looking forward to: Our "big" ultrasound next Monday to check growth again (thanks to that marginal cord insertion). We love seeing our sweet girl! Hoping she's growing just as she should be.

Also excited for my next baby shower at my school with my staff coming up next week :)