We had our 37 week appointment yesterday, everything looked and sounded good. Wiley is still measuring big, but that's not a surprise. Next week we're getting another ultrasound to check on his size compared to the fundal height measurements she's getting and then I guess we'll look at and discuss our options. Patrick started to tell her we didn't want a c-section and I just gave him a look to silence him at the end because I didn't want to get in to it if we could wait another week (especially since I assume that means if I went into labor before the next appointment we could attempt it my way).

Then, as we were leaving the hospital we got to the elevator that was the only way we know of to get down to the parking lot we parked in from the hospital (my mom found this parking lot and it's less expensive than the other lots--$1 for an hour or more as opposed to $3 for anything between 30 minutes and 4 hours when our appointments have generally been right at or under an hour, so sometimes we get out without having to pay anything at all. There's more of a walk, but we're healthy so that's just extra exercise. Obviously we won't be using it when I go into labor, haha. I saw the walk-over to the parking deck across the street and I figured from there we could cross and get back to the sidewalk easily enough and then the parking lot we parked in but it was raining and we both thought it was raining harder and I was starting to feel what I assume are round ligament pains when I was walking so I sent Patrick on ahead to get the car and figured I'd slowly make my way down this hill (well, the road part of the hill--I considered walking down an actual grassy hill but thought I'd avoid risking sliding on slick grass and falling) and right as I was about to step on the side-walk from the road, about five feet from where I was planning to wait for Patrick, I stepped on a slick spot and fell before I even knew what was happening. I blame the paint they use for cross-walks (it was a faded out cross-walk so I thought the paint wouldn't be so slick and didn't take extra caution like I normally would... but I was still going incredibly slow at this point and being careful in general), I hate that stuff. The kicker is, since we'd gotten there I kept telling Patrick "You have to hold my hand when we get in here, I'm wearing flip-flops and they get slick when it rains and I don't feel safe on these hard floors." I made him hold my hand several times on the walk to the doctor's office (ok, it's not like I had to force him--he loves holding my hand, but this was hand-holding with the purpose of keeping me and Wiley safe and balanced). I thought the road wouldn't be so slick and that I could manage a hill fine since I have generally good balance despite being pregnant (ok, I know I've hurt my hand by falling a few times--but the thing is I end up right next to a wall when I trip over something that's not where it should be and hurt my already hurt hand because I don't have time to catch myself/catch myself on the wall in the wrong position), especially since I was going to go slow. I told Patrick to go ahead without me, he didn't even see me when I fell. I saw him pull up to pay the fee right before I managed to get myself up and hobble over to where he could easily pick me up. He didn't know what had happened 'til I told him.

I wound up hurting my left knee, it's cut but otherwise I'm thinking it's fine (hoping it is). I managed to not hurt my right wrist more, which is a miracle because I think that even though my left knee got the brunt of impact, my right hand was the second point of impact (my right shoulder and back hurts more than the left side). I told Patrick I can't even remember realizing to catch myself, one minute I was up and the next minute I was on the ground in pain. I didn't hit my stomach, though, so I was fairly confident the baby was fine and since I wasn't having sharp pain I didn't want to go back into the hospital to get checked out because I didn't want to have to go to the emergency room since I didn't feel like it was an emergency, but I didn't know if I could or even should bother trying to go to my ob/gyn whom I'd just left.

I've felt Wiley move since then, and I've recovered other than having to put band-aids and neosporin on my knee to try to help this big cut go away. I napped a bit afterward and felt tired for a few hours even after that, but we managed to run a couple errands and at the end of the day took Lupe to a park since we never have time to go together to do that anymore (and it's too hot for me).

So here are a few pics from the park, just because I like posts with pics in them.

I was trying to get Lupe to cooperate and be in the picture but it didn't really work, oops. She was the one that wanted up there, though, brat dog.

Seeing these photos made me realize just how big I am now, I seriously feel like I look like a planet. It doesn't help we have a small little dog (approximately 14lbs) and that my baby is probably already half that on top of me already being plus-sized. 

Oh well, not much longer. It also was partially just the angles... and the clothes. I had to make due with what I could find because my go-to outfits/maternity clothes were being washed after my fall/just needing to wash clothes. The maternity shorts I wore were actually wet when I put them on, I was so desperate. 

I just thought the clouds looked really pretty behind the city at sundown.

And then Patrick got to run around and help get some of Lupe's energy out while I watched and filmed. Poor Lupe never gets exercise anymore other than a short walk because I'm too pregnant, Patrick is working all the time and it's too hot for both me and Lupe outside, anyway. Hopefully this fall we can get in better shape and next summer maybe I'll be able to figure out a better way to keep water handy for her to drink and to keep her cooler in general (I considered seeing about getting her shaved, but in the winter her fur seems like it's no protection from the cold--so I don't feel like her fur is too thick, it's just that she's a little dog and she's black so it's extra hard for her to regulate her temperature).

We had to go by the library to get something printed out and while there I wanted to see if the books I had previously read on childbirth were there, but they weren't. Instead I wound up checking out six different books. I've already finished the one on c-sections (which I got since I figured since it is a possibility for me I needed to do my research and possibly it would make me feel less opposed to one--it didn't, even though the book was pretty pro-Cesarean in my mind. I mean, it was mostly about those who had to have a c-section for medical reasons, I just still wasn't convinced that in my case it's the right choice... unless one of the situations I've already accepted as me needing a c-section for come up in the meantime. But for a big baby? Still not sold. One book was on plus-size pregnancy but I bought a book super cheap about it and read it at the begining of my pregnancy and now it's kinda like "Ok, I've passed all these issues" since a lot of it goes on about gestational diabetes and having high blood pressure and all these issues I don't have. At the begining of my pregnancy I just felt terrified I'd end up with them, so I don't know if reading a plus-size pregnancy book was the smartest but I was tired of the normal pregnancy books (which still left me semi-paranoid in general) not touching on issues I'd have more specifically as a plus-size woman... There were maybe two sections about being overweight and it's generally just not to be and then goes back to the "You're more likely to have these if you're overweight"... and I didn't have them, so it didn't help me.

The others are about childbirth, current maternity care and natural childbirth specifically.... so we'll see how I feel after I read those.