Week 35 flew by! I didn’t even take a belly photo until halfway through week 36. Close enough. (Photos at www.babyz.jocelynzeidner.com/the-belly-book/) Last Tuesday Andy and I went to our doctor’s appointment for my first internal exam. The baby is head down at -3 station, and I’m 70% effaced, 1 cm dilated. Woo hoo! Head start on labor, right? Better than the baby being high and 0% effaced and 0 cm dilated. But no telling when he’ll actually be here. Andy thinks Baby Z will come next weekend.

Andy and I spent the weekend at Hidden Lakes Campground in Mt. Gilead. Thursday was our four year wedding anniversary and we wanted to get away. We refer to this little trip as our “babymoon” — the last time we’ll get away before the baby gets here. We had such a great time. We cooked brown bears, marshmellows and hobo pies on the fire. We took walks and went swimming. Andy grilled hotdogs and hamburgers. We watched movies at night. It was very relaxing and we had a lot of fun. We’re looking forward to taking Baby Z with us next time.

Tuesday morning we had another doctor’s appointment. My OB was on vacation so we saw another doctor in the practice. Her nurse called us back in the office. She said “Whoa!” when I stood up. She said she didn’t remember my belly “popping out” as far at the last visit. Andy and I haven’t really noticed much of a difference the last few weeks in my size. I’ve been measuring a little bigger than average, but within range.

The doctor came to measure my belly and I was still within range. She asked if I had felt any contractions and I told her no, that I thought I might have because my belly had been getting hard, but it was just the head or butt pushing against my ribs. I pulled up my shirt and laid back to have her check the heartbeat. When she saw my bare belly she said, “You are so lopsided!” She did confirm though that the head was down and it was the baby’s butt sticking out of my right side.

I tried to take a picture this morning to show how the baby favors my right side. This is the best I could do. Sometimes its even more exaggerated. Maybe I’ll catch a better shot another time but I think its pretty obvious. And no, I haven’t seen my feet or even my belly button in a while.

I had a wonderful baby shower on Saturday morning. There were so many generous people there! And lots of great food and stories galore! We got everything a baby might need plus tons of cute outfits. There were some special homemade gifts as well - a diaper cake, scrapbooks, appliquéd hooded towel, a quilt and custom screen printed onesies. It was all very special.

That night we spent with our friend Jake and his family. We cooked out, swam, the boys did some dirt bike riding and we watched a movie. Baby Z was awake for the whole movie. He was very active. It was a long day but so much fun!

On Sunday, Andy and I took the youth group to Zoombezi Bay. Every single part of the park had anti-pregnancy signs. But Andy talked to one of the lifeguards at the adults-only Croctail Creek and he had no problem with me being in the (freezing cold) water. We were the only ones in the water our first trip around, besides a mallard that came up quickly behind us and then flew away. It was so nice to just float around we did it twice.

For most of the rest of the afternoon I watched Andy enjoy some of the slides. He was pretty worn out by the late afternoon. We sat down to relax near the wave pool. When Andy got up to collect my water bottle and sunscreen from the other side of the park I was approached by a man with a bunch of questions about my pregnancy. He asked, “How much longer? First one? Is it a boy? Will you name him Jason? First one? (again) Is everything going okay so far? Healthy? Are you scared? C-section? Or go for it?” He was satisfied with my one word answers. I’m pretty sure he had been drinking. When Andy got back the man wished us good luck and left.

We lounged by the wave pool for about an hour before we met up with the youth. I couldn’t get quite comfortable. Andy fell asleep.

I think this is a really neat idea. Remember those “choose your own adventure” books? Today from whattoexpect.com I got an email with a link for choosing your own birth adventure. I’ve played it twice this morning. The first time through I ended up with an easy delivery in record time. Then the second time things progressed so slow that a c-section was recommended. You can play it here.

Yesterday Andy and I went to Riverside to a breastfeeding preparation class. It was very interesting and enlightening. There were four other moms there. It seemed that everyone was having a boy. Only one woman didn’t know what she was having but she was hoping for a boy. Two other woman had already done hospital tours this month and said that everyone on their tours was expecting boys. It was decided that there was something about the moon and the woman who didn’t know the gender could count on having a little boy. Must be that blue moon. ;-P