Bittersweet...

So I had an appointment last week and casually mentioned how I feel so much smaller than the other pregnant girls in our classes. Apparently the midwife took this as a serious concern of mine (that or she was a little concerned herself since I really haven't gained weight in this last trimester), so she scheduled an ultrasound to check on the baby's growth. Now I'm not one to turn down an ultrasound, especially since I haven't had one since my 20-week and my insurance pays 100%. It's always fun to see the baby and to finally figure out what body parts have been digging into my ribs and hips. Turns out the two lumps that I thought were the baby's head and butt are actually the baby's shoulders and butt, which means two things. First, the baby is much bigger than I thought if the shoulders and butt span my belly. Second, the baby's head is down either towards or inside my pelvic bone. We learned in our birthing class that this is what the good baby's do to prepare for birth. We've also learned what the good mommies and daddies do to prepare for birth, and let me just say that nowhere on the list was tear apart a house!

Anyway, back to the ultrasound. Using different measurements on the ultrasound screen, they are able to estimate the size and age of the baby. The baby is growing just fine, which means that my insides are just much more squished than the girls in class, and it seems the baby still has pretty long arms (makes me think monkey and makes Mark think quarterback) and legs. They also told us the baby is 5.5 lbs and measured at 33 weeks and 5 days. Here's where the bittersweet comes in. First, the baby was only supposed to be 33 weeks and 1 day. Now I know that 4 days might not seem to be a big deal, but remember, we're sleeping in the baby's room (which doesn't resemble a baby's room at all) because our room is under construction, and we start work next week, so we need each and every one of those 4 days. However, if the baby already weighs 5.5 lbs and gains .5 lb a week, which is average, and if I go full term, then this baby is going to be well over 8 lbs. This is an issue for two reasons. First, we've got a lot of really cute newborn clothes that say they fit newborns that are 5-8 lbs. I'd hate for the baby to outgrow these clothes before they're even worn. Second, we've talked about things and watched the videos in our classes and while I know it's the size of the baby's head that really matters, I doubt we'll have an 8+ lb baby with an itt-bitty head (and if we do it'll really look like a monkey). So while a part of me is hoping this baby runs on Ashworth time, the other part of me is a bit concerned that I'll end up delivering a large toddler rather than a small newborn.