Changes at 35 weeks

Here are two pictures of me at 35 weeks (one to the right and one above) - I think I look bigger on one side versus the other, it probably all really depends on where the babies are situated at the time. We've had an eventful week baby wise. I went to the doctor on Wednesday for an ultrasound. We discovered that the weight discordance between the two has now gone from 20% in the beginning to about 5%, which is great! Meredith is now around 4lbs15oz and Berkley is 5lb4oz. Berkley was situated so low that the sonographer couldn't even get his head in the shot, which prompted the doctor to check, which is how we discovered that I'm already 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced, which means my body is getting ready for these little ones to arrive. The doctor actually asked me to take Thursday off and specifically said I needed to take it easy this weekend. I'll be working half days starting next week. I feel like I'm scrambling to get everything done. I've been sending emails to coworkers with last minute questions and instructions, I've packed my bag for the hospital (or at least packed it as much as I can), I bought some premie sized clothes today and the nursery is pretty much ready. My mind is spiraling...I've still got a list of things to get done, but I'm trying not to overdo it. Please pray that the babies will stay put for at least another week (preferably two) - I'd love to see them make it to April 17th...optimally April 24th, but we'll see. I've been doing a lot of praying that God would prepare me for whatever is ahead and I'm just trusting that he's got a plan for me and these precious babies.

I should probably also add a couple of fun things that we saw in the ultrasound. Although we couldn't get Berkley's full head in the shot, we were able to catch his chin and could see that he was clearly sucking his thumb. If he's anything like his mama, he'll be a thumbsucker b/c I loved sucking my thumb until 1st grade I'm afraid. The doctor also hooked me up to a special monitor while I was there that could register Meredith and Berkley's heart rates at the same time and also check to see if I was having any contractions but didn't know it. Thankfully, no contractions just "irritation" is what the doctor said. However, we were able to see that Meredith is already very competitive with her brother. Every time Berkley's heart rate would rise, Meredith's would start racing to surpass his - it was like clockwork...she just wouldn't let him have the fastest heart rate. It was funny to watch, but I certainly hope that she won't be that competitive in real life.