I have cankles!

Cankles = calf/ankles. This is so not fair. I never got swollen when I was pregnant with Anna. I blame my friend, Leanah, at church. She told me on Sunday, "Oh, you're just so cute pregnant! You don't even have swollen ankles!" So two days later, I looked down and couldn't tell where my calves ended and my feet began. Cankles. Sigh.

Other than that, things are great, though! I had my 35-week midwife appointment this afternoon, and things are looking good. I asked Karen to check the baby's position, since she still seems to be flipping 180s on a regular basis. She checked me and said she was pretty sure she was head down (also told me that I'm 1 cm dilated), but she wanted to do a quick ultrasound to make sure. She sent me across the hall, and sure enough, Caroline is in launch position. She's still very floaty, though, so I'm not 100% convinced that she'll stay that way. I've been doing squats and bouncing on the exercise ball tonight to try to encourage her to gravitate and stick. Jimmy thought it was hilarious to watch me typing on the computer while bouncing vigorously on the ball, but hey, if it helps, it will be worth it! The ultrasound tech also said that she's "definitely still a girl." That's reassuring because if she's not, our son will be wearing a LOT of pink!

I didn't get a weight estimate or anything (ultrasound can be off by 2-3 pounds at this point, anyway, so I don't put much stock in weight estimates), but Babycenter.com says that Caroline is around 18 inches long and probably weighs about 5 pounds. Of course, Babycenter.com also says that she's running out of room, and her movements should be getting smaller. In that regard, Babycenter.com is full of crap. They clearly have not met my little alien because I still get giant bumps and rolls on a regular basis. Last night, Anna spent about half an hour at bedtime singing to Caroline (this baby ALWAYS reacts to music!) and watching, wide eyed, as my belly morphed into strange shapes as the baby somersaulted and rolled around when she heard Big Sister's voice. I've decided my uterus must be made of spandex, since she obviously still has plenty of room to maneuver in there!

Last Saturday, some friends threw me a baby shower, and that was a lot of fun. We got some really wonderful gifts, and the food was fantastic! The cake was the best I've ever eaten, and I still have one piece left! My friend, Melissa, gave us the cutest little pair of hot pink capri pants and a little floral top that I plan to use as Caroline's coming-home outfit. It's absolutely adorable! I'll try to post a picture of the outfit, if I can ever find my camera, which went MIA the day before the shower. It has to be around here somewhere! We also got the infant carseat yesterday, and I installed the base this morning, so the hospital will now let us take our child home if she's born. And now, I guess we just wait.