36 weeks

Have you ever seen a cloudy day, the kind where everything looks gray and depressing? Then suddenly out of nowhere there's a part in the clouds and a little ray of sunshine will break through and light up the path in front of you. Today, we got a little ray of sunshine when we found out that Elspeth has turned back around and is now in perfect birth position! Maybe it seems small but it's something that has weighed heavily on my mind these past two weeks. It has been in my prayers to have a smooth labor and delivery and now we are one step closer to that goal.

Another bonus is that we got some measurements on Elspeth too. We found out that Elspeth's femur and humerus are measuring a week behind. We don't really know why this could be, but I have some theories. Maybe it's because first babies are smaller than subsequent babies or maybe it has to do with her birth defect. It's impossible to get a measurement on her weight because weight is measured by a calculation between the head circumference and the femur. The sonographer took the best measurement of her head circumference that was possbile and figured out that if Elspeth had a completely formed head she would weigh 5 lbs and 7 oz right now. Since most of her head is missing it's speculation on her weight...she could weigh anywhere from 1/2 lb to 1 lb less than estimated. So my best guess is that she is weighing in somewhere near 5 lbs with about 2 more to gain before birth.
The photo quality is really poor. I must have taken this photo 10 times and this is the best it could get. It's a shot of her face...well half of it. When the sonographer saw this shot she said "what chubby little cheeks!" It's very difficult to get a shot of Elspeth's head and face at all because her head is so small and it's usually squished right up into some part of me. Visible in the photo is one eye, part of her nose, mouth and the mass of white is her chubby cheek.
Her little foot measures 7.5 cm or about 2.5 inches long. Errggg, I wish these photos were better. I will put them in the scrapbook and it will be much easier to see them then.

We are down to weekly checks at the doctors office now that I am in the 9th month. I can't believe that we're on the home stretch. This pregnancy has gone by so quickly. Even though I am ready for a full night of sleep and my back to stop hurting I am not quite ready to let my baby go yet. I am still looking forward to the next 26 days with Elspeth.