We've made it!!!!

Well, this past week marked week 37... FULL TERM!!! I can't believe it! According to all the books, baby can come at any time and be perfectly healthy. Although, they always point out that he will continue to put on necessary baby fat the next few weeks so it's good if he sticks around a little longer in there.
This week was also my last week at work. It was the last week for the kids before break and it came at a very good time for how I am starting to feel. For those of you who have ever spent time in a classroom, you know what the week before a break is like... that on top of being 9 1/2 months pregnant is EXHAUSTING! The kids were great, though. Monday started off like any normal day, me expecting a mystery reader at 10:00 when instead up came about 6 of the moms from my room to throw a baby shower. My kids kept this a secret since Thanksgiving! Not a single kid let it slip that that they were planning a shower for me and for the past two weeks they had been bringing in children's books and giving them to one of my 3rd levels for his mom to organize. I HAD NO IDEA!!! We played games, ate food, and they gave me a bin of absolutely wonderful books in which they had each written a letter. It was amazing.
The rest of the week was busy busy busy. I found myself feeling pretty tired by about noon, but the days must go on. I can only hope that my kids couldn't read in to my exhaustion and had a good final week. Friday was a tough day with tears... both my kids and I. We discussed (as we have all year long) that when they come back from break, I won't be there. I think it is now much more real for them since the time has actually come. I'm having a hard time, as the control freak that I am, handing over the responsibility of my classroom, plus handing over my babies, to the sub. I know she'll be great, but it is definitely harder than I ever imagined. I've been told, and I know it's true, that as soon as my little man arrives, I'll be so excited/consumed/in love that I'll feel much better about leaving my students. As kids go... my 25 little ones are AMAZING!
We are going to the doctor every week now. At our appointment on Wednesday, everything looked good. My sugar levels are good, my weight gain is right on, I'm really not putting anything significant on at this point, which is pretty normal. His heartbeat sounds strong. It never gets old hearing his heartbeat... I love it more and more each time. I've started dilating... about 2 cm. This means very little however, as I could sit there for days or weeks. We'll get an update this Wednesday. I think at this point... Turtle could make his grand entrance at any time.

37 weeks! Enjoying the Cincinnati Zoo Festival of Lights... my basketball belly!