34-35 weeks & in the clear!

i am now measuring within a safe range, thank god! at the visit with my midwife yesterday my fundal height was 32 cm, 3 centimeters from the 29 cm i was measuring two weeks ago. this means nothing looks suspicious and i will not have to get another sonogram to check on baby. i only gained a pound the last two weeks, which really means that austen has gained a pound, not me. i haven't had much of an appetite, so i'm not surprised. i was most anxious about my iron levels and my midwife called today to tell me my test results came back and i am in the clear to have a safe homebirth -- my iron levels have gone from a 9, up to 10.4! i have been crazy-consistent with my supplements the last ten days or so: one dropper once daily of vitamin B 12, two droppers twice a day of yellowdock, and two droppers twice daily of chlorophyll (you can't tell me homeopathic remedies don't work ;). mixing them in apple juice isn't too bad. i am still anemic and she wants to see me at an 11, so i am still going to take my supplements until the baby arrives. i am so relieved to be in the safe zone though, both with my iron levels and fundal height. i'm not worried about getting my iron levels up even more -- i know at this point it will be easy since it went up that much in just a week and a half, and my blood volume will not expand anymore during the pregnancy.

my next visit with my midwife will be a home visit. she'll bring the birth tub and bag of birthing supplies over, and the assistant midwife (who is also a sweet friend of ours and assisted at river's birth) and a student midwife will be coming over as well. cool story -- the student midwife is in the very early stage of her midwifery training and will just be observing, but she is actually a "horse midwife" and has helped the delivery of hundreds of horses! interesting, huh? :)

a rundown of all symptoms:

not as much heartburn, only sometimes. but certain foods still burn going down. aches & pains daily -- sometimes my back hurts so bad when i go to sit down or get up that i have to catch my breath. it has been like this throughout the pregnancy though. i still have excess saliva, mostly when i'm hungry or if i've just eaten something sweet or something that contains a lot of dairy. i avoid drinking glasses of milk because it produces so much saliva that it makes me sick to my stomach. my sense of smell hasn't been as out of control as it was with river, but most chemical smells still bother me, especially perfumes, body sprays, room fresheners, etc. still craving beef, not really experiencing food aversions to anything. i still experience light-headedness and nausea every now and then, but i think that's attributed to dehydration and lack of protein. i still have insomnia some nights, but not every night. it kicks my butt. the other night i was awake until six in the morning! the BH contractions are still as strong as ever and i don't notice a difference when i drink water. i will just continue with the comforting thought that my body is doing a lot of work now and that this labor will be just as fast, if not faster, than river's. baby is still moving around as much as her brother. her hands are down by her head a lot, which makes me wonder if she's going to be born like that. ouch... i really hope not.