vegan pregnancy: 36 weeks

i'm still here and i'm still pregnant!  36 weeks now to be exact, and for those of you who like months that means 8.  and you know what an 8 month pregnant vegan looks like?  big.  or that's how i'm feeling at least!  the little vegan bean is still growing and taking up lots of space.  movements are changing now too, with lots of rump shifting and early morning kicks to the side.  half the time i look down and it seems like my belly is totally lopsided with babe's butt high in the air.  it's pretty cute and it's hard not to fall in love more and more everyday with this little one growing inside...

i'm still feeling wonderful but lately i'm a little more tired at the end of the day.  i really look forward to putting my feet up at the end of the day and cozying up on the couch.  part of the tiredness is coming from no longer having a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep {yes, i know, better get used to that!} as i have to get up once during the night to go to the bathroom, usually around 4am and i often find it a bit of a challenge falling back asleep because my mind starts to wander and think of baby things or bakeshop things.  on two occasions this week i couldn't get back to sleep for the life of me and instead was up and about, eating toast, reading, making lists, etc.  so i think i might have to soon resurect my first trimester naps...

also now that i'm 36 weeks it means visits with our midwives are going to increase to weekly, which i couldn't be happier about.  i also wanted to mention some bloodwork i've had done in the past few weeks.  i had my iron levels tested at 30 weeks to check and see where my iron levels were at.  it's very common for a pregnant mama's iron levels to drop in their second or third trimester since the total blood volume has doubled, but i always think i'm some exception to every rule, and so i was a little bummed to find out that mine had in fact dropped.  they check iron levels 2 ways: via hemoglobin in the blood {think of that as the readily accessible iron} and the "normal" range is between 120-160, and secondly via ferritin levels {the back up stores} which should be between 10-200.  my levels were at 110 and 8 respectively-- nothing to cause great concern but both just shy of "normal". 

so since then i've been taking a liquid iron supplement called floravit in addition to keeping up with my prenatal vitamins and of course getting lots of iron in through my diet.  the floravit is actually quite tasty {sweet, floral notes} and it's easily digested so i haven't noticed the same unfortunate side effects of iron pills.

and the good news is that it works!  i had bloodwork done again about a week ago and my levels have come up to a point where my midwives and i are all happy.  yippee!  they haven't jumped like crazy, {my hemoglobin is up to 113 and ferritin stores to 21} but what's important is that they haven't dropped any further and there is nothing to be concerned about.  i'm feeling very relieved about that.

oh yeah, and this: it's official -- i didn't manage to escape the curse of the swollen ankles.  oh dear lord. 

thank goodness for boot season to hide them.