36 weeks 3 days
Walking has become an... experience. Even getting up for the bathroom becomes its own venture. Baby's head has started thinning out my cervix (his head is pressing down on my lady bits) such that even sitting down I can't go an hour without needing the bathroom. A simple outing like grocery shopping is its own ordeal.
Not only did I have to walk around the store at waddling speed, I had to stop every couple of minutes to catch my breath. Baby is completely vertical, meaning while his head does a number on my bladder his butt is pressing against my lungs. I got halfway through the store before I felt like I couldn't get a deep breath, and I knew I needed to sit down by the time we got to the checkout line. Hubby can tell when I'm completely wiped and ready to leave. He often gives me the car keys when we're checking out so I can go to the car and just sit. I used to have regained enough energy to help bring the groceries in, but I've since lost that ability. I barely had enough energy to get in the house and plant myself on the couch.
Today, baby decided that he wasn't done with me. He's started kicking up a storm as soon as I sat down, making it hard to regain functionality. It feels like he's trying to claim as much space as he possibly can, no matter which of my organs might be in the way.
Just thinking about how I have another month of this makes me exhausted. I'm glad I don't have any trips planned, and soon I may have to stay home and send my husband out on errands for me. I'm all for giving baby every chance to fully develop, but I'm ready to have my body back.
Baby and Wedding Countdown
Friday, December 30, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Christmas in Bed
36 weeks 0 days
Two days ago was Christmas, and I wasn't initially going to blog about how our Christmas went because this blog is more about how the pregnancy and our marriage are going. But this little moment is worth sharing.
Christmas morning, I'm tossing and turning as is usual for me, trying to catch snatches of sleep as I can. at 8:30am though, my husband rolls over and looks at me. I figure he was going to go back to sleep, but he sits up and tells me that he has awful acid reflux and can't get back to sleep. He takes a few minutes to really wake up before rolling out of bed. I was starting to try to get up as well, but he tells me to stay there. I'm starting to get my normal bout of acid reflux myself because I hadn't had anything to eat or drink yet, but I was curious what hubby was going to do. So I prop myself into a sitting position and try to push baby down off my stomach.
My darling husband comes back in the room carrying the Christmas gifts he and I had gotten for each other and sets them on the bed. He crawls back into bed sitting up, and the two of us had a non-traditional Christmas in bed. It was fun to get to have Christmas from the comfort of our own bed. The cat even joined us and claimed a present of some ribbon for himself. We liked it so much that we're considering making it a tradition in our household. We followed it up with Zantac for both me and him so we could stop feeling miserable.
Baby Update
The hand swelling has gone down, but the doctor told me it's just going to be a normal symptom from now on. *grumbles* My cervix hasn't made any progress yet, but he's beginning to measure a little ahead of his due date. We suspect that means he's growing to the larger size we're anticipating. I'm pretty sure he's head down, but I'm going to ask at the appointment later this week. Whatever position he's in, it's made walking around pretty uncomfortable. He could really come anytime now, but we're still secretely hoping he comes a few days late.
Two days ago was Christmas, and I wasn't initially going to blog about how our Christmas went because this blog is more about how the pregnancy and our marriage are going. But this little moment is worth sharing.
Christmas morning, I'm tossing and turning as is usual for me, trying to catch snatches of sleep as I can. at 8:30am though, my husband rolls over and looks at me. I figure he was going to go back to sleep, but he sits up and tells me that he has awful acid reflux and can't get back to sleep. He takes a few minutes to really wake up before rolling out of bed. I was starting to try to get up as well, but he tells me to stay there. I'm starting to get my normal bout of acid reflux myself because I hadn't had anything to eat or drink yet, but I was curious what hubby was going to do. So I prop myself into a sitting position and try to push baby down off my stomach.
My darling husband comes back in the room carrying the Christmas gifts he and I had gotten for each other and sets them on the bed. He crawls back into bed sitting up, and the two of us had a non-traditional Christmas in bed. It was fun to get to have Christmas from the comfort of our own bed. The cat even joined us and claimed a present of some ribbon for himself. We liked it so much that we're considering making it a tradition in our household. We followed it up with Zantac for both me and him so we could stop feeling miserable.
Baby Update
The hand swelling has gone down, but the doctor told me it's just going to be a normal symptom from now on. *grumbles* My cervix hasn't made any progress yet, but he's beginning to measure a little ahead of his due date. We suspect that means he's growing to the larger size we're anticipating. I'm pretty sure he's head down, but I'm going to ask at the appointment later this week. Whatever position he's in, it's made walking around pretty uncomfortable. He could really come anytime now, but we're still secretely hoping he comes a few days late.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
35/35, Diapers, and Swollen Hands
35 weeks 0 days
I will have to keep this brief as my hands are painful and swollen. Don't worry, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow where hopefully they will be able to help me (and confirm it isn't due to blood pressure problems).
Today is a neat milestone. I'm 35 weeks along and have exactly 35 days until my due date. From here on out, I will have less days to go than how many weeks along I am. It really puts into perspective that he could come anytime, although we're sorta more hoping for a late baby than an early baby.
Also, I've officially gotten in my cloth diapers I ordered. I've got 2 dozen newborn prefolds, 10 or so small prefolds, 6 newborn covers, and 1 one size flip cover. I have to buy more flip covers eventually, but seeing as how he won't fit in them until he's a month or so old, I'm not in a big hurry. When my hands are feeling better, I will need to prep them, a process which involves washing them on hot then drying them at least 5 times to make them absorbant. I may employ the trick of boiling them for half an hour first to reduce how many times I have to wash them. We already suspect washing cloth diapers may kill our second-hand dryer within a year.
I apologize in advance if my posts get more sporadic. I may have to post about certain milestones retroactively, but I will at least try to post major updates as I can. As long as my hands are still swollen though, I have to keep my typing to a minimum.
I will have to keep this brief as my hands are painful and swollen. Don't worry, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow where hopefully they will be able to help me (and confirm it isn't due to blood pressure problems).
Today is a neat milestone. I'm 35 weeks along and have exactly 35 days until my due date. From here on out, I will have less days to go than how many weeks along I am. It really puts into perspective that he could come anytime, although we're sorta more hoping for a late baby than an early baby.
Also, I've officially gotten in my cloth diapers I ordered. I've got 2 dozen newborn prefolds, 10 or so small prefolds, 6 newborn covers, and 1 one size flip cover. I have to buy more flip covers eventually, but seeing as how he won't fit in them until he's a month or so old, I'm not in a big hurry. When my hands are feeling better, I will need to prep them, a process which involves washing them on hot then drying them at least 5 times to make them absorbant. I may employ the trick of boiling them for half an hour first to reduce how many times I have to wash them. We already suspect washing cloth diapers may kill our second-hand dryer within a year.
I apologize in advance if my posts get more sporadic. I may have to post about certain milestones retroactively, but I will at least try to post major updates as I can. As long as my hands are still swollen though, I have to keep my typing to a minimum.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Is it January yet?
33 weeks 6 days
Yep, it's another complaining post. But I wanted to post an update on how the pregnancy and baby preparation is going.
My nesting hormones are going into overdrive! They're trying to convince me that I should be ready for the baby to come any day now even though I have another month and a half before my estimated due date (I emphasize ESTIMATED because it's more of a guess date). Whenever I sleep deep enough for dreams, the hormones turn these dreams about mundane baby items or to-do lists into senseless nightmares. I had a nightmare about a swarm of onesies that had shrunk for goodness sake! Even when I'm senselessly tired, I feel compelled to do things. I spent what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend stressing about getting all the baby clothes washed and sorted as well as freaking out that we hadn't put in the order for our cloth diapers yet.
I did get a lot done this weekend though. Everything cloth that baby will touch, from his clothes and blankets to the covers on the secondhand swing and walker, have been washed in baby safe detergent. I also used the gift cards we got from the wedding and baby showers to order cloth diapers so I have time to prep them for use. Hubby even caught some of the nesting mood and cleaned the bathroom with the bleach spray I'm not allowed to use.
I did get upset when I thought I was done and discovered a massive giftbag of clothes I completely overlooked, and we don't have the space to put everything away nicely because we haven't gotten a dresser yet. I haven't even started going through the bags of non-clothing baby items yet because we don't have the storage containers to put it all in. There were some problems initially with the gift cards before I went on the card websites to register them with my name and address, but I thought for a while I would have to dip into our savings to cover the purchases and use the gift cards elsewhere. There's still so much cleaning and organizing we need to do, and we haven't begun babyproofing the house.
Despite the feeling that there is still so much to do, there's some emotional part of me that is ready to have the baby now. Perhaps it is the Christmas season. Perhaps I just want to get it over with while I still have the resolve to fight for the kind of birth I want. Perhaps I'm scared of how much more tired and achey I can possibly get before D day. It's selfish of me to want to have him now because he could really use the last few weeks to mature and be ready for the world. We do have enough ready that we would be able to take care of him if he were born today. We may not have a crib, changing table, or cloth diapers yet. But we have enough to make do. Hopefully we won't have to. As neat as it would be to have a Christmas baby, it's for the best that he wait until at least New Year's.
Yep, it's another complaining post. But I wanted to post an update on how the pregnancy and baby preparation is going.
My nesting hormones are going into overdrive! They're trying to convince me that I should be ready for the baby to come any day now even though I have another month and a half before my estimated due date (I emphasize ESTIMATED because it's more of a guess date). Whenever I sleep deep enough for dreams, the hormones turn these dreams about mundane baby items or to-do lists into senseless nightmares. I had a nightmare about a swarm of onesies that had shrunk for goodness sake! Even when I'm senselessly tired, I feel compelled to do things. I spent what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend stressing about getting all the baby clothes washed and sorted as well as freaking out that we hadn't put in the order for our cloth diapers yet.
I did get a lot done this weekend though. Everything cloth that baby will touch, from his clothes and blankets to the covers on the secondhand swing and walker, have been washed in baby safe detergent. I also used the gift cards we got from the wedding and baby showers to order cloth diapers so I have time to prep them for use. Hubby even caught some of the nesting mood and cleaned the bathroom with the bleach spray I'm not allowed to use.
I did get upset when I thought I was done and discovered a massive giftbag of clothes I completely overlooked, and we don't have the space to put everything away nicely because we haven't gotten a dresser yet. I haven't even started going through the bags of non-clothing baby items yet because we don't have the storage containers to put it all in. There were some problems initially with the gift cards before I went on the card websites to register them with my name and address, but I thought for a while I would have to dip into our savings to cover the purchases and use the gift cards elsewhere. There's still so much cleaning and organizing we need to do, and we haven't begun babyproofing the house.
Despite the feeling that there is still so much to do, there's some emotional part of me that is ready to have the baby now. Perhaps it is the Christmas season. Perhaps I just want to get it over with while I still have the resolve to fight for the kind of birth I want. Perhaps I'm scared of how much more tired and achey I can possibly get before D day. It's selfish of me to want to have him now because he could really use the last few weeks to mature and be ready for the world. We do have enough ready that we would be able to take care of him if he were born today. We may not have a crib, changing table, or cloth diapers yet. But we have enough to make do. Hopefully we won't have to. As neat as it would be to have a Christmas baby, it's for the best that he wait until at least New Year's.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
I get to birth a normal sized baby?!
33 weeks 1 day
I looked at the family history of baby weights to guess how big we thought the baby was going to be. My older brother was nearly 9 lbs, and I ended up being 9lbs 3oz. Talking to my mother in law, I learned my husband was also 9lbs 3oz. So naturally I assumed that it would be my fate to deliver a 9lb baby.
Today at the doctor's office, I got my bump measured as usual. I've been expecting at any time now to hear that I'm measuring ahead, but he smiles and says, "Right on track. We can expect to see a 7 and a half pound baby!" My husband and I look at each other shocked. I explain to the doctor we weren't expecting that because we were both over 9lbs. He says, "Oh, we don't like big babies around here. I think you're going to be just fine," and gives us a reassuring smile.
I've just gotten used to the idea that the newborn sized clothes would end up utterly useless or that we wouldn't be using the newborn insert in the carseat for very long. Now I'm adjusting to the idea that this pregnancy will be completely complication free, including not having the doctors fret over trying to deliver an oversized baby. There's still time for him to go through a growth spurt and be as big as we anticipated, but I like the idea of probably having a baby 2lbs less than I feared.
I looked at the family history of baby weights to guess how big we thought the baby was going to be. My older brother was nearly 9 lbs, and I ended up being 9lbs 3oz. Talking to my mother in law, I learned my husband was also 9lbs 3oz. So naturally I assumed that it would be my fate to deliver a 9lb baby.
Today at the doctor's office, I got my bump measured as usual. I've been expecting at any time now to hear that I'm measuring ahead, but he smiles and says, "Right on track. We can expect to see a 7 and a half pound baby!" My husband and I look at each other shocked. I explain to the doctor we weren't expecting that because we were both over 9lbs. He says, "Oh, we don't like big babies around here. I think you're going to be just fine," and gives us a reassuring smile.
I've just gotten used to the idea that the newborn sized clothes would end up utterly useless or that we wouldn't be using the newborn insert in the carseat for very long. Now I'm adjusting to the idea that this pregnancy will be completely complication free, including not having the doctors fret over trying to deliver an oversized baby. There's still time for him to go through a growth spurt and be as big as we anticipated, but I like the idea of probably having a baby 2lbs less than I feared.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Travel with the Sniffles
32 weeks 6 days
This past weekend was my second baby shower in my hometown. I ended up driving by myself as the shower was on Saturday morning and hubby had to work Friday night. Although it was a good weekend, I'm glad we made a point to not plan anymore big trips for the rest of the pregnancy.
The luxury of driving by myself is I could stop when and where I wanted to. I stopped about every hour to relieve my over-squished bladder, and I was able to stop by a fast food place they only have on the east side of the state that I love. Plus I gave myself plenty of time to get there so I could run an errand with my bank, enough time to hang out with a friend and her family until my own family claimed me for the rest of the evening.
The baby denied me my plans of sleeping in, so my mother and I got an early start. We decided to surprise my husband by getting his car detailed, and we killed some time before the shower. I had a minor case of the sniffles the day before, but just before the shower I started feeling borderline feverish. I got some air and was able to compose myself just in time for the shower.
I'm truly floored by the turnout! There must have been 15-20 ladies at this shower. I admit half of them I didn't even know except by name. But these women remembered me because I grew up in the church we were holding the shower at. We ate and played a party game before I began going through the massive pile of presents. It literally took me 2 hours to get through all the presents (I had to call a bathroom break midway), and they were good quality presents. About a third included hand knitted blankets, shoes, hats, or jackets that I knew these women had probably made themselves. They reminded me of my Granny who had often knitted me clothes for my baby dolls when I was little, and it made me smile to think that even though my baby won't get to meet Granny that he'll still get to enjoy hand knitted items made just for him.
I put on a brave face at the shower, but by the end of it I was really drained. Unfortunately, we still needed to make a stop at a maternity store to stock up on nursing bras. I rested at home for a few hours after getting the bras before we had to go right back to the church for the Christmas cantata. Then some friends kidnapped me for the evening. I didn't actually take my temperature, but I was worried I was going to end up with a fever. I took it easy for the rest of the night and went to bed early.
Luckily, if I did have a fever, it must have broken in the night. I had a sinus headache and the sniffles, but otherwise I was functional. After spending time with a few other friends, I managed to drive myself home. However, driving in the dark with congestion and a sinus headache with a 4 lb kicking baby dancing on my bladder isn't an experience I want to repeat anytime soon. Although I half considered travelling to hubby's father's house for Christmas, I think I'll stick to our original plan of letting people choose to come to us this year.
This past weekend was my second baby shower in my hometown. I ended up driving by myself as the shower was on Saturday morning and hubby had to work Friday night. Although it was a good weekend, I'm glad we made a point to not plan anymore big trips for the rest of the pregnancy.
The luxury of driving by myself is I could stop when and where I wanted to. I stopped about every hour to relieve my over-squished bladder, and I was able to stop by a fast food place they only have on the east side of the state that I love. Plus I gave myself plenty of time to get there so I could run an errand with my bank, enough time to hang out with a friend and her family until my own family claimed me for the rest of the evening.
The baby denied me my plans of sleeping in, so my mother and I got an early start. We decided to surprise my husband by getting his car detailed, and we killed some time before the shower. I had a minor case of the sniffles the day before, but just before the shower I started feeling borderline feverish. I got some air and was able to compose myself just in time for the shower.
I'm truly floored by the turnout! There must have been 15-20 ladies at this shower. I admit half of them I didn't even know except by name. But these women remembered me because I grew up in the church we were holding the shower at. We ate and played a party game before I began going through the massive pile of presents. It literally took me 2 hours to get through all the presents (I had to call a bathroom break midway), and they were good quality presents. About a third included hand knitted blankets, shoes, hats, or jackets that I knew these women had probably made themselves. They reminded me of my Granny who had often knitted me clothes for my baby dolls when I was little, and it made me smile to think that even though my baby won't get to meet Granny that he'll still get to enjoy hand knitted items made just for him.
I put on a brave face at the shower, but by the end of it I was really drained. Unfortunately, we still needed to make a stop at a maternity store to stock up on nursing bras. I rested at home for a few hours after getting the bras before we had to go right back to the church for the Christmas cantata. Then some friends kidnapped me for the evening. I didn't actually take my temperature, but I was worried I was going to end up with a fever. I took it easy for the rest of the night and went to bed early.
Luckily, if I did have a fever, it must have broken in the night. I had a sinus headache and the sniffles, but otherwise I was functional. After spending time with a few other friends, I managed to drive myself home. However, driving in the dark with congestion and a sinus headache with a 4 lb kicking baby dancing on my bladder isn't an experience I want to repeat anytime soon. Although I half considered travelling to hubby's father's house for Christmas, I think I'll stick to our original plan of letting people choose to come to us this year.
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