Pregnancy Week 36

This week seemed to have just eased right on by. Once all the craziness was over from last week, I found I was searching for things to do to keep my mind occupied. I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday, and a midwife appointment on Wednesday. First off, I haven't been to the dentist in a few years since I didn't have health/dental insurance. But luckily, I only have 3 cavities (that the dr. could see w/o doing x-rays of course). Which made me happy. I get those filled June 4th. Second, my midwife appointment went well. My blood pressure was normal, my pre-eclampsia and group B tests came back negative. The only concerning factor was my in my liver panel my Albumin was low. Which basically means I need to eat LOTS more protein. It's like the pre-cursor to pre-eclampsia. So at this point we can still reverse it with diet. I also did get 6hr work restrictions, which starts tomorrow. Also my fundal height was measuring at 43 weeks, and Liam's estimated weight is up to 7.5lbs!! His heartrate was perfect at 150, and he is still head down.  :)

How far: 36 weeks

Weight gain: up 3 from last week, total for this pregnancy 37.

Stretch marks: of course

Maternity clothes: yes, the only thing I can wear. Im anxious to see where Im at after he's born.

Sleep: its been ok to crappy. my hands fall asleep all the time. I wake up a lot to turn, but find my hands asleep and rarely am I able to get the feeling back before I fall asleep again. This has been very frustrating, as it makes it even more difficult to roll over.

Best moment this week: Finishing the week out (today is sunday) That means I've made it to full term!! :)

Miss anything? My body to myself. I know it sounds terrible, but I am so entirely ready for Liam to be here and to get to know my own body again. I realize there will be many adjustments and changes to relearn, but to sleep on my belly again, have feeling back in my hands, and to see my ankles...sigh...

Cravings: nothing in particular. Ive been pretty focused on getting more protein that I haven't really paid attention to my cravings. I have started eating eggs again, mostly scrambled with spinach and feta.

Anything make you queasy/sick? not particularly. smelly people...ha.

Gender: Boy

Wedding rings: officially off this week. I tried on Wednesday, but it wasn't going anywhere.

Belly button: I didnt think it was going to change still, but it is definitely more shallow than the last few weeks.

Movements: absolutely,  but he is definitely more restricted.

Symptoms: pubic pain, hands falling asleep--almost carpal tunnel like, feet and ankles and calves swollen--seemed slightly better than last week, tired--I've been napping more here and there, braxton hicks contractions--usually in my lower back--very close to my old period cramps.

Mood: emotional, but excited--looking forward to having my little man in my arms!

Today we stopped at an awesome garage sale and I found tons of clothes for Liam. Jeans, pants, dress shirt with vest and tie, onesies, shirts, socks, sleepers, etc. Some really awesome finds. Two grocery bags full for $29.50! Sweet! We really did need more clothes for him. I have the washer going as I type this, I am definitely organized enough for him to get here. I have the 6+ month clothing put away, and everything else washed or being washed and ready for him. The pack n' play is set up and ready with freshly washed sheets. The boppy is waiting, his diaper station is waiting (we'll start using cloth after the meconium stage), the bouncy seat is in the living room anticipating his arrival. Gosh, I cant wait! I'm glad that for the most part, we are ready and not rushing around anymore. I think I may run a bath and then perhaps take a nap. Last night was one of the worst sleep wise in a long ass time! I'd love to relax in a steamy bath. But first, I must switch laundry over and get our last load of baby laundry in before he gets here! Hurray!! :)

Pregnancy Weeks 33, 34, 35

I don't even know where to start...I guess first off, see my previous blog for an explanation to where I've been and what's kept me away from Blog land the last few weeks. I guess I'll just jump right in and try my best to remember everything.


How far along: 35 weeks

Weight gain: went the midwife yesterday. Up 4 from last appointment 3 weeks ago. Total for pregnancy 34.

Stretch marks: yes, not scary deep, but definitely all over! Tiger stripes! Roar!

Maternity Clothes: That bra I bought a few weeks ago is AMAZING!!!! It is so friggen comfortable I have contemplated buying another. I will only be able to use it as a sleep/lounge bra, but still, it is reassuring to have something!

Sleep: I just started within the last week getting up twice to pee. I know many women are up far more times, but if I do wake up a lot to attempt to switch sides. My hands fall asleep a lot, and it wakes me up. My chiropractor things its because of my neck. Who knows.

Best moment this week: definitely my baby shower (see previous post) and my doula visiting.

Miss anything? Beer--but I think its mostly because I would have drank a lot these few weeks with all the stress I was under. Lunch meat.

Cravings: Salty things. Chips, fries, snacky things.

Anything make you queasy or sick: Just stress...lol

Gender: Boy

Wedding rings: On, but barely

Belly Button: Still there...

Movements: He is definitely running out of room. His movements are getting more and more painful.

Symptoms: Major edema! Feet, ankles and calves. My pubic pain is all day now, and I just feel sore all the time. Sinus headaches-damn allergies-, numbness in my first three fingers due to my neck issues, tired, stressed, emotional, exhausted, braxton hicks--usually at work when I'm doing too much.

Mood: stressed to say the least. emotional for sure

Looking forward to: my baby boy being here! :)

Midwife update: Liam had a strong heartbeat of 130, he is still head down, his butt was (and usually is) resting on my right side with his legs across my belly. My fundal height was 41cm, so I am still measuring about 6 weeks ahead. Liam is estimated to be 6.5-7lbs!! So I have been advised to watch my carb and refined sugar intake. My blood pressure was 110/70--pretty typical. We did my 3rd trimester lab work--still waiting for results. I have been advised to decrease the number of hours I can work as well. I will be talking to my HR person so figure out if I would still qualify for my insurance. Next appointment is next week wednesday.

So now that my crazy schedules are pretty much done, hopefully I will be able to stay up to date on my blogs.

Hope you all are doing well!!
N.

Oh boy! Where have I been?!

First off, I am so sorry I have been MIA for almost 4 weeks! At first I was waiting until my baby shower came and went so I could write about all that excitement. But then I realized what all was going on the weeks following and I got very stressed out and not to mention, exhausted. That's right, exhaustion has set in. In full force I might add.

My baby shower went swimmingly! Everything was fantastic, tons of food, cake, games and gifts for baby boy! I knew my cousin was my cake hero before, but dang! She did such a fantastic job!! Not only did she make a monster cake, but she made THREE! All were different flavors too! Here is a similar photo of what mine looked like:


 Anyways, there was tons of delicious food, and punch all made by my in-laws. The best game we played was "The Price is Right--It's in the Bag" Game. That one where you have to guess the price of the item. We had 6 baby related items and the most anyone got correct was 3! It was the funniest thing to see the women's faces when we revealed the prices! My grandma was like..."But it's just plastic!" to the $7.99 2pk snack catchers! lol.

Some of my favorite gifts for Liam were the cloth diapers! Yay! I was so excited to receive these! I got one weehuggers diaper cover found here. and 2 pockets by Imagine found here. We also got lots of cute clothes, and our pack n' play. Here is a photo of it.

We also got 3 sound machines! We kept the one we registered for, and returned the other two to buy some fun summer clothes and the Twilight Turtle. We actually use the sound machine every night already! It has fantastic sound quality and you can choose to have a timer or not. We love the Summer Night option, sounds like a hot summer night back home in the country. Find it here.

There were so many other things that I cant wait to have Liam use! Lots of handmade blankets and a few sweet books. We are so blessed with the family and friends that helped us celebrate our little boy!  <3

So after the shower, we were crazy busy trying to clean out his bedroom (which was used for storage, hobby, craft things). Also, our doula was coming for a home visit and we needed to clean the house up--big time! I also had missed my 34 week midwife appointment due to car issues, and had to reschedule during my busiest week so far. This is what my week looked like...

Saturday: Work 10-6:30, Scott needed new rear tires so badly that when I followed him to the garage, I was seriously praying they would hold up. They looked so terrible! At work, my stress about the upcoming week just hit an all time high, and when a pile of boxes and product went spilling to the floor in the backroom, I couldnt handle it anymore. I broke down and cried. That coupled with my stress, anxiety, swelling, and braxton hicks, just did terrible things to me. I ended up going home after 2 hours of work. After that, when Scott left for work, he called me a few minutes later saying that some douche pulled out in front of him, and he had to avoid hitting this guy's truck and had to put his car (new tires and all) in the ditch!! Worst part was the guy didn't even stop, and he had his kid in the front seat--which Scott would have hit if he didn't take to the ditch! So anyways, after all that I ended up taking a nap, and feeling a lot better. I even managed to get more boxes packed up to move downstairs.

Sun: Work 6am-12pm, Mother's day at my mom's 1pm-3:30, Mother's day at Scott's mom's 4-6pm. *try to clean-ended up with a terrible sinus headache and used my netipot and took a nap*

Monday: 7:45am chiro appt, work 9-5:30, *try even harder to clean*

Tuesday: leave house at 6am to see the Dali Lama in Madison with Billie. Spent all day in Madtown. Walked State street, it was hot, and I swelled up terribly. We hung out by Vilas Park for a few hours, it was beautiful!

Wednesday: Midwife appointment 9am (1hr 15 min drive) made it back by 11:30 :) Cleaned a like a mad women! Exhausted myself :( 6pm Doula Rachel came over for our home visit! She is so fantastic! She left at 7:30. I made dinner, and then sat down to enjoy our clean house! PHEW!! I also tried to take a bath, but the water wasnt very hot due to the dishes being done earlier. So I ended up crawling in bed, and passing out.


So I guess that pretty much catches you all up to speed. Things were so crazy, and hopefully now they will settle down, and I will enjoy these last few weeks. :)