37 Weeks

This is my sad attempt at looking professional at this point. I had to do a massage event at a hospital yesterday and this was all I could come up with. Note to self - next time invest in a pair of dress pants, or at least nice dress jeans.

Pretty sure this is one of the last times I am ever wearing jeans during the rest of this pregnancy! The baby feels so low in my pelvis that anything with a waistband basically makes me feel like I'd rather be wearing nothing. Pants should be optional for pregnant women...

I just went out and bought big sweatpants at Wal-Mart, then got them home to find out they were still too small, so I cut them down one of the sides to make more room. That was sad.

As much as it's gotta suck being huge and pregnant in the summer, at least dressing ones self must be easier with airy light dresses and tops. This weather is really getting out of hand. It's been negative 20-something for the past couple of weeks. We did get a couple days last weekend where the temp shot up into the 20's, so it felt super warm out. Crazy to think that is actually what we get used to around here! I find some comfort in picturing laying on a hot sunny beach in a bikini, and of course taking nice breezy walks in the sunshine around our block with the baby. 

We had another doctor's appointment today, along with another ultrasound. Everything is looking good. The baby is still breech, but I'm beginning to no longer care about whether I have a section or not. The scheduled date is keeping me going (15 more days!) and the more time I have to think about it, the more excited I'm getting and less nervous. The receptionist and sono tech today at the office told me if you can get a scheduled C-section, it's the easiest thing ever. Everything is quiet, they make a few cuts, and out comes your baby! Emergency and surprise ones are tough because usually they happen after laboring for hours on end. So I'm glad we get to skip that part. 

While making my appointment for next week I asked the receptionist today about whether or not we'd have another sonogram, and she said she's fairly certain there won't be another one scheduled. At my appointment today during the sono all she did was check for position and again, measured the amniotic fluid and the space around the baby, and said he had a "good strong heartbeat." No fetal growth measurements taken, no confusing worried looks, and the doctor did nothing but come in, say hi, check for the heartbeat with the doppler, and took a measurement of my belly. When I asked if it was okay he just replied, "Yup, you're good!" So I'm assuming once again, that the if the staff at the doctor's office doesn't seemed concerned with anything regarding the baby's health/size, then neither should we be. 

So I have officially 7 full shifts of work left to get through. Well, actually...they are not full shifts. My lead at work shortened my hours to six hour shifts, with a break in the middle of each one. So basically the most I can get booked is five clients per shift. Not so bad. Maybe I'll even get lucky and it will be kind of slow the last week. 

Baby Shower Pictures

This is a little late, but my future brother in law (Yes - Sara and Dave got engaged a couple weeks ago!) finally sent me the photos he took at my baby shower. Here are a few snippets:

mmm...cornbread...

Mom & I. I am 33 weeks prego here. 

Sara, Me, and Caitlin.
Caitlin is pregnant too! She is due in July, with....A BOY!!!! They just revealed the sex a few days ago.
Yaaaaaaaaaay a friend for Baby J (now she must move back here asap)!!!

Probably the prettiest cake I've ever seen. Thank you Caitlin, Sara, & Cafe Canole!

36 Weeks

We left the bed in the room. Figured it would be nice to have the option of sleeping in here sometimes if the baby wants company. My brother gave us a sweet bassinet which we put in our room, and the crib is in the baby's room. We plan on using the bassinet first for sure.

Pretty sure Otto thinks we have made him his very own room.

 I love how restful and calm the baby's room looks. It is really coming along. And thank goodness, cause we are really getting close to D-Day now!

Good news? I went back to the doctor yesterday and they did an ultrasound. We learned that while it's still too early to re-check his growth, they did confirm that my amniotic fluid looks great, the heartbeat is great, and the fact that he is moving a lot is great. So the doctor said while he is going to keep an eye on me and the baby's growth just to be on the safe side in a week or so, everything looks good right now. He made a point of saying a few times that the baby is still in the normal range for weight and size. So I am basically taking this as meaning no news is good news.

 And the not so great news? Baby boy is breech, still (they discovered that last week, but I think I forgot to put that in my last blog post). Soooooo, we got scheduled for a C-section on March 11th. EEK. That is exactly three weeks from today.

Sheeeesh that is crazy. Even though I have been obviously preparing for the birth of my baby for the last nine months, just hearing that there's an actual date on his arrival (assuming he continues to be stubborn and stays breech) has some sort of shock to it. Like, "you will become a mother on this day," instead of "sometime in March you will have your baby," because everyone knows how unpredictable labor can be, especially a first one. I was just assuming it would be one big surprise.

So March 11th, we might be having a baby. I am SOOOOO excited, but really scared of having surgery too. I know there are hundreds of C-sections done daily, but still, it is scary. The idea of getting cut open and awake laying there...ugh. I don't really want to think about it. But then again, the idea of having a vaginal birth that could go on and on for hours, maybe even days, is also scary. At least the surgery is quick! For some god-awful reason we watched one on YouTube the other day and it literally only took a few minutes. The stitching up part is the longest part of the surgery actually.

Cody and I have been busy around the house getting ready for the baby's arrival. Just kind of organizing, trying out our new baby gear, and wrapping up some projects around the house that have needed to be done forever. Babies are good motivators to get shit done! I am happy to report that the broken towel bar in the bathroom is finally replaced, and the ancient electrical outlets in the main rooms of our house have been replaced with new ones that actually fit our plugs. Yay Cody! It is cute to see him nesting right along with me in his own way, and the never ending lists I give him are not getting scoffed at. Like I have said so many times before, he is a good sport.

Gotham needs him. 

 For Valentines Day he even went above and beyond what I expected (pretty much nothing) and picked up the most adorable present for me. Well, actually it's technically for the baby, but since that's all we can think about right now and the baby is inside of me....it was a gift for me. He got Baby J a little outfit and this adorable Batman bib, which we promptly tried out on Mack. He looks so proud.

Oddly enough, I also got Cody a Batman outfit for the baby, along with a shirt that is adult-sized for him. Apparently though, people at work are starting to refer to Cody as "Batman," so I should probably lay off buying him anymore stuff like that before things really start to get out of hand.

Do you ever know someone who has a lot of the same stuff in their house? Like, I have an aunt who used to have an entire kitchen themed around watermelons. I'm not kidding, watermelon stuff was EVERYWHERE. I think that theme was probably made a little too noticeable because of all the watermelon stuff people kept giving her once they realized she had an appreciation for watermelons and folk art. Or who knows...maybe no one gave her that stuff, and she is just one nutty watermelon hugger. Anyway, my point is - we don't want Cody to be that guy.

I had to get this in two sizes because it was just. that. cute.

Pretty much every time I go shopping in a place that's not the grocery store, I end up buying more adorable baby clothes. I just can't stop. Today at TJ Maxx I found a fuzzy sweatsuit-jammie-outfit- thing on clearance for ten bucks and had to buy it, even though it was a three month old size. It will obviously be too big for him right away. I just figured, winter temperatures can drag on around here til May, and we can always put him in clothes that are too big here and there. And what the hell, it was only ten bucks!

The baby's teeny tiny clothes in his teeny tiny closet. We had a diaper raffle at the baby shower. I  now understand why the extreme couponers feel the way they do about their stockpiles. 

 

AW.
This needed to be photographed, because you know it's not going to stay looking like this for long once he is here! 

35 Weeks & Ick

So I came down with some weird GI issues recently...so not fun. Without getting into to many gross details, basically whatever is in my system has been causing me to run to the bathroom about three times per day, and I'm worried it's starting to make me dehydrated. It's been going on since last Monday, so I finally called my doctor's office a couple of days ago, and they suggested I come in for a checkup.

Once I got there they took my blood pressure (normal) and then measured my belly, which was as usual smaller than where it should be. The entire time I've been measuring in the normal range but about a week behind where I am "supposed" to be in the pregnancy. This time it was a few weeks behind though, which concerned them. So they hooked me up to a fetal monitor to check the baby and left me in the exam room to press a button every time I felt the baby kick. Which in my opinion, was often. I guess the test came back okay because they doctor came back in and looked at the results after and didn't seem concerned at all. She ordered an ultrasound for fetal growth though, and a gallbladder check because of my symptoms. The baby's heartbeat was a little elevated, probably due to slight dehydration she said.

At first, even though I was nervous about what they were looking for I also was a tiny bit excited over the chance to see our little guy on-screen again, but that was very short-lived. The ultrasound was super clinical and very blurry. Nothing like the fancy 4D one we got last time, or even as showy as the basic one we got at 20 weeks.

The ultrasound showed what I was fearing for awhile now, and that is that the baby is pretty small. He is now only in the 22nd percentile for size at his gestational age according to the sonogram. Five pounds, and one ounce. They told me not to worry about it, but of course I am super stressed. I am trying to stay positive but it's so hard not to just imagine the worst outcome from whatever his teeny size may mean. Does it mean he is sick in there? Not getting enough nutrients/fluids from me? Does he have something wrong with him? Is it possible that everything could have presented normally up until now and his growth, or lack thereof, is finally starting to show an abnormality? Is everything going to be okay?

That is what's going on in my head right now. I didn't have the guts to ask all those questions at my appointment, for whatever reason...maybe I feel superficial and shallow thinking such blunt things out loud. And maybe the doctors just don't know what to say, so they'll try to sugarcoat an answer for me and hope that I just accept it and calm the hell down. I don't know what to think. I did ask the sonographer if she thought it were abnormal that the baby's head was measuring at 37 weeks, and his body to be at 33 weeks though, and she said it's something they see all the time, and not to worry. The measurements can be very unpredictable at this stage of pregnancy and that there is a huge range of "normal." She said he looks like he is still doing pretty good in there, and that he's probably just a little peanut of a baby.

It also showed that he is in the frank breech position, which means his butt is down. Which is the opposite of what we want. The birthing class nurse showed me an exercise to try and get him to turn so I will be on my hands and knees a lot at home from now on.

So basically they are going to keep checking me every week now, which would have happened anyway starting next week, only I'll have an ultrasound too. If his size drops lower in the percentile ranges, to 10% or less, then they will take me out of work. And according to a nurse I spoke with last night at our birthing class, possibly induce me earlier than my due date. She said they are probably concerned with IUGR, or intrauterine growth restriction. Which sounds just awful. Basically babies that have that can't get the nutrients they need from their mother. I asked her if I should be trying to eat differently (like getting more protein/fat/anything she suggested) and she said no, because it has to do with the placenta, and there's nothing I can do about it if I have it. I really hope that's not what it is. Hopefully the tests will reveal some bug or something that can easily be treated with antibiotics and go away, putting us back on track for the next month.  

They really didn't give me an answer about the GI issues...just told me to drink lots and try to rest and stay calm. Ugh, I so wish it were that simple for me. I hate not being able to do anything about any of this. The next month is going to be rough for me if things don't seem to get better. I just want more than anything to have a healthy baby. March can't come soon enough...

34 Weeks

Mack isn't loving the new industrial baby gate situation we have at the house.

Just 6 weeks to go and we will be parents! Woohooo!!! 

Annnnnd, Holy Crap. It's happening.

As week 34 of my pregnancy comes to a close, I am feeling pretty good. I feel like there is a badge of accomplishment earned as each day ticks by. Right now, if the baby were to be born, he apparently would be just fine and would most likely have no real health problems/premie issues. Obviously though, we want him to stay in there a cook for at least another month. He needs to get fatter and more developed. Can't say I'd be too upset if he came a week early though...I like the idea of being kind of surprised and not waiting around for him to make his way out. But just not yet.

We had our baby shower last weekend. That was awesome. It was an adorable party, with a very appropriate "Baby It's Cold Outside" theme, seeing as how it was bitter cold last weekend. It was a great time seeing everyone and we got A TON of baby stuff and lots of baby tips and tricks from all the silly games my sister and friends came up with for the guests to play. I wish some of the guests  took photos, but I don't think anyone really did. My sister's boyfriend Dave was there shooting with his fancy camera for about an hour, so there are photos somewhere, I just don't know exactly when he'll get them to me. I will post them when I get them for sure.

So last week was spent mainly organizing, cleaning, and laundering adorable baby outfits. We have almost completed the nursery and it's coming along nicely. I have tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday off this week so I'm hoping it will be done in the next few days. Pictures to come soon!

Cody & Oscar practicing baby-wearing.