14 days...

Only 14 days until the due date!  I feel so ready now.  We have everything we need, hospital bags are packed, car seat bases are installed, Andy's major school stuff is done... just have to have Oliver now!  I am feeling pretty good most of the time now, and I definitely want him to stay in as long as he needs to be as strong and healthy as possible.  But I am not very patient :)  

At 38 weeks, he should be around 6.8lbs, and over 19.5" long.  I can feel every inch of that when he's simultaneously punching my bladder and kicking my ribs!!  He should have a firm grasp now, and fully matured organs.

I know this is a lame, short update, but not much going on really other than just waiting!

Full term!

Last week's pic.

So I am now 37 weeks!  That means I am officially "full term", although I still have 21 days until the due date.  Most likely if he were born now he'd be fine and able to breath on his own, but of course some babies need longer so we want him to stay in until he's ready :)  Should be about 6 1/3lb and 19" or so long.

This week, I had an appointment with Cassandra, one of the midwives, at their new location with OSU.  So the great thing is that now I have seen them in their new location, I can be delivered by them instead of the Dr that was at their old office, which is who would have had to deliver me if I'd gone into labor before Tuesday.  So YAY!!!  Also Andy is done with his midterms today, so we've gotten past two huge hurdles that I wanted to get past.  

I have been feeling pretty good still, although definitely starting to get more uncomfortable.  My hips (really more the lower parts of my pelvis) and tailbone are sore, especially after I've been sitting for a while.  My lower back is getting weird, my vertebrae are cracking all the time.  My ribs get sore by the afternoon.  Heartburn has been better which I assume is because he's probably moving down some.  He jabbed me at work yesterday morning in a way that made me yelp out loud!! 

So, I know I just complained a whole bunch, but it's all pretty mild, and reference the above stats, I have a baby that weighs over 6lb and is 19" long in there, I think him making me feel like that's pretty understandable :)

I am feeling pretty ready for him now!  We have almost everything we need, and are getting anxious for his arrival :)

35/35

Thirty five weeks pregnant/thirty five days to go!  CRAZY!

How Far Along: 35 weeks

Total weight gain: 24lbs (only 2 lbs in the last 2 weeks so I'm pretty happy with that!)

Sleep: Got a charlie horse last night :( But good overall!

What do you miss: My ribs not hurting and being able to breath after eating

Movement: He is most active in the mornings from 8-9:30 or so

Food cravings: nope.  Well, actually chocolate chip cookies :)

Anything making you queasy or sick: Only when I eat too much.

Symptoms: Heartburn, occasional irregular contractions, hips starting to hurt, ribs are sore, can't breath too well after eating a big meal, ummm I think I'm feeling pretty pregnant these days :)

Belly button in or out? Still in.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: I was anxious last week after finding out he could pretty much come anytime (midwives won't stop ctx after 34 weeks), but we made a to-do list and got quite a bit done, and I feel much more confident.  

Best part of the week: Not this week, but the one before, the shower was awesome!!!  Got to see lots of people which was great, and got lots of cool stuff :)  This week, my Uncle Jeff was in town from California so we got to visit with him which was really nice, we don't get to see him enough!

Looking forward to: Meeting Oliver! 

I am in the "gray period" now where the midwives are no longer at their old office, but aren't seeing patients at the new office until March 15 (next Fri).  My appt is March 19th.  So, if something were to happen between now and then, I would need care from the Dr at the old office since the MWs can't treat you at the hospital until you've been seen by their practice.  So, I certainly hope nothing "big" happens in the next week and a half!  I will be 36w4d when I see the MW next, so I would feel pretty comfortable with things happening at that point.  I'd be pretty much full term, and if he's ready, I think we'd be ready.  ready as we can be at least :)  

We started getting our "go bags" (hospital bags) ready this week.  I picked up some nursing sleep bras and a nursing tank.  I need to get some "real" nursing bras (daytime ones) but I think I need to wait until I know what size I will need.  I hate spending $ on that kind of stuff.

So he's still head down as far as I can tell, and really very active.  I thought he'd be slowing down by now but his morning aerobics are getting stronger every day it seems!!  

At 35w, he is about 5.25lbs and 18".  The size of a honeydew melon!  Fully developed kidneys and his liver can process some waste products.

Getting close!

Less than 50 days!

33 weeks today, which means only 49 days until Oliver's due date!

How Far Along: 33 weeks

Total weight gain: 22lbs

Sleep: Not too bad this week, several nights of not waking up at all (which I am 99% sure means I was dehydrated!)

What do you miss: Being able to sit up easily!

Movement: He's getting very strong

Food cravings: Chipotle

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not feeling great in the morning sometimes due to an empty belly.

Symptoms: Getting occasional what I think may be contractions, but they are sporadic and nothing to worry about :)  A few stretch marks on each side and under my belly button...

Belly button in or out? Still in.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: I was getting myself all stressed out earlier this week but am feeling better now!  So happy!

Best part of the week: The Sprout Swap went great and we got some very good diaper deals.

Looking forward to: The baby shower on Sunday!

Oliver is over 4 lbs now, and is longer than 17"!  His bones are hardening and his skin is filling out.  He is getting himself ready for his arrival!

It is nuts to think that we are going to have him within the next 9 weeks, assuming I don't go over 42 weeks!!  He will be full term in just four weeks!

We are pretty ready, but really how can you ever be totally ready???  We will be starting on laundry soon, I'm getting lingering sewing projects finished up, and after this weekend we will have a better idea of what items we need to purchase still.  Andy got me "The Happiest Baby on the Block" dvd for Christmas, we need to watch it.  Helps with swaddling, rocking, shushing techniques to help them in the "fourth trimester".  I also have been slacking on my hypnobabies practicing lately so need to get back on that!

Love

In honor of Valentine's day...

I find it amazing how much one can love someone they've never met.  I'm sure it's partially the hormones - after all, we've evolved to love our progeny so we take care of them.  But it's just incredible.  Feeling Oliver move in there, especially now that instead of just kicks and rolling motions, I'm feeling his body parts more clearly and it feels like an actual baby in there moving around... it's just indescribable how it feels.  I find myself waking up in the middle of the night, to pee or whatever, but once I lay back down, I stay awake for a while because I'm busy feeling him move around.  I find I don't want to take my hands off of my belly during the day because I want to feel him as much as possible, and although of course I can feel him even when I'm not touching my stomach, to feel him from the outside is just so cool.

I really can't wait to meet him and get to know him "on the outside".  At the same time, I think I'm really going to miss being pregnant!

For whatever reason, my body seems to take very well to this whole pregnancy thing.  Last week, just to potentially torture myself, I decided to try on my favorite pair of pre-pregnancy jeans.  To see if I've gained weight in my legs.  Yeah, because *that's* usually a good idea!!  Anyway, I shocked myself to see that it didn't seem like my legs or rear end have gotten any bigger, and actually I could still zip & button them!!  I can't say it would have been very comfortable to wear them, but I thought that was pretty exciting.  Then, the other night I noticed, almost ALL of the cellulite on my thighs is GONE!  I'm not sure how that's even possible, but I'm not going to argue.  And, my face is so much smoother and more clearly complected than it has been since pre-puberty.  It's pretty awesome!! 

And besides those vain things, I have just felt so good during this pregnancy!  Of course I've had my moments and had days where I'm sure I complained a lot about back pain etc but overall, especially compared to how some others have it, I have felt great.  Minimal morning sickness, haven't had any problems with any early contracting, my cervix is competent (woohoo go cervix!), and my aches and pains are really not that bad.  

Ok onto how he's doing this week!  32 weeks, so we are less than two months away now!

How Far Along: 32 weeks

Total weight gain: 21lbs

Sleep: It's been very good!  Usually just waking up once a night to pee and able to get back to sleep without too much of a struggle.

What do you miss: Hmmm nothing I can think of right now.

Movement: Yes lots of strong movements!!

Food cravings: Nothing really.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Symptoms: Starting to get a few more non-BH like cramps occasionally, it's harder to bend over and do stuff, back getting a little more sore. 

Belly button in or out? Still in.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy :)

Best part of the week: Finding out he's not breech anymore!!!  I know he can still change, but I'm hoping he's staying put in the vertex position!

Looking forward to: Tonight we go to the Sprout Swap and get to by some cloth diapers!

So, he is about 3.75 lbs (weight of a jicama) this week and should be putting on about half a pound a week at this point.  He is 16.7" long, or something like that.  BabyCenter says he now has fingernails, toenails, and hair too - although in Juno the girl outside the abortion clinic informed that babies have fingernails as early as like 12 weeks?  So who knows.  I guess he has them now either way :)  He's mostly busy just putting on weight and getting chubbier for his grand entrance sometime in April!  

 

31.3 update

So I know I missed my Friday update (I really do have to do a picture update at least!), but thought I'd give a quick rundown of how things have been going!

In the last week I have started to feel much more pregnant!!  He is definitely growing - I can start to feel his head/butt sticking out more when I'm laying down.  I'm trying to be pretty attuned to his position since I am being paranoidly obsessive over whether or not he's breech (he has been, and I'm really really really hoping he flips on his own!).  So I've got figured out which are hand flutters and which are foot kicks, and starting to figure out which round bump is which based on the reaction to my pressing on him.

Oliver is now hanging out near some nerve that twinges right near my bladder, which is weird!  My back is hurting more than it used to, although if I watch my posture it's not too bad.  I was exhausted last week, but after two nights of pretty good sleep felt a lot better!

We had our tour of the OSU maternity ward yesterday.  We were really surprised by how huge the deliver rooms are, although it makes sense given how many people/how much equipment may end up being in the room!  The smaller postpartum rooms are pretty small, although half of them are the smaller rooms, and half are what used to be semi-private and are now private, so hopefully we get lucky and get one of the bigger ones.

I teared up watching one of the babies in the nursery getting fed.  They are so little!  He/she was so cute staring up at the nurse feeding him.

The tour definitely made it feel much closer - which it is - the due date two months from tomorrow!!

We have a midwife appointment this afternoon.  Looking forward to hearing how their progress is going switching to their new facilities.  Also looking forward to hearing what she thinks his position is.  3d ultrasound followup tomorrow, hopefully he is feeling less bashful!!  He has been really really active lately so hopefully he is during the appointment as well so we can at least get some face shots :)

3/4 done!

Somehow, we are already at 30 weeks today!  That means about 10 wks/70 days left until Oliver arrives :)  We got another 3d ultrasound done this week so we and our parents (minus my dad who was in Lexington) could get to see him again... of course not so cooperative yet again!  So we are rescheduled for 2/12 and hopefully he is unfolded a bit by then.

How Far Along: 30 weeks

Total weight gain: Up 16.5-17.5 depending on the day

Sleep: Well, the dogs were sick this week and waking us up in the middle of the night, and then this morning my body decided it was done sleeping at 3am for no good reason, so sleep hasn't been great this week!  But I don't feel exceptionally tired given the lack of sleep.

What do you miss: Bending over to pick stuff up without grunting.

Movement: Trying to pay a lot more attention to the location of the kicks now to figure out if he's staying breech or turning :)

Food cravings: Nothing in particular.

Anything making you queasy or sick: When I woke up this morning at 3 I was hungry and felt pretty nauseous.  But nothing other than that.

Symptoms: Just heartburn and being big :)

Belly button in or out? Still in.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: Hate it when my babies are sick so that made me sad this week, but happy otherwise!  Felt a little more weepy the last two days but not much more "emotional" than normal.

Best part of the week: Working on knitting a sweater vest for Oliver plus I got the slip cover done for the glider!!

Looking forward to: The weekend and relaxing and hopefully sleeping a little better!

So what is Oliver doing at 30 weeks?  He should be about 15.7lbs and 3lbs (which is apparently how much a large head of cabbage weighs).  He has a pint and a half of amniotic fluid which will be decreasing as he gets bigger.  Eyesight developing so he can see us when he comes out!

29!!!

Missed my 28 week update last week, since I was busy enjoying the weather in lovely Charleston, SC and visiting Stephie & Braden!

We had a great trip, it was a great to see their new house and meet our new "nephew" Jax the dog.  

So last week (actually at 27w6d) I hit the third trimester officially!!  That's so crazy.  One more week and this pregnancy is approximately 3/4 over.  I still feel so lucky that I have felt so good for the majority of the time.  I am starting to feel a little more uncomfortable, but in general feel just awesome.  I know I will miss feeling him kick and roll around in there (except of course that he doesn't do this in Charleston when my sister wanted to be able to feel him!!)

We got a 3d ultrasound done while we were down there as well, and he was mostly uncooperative, but we got some great pics still.

How Far Along: 29 weeks

Total weight gain: Up 16.5

Sleep: Mostly good, kind of restless some nights, but I think a lot better than it could be!

What do you miss: My sister!  I know I didn't hang out with her enough when she lived in Columbus, but I definitely miss having the opportunity to see her.  

Movement: Starting to feel a lot more "rolling" in addition to the kicks.  Andy also got to see him having a party in there the other day, which was pretty cool!

Food cravings: It was Chipotle last night!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope - except when I eat too much!

Symptoms: Heartburn is making a reappearance this week!

Belly button in or out? In, definitely getting shallower.  I don't think it will "pop" though.

Wedding rings on or off? On and still fitting great as long as I keep up on my water intake.

Happy or moody most of the time: Stressed out a bit this week with our furnace issues, but happy most of the time, and honestly feel good spending the $ on the furnace for the peace of mind it will provide.

Best part of the week: Charleston and spending time with Steph and Braden!

Looking forward to: Finishing up the slip cover for the glider.... hope to do that this weekend.

So at 29 weeks he should weigh around 2.5lbs and be about 15" long!  That's getting big!!  Size of a butternut squash I guess.

Muscles and lungs are maturing (I can definitely feel those muscles getting stronger!)

Quick Update!

I know I forgot to do my 27w update last Friday, but a quick survey update...

what are you excited about:  VISITING MY STEPHIE THIS WEEKEND :)

Growth Spurt

I'm pretty sure Oliver is going through a growth spurt right now!  I am constantly hungry, and also exhausted!!  

26 week pic!

98 days!

LESS than 100 days!  That is totally nuts.  I remember when we saw the two lines just barely appear back on July 31st... we could barely believe it, and didn't let ourselves believe it and get excited actually for a while!  Now Oliver is making himself known all the time, kicking away, and I'm starting to feel more "rolling" type movements too.  Pretty nifty.

Week 25/26 - click to view larger

Rick Martin original artwork; Dexter likes the Moby; two completed wool diaper covers; Andy's bday!; New Year's Eve (I even look drunk!); favorite wool diaper cover made so far; look at my belly!; first knitted project; lopsided Oliver.

How Far Along: 26 weeks

Total weight gain: Up 13.2 which is a big-ish gain from last week, but not too worried.

Maternity clothes: Removing this question from now on, because chances are I'm not going back to non-maternity!

Sleep: I've been sick and congested so it was really bad during that time.  But my congestion has pretty much cleared up in the last 24 hrs and I have slept great for the last two nights finally.

What do you miss: Not grunting when I go to reach for something!

Movement: A lot, all over the place and above my belly button.  Most of the time I feel kicks down low, but he's definitely rolling all over in there.

Food cravings: Hmmm nothing really

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Symptoms: Not much of anything.  My heartburn has been great, I've been feeling really good, just getting kicked around!

Belly button in or out? In, but I can feel the top if it starting to stretch out.

Wedding rings on or off? On and still fitting great!

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy when I'm not sick!

Best part of the week: Spending lots of time with Andy!

Looking forward to: Getting some more sewing projects done.

So at 26 weeks, Oliver is about 14" long (English Hothouse cucumber - random!) and 1 2/3lbs.  He's getting big!  His hearing is improving and can probably hear both Andy and I when we talk now.