35 Weeks

Survey

How far along: 35 weeks- 5 weeks left!

This week, baby is the size of a: large cantaloupe - about 20 inches long and about 5 and a half pounds

Next appointment: January 31st

Exercise: the weather here has been rather crappy so there hasn't been much walking outside. I will walk around inside stores for awhile and do some stretching exercises from our Bradley class. 

Swelling: still no noticeable swelling 

Maternity clothes: My maternity pants don't like to stay up anymore. They keep slipping down- not sure if my belly is getting too big or if the shape is changing. 

Belly button: shallow shallow shallow 

Sleep: I relax in the evenings with Matt and will feel my eyes getting heavy, but once I lay in bed I'm not able to instantly fall asleep like usual pre-pregnancy. So I stay up until about midnight most nights messing on my phone.  And sleep til 8 or so (with a bunch of pee breaks and turning and flipping because my hips or left ribs hurt) then I usually relax in bed for an hour more. 

Food cravings/aversions: I am very unsatisfy-able recently. Nothing really sounds good. Not that it sounds bad but it just doesn't sound like what I want. I eat and nothing hits the spot- so I eat more- and that doesn't hit the spot either- so I eat more. Lets see what the weight gain is at my next appointment. I may just make up for the fact that I haven't gained since before Christmas. 

Symptoms: I'm hitting that "freak out and worry stage" I can't believe we have 5 weeks left. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm going to be a mom. And this baby is going to come out of me. Then it's mine (and Matt's to take home and raise for the next 18+ years.)

Movement: the movement I'm feeling now feels so strange. It's very low below my belly button, and feels like the baby is crossing and  uncrossing it's legs or twisting and turning. It actually sorta hurts. 

Labor signs: at night when I wake up to use the restroom my belly seems tight- not sure if this is Braxton hicks contractions or just pressure from how the baby is laying and a full bladder. 

What I miss: being satisfied. 

What I'm loving: taking long hot showers

What I'm looking forward to: our next baby shower with friends is next weekend!

Best moment this week: We had our baby shower with Matt's family. 

I have put together several to do lists for the next 5 weeks. Now I need to start checking stuff off. 

We have the following lists:

* Things to do around the house

*  Things to do in the nursery

* Things to buy for baby if we don't get them at our next shower

* Things to stock up on

* Freezer meals to make

There are quite a few things on each list- but really if it doesn't get done it will be ok. 

All the baby needs is 

A place to sleep (check)

Something to eat (check) 

A way to get home (check) 

Bed, boobs and baby carrier- we are going to be a-ok! 

Now for some fun picture comparisons---

Here is a comparison shot wearing the same shirt. 15 weeks on the left and 35 weeks on the right. 
What a difference twenty weeks makes when you are growing a baby!

And here is a comparison shot from last week at 34 weeks- to this week at 35 weeks. 
I think I look smaller- baby must be moving around in there. 

Baby Shower with Daddy's Family

Today was our baby shower with Matt's family. It was so nice to see everyone.

 

I didn't realize how chubby in my face I looked that day- maybe it's just how my hair is laying. Look at that hottie beside me though :)  Here's a close up of the cute corsage that they made for me to wear.

 

 

And a picture of the cute baby toy decorations, and a sign telling everyone to take a candle and say a prayer for use once they hear we are in labor. (I didn't cry this time when I handed them out-- I cried at another point.... I guess tears are a given.)

 

 

 

Good company, good conversations and good food.... (Look at those cupcakes- chocolate and a spice one- YUMM)

what more could you ask for from a baby shower?!?
Predictions you say- well here you go!

Out of twelve guests  seven predict that Bebe will be a boy (Matt's mom, grandma Anne, Aunt Tammy, Aunt Kirsten, Aunt Debbie, Cousin Heather, Jimmy)
Fives guests predicted Bebe will be a girl (Matt's sister, Aunt Kelly, Aunt Teresa, cousin Kaitlin and cousin Ashton)

The boys won again.   Oh boy oh boy!   I guess we will see. I can't wait :)

So what does everyone think our little one will look like?
Eight guests think Bebe will have blonde hair, two think it will be brown and one person thinks it will actually be red!   (Matt does seem to have some red in his beard depending on the light). Six guests think Bebe will have blue eyes, five think the eyes will be brown and one says green.

Let's move on to predicted birthdate and times

Great Grandma Anne- February 15 (1:00pm)
Jimmy- February 19 (3:00am)
Grandma Melanie-February 27 (2:00pm)
Aunt Amanda- February 28 (noon)
Heather- February 28
Kelly- February 28 (1:15pm)
Kirsten- March 2 (8:35pm)
Debbie- March 2 (10:12)
Tammy- march 3 (1:30am)

How much do you think Bebe will weigh?

6 pounds
7 pounds
7 pounds
7 pounds
7 pounds 5 ounces
7 pounds 6 ounces
7 pounds 11 ounces
8 pounds
8 pounds 2 ounces
8 pounds 10 ounces
10 pounds

What do you think Bebe will be when he/she grows up?
*teacher
*architect
*electrician
*gymnastic
*scientist
*engineer
*professor
*NFL football player

I just love seeing everyone's predictions! And again reading the traits that people hope that our little one inherit from us brought tears to my eyes. You don't always think about yourself in those ways, pointing out the positives. But to have someone else write them just makes me smile. And such wonderful wishes everyone had for our future child. Again I hope they ALL come true!

 

 

And here is a picture of all the goodies that Bebe P got.  We are truly blessed and can't thank everyone enough for coming out and celebrating with us and showering us with such love and thoughtfulness.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! And Thank you again!

34 Weeks

 

 

Sew I decided to try my hand at making a blanket. Get it  "SEW" I decided to try my my hand at making a blanket. Haha. Oh I'm sure my child will not think I'm funny at all. But I make myself chuckle :)

Anyway- I wanted to make a big blanket for our little one using the fabric that I had bought for the nursery. I wasn't so confidant in making something big though since we don't own a sewing machine and I've never really seen anything by hand. So I decided to start small and go from there. Here is a closeup of the finished product- a taggie blanket.

I'm super excited how it turned out. Next on my list is a laundry bag, and a runner for the dresser we redid. (I thought about adding pockets on each side to hold diapers,  cream, etc.

Stay tuned to see how they turn out!

33 Weeks

We bought our first cloth diaper this past week. I guess with only 7 weeks left we should start thinking about how we will be keeping number one and number two contained (meaning poop and pee- we AREN'T having twins- no matter how big I may look)

Matt and I went and checked out a new store- The Baby Grocery store. Customer service was amazing. As soon as we entered the building someone greeted us and have us a short tour of the place pointing out organic food in one area, cloth diapers along the entire back wall, baby carries (slings and such) a frozen food section. It was really cool. We browsed for awhile then had a very knowledge girl help us with the cloth diapers. I had down some research and jnew some of the different kinds: prefolds, pockets, all in ones- but never really had the opportunity to see the differences in brands hands on and explore them. So she gave us the overview and answered a lot of our questions.

Will we cloth diaper full time? Who knows. But we are planning on giving it a go and seeing where the cute cuddly cloth diaper train takes us. We bought some prefolds and two precious thirstee covers to use until our baby can fit better into all in ones. We decided that buying sized diapers was not the way we wanted to go. We like the pockets and all in ones the best- but since they don't fit newborns as well we are starting with the prefolds- which we can later use as spit rags or to help with overnight protection.

And since I'm sure you are thinking "what are you crazy? Do you know what is inside of a baby's diaper?"

I think seeing THIS on the outside covering up that little heiny- will help soften the blow of the mess we are seeing on the inside.

Hopefully I will be able to add more to this blog as we go on this cloth adventure and people can learn from our experiences (or lack there of experience)


Now some updates:

How far along: 33 weeks- 7 weeks left
This week, baby is the size of a: pineapple
Next appointment: still going every two weeks. I only have a few more two week appointments left (1 or 2) before I start going weekly. I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is going. It seems like yesterday I was in Gatlinburg telling Matt he was going to be a daddy :)
Total weight gain: according to my last weigh in I've gained 21 pounds. I've been holding steady since before Christmas. Now THAT'S a feat in and of itself to not gain weight over Christmas. That's hard to do when you're not pregnant!
Stretch marks: I have developed a few stretch marks here and there- it comes with growing a baby I suppose.
Swelling: No swelling, I'm still able to wear my wedding rings and haven't noticed any swelling in my feet either. I do feel like my face is starting to "fill out" a little more though-
Belly button: Matt is the official belly button tester- he says it is getting shallower everyday. Will it become an outie by the end???
Sleep: third trimester has brought my tiredness back. I however have been staying awake longer at night and struggling to fall asleep recently. Add to that the fact that I got a cold and cough which has taken my sleep away.
Movement: movement is less kicks now and more of a "rolling" now. It's such a strange sensation- I wish I could see through my belly sometimes to see what exactly this little one is doing in there.
Labor signs: I don't believe I have had any Braxton hicks contractions. I could be wrong on this though. There are times spots on my belly get hard but it seems to stay that way for awhile- so I assume its how baby is laying and not BH.
What I miss: being able to breath. I've had a stuffy nose this entire pregnancy- add a cold onto it and breathing is practically impossible without sitting with your mouth wide open.
What I'm loving: Getting closer to meeting our child.
What I'm looking forward to: our baby shower with Matt's side of the family next weekend. And we also have our 7 hour childbirth class at the hospital this weekend. I hope it is useful!
Best moment this week: I don't know if I would call it the best moment but it was a highlight of the week- I got all of the Christmas stuff out away. Not only put away but organized into different containers and labeled so we should easily be able to find things next year when at Christmas time we will be a family of three+dog.
Goals: I would like to make a blanket for our little one out of fabric I bought for the nursery.

Ultrasound #3

I had my ultrasound today. Look at this precious little one growing inside me.

Matt wasn't able to come with me to this one, he had to work but his son or daughter had a special message for him. (The tech took a picture of the baby waving and wrote "Hi Daddy".  I must not have taken a picture of the printout- I will try to remember to do that and post it soon!)


My goodness.
I just can not comprehend the amazingness of it all. How God has created the human body to grow another being. And how this itty bitty thing grows little by little and is fully supported by me.  The ultrasound tech said it is about4 pounds 11 ounces I believe- but she also said that is just an estimate give or take 12 ounces. She is predicting a big baby though.

The tech also informed me that this baby is breech. Still plenty of time to flip but he/she is currently feet down and head in my right rib. The feet are extremely low, which would explain why it sometimes feels like the karate kid trying to get out of my nether regions.

I think that before this appointment the baby may have been head down because I wasn't feeling many kicks (I have an anterior placenta which would explain my lack of feeling movement) but all day I've been feeling kicks and jabs down low. The tech said baby was moving a whole bunch and would probably continue to flip around practicing their summersaults.

In other ultrasound-ic news : baby has hair. The tech pointed on "wispy" areas on the screen and said that they were hair. Who knows how much or what color, but time will soon tell!

32 Weeks

 

Well I had my after Christmas doctors appointment today.  Dr. H had told me to try not to gain any weight over Christmas.  HA I thought- I'm going to be in PA with family, basically just sitting around eating good food.  Not only would there be good food for Christmas, but there would also be good food at a baby shower, and good food for new years eve parties.  BUT- I provailed- I actualyl lost a pound in the two weeks since I saw her last.  She still wants me to go and talk to a nutritionist- so that is scheduled. 

She also scheduled an ultrasound for Friday to check on the baby's growth.  Here is a progression of the bump for your viewing pleasure.  It starts around the second trimester up through week 32 at the very end.  I am amazed at how the human body grows and expands to make room for a little baby to grow inside of it.

 

 

Nursery Progress

We made it safely back home, and Matt still had some vacation days left to spare. Isn't it strange how you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation sometimes. Matt didn't get much resting time in though. I took full advantage of him being home and we went on the hunt for the perfect gray color for the nursery (not sure if there is such a thing, but we tried.)

Here is the progress we have made so far.

The top picture is all of the letters that we bought, painted and modgepodged.  The bottom picture is the moch up I did on the wall.  I cut each letter out of paper and taped it to the wall to make sure I liked the placement and spacing of the letters.  In the right corner of this wall (which you can sort of see) is a large boocase, that holds nicknacks and books and picture frames.  The black piece of paper above the bookcase will become the new home of the charicture that we had done in Gatlinburg to announce the pregnancy to Matt.  In the left corner of this wall there is a glider (which we hope to recover). I can picture Matt and I sitting in the glider feeding the baby, reading a story to them before bed or just snuggling with them. Once the baby is old enough bean bags will be added and this will be turned into a reading area. (I hope our child has a love of books like I do.)

This is the dresser that Matt and I found on Craigslist and refinished. It's currently housing most of the goodies that we got from our baby shower. The bottom drawer is dedicated to diapers, the middle drawer has toys and health and bath supplies, and the top drawer is dedicated to feeding supplies. We of course will eventually move the bath and feeding stuff but for now it's all contained in the dresser. We plan to paint this wall gray as well (we wanted to live with the one wall to begin with to make sure it wasn't too blue looking or too purple or yellow- it's hard to find a true gray.)  The black pieces of paper above the dresser are going to be frames and shelving.  As soon as we get the wall painted we will be ready to yut them up!

We are going to add a changing pad to the dresser as well as shelves above it and a few pictures. The large black rectangle you see will not be a picture, instead it will be an empty frame with a coat hook. We thought we would hang the coming home outfit there, and later maybe another special outfit.

And that's nursery progress 1.0 for right now. Stay tuned for version 2.0 as more progress is made.