37 Weeks: We're officially full term!

I'm full term! Hooray! This doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of when this kiddo will make his grand entrance, but it does mean that it could be any day now, and he would be just fine. I'm feeling in denial about actually giving birth, but I've had quite a few people tell me they think I'll have him early. We'll see!

Now, on to our last fruit comparison!


A watermelon! We're officially in the 9th month of pregnancy. I've completed 8 whole months! Wow. There's not much to say as far as development and growth go, because Ty is pretty much done. Just getting fatter and longer, and practicing all those natural reflexes that he's been working on for a while now.

Weight Change: I dunno. Last week I had lost 2lbs, even though I feel huge and thought I'd gained weight. Whatever, the baby is growing, my belly is growing, everything is growing at a normal and healthy rate. I'm so done with worrying about my weight.

Symptoms/Feelings: The newest thing has been cramping. It's not painful or anything, but I have been cramping, and experiencing more back pain with the cramps. Just for the past 4 days or so. Also losing bits of my mucous plug, and experiencing a lot of pelvic discomfort. All good things that point us in the direction of baby time.

Cravings: EVERYTHING. I seriously want to eat everything I can get my hands on. I had to purposely not buy anything "extra" at the grocery store this week, as I would have eaten it all in one day. No joke. I want real food, especially those yummy comfort foods. Chicken noodle soup, chicken pot pies, chili, stew, mashed potatoes. I am good with whatever, I just want to EAT. I've been eating a lot lately, and I have heard that right before going into labor a lot of women get suddenly hungry. Something about your body's way of storing up food as energy for birth? I can't remember. I don't really put a lot of hope in that, though. I don't feel like I'll be having this baby any time soon.

Appointments: Midwife appointment tomorrow at 10am. I will get my GBS swab, and we'll probably start discussing labor and what will happen if I go past due.

Anything big happening? Nope. Not doing anything big for the remainder of the pregnancy.

Preparing for Baby: I had a nice pedicure today and told her to hit all the labor inducing pressure points, haha. It probably won't do anything, but man that was a nice pedicure! I got a cute aqua color for my baby boy. I love it. :)



I've been trying to go for walks every day, but some days I just don't want to! I know walking will help my body prepare for labor, so I use that as motivation. The dogs enjoy the time with me, though I'm trying not to get them too used to our current schedule, as I know they won't get out as frequently once baby gets here. I also take lots of naps, as sleep is difficult at night. And I have been in SUPER CLEANING LADY mode. Tomorrow the kitchen gets SUPER CLEANED. :)

Belly Pics:

37 weeks! My belly seems a lot bigger than it was, even compared to last week (See?).

That's all! Only 3 weeks until my due date!!!

36 Weeks!

I can hardly believe we're already at 36 weeks. At the end of this week I'll be full term! It's so amazing how fast this time has flown by. Getting to see my little Ty-Guy this morning just made it all that much more real. He's so big in there! His arms and legs are all scrunched up, and his face is so much more defined (I got to see a really cool head-on shot of his face that was pretty cool!). It was so cute to see his little feet. They are so much bigger than they were 17 weeks ago!

-Ty is now around 19 inches long and weighs about 6lbs.
-At this point he gains about an ounce every day!
-He is shedding that hair that was all over his body (and that waxy stuff on his skin that was protecting him from the amniotic fluid). Now he's pretty much exactly how he is going to be when he's born!
-My uterus is as high up as it will ever get, and right now it feels like it rubs against my ribs.
-My amniotic fluid is at it's highest as well, and Ty has much less room to move around now. I've noticed his movements have decreased, but that's normal. As long as I feel him moving a little bit every day, there's no need for me to worry.

Weight Change: I'll find out tomorrow. I am pretty sure I did gain weight, though. I feel heavier and bigger! Average for 36 weeks is about 30lbs. I haven't gained that much, though. I'm still under my pre-pregnancy weight. At this point, I don't even care about the number on the scale. I'll worry about that after the baby is born.

Symptoms/Feelings: Starting to feel a lot of cramping throughout the day. Over the weekend I experienced quite a few moderately painful contractions. I think it was due to dehydration, so I've been making sure I drink lots of water and trying not to do too much. My feet also feel like they are swelling a bit. My normal shoes are getting a little snug. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do about that! Fortunately, my feet are the only things that are swelling so far.

Cravings: Junk food! I've been craving fast food a lot, but resisting. I did go to Taco Bell last week, but felt sick after. go figure. I've been craving frozen mango, and that is a craving I will indulge!

Appointments: Had an ultrasound this morning, as you can see by the picture at the top! Tyron is head down, and his back is up against my left side. No idea if he's anterior or posterior (anterior being facing my back- which is optimal for birth. Posterior or "sunny side up" which means he is facing my belly), but from the contractions I had over the weekend, I'd guess he is posterior. It's not ideal for birth, but he can still spin toward my back between now and birthing time. I didn't get a whole lot of information at the ultrasound, other than that he is head down and his heart looks good. Hopefully my midwife has the results at my next appointment.

My next midwife appointment is tomorrow morning. From now on I'll be going in every week!

Anything big happening? Nope! Just, you know, having a baby soon-ish. :-P

Preparing for baby: Like I mentioned last week, we're pretty set. Now we're just trying to spend as much time as possible together before we're a family of three. We've planned a few date nights, and are making the most of the next few weeks!

Belly Pics:


I don't really see too much difference from last week, but Doug thinks my belly has gotten bigger. It sure FEELS huge! :) My belly DOES look a bit lower, though!

35 Weeks!

35 Weeks!

-Ty is about 5 1/4 lbs and over 18 inches long.
-He's pretty much done developing, and not much will change other than his weight and length.
-He's preparing for life on the outside, and his lungs are getting stronger and preparing for his first breath. He's also producing waste for his first poop (joy!).
-We're 2 weeks from being full-term, 5 weeks from our due date and 6 weeks, 3 days from eviction date. Kind of crazy to think we will definitely have a baby within the next 6 1/2 weeks!


Here's a little diagram thing I found on spinningbabies.com. It's basically supposed to show you the position of the baby by feeling around a little and paying attention to where you feel things moving. It's backwards, with my left side on the right side of the page (like if I were looking in a mirror). So this is how you'd see the baby if you were looking straight on at my belly from in front of me!

So, the squiggles in the top are where I feel kicks most often. That would be where baby's feet are. The little curved line at the top is where I feel a bump/buldge, and that's the baby's bum. That line down the side is the hard part where I feel the baby's back. The heart is where I hear the heartbeat loudest, and the curved line is where I can feel a round bulge of the head. Pretty interesting, though I'm not 100% sure I'm right on all of this.

Weight Change: Will find out next week.

Symptoms/Feelings: LOTS of braxton hicks contractions. I get them numerous times a day, throughout the day. Also, I feel like I could eat all day long. I'm always hungry! I wake up in the middle of the night and want to eat! I also get REALLY grumpy if I need to eat. I'm assuming my blood sugar is changing, which is normal at this stage in pregnancy, and that the grumpiness comes from low blood sugar. Heartburn hasn't been horrible, but I have been having difficulty sleeping. I have lots of aches and pains, but so far everything is normal and tolerable. No swelling in my ankles yet, and i'm still wearing my wedding rings very comfortably, so I'm pretty happy about that.

Cravings: Nothing really specific. I have been in the mood to bake, but it's not really a craving. I mostly just want to be eating all the time.

Appointments: Nothing until next week. Next Tuesday I have an ultrasound to check the baby's position, so we'll see if my intuition is right! Then next Wednesday is my 36 week appointment, and from there I go to appointments every week.

Anything big happening? Nope! Just getting ready for the baby's arrival. We're trying not to do too much lately, though I want to go on a date night soon!

Preparing for baby: Still doing hypnobabies. I've also been planning meals to freeze, and getting things ready for the big day. It's exciting! I'm making lists with phone numbers, keeping emergency taxi money in both mine and Doug's wallets. I still haven't packed my hospital bag, but I don't imagine I'll need it for a while yet, so I'm not worried.

Belly Pics:

I barely look pregnant when you look at me from the front! I can't decide if that's good or bad.


I really don't feel that big. I often wonder how much bigger I will get in the next 5 weeks. I do feel uncomfortable, and the belly feels quite heavy, but I don't actually feel HUGE. I'm quite grateful for my wide frame, as I feel it carries the baby quite easily! My naturally wide hips and long torso have been beneficial in pregnancy.

Doug says pregnancy suits me. It's nice to hear your husband say that when you're 8 months pregnant and feeling quite unattractive. :) He says he can tell I am healthy just by looking at me. Something about my complexion, haha. It was a nice compliment, though, and I think Doug would be the best judge of how healthy I look, because he's seen me in various stages of health (or un-health).

Unplugged

Doug and I were talking today about how dependent we all seem to be on being "plugged in" these days. It is not uncommon to see people at dinner with their cell phones out, texting or receiving phone calls or e-mails. The portability of laptops means people carry them everywhere, and go online wherever there is free wi-fi (and the list of places offering free wi-fi is constantly expanding). It is not unusual for the pair of us to be found spending evenings and weekends with the TV on, both of us on a couch with a computer on our laps.

We're not happy with this.

Sure, we get out of the house, we have conversations, we do things other than sit in front of a screen. However, our "at home" time is more frequently spent in front of the TV or the computer (or both!) than it is spent doing anything else.

We used to have a regular night during the week that we would stay away from the TV and computers. We also did this one day of the weekend. For whatever reason, we dropped that, but both of us are realizing that, even though we spend all our free time together, we're not really making good use of that time. We're plugged in, but not connecting to one another.

So we're doing it again. Unplugging on Sundays unless Doug has to do some work. No TV, no movies, NO COMPUTERS.

I know once Ty arrives we won't have much choice in the matter, but it's a good habit to start now.

Ch-ch-ch-changing

There is no getting around the fact that everything is about to change for Doug and I. EVERYTHING. I try to imagine what it will be like when we have our little boy to consider before we do anything. When date nights out become a thing of the past (though we are planning on adopting a "date night in" policy), when a stroller or carrier and diaper bag become our new accessories. Everything is going to be different, and I find this third trimester has been all about getting used to the changes. No longer able to make commitments for any time beyond the present, we can be heard answering "maybe, it just depends on the baby" when asked to make plans or commit to anything.

For me, the changes have been gradually coming over the past 8 months. Physically, I am changing in more ways than I can count. Little changes have popped up from the very beginning of pregnancy. Now, they are more obvious (hello, belly!). This past month I've been thinking about making more drastic changes. Changes that I can control.

Doug has been making his own changes, as well. Whether he acknowledges the timing of his physical changes with the timing of this big life change or not is beside the point. He's growing a full beard. I like the way he looks with the beard, and he said he wanted to look a little older. Now that he's approaching fatherhood and his 30th birthday, I think he's feeling the same way I am.

All these changes are coming and we can't control them!

Here I sit, with dye in my hair, waiting the alloted time before I can rinse it out. The other day I took a good look at myself in the mirror and I thought, "where the heck did all those gray hairs come from?" Sure, there were only a handful. It's not as though all my hairs are turning silver. First it was just one or two. I laughed as I pointed them out to people. But then I realized they've been multiplying, and now they didn't need to be pointed out. They were there without a doubt. In an effort to take some control over the changes my body is making (without my permission, I might add), I'm dying the gray out of those suckers. And in a week or two, I think I'm going to go get a hair cut. I need it anyway, but I think I'm in the mood to make some controlled changes. To prove to myself that even though everything is changing and I can't stop it, there are still SOME changes that I am in charge of. :)

Usually, I love change. And even now, I am anxious for this baby boy to be born, to see first hand what changes his life bring to our day-to-day lives. I find change to be thrilling in the way it upsets the "norm". But lately I'm not liking the fact that I really have no control over the changes happening to me and all around me. It's okay, it's nothing an $8 box of hair dye can't handle.

34 week update

Well... we're at the 34 week mark. I feel like this pregnancy is flashing before my eyes.


-Ty is about 4 3/4 to 5lbs now, and is 18 inches long! I'm constantly amazed at how big he is in there.
-If he were to be born now, Ty would not be considered "premature" but just be considered "pre-term". His lungs are much more developed now, which is what causes that difference. I dunno, I still want him to cook for at least 4 more weeks.
-We are 3 weeks away from being full-term, and 6 weeks away from our due date.

Weight Change: UUUUGH. I gained so much weight in the past two weeks! I gained 5lbs. It's not HORRIBLE, but considering my weight has not changed a whole lot since the beginning of the third trimester, this feels like a LOT to me. I know a lot of it is Ty and all the other things in my belly. My belly feels heavy and huge now. I'm not too worried. I'm still at -19lbs total, though.

Symptoms/Feelings: Lots of pains all over! Joint pain, back pain, sciatica pain. Also heartburn. No matter what I eat. Lots and lots of heartburn. I'm sleeping less, and feeling more painful movements, especially in my left rib cage. Ty likes to stretch out, but he doesn't have much room anymore!

Cravings: Bacon. LOL.

Appointments: Midwife appointment today. I was late because of the buses, so it was a short appointment. My blood pressure is great (she said "perfect", haha), fundal measurement is at 33 weeks, baby's heart rate is good. She felt around for Ty's position, and she said the "lump" at the bottom of my uterus feels much more head-like than it had before. His back is along my left side (with him facing my right) and she said she feels much more certain that he's head down now. Before it was harder for her to tell.

Within the next two weeks I have to go in for an ultrasound to double check that he IS, in fact, head down, but I am feeling pretty confident that he is. My intuition tells me his butt is at my ribs, and the pressure at my pelvis is his head. We'll find out soon, though.

My next appointment is at 36 weeks, where we will do our Group B Strep swab, and will start discussing labor. Then after that we move on to weekly appointments. I can't believe how close we are!

Anything Big Happening? NOPE!

Preparing for Baby: Still doing hypnobabies, but that's about it.

Belly Pic: