38 weeks

Another week closer to baby arriving!

I don't have much to report.  Since everything is ready, we are just in a waiting stage.  Our 37 week appointment went well.  Baby's heartbeat was at 140 bpm and I measured 36 weeks.  My cervical check showed I was 4 cm dilated and still about 70% effaced.  This was good news!  Progress but not tons of progress like my 37 week appointment with Simon. 

We asked a lot of questions about the treatment options for GBS and were able to make a plan that allowed us to go into labor naturally but still have Momma and baby covered in the antibiotic department.  This made us much more relieved about the whole thing.  How exciting to be able to go naturally like we did with Dexter!  Knowing that every hour could be when something starts.  My water broke with Dexter and then I started contracting but it could be the opposite this time.  I'm so excited!

The heartburn has been horrible this week.  Horrible, horrible, horrible.  I wake up every night with it and can't fall asleep for quite some time.  I  can't wait for the heartburn to be over with.  I only get it when I'm pregnant so knowing I am 2ish weeks away from not feeling this for a long time is getting me excited.

Other than that I am just trying to stay in the moment and relish every last bit of my pregnancy with my little Cookie.  Every movement is precious and every hiccup is adorable.  Even the kicks and jabs that hurt I'm taking in stride knowing that soon I won't feel them anymore.  As much as I want this baby to come out and meet us, I also want to enjoy these last little bits of time with Dexter and Simon.  I know Dex will adjust fine to the baby but I'm a bit worried about Simon.  So any additional time to lavish them with my love and attention is good.

Did I mention that I am STILL stretch mark free!  How amazing!  They didn't even come back in the spots where I got them with Dex and Simon.  I still haven't had very much swelling either.  This has been quite remarkable as I was horribly stretch mark-y with both boys and horribly swollen.  I guess another indicator that this could be a little lady?  Who knows! 

This weekend we are going to start doing some natural ways to get labor going.  I am trying to talk Max into a trip to the MOA so we can do a lot of walking and perhaps get the boys a present from the baby.  I don't do spicy food but we will see what other things I can find on the internet to get labor going.  I see that a lot of people have guessed the 2nd for when the baby will arrive.  Time will tell!  I hope so!  2-2-14 sounds like a great birthday to me and fits in with my love of even numbers :) 

Time to Guess

I think it's fun to guess stuff about the baby :)  I might be the only one but oh well.

I think Cookie is a girl.
I think she will either come Jan 30 or Feb 11.
I think she will be 7 lbs 9 oz and 19 in long.

If you are the type to base your guess off stats or previous children, I have included some things midwives tales are based off of for all kiddos.

Cookie:

-Heartbeat has averaged around 150 bpm with the highest being 176 at 10 weeks pregnant and the lowest being 136 at my 32 week appointment.
-I have carried Cookie neither high nor low but right in the middle.
-Cookie has always measured right on track for his/her due date.
- 36 week appointment was almost 3cm dilated and 70% effaced.


Dexter:

-I carried him low.
-He measured on time.
-His heartbeat averaged in the 150's.
-36 week apt was 2 cm dilated 50% effaced.  37 week apt was 3 cm dilated 75% effaced.  38 week apt I measured about the same.
-My water broke naturally at 38 weeks 2 days. 
-My labor took 7 hours.
-He was 7 lbs 2 oz and 18 in long.

Simon:

-I carried him high.
-He always measured large.
-His heartbeat was always higher... in the 160's to 170's until the very end.
-36 week apt was 2 cm dilated 50% effaced.  37 week apt was almost 6 cm 100% effaced.  Was same at 38 week apt and again when I was checked a few days later.
-I was checked into the hospital the day I turned 39 weeks and they broke my water.  No Pitocin needed.
-My labor was exactly 4 hours long.
He was 8 lbs 2 oz and 21 in long.

37 weeks

*I am mildly horrified at how I look in this picture and am only using to save time since I will be too lazy to write this blog later.  Your welcome.*

3 weeks until due date.  The chances are more likely that baby will be here in 2 weeks... Obviously that doesn't mean it will happen that way but the chances are more than likely. 

This week was ok.  I came down with a nasty bad head cold and that really rocked our rhythm.  I haven't been sleeping well because I can't breathe and I have had horrible heartburn again.  Tossing and turning in your third trimester is more grunting and heaving.  We had a lot of couch time this week because of this cold.  Well, as much couch time as a 3 year old and two almost 18 month olds will allow.  Since they have come down with a version of this cold as well, we all have been enjoying some extra movie time and earlier nap times. 

I'm losing track of what I'm talking about.

Cold.  Yes.  So with the addition of the chest/head cold and the baby being so large, I am having a hard time getting a nice deep breath.  I miss being able to take in as much oxygen as my lungs can hold and letting it out.  I'm waiting for the baby to drop so I feel that sensation of finally being able to breathe again but I think this cold wouldn't allow for that to happen anyway.

I have been  having so. many. Braxton Hicks contractions.  Anything I do makes them come on.  Coughing, sneezing, laughing, etc. all makes for a good bout of Braxton Hicks.  I have been having regular contractions here and there as well.  Yesterday I had quite a few.  I woke up to a very strong, painful contraction and spent the whole day with Braxtons coming every few minutes to every 5 minutes.  When I took a shower at nap time, I had 5 real contractions right in a row.  They weren't as painful as the one I got in the morning but enough to blow out a little extra breathe in the midst of them.  They stopped once I got out of the shower.

This reminds me, I had my 36 week doctor appointment.  Baby's heartbeat was at 144 and I was measuring at 37 weeks along.  I had my cervical check and I am about 3 cm dilated and was 70% effaced.  I know a lot of women are in labor when their bodies are at this point but my body doesn't work that way.  This means almost nothing.  My appointment was on Monday so my next appointment is this coming Monday and we will see what progress has been made.

Much to my dismay, I tested positive for GBS again.  This was expected but still disappointing to happen.  It means I will be positive for every pregnancy.  Max and I are extremely against having my water broken again to buy us the 4 hours necessary for the penicillin (which is what we had to do with Simon) and want to go into labor naturally.  We are trying to determine the best course of action since we also are very against our newborn being on antibiotics straight out of the womb.  There are natural ways you can treat GBS but is sounds like they need at least 2 weeks to see results and I don't think we have that time.  I am so bummed about this.  I am happy though that Max and I are in agreement to let labor come on naturally this time.  I guess I can only hope that my labor will last longer than 4 hours from when I enter the hospital. 

We got to take a look at the water birth room and ask the nurse some questions.  I feel much better now that I have a visual in my head of how things are going to be set up.  One less thing in the unknown category.  I am trying to to be scared of the pain but it's natural and I can only just tell myself to relax and what will be will be.  I can do this.  I am made to give birth.  The pain is only for a small period of time and I will get to meet my baby.  Uffda.  Men have it so easy.

We are ready for baby.  Hospital bag is as packed as it can get, we have some freezer meals cooked and ready for post baby, the kids bag is packed in case Grandma wants to keep the kiddos at her house instead of coming to ours, the car seat is decked out in all manners of warmth so baby doesn't freeze in these frequent sub-zero temperatures.  This weekend will be devoted to cleaning the house so we can bring baby home to a cozy, clean environment.  Normally I would take on all the cleaning as I do a better job of it but Max will have to do a good part of it as some of it is tedious, bending over scrubbing work.  Too hard on this gal's back.  While he is scrubbing away, I will make some more wool diaper covers for our wee little one.  We plan on disposables in the hospital but as soon as baby is home s/he will be in cloth.  So we need those bad boys. 

Alright, I think this is long enough.  Until next week!  Maybe :)

Song of the Spirits by Sarah Lark and The Pianist in the Dark by Michele Halberstadt

Song of the Spirits is the second book from Sarah Lark.  It is the telling of the next generation from her original book The Land of the Long White Cloud.  Since I read and enjoyed her first book I wanted to read this second installment as well. 

 

Both books are very long.  Even I took a few days to read this book and that is saying something.  I had a bit of trouble getting into this one at first but once I got to know the new characters and got to revisit some of the characters from the first book I enjoyed it.  Seriously though, it is long. 

 

The first book spans over a long period of time but this second one devotes itself to the passing of a few years.  There were moments where it felt like it was dragging on but then there were moments where I couldn't wait to see what happened. 

 

Amazon review here and here is the review from the first book.  I am not sure if I ever wrote anything about that one.

 

The Pianist in the Dark took some getting into.  By the time I finally got the jist of what the story was going to be about I was surprised to find I was almost halfway through already.  This was a short book and not one of my favorites. 

It takes place way back in the day with Austrian society and talk of the Empress and what have you. The premise of the book sounded good and since it was free at the time I downloaded it.  I wish we could have had a bit more detail and a little less vagueness.  I honestly whipped through this book in just a couple hours and wasn't sad when it was done.  Either way, I read it through and since I like to keep track of what I am reading in case of any *gasp* Kindle malfunction here it is.

Amazon review here.

35 & 36 weeks

 

Forgive me again... I was too lazy to write last week.

We are nearing the finish line and all my thoughts are mostly devoted to preparing for the baby, how life will be after the baby is born, do we have a little girl or a little boy in there, etc.  We mostly have everything ready.  I have a short list on our chalkboard right now to complete and once that is done we are completely ready! 

I was looking at the calendar last week and it suddenly hit me that the possibility is there that the baby could be here as soon as next week.  Some women have their babies at 37 weeks and what if that was me?  I started panicking.  Obviously I realize I am at the end of my pregnancy but I didn't really think of the end end... you know, the part where the baby actually comes out and you take it home.  I kind of just got used to the idea of being huge pregnant and figured I'd be like that for a long time.  I mean, seriously!  I am having a baby in the next few weeks! 

Baby is doing well.  My weekly emails tell me that s/he is fully developed and is now just gaining weight.  My belly feels much heavier and my movements are much slower.  Getting up off the floor requires some work and since I love my baths so much, getting out of the tub is quite a chore.  I haven't had to yell for Max yet :)  Nighttime has become pretty uncomfortable.  I move around a lot in my sleep and it is so hard to even roll over.  I want so badly to sleep on my stomach or even my back that I wake up sometimes on my back and my legs and hips are slightly numb.  That is not good.  Too much pressure on my spine and that vein they are always talking about.  I chide myself and grunt while turning on my side again. 

My body is in labor prep mode.  My hips are spreading in preparation for birth, my boobs have gotten huge (well, for me) so they can hold all the milk my little love will need and I'm exhausted all the time again so I can store up energy for what's in store.  In reaction to the hormones racing through my system my face has broken out again.  This baby is lucky I love him/her otherwise I would have quite a hard time with the acne.  My face has also started getting plump and squishy like the Pillsbury doughboy.  This happens every time at the end so it is to be expected although not appreciated.  Surprisingly, my feet haven't swollen at all.  I can't believe it but it's true!  My feet were pretty large at the end of Dexter's pregnancy and were gigantic and cracking and bleeding at the end of Simon's pregnancy so to have my feet looking normal and fitting into all my normal shoes is quite impressive.  Go feet!

If I am going by comparison, I can tell this baby will be a bit shorter than Simon was.  Dex was 18 inches and Simon was 21 inches and I always felt Simon kicking high up in my ribs.  This baby doesn't get that far up.  S/he sticks their butt up to create lumps a lot and you can see an elbow make its way across my belly.  I will miss these movements even if they hurt at times. 

The baby gets the hiccups a lot and it really rocks my belly.  If I'm in the tub the water quakes all around me with each hiccup the baby has.  Poor little bugger probably hates those strong hiccups. 

Heartburn is incredibly frequent although not with the ferociousness of that one week.  I still crave sweets above all else and I even beat my husband in eating anything laying around that has a sweet flavor.  He has the ultimate sweet tooth and is baffled at opening a tin of bars and seeing I've already eaten most of them.   Whoops!  I only have myself to blame for my weight gain this month.

Speaking of which, my 36 week doctor appointment is on Monday.  You know what this means... the dreaded GBS test.  The test itself isn't dreaded but the result is.  A lot of how my labor will play out will depend on if I am GBS positive again and so I am praying, pleading and begging that I be negative this time.  I don't care one iota if I go to 42 weeks as long as I am GBS negative.  I suppose we will find out.  I will have another cervical check again to see if I have started dilating and effacing.  With both Dexter and Simon I was 2 cm/50% effaced at my 36 week appointment.  I'm all stretched out now because of the boys so I would have to be 3cm/50% effaced to be the same this time.  I'm excited for my appointment to see if we have some progress or if baby is happily tucked in tight. 

That's all I have for you today folks... I would rather be on the couch relaxing, watching my new chick flick I bought myself and eating something sweet.  So that is where I am headed until nap time is over :)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Left Drowning by Jessica Park

Any story based during World War II and Nazi Germany is basically a surefire sad book.  I don't know why I'm so interested in this time period but I love books based in this time period. 

My mom went and saw this movie and asked me to read the book.  I'm always game for a new book so when I went to buy it I was surprised to find Amazon telling me that I had already purchased it.  Low and behold it was on my Kindle just waiting for me. 

This book was sad.  Very sad.  It took me a minute to figure out the beginning because the story is narrated by Death and Death's point of view.  Once I figured that out, the book was very good.  The storytelling was original and had a different set up than normal.  "Death" gave previews about the end without actually telling the details and still made it seem vital to have told these previews. 

I really enjoyed it... as much as you can enjoy an incredibly sad book.  And the end, OH the end.  So devastating.  My pregnant hormones almost made me cry a bit.  That's saying something.  If you enjoy this type of book I highly recommend this book. 

Amazon's link here.

This was another book recommended to me.  I didn't even read what it was about because after one person recommended it to me, others did as well so I just went ahead and read it.  It helped that it was only $0.99.

Well... this book was good.  A very easy read with heartbreak and love.  I thought this was a young adult book but let me tell you, this book has some raunchy parts.  I was not prepared for this and when I reached the first scene I was very surprised.  I never read Fifty Shades and I'm sure it's not in that category but reader beware there are a few dirty scenes.  With details.

The storyline itself is very good though and I enjoyed it.  I could have done with less details on certain parts but I still enjoyed the book.  This is a good book if you are looking for a mindless book to read.

Amazon page here.

34 weeks

I counted how many days until my due date.  42.  42 days.  42 short days.  6 short weeks. 

This week was plagued by some nasty bad heartburn.  The worst heartburn I have ever had in my entire life.  Granted, when I was pregnant with Dexter and experienced heartburn for the first time EVER I didn't even know what it was.  Max kept trying to tell me it was heartburn but I didn't believe him.  So, I will rephrase.  The worst heartburn of all three pregnancies.  It felt like waves of acid crashing into my esophagus the way waves crash onto a rocky beach.  The spray traveled up and into my mouth.  Oy vey.  It was bad.  The heartburn was particularly horrible at night.  I had to sleep sitting up which is extremely difficult if not impossible for me.  The trouble is I cannot STAND Tums.  Honestly, its the texture.  That chalky texture.  This isn't a pregnant thing but a normal thing for me.  Any candy resembling that texture like Valentines Day hearts or Sweet tarts I can't handle.  I was so close to actually taking a Tums it was that bad but I refrained.  That is how much I hate that chalky texture.

I got a mild case of the flu this week.  That was no fun.  Who likes to puke?  Honestly its one of the worst feelings.  And I tell you what.  Once you have had two kids and are giant with #3, there is no way you are tossing your cookies without peeing your pants a bit at the same time.  That might be TMI but its a fact.  You don't even have time to think about crossing your legs like when you sneeze or laugh really hard.  Dang. 

The baby had moved into a nice position for a few days in there.  I woke up one morning feeling particularly small and light.  I didn't waddle anymore.  I didn't have nearly as bad of back aches.  It was great!  Max said I didn't look any smaller but I sure felt like it.  I don't know how the baby was positioned but I sure liked it.  I could tell when the baby shifted again because I felt huge again.  Funny how their positions affect you so much. 

We got a big thing checked off the to-do list which was getting Simon switched out of the crib and into Dexter's room.  The first night was pretty rough and he got out of bed a lot but finally around 430am I figured out that the nightlight was too bright for him and once I turned it off he didn't get out of bed at all.  It has been 4 nights now and they have been equal in rough nights to great nights.  Nap time goes pretty smoothly as well although naps are much shorter than what they used to be.  Simon could be counted on to sleep at least 2 1/2-3 hours and now it's just over an hour.  You can imagine how this tired, sore Momma feels around 7 now when I have two whiney kids.  Everyone is adjusting.  I just have to tell myself these things take time.  What's the point in getting any sleep now when once the baby comes I won't get any then either.

Since this weekend will be FREEZING I plan to spend some time in the nursery and get things ready in there.  Put the clothes away, raise the crib back up, organize all of the too small clothes from Simon that I have just piled everywhere.  I'd like to get our room situated with the pack and play near the bed so that is all ready.  I  might as well put the infant seat in the car since I don't have the energy to take 3 kids anywhere.  What else... find my breast pump and make sure everything is rearing to go in that department.  I think that will wrap up most projects!  Throw in a little sewing and Cookie can come anytime!  Well, I'd rather Cookie wait until 37 weeks of course but I meant we will have everything ready.  I think even the kids are ready for the baby to come.  They both understand that right now the baby is in my tummy but soon the baby will come out. 

I can't believe I am 27 years old and will have 3 kids 3 years and under.  Max and I are on crazy pills.  Oh well.  I'm so excited!

6 weeks left!