#4- 29-31 weeks

And there you are folks.  We are down to the single digits for weeks.  9 weeks left.  Every week I try to figure out how the past day, week, month flew by so fast but I can't figure it out.  All I know is that we have 9 weeks left until due date.  I've never made it to my due date before which means its pretty likely I have less than 9 weeks.

In the last few weeks I have started swelling big time.  My legs are just huge stumps compared to what they used to be.  By the end of the day they are just rock hard.  I even wore old granny compression socks yesterday and it was the first time I finished the day with my legs looking like they used to.  My shoes don't fit and I have to wear my fat foot Uggs.  My saggy baggy sweat socks even leave indents in my legs from being tight.

I have not weighed myself in a very long time.  I guess the last time would be the doctors office at my 28 week appointment but their scale and ours at home differs so I have been measuring by our scale at home.  Let's just say it's not a small amount.  I will easily pass Ada's weight gain and might have already.  <-- insert tears.  I am familiar with this process and soon the jowls will kick in and the plump cheeks.  The attractive stage is about to hit real hard.

I feel like I'm sticking "out" farther with this babe.  The clothes that I wore at the very end of my other pregnancies I'm wearing now and there isn't much room left to grow.  I actually bought a couple of shirts today while shopping so my selection would be a bit larger.  Also so I could feel a little better about having something new to wear.

Braxton's have started up pretty regularly.  A real small contraction here and there when I overdo it.  Heartburn hasn't been as bad which is weird.  I feel like my hormones have been pretty under control too.  If, IF I was to compare pregnancies I would say this one is more similar to the boys.  That doesn't mean anything of course but I was smaller, no swelling and more hormonal with Ada.  Time will tell I suppose if these are my "signs" of the sex of the baby.

Squirt has moved his/her attention from my pelvic floor to my ribs and quite painfully.  Those sweet, cute little toes are always trying to take out my bottom rib on my left side.  I try to move it but s/he really wedges it under there.  Body parts are constantly sticking out making bumps and moving & grooving my belly around.  The kids were watching one day and were flabbergasted that the baby would be doing that from the inside.  Every time I try to get a video of it though Squirt stops.  Obviously.  Why cooperate?

Dexter likes to say, "Mom, it's going to hurt a lot when the baby comes out.  Like A LOT."  What a helpful son I have to remind me of these things.  Especially since he has experienced this himself.  This is an area that is leaving me quite irritated and ticked off.  Quite a few other mothers have started bringing up birth stories now that I am closer and I am fine with that.  I enjoy remembering my birth stories as all moms do.  I had epidural births with both boys and a natural water birth with Ada.  I will be doing another natural water birth with this baby.  As long as I make it there.

What TICKS me off is that just because I have extremely fast labors women seem to think that it was just nothing.  "Oh, your labors are so fast you barely  have to feel anything!  Nothing like my "x" amount of hours in labor."  Oooooo, grrrrrrrr.  Rightttttttttttttt.  You are quite right!  My labors are so fast it was just like taking a luxurious bath and then sneezing and the baby came out!  I might as well have just been at the spa!  Kiss my ass.  I had to squeeze all that dilating and contractions into a tiny amount of time with ZERO time to take a breath or adjust.  Just because my labors are quick doesn't mean they aren't painful or meaningful.  Why do women feel like they have to one-up another?  And not just with this but with everything?  It drives me insane and I want to punch them in the face.  Repeatedly.  Everyone has a story and it was meaningful and special and whatever to them.  How about we not dismiss it because our story is different?

Sorry to rant.  I wasn't lying when I said this particular thing ticks me off.

I have started prepping for the wee one.  I dug out the newborn clothes to wash.  That was a hormonal experience.  I bought the newborn diaper covers we need.  We had to use wool with Ada & Simon so I'm really rooting for being able to use PUL diaper covers with this one.  When I am at Target, I've started to buy packs of wipes here and there.  Today I bought hangers for the baby's closet.  Who knew you would need so many hangers with 4 kids?  I turned Ada around in the car seat.  This really isn't completely necessary yet but why not.  I was cleaning out the van and figured might as well.  We can't have both her car seat and the baby's car seat backwards as the boys wouldn't be able to get in the van very easily.  I don't even know what else there is to do.  Wash the diapers but I'll do that closer to the due date.

Next week is 32 weeks and my next doctor appointment.  Did you know that I had to call and make my 36 week appointment?  I wanted to be sure I got the date and time I needed (I have to make it back home in time for Dexter's bus).  36 weeks.  I can't even.

Guys, I'm having another baby.  FOUR KIDS.

#4- 25-28 weeks

Whoops.  What can I say?  Things are busy.  Life is busy.  This is how it will be for the next umpteen years of my life.  Tending to these kids, growing them, teaching them, and the biggie- NOT SLEEPING.  I miss sleep.  I miss it so much.  I feel at any point of the day I could lay down and sleep. I curse those days where I casually tossed sleep around like it was nothing.

Enter THIRD TRIMESTER.  Say what?  What in the Sam's hell is going on?  Third trimester?  There are only TWELVE weeks until this baby's due date.  Only 12 weeks until Christmas folks.  Maybe you should start panicking with me.

The last month hasn't been overly spectacular in the pregnancy department.  Obviously it's wonderful seeing Squirt grow and man alive is s/he active.  Squirt moves around so, so much.  Not surprisingly, baby is the most active at night.  Rolls around, kicks, punches, does some sort of quivering move.  Do babies get the shivers?  That's almost what it feels like.  I do believe both Simon and Ada were active night babies.

Heartburn has come back with a vengeance.  Everything gives me heartburn.  Not even just food related.  I can sit wrong and I get heartburn.  If things are too squished in there at all the heartburn starts almost immediately.  It's not as horrible as it was with Ada but more frequent than with Ada.  I don't think anything could compare with the rolling waves of acid that came with Ada's pregnancy.

Rolling over in bed is an insane amount of work.  I feel like a big, fat cow.  Our scale decided to play a mean trick and was "broken" of sorts and told me a certain weight that I was quite happy with.  One week later it told me I had gained 10 lbs.  I was not happy with that.  Turns out, the 10 lbs heavier was correct.  Blah.  At least I have no stretch marks, right?

Cravings have been: meatloaf with mashed potatoes, berry flavored things but not the berry itself (this is the weirdest thing as I am normally an avid berry avoider) and caramel rolls (I haven't indulged in this yet).

One very happy milestone that we have finally reached is that our baby has names.  This has been the longest that it has taken Max and I to pick out a name.  It has really felt like a weight on my shoulders and made me feel like I couldn't bond with the baby.  I like to call the baby by name in my head (I alternate the names since we don't know the sex) and being unable to do so has made bonding take longer. That and the fact that I have three small kids running around and can never think about being pregnant.  Either way, my sweet babe finally has names and no, we won't be telling you or anyone. Everyone can find out when Squirt comes out.

I have been pregnant 5 times.  This is my 4th pregnancy to reach this stage.  Never have I had a child focus his/her movements so much on my pelvic floor.  This kid rarely kicks up on my stomach.  It is always a straight shot for my lady bits.  What the world is s/he doing in there?  It is a very strange feeling.  I've been trying to just get used to it but I can't.  It feels so foreign that I wish I could reach up there and just turn the babe so s/he would kick my ribs.  I'd rather have my ribs kicked than my lady bits.  A mild comparison would be like when you get a pap smear and they take that 12 inch Q-tip and scrape it all along your cervix.  Scrape scrape scrape.  The baby is continually giving me a pap smear all day long.  I love this baby but I do NOT love that.

There really isn't much to do to get ready for this baby.  The pack and play can be set up in our room the day we come home from the hospital.  Ada is kicked out of the crib and happily established in her big girl bed.  Not that the baby will need the crib for a few months after birth anyway.  I found the car seat, the cozy zip up warmer thing for the car seat and the car seat cover.  I'll wash those when I get the energy to find the newborn boy & girl clothes and pick out a weeks worth of both to wash.  What else is there?  I think the baby tub is in my closet somewhere.  Swing will be out already because I have a baby starting in November for daycare.  Done.  Man, fourth babies are easy to get ready for.

I probably should mention hormones.  Um, they are a bit whacky lately.  And by a bit I mean they strike at
random and weird moments preventing me from being the levelheaded gal I normally am.  Even in the midst of a hormonal breakdown, I know it's the hormones but they are so powerful they take hold and don't let go.  Poor Max.  Poor poor Max.

I have the dreaded glucose test on Monday.  This will be my first doctor appointment in 15 weeks.  Can't go another 15 weeks can I?  I'll probably do another appointment at 32 weeks and at 36 weeks start the weekly appointments.  I dilate and efface so early and walk around in a labor state without actually being in labor that those last weekly appointments are very important.  We have to keep track of what is going on so we don't have a car baby.  All my labors have been cut in half every time so that would mean this one will be, what, 45 minutes from start to finish?  I'll just step aside at a family Christmas gathering, squat down, give birth and be back out for dinner.  Who would want to miss the feast?