Pregnancy - Week 33

33 weeks down!

Week 33 was fairly un-eventful as far as pregnancy goes.  Not a whole lot happened.  I had a doctor appointment on Wednesday.  I continue to measure exactly on track and my stats and the baby's stats are all totally normal.  I had my first "internal check" just to make sure things were OK after my weekend of not feeling so hot.  Turns out progress is already being made, but nothing that is out of the ordinary or worrisome, so that's good. While I'm pretty much over this whole pregnancy thing, I definitely want the little guy to stay in there as long as he can.  Also, I gained a perfectly acceptable amount of weight this time so thank goodness for that!  I've actually started noticing that I'm not really that hungry anymore.  Sure, once I do get hungry I AM HUNGRY, but lately I feel like I can't even eat very much. There's just not a whole lot of room in there anymore.  So, I just kind of snack all day.  The "oh wow, when are you due?!" comments have started so I know I'm definitely looking pregnant these days!!  

 

The sleepless nights are becoming more frequent and troublesome though (do note the dark under-eye circles. so chic!).  Now I wake up with absolutely awful acid reflux. Luckily some Tums (ugh, Tums, I'm so sick of you...) and usually a stroll around the house to settle things back down helps. However, staying asleep for long is nearly impossible.  I'm up every hour at least. And to add to the fun, when I actually do fall asleep I keep having a reoccurring dream about not being able to sleep, like my alarm won't work, it's too loud, or whatever else. Lovely.

The upsides of this week?  I finished the Alphabet Wall!  It looks so good! I am in love!  This weeks picture is a little sneak peek for you, but I'm still waiting to show off the whole thing once I'm totally done with the room. I'm  just waiting for a few other things to arrive and I should be good! I also had my last baby shower on Sunday (blog post to come) and the room is completely over-run with goodies that need to be unpacked and organized.  We are so lucky, we got nearly EVERYTHING we need at our showers. The list of what we still have to get is so tiny compared to what I thought it would be.  We are truly, truly lucky to have such generous family and friends.

Best comment of the week:  I was at the nail salon getting a MUCH needed pedicure and the nail guy asked me when my baby was due. I told him "November" and he looked at me and said "Of this year?"  I actually had no words.  I mean really?  I sure as heck hope it's this year!!!

Pregnancy - Week 32

Today marks the last day of my thirty-second week.  The countdown is officially ON!

We started week 32 off with a Royals game. I hadn't been all year and Zach and I had some gift cards that we needed to use. Luckily the weather was awesome and it was his night off.  Un-luckily we got there too late and didn't get a free t-shirt.  There may have been moping, whining and whimpering involved. But that quickly went away after a yummy hot dog (which made me sick, but it was worth it!). The Royals won and we had a great time!  We are trying to get in as many "date nights" as we can before this kiddo gets here!

Thursday was my Hallmark shower! I've said it before, but Hallmark is really great at celebrating big events.  Life is a Special Occasion don't you know! My good friends Jessica, Ann-Marie and Stacy threw it for me and so many of my co-workers chipped in and got me some REALLY awesome group gifts and some really thoughtful individual gifts. I'd post pictures, but apparently my camera ate them?? I don't know what happened, but there are only a couple on there and I'm also not sure my co-workers want their picture plastered on the internet. So you'll just have to take my word on it that it was fabulous!

This weekend was pretty low-key.  We were originally going to head up to Lincoln for a Nebraska game but unfortunately Zach had a test for school that couldn't be rescheduled so we had to stay home. I think that was probably for the best in my case since I've started getting some pretty noticeable Baxton Hicks contractions ("practice" contractions that aren't real labor, but can sure trick you into thinking it is!).  Friday night was pretty rough and I got a little nervous, so Saturday I did nothing. Seriously, I sat in the recliner all day. Zach said I was on "chair rest"! Ha!  I was feeling much better by that evening and Sunday morning that I think I over did it again on Sunday.  I started feeling awful again so I just had to stop what I was doing and sit down.  It's getting really frustrating, not being able to do what normally felt like no big deal, but I guess if I have to be lazy, I have to be lazy.  Who complains about that? I guess I do.

I've also started working on training the dogs that they aren't numero uno anymore.  I have read that I'm supposed to gradually start giving them less attention (you try that when a Great Dane sticks his schnoz right in your face...) to gradually ease them into what it will be like when the baby comes. I've  also started trying to throw off our routines a little bit by leaving them outside longer, feeding myself before them, making them play by themselves and so on.  I hope it helps. I can definitely tell they know something is up.  Ted's been pretty good about just going in "his room" and sleeping but Missy has been absolutely GLUED to my side the past few weeks.  She's very sensitive and if I so much as sniffle she thinks I'm upset and is immediately right there.  I can't decide if this a good or bad thing.  I have a feeling she's going to want to be the baby's best friend.  We'll see what happens....

Pregnancy - Week 31

We kicked week 31 off with a tour of the hospital I'll be delivering at.  I wasn't sure I wanted to do a hospital tour seeing as how I assume that once you are there, you pretty much just do whatever and go wherever they tell you to, but I figured it's free, so what the heck! The rooms seemed nice, as far as hospitals go. The labor rooms are gigantic and that makes me wonder just how many people are going to be in there when the time comes. I'd rather not think about it actually.  Then the room where you stay after you give birth is teeny tiny, but that's alright. I wasn't expecting the Four Seasons or anything.  The floor was actually very quiet when we were there and they told us that nobody was in labor so that's why.  I liked the quiet and the staff all seemed very nice.

After the little tour the nurse took us in her office to "finish filling out paperwork". This, I was not expecting. I'd already sent in my pre-registration so I wasn't quite sure what else there was to do. She started firing off all sorts of questions about what kind of birth I wanted and if I wanted to go natural or what kind of medication I wanted. Talk about blind-sided! I haven't even discussed any of that with the doctor yet! She said this was just a guide and we can change things once we get there, but they just liked to have an idea.  THEN we filled out the start of the baby's birth certificate! Whoa baby, that's when it really hit me. BABY.  BIRTH. CERTIFICATE. Holy cow. This is happening....  So yeah, hospital tour was a bit more eventful than I'd imagined it would be.

I also had my last "monthly" appointment this week *sigh*.  It did not go as hoped.  I gained a crap-ton of weight. Like, a lot. Like I barely held it together during the appointment and then bawled my eyes out in the car - lot. The doctor assured me that I was doing ok and that I just need to watch my sodium and try to be as active as I can. She also says everyone has "that month". I just felt like such a failure.  I always pictured myself as this super fit and active pregnant lady, running right up until the end.  However, my body had different ideas and it's been rough.  My siatic nerve has been KILLING me, my feet swell and hurt, my hands ache, my back is sore. It's just really hard to even think about working out.  However, since that appointment I've been "active" every day and guess what? I feel much better.  Figures.  I also feel a lot more like "myself" so that's really good too. So, there's that.  Hopefully I do not repeat a huge gain like that EVER again.   I start bi-weekly appointments now and then start weekly ones in October!)

 Over the weekend I didn't really do a bunch of baby stuff. I did put together the baby rocker seat and that was about it.  Zach and I went to a wedding on Saturday and then watched a bunch of football the rest of the weekend! Fall is definitely coming fast and I think I'll be spending a lot of time feathering our nest and getting everything ready to go the next few weeks.  It's getting SO close!

Pregnancy - Week 30

Holy cow, I'm three-quarters of the way there. When I think about back to when I was first pregnant it seems like forever and year ago, but when I think about how fast time is going, it seems to be flying.  Then when I think about still having 9 more weeks of this, I can't even fathom it.  Funny how that goes.

 These pictures get more frightening every week...

I actually made a list of things that happened during the 30th week that I felt like I should mention, so here goes:

Cravings - I can't say I really had any big "cravings" up until this point, mostly things either sounded good, or they didn't. Well this week I started actually getting foods in my head and not being able to get rid of them.  First was Caesar salad.  There was one day where if I didn't get a Caesar salad for lunch I was going to lose my mind. It was all I could think about. Thankfully I was able to put one together in the Crown Room (whew!).  Then it was double dipped malted milk balls. I actually hobbled down to the cafe one afternoon (sore feet and aches be damned!) to get some.  However, the most random has been canned green beans. I was driving home from work one day and I just wanted them SO BAD!  I never did have them and quite honestly they still sound pretty dang good. Maybe I'll have some with dinner tomorrow...  Strange thing is once I have whatever I want, I'm done with it.  So, still no constant cravings, but the random ones are quite amusing!

Naps - Sleeping at night is just not going well. I wake up every hour on the hour to roll over because my hips hurt and that is QUITE the feat, let me tell you. It is difficult, uncomfortable and honestly, sort of painful.  A couple times I haven't even been able to do it because I'm so sore and out of it.  Who know rolling over would be something I liken to an Olympic sport. Then I read articles like this (since proven not a reliable study, but STILL) and immediately feel INSANELY GUILTY about not sleeping only on my left side and wake up freaking out that I've killed the baby. It's really fun, let me tell you. Ugh.  Anyway, so I nap whenever I can.  I usually take about a half hour snooze after dinner and then the weekends I sneak in at least an hour or two per day. Heavenly!

Hormonal Breakdowns - Sometimes I will wake up and just KNOW that it's going to be a crying sort of day. Just the littlest thing will set me off.  One day at work I called Zach in complete hysterics because I was so frustrated that my feet hurt and I got worn out when I went to walk to get water. I had to go in a conference room until I could calm myself down. How ridiculous!!  One other time a former co-worker saw me in the parking garage and totally innocently said "oh my gosh, I almost didn't recognize you!" which of course translated directly in my mind to "you have turned into such a fat cow, I couldn't even tell it was you!!" I was upset the whole rest of the day.  Of course after a night of sleep, I wake up and think "what on earth was I so upset about yesterday??" and laugh at myself. Most of the time I'm perfectly fine, but I definitely have my moments...

Other adventures this week included a trip to the Santa-Cali-Gon Days festival. Wow.  That was the best people watching I've experienced in a looooong time.  Lots of parenting "don'ts" were mentally noted, for sure.  We also went to another soccer match, my third of the season!  Luckily this time the weather was absolute perfection and David Beckham was there! We had awesome seats and our camera! Zach thought it was cool cause he's like the 'best soccer player evah' and used to play for his favorite team, Manchester United. I just thought it was cool to see a real live celebrity (Posh was not in attendance, bummer.)! 

I also put together the bookcase for the nursery, hooked up the mobile, finished the alphabet letters (!!!) and organized some of his clothes. It's really coming together and I promise, pictures will soon follow!  Until then....