40 Weeks (12.28)

The past week has been crazy. I just think about how I could still be pregnant and how awesome it's been to have this cute little baby.

All future updates will go by weeks or months of how old Ella is but I just thought it was fitting to do a 40 week photo here.

If there is something you'd like to know, ask it in the comments and I'll answer. I can't think of what specifically to put here right now.

Size of baby: Based on the scale we have here and putting a diaper, onesie, and socks on it first to zero it out, she weighs 7 lb 4 oz. 

Weight: I lost 18 lbs since Thursday. I don't have a full weight measurement. I gained 40.9 lb overall (well I had 1 extra day there). I've lost 18 lbs of that.  (How far from goal weight: 22.9 lb.  Goal weight is just currently pre-pregnancy weight that was used for all the weight gain amounts the previous 38 weeks)  I took some measurements 2 days ago and today and around my belly button I am 1.5 inches smaller. Perhaps in a few days I'll be even better. I took measurements Dec 17. I wanted to take some the day I went to the hospital but that didn't happen. Today I am only 4 inches smaller around the belly button than I was on the 17th.  I measure at belly button so I had some form of consistency.

Maternity Clothes:  I wore some maternity shirts that were also nursing tanks when I got dressed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day google hangouts with our families.  I also wore a nursing tank from Target that is not maternity. I've worn T-shirts, athletic pants, and yoga pants that are not maternity clothes. I still have a belly. I have barely gotten dressed for real and didn't want to chance looking silly in non-maternity clothes. Also I have a binder I wear on and off throughout the day but that makes my midsection thicker and would stretch out a normal shirt.  Pants I wore at 30 weeks pregnant were too tight to get over my calf today. 

Sleep:  Intermittent

I messed up making the collage. The sleep while pregnant totals are 7:42 and 7:32. These were all from last week. 

Best moment this week: I almost deleted this category too because I can't possibly pick just one moment. Every single moment I have with Ella is awesome. 

Looking forward to: spending time with Ella

Exercise:  I walked the halls at the hospital. I walked around the house doing this or that. All three of us also went for a walk today.

39 Weeks (12.21)

This is a little odder update than it should be. There is no weekly photo. There is a baby but since this is for the week not just birth that will be a separate post. 

I spent more time making more onesies. It's fun. Well fun until you realize if you make something level based on where the arms end then it's crooked because the arms are crooked. I guess that's what I get for buying cheap onesies/t-shirts.

I had my doctor appointment on Wednesday. Dave couldn't go because he had to give training. When I scheduled it, I knew he couldn't go. The doctor was booked on Thursday and he was booked Wednesday. I forget about Friday but think Dave had a conflict for her opening too.  

I thought I noticed my first stretch mark this week but then looked later and couldn't find it. Granted I can't see the lower half of my belly so I might have stretch marks down there that I don't know about.

Last week Dave and I did some research on c-section surgeries and then I was curious what an incision might look like after. Dave found this vlog showing 1 week after surgery. It was interesting so I started looking at more of her videos. The one where she ends up with a c-section is rather interesting too. At one point the dad is face-timing and asks his mom if she wants to see the baby which of course she does so she shows the baby but the baby is breastfeeding at the time. I told Dave I'd kill him if he did that (to anyone). I guess this lady didn't care because it's also on her vlog, but I don't even lift up my shirt to show you my belly.

Size of baby: Mini Watermelon, 20 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 7.25 pounds.  The baby gains a half a lb a week. 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Based on my last available weight 40.9 lb weight gain

Maternity Clothes:  Same as previous weeks: Mostly. Some t-shirts and hoodies aren't maternity. I also sleep in my yoga pants that aren't maternity. I actually barely get dressed and my pajamas aren't maternity.  Some maternity shirts are too short and expose my belly because the pants aren't full panel pants that I wear.

Movement: Same ol' same ol'. She moves around. I enjoy all the movement because then I know she's still alive in there.

Sleep:  My back has been less sore because Dave sleeps in a way to prop me up. Granted then he wakes up and says his back is sore from holding me up.  Sometimes he turns over and isn't holding me up in the same way so I move closer to lean on him over there. Then later I notice Poly has so much room on the bed. She seems to enjoy it but still cuddles up against me.

What I miss: I miss running. I miss hoagies from Jersey Mike's. I miss being able to turn over in bed without breathing heavy or without it being a big ordeal.

Symptoms: I'm pretty swollen. Also I'm really warm. Sometimes I sleep with no covers, pull my pants legs up to my knees and lift up my shirt to expose my belly. And I'm still too hot.


Looking forward to: Can the baby get here already? (kind of ironic)

38 Weeks (12.14)

On Sunday night we spent 2 hours trying to finish up the nursery. We aren't done. We still have things to hang up and the one shelf of crap to put away properly. I did move my non-maternity clothes out of the closet. I made room on the closet floor by taking out all the empty tote bags. I guess we'll put those in the garage. I have a lot of tote bags but don't like a lot of them. I use some for Stampin' Up stuff and others just sit around doing nothing.   We rehung some onesies. They look nicer than last week but there aren't as many up. Granted I didn't even display a picture last week of the 2nd row that was up on the wall. 

At my doctor appointment this week, I got asked if I have a lot of swelling since I gained 4 lbs since last week's appointment.  I got the results of my Step Group B test (negative).  I was asking some questions about the c-section and she said next week she'd print out instructions but then added she could print them this week. I asked her to do that. So now I have them. No eating 8 hours prior to the surgery and no water either. I'm going to be weak by the time I get to the hospital. I have a date/time picked but if anyone goes into labor earlier and thus has a c-section earlier, appointments may open up. I would rather earlier in the day even on a different day than a 5 PM surgery.  That late in the day leaves me to be super stressed all day and also fasting!

Brenna came over on Wednesday and we spent all day  making more onesies. Cutting out letters with an exacto knife take way way too long but then the finished product is nice.  She also came over on Friday but for a much shorter time period.

I'm way more mobile this week. Yet I didn't go for as many walks as I would have liked. I'm too busy trying to do little things that I want to get done prior to the baby's arrival.

Size of baby: Celery Bunch, 19.6 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 6.5-7 pounds.  The baby gains a half a lb a week. At the ultrasound this week, the weight is predicted at 6 lb 7 oz ± 15 oz. 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 40.1 lb gain overall. I gained 2.1  in the past week. It is funny because I feel a lot more mobile this week than last week.  I'm so swollen right now it's crazy.  I was a little swollen at the end of last week but I'm not sure if I was on Saturday.  I had to loosen my laces again so I know I'm more swollen than I have been.  See collage at the bottom of the post for a closeup of the ankles.

Maternity Clothes:  Same as previous weeks: Mostly. Some t-shirts and hoodies aren't maternity. I also sleep in my yoga pants that aren't maternity. I actually barely get dressed and my pajamas aren't maternity.  Some maternity shirts are too short and expose my belly because the pants aren't full panel pants that I wear.

Movement: Same ol' same ol'. She moves around. Her head will bob around but I try to get video of it and she stops. So I stop recording and put down my phone and then she's moving my entire belly again. Her back is to the left going around.  I did manage to get a video. I might have gotten more. (Ignore the sound in the background. I was watching lecture.)

Sleep:  My dreams are so crazy anymore. I breathe heavy when I sleep that Dave even recorded it one morning.  I woke up early today because my back hurt so bad. I feel like my bed is at an angle. When I sleep on my left side, I feel like I need pillows or something under my butt/back  and I feel like I'm about to topple over backwards. 

What I miss: somewhat the same: Exercising and running. Being able to stand for a long period of time without having to interrupt what I'm doing to go sit. Going many many hours in a row without going to the bathroom. 

Symptoms: My back gets sore. I go to the bathroom a lot.  I am swollen. I had to loosen the laces on my sneakers. My skin is redder. It's almost like it is sunburned and if you touch the skin you get little white marks from where you touched. I read about hands and feet being redder but this is also on my belly and face. I didn't actually analyze other parts of me. My back was so sore last night that I just got up for the day at 7:30 am.

Best moment this week: making more onesies especially some related to running.

Looking forward to: Getting everything set up so we are READY but I doubt we will actually be ready because the more I do the more other stuff I think of to do. 

Exercise:  I went for 1 walk. I did some shopping. I cleaned. I basically feel like I didn't do any exercise though.

37 Weeks (12.7)

I feel like I've finally started to not want to move. Getting up from the couch can be more difficult. After I went for a walk then I waddled a bit the rest of the evening.  While seated, it is really difficult to reach something from the floor. I also don't like bending to the refrigerator. Granted I didn't like bending in June when we moved here. But now it's a lot more challenging. And for some reason I hit my head on the freezer when I'm getting up.

We started to hang up onesies on Monday night. Based on how that worked out, I have to figure out a possible better way.  I made a few more onesies. I made some for someone else and Dave liked them so then I had to make the same thing for us.  I actually hung up a second row. I bought clothes pins to swap out the binder clips. I'll take a final product at some point. I still need to hang another row.  These are hung based on size so as a baby grows it's easier to pull some down to wear.

I had my doctor appointment on Thursday. The baby has not moved positions at all. I knew this based on how I can feel her head. (See the animated gif at the bottom of the post to see me pointing to the baby's head.) She'll move an inch or 2 but no more and she usually moves right back to putting her head in her favorite spot. The doctor confirmed this with an ultrasound of course. She is less likely to flip the larger she gets. Every week, she will continue to check the baby's position, but we will schedule a c-section. She has to look for available times and sort of dates.  She wants to be on call at the time but also the times are 7:30 AM,  9:30 AM some more in the middle of the day and then like 5 pm or 7 pm. I forget.  Earlier is better since you can't eat for 8 hours before the surgery. I won't say the date yet plus it's not even scheduled. But this might affect what people fill out on our baby pool.  Even the day of the scheduled c-section they will check the baby's position and if she has moved into the proper position, then they won't do a c-section. I can keep up doing the exercises or not. If they haven't helped already she thinks they won't.  The bigger the baby gets the harder it is. Maybe if I would have started them weeks earlier, it would have been better. There could also be a reason she's not moving. On one of the youtube videos I watched, someone said a baby didn't move because the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around it's neck and moving would have not been good. I think more about this because a friend of many years just lost her baby at 35 weeks pregnant because the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around his neck.  I'd say before I was nervous about actual labor and now it's just changed to being nervous about c-section recovery. I don't feel like the thought of an actual c-section makes me nervous.

In the book I'm reading (Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy), it mentions so many things. There is one entire section on mood swings. It says one minute you're giddy with happiness and a few minutes later, you feel like crying.  I can say I can't even think of a specific time this happened. Someone at DBC mentioned that I have mood swings and this person I had only talked to about twice ever so I don't know how she could judge. Now I've been annoyed with people but I would have been annoyed for those same reasons if I wasn't pregnant. Sometimes Dave commented that I was crazy. It's been awhile since he said that so I can't think of an example.  From talking to many other pregnant women over the years and reading a lot of blogs, it seems like they all admit or know about mood swings. But I'm curious if they realized themselves or just went by what other people were telling them at the time. 

There's also a small section on Stretch Marks. The main reason I wanted to mention this is because numerous people told me to use cocoa butter or something like it. I said since the beginning that I didn't think they did anything. I was told after knee surgery that the scar creams are all a hoax and they don't actually help your scar heal better.  I was using that as part of my justification. But everyone made me think I was crazy. I felt weird so I bought some anyway even though I thought it wouldn't work. The bottle says to use it 3 times a day. I use it about once every 3 days or more. But my favorite part was the book says "Contrary to popular belief, no creams or ointments can prevent stretch marks or make them vanish. Because stretch marks develop from deep within the connective tissue underneath the skin, they can't be prevented by anything applied externally.  I feel better about how I felt before everyone was telling me things but now I feel like a sucker because I did buy some!

Size of baby: Leek, 19.1 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 6.5 pounds.  The baby gains a half a lb a week. 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 38 lb gain overall. I gained 3.2  in the past week.  I'm getting pretty fat now. I think my back has some rolls on it.  I gained 13.2 lbs in the last 4 weeks. That number should be 4 lbs. 

Maternity Clothes:  Same as previous weeks: Mostly. Some t-shirts and hoodies aren't maternity. I also sleep in my yoga pants that aren't maternity. 

Movement: Same ol' same ol'. She moves around. Her head will bob around but I try to get video of it and she stops. So I stop recording and put down my phone and then she's moving my entire belly again.

Sleep:  Sunday night I couldn't sleep for about 2 hours in the middle of the night and I didn't like that at all. I just couldn't get comfortable. Monday night I slept a lot better but realized my back hurts if I'm on my left side because of the mattress. Tuesday night Dave slept differently and I felt like I was propped against him instead of falling backwards in the bed and I woke up without any back pain. I told him about this then he cuddled with me Wednesday night so I was leaning against him and that helped. He had his hand on my belly while we were falling asleep and he couldn't believe how much she moves.

What I miss: somewhat the same: Exercising and running. Being able to stand for a long period of time without having to interrupt what I'm doing to go sit. Going many many hours in a row without going to the bathroom. 

Symptoms: The same I guess. I get lightheaded a bit after doing too much but I feel like the definition of "too much" is a lot more than it used to be. My back gets sore. Waddling around a little maybe.  Just this week I started having to pee a lot more than before. I probably go 7 times in a day now! My ankles were swollen a few times this week. I got swollen after I was in a hot room for too long for a meetup and my fingers and ankles were swollen. Then the next day my ankles were still somewhat swollen. Then Saturday (today), my ankles are swollen again. My feet are also slightly swollen.

Best moment this week: I can't even think of something baby related. Dave did some nice back tickling this week when we were reading in bed. That's pretty nice but now I want him to do it daily and he isn't going for that

Looking forward to: Finishing setting up the nursery and actually having this baby

Exercise:  Monday I went for a walk. Dave asked if I used mapmyrun. I said "No. I used strava and my garmin." He just laughed at me. Tuesday I went shopping at Target and then Walmart. I was walking around for probably 1.5 hours. Thursday I walked pretty far to and from lunch. I bet that was over a mile but I didn't use Strava so I don't know for sure.  I also shopped for a few hours today.

I accidentally zoomed in to far so I made a gif

I'm pointing to the baby's head

36 Weeks (11.30)

We got the postcard back that our pre-registration arrived at the hospital and they entered it in. This means we have less paperwork to fill out when we actually have to go to the hospital.

Dave and I did some shopping. We bought some clothes and blankets.  Carters had 50% off and then I had a 20% off coupon that we could use on top of that. We mainly stuck with new born and 3 month clothing but got some 6 months ones if I really liked them. I wanted to buy some cute dresses but Dave didn't want to yet.  We did buy some pants to go with all the onesies we have. I hope I can match. If I can't, I'll just claim Dave did it. We got a little coat. It's tough to buy in my mind because should I buy newborn or 3 month. Some babies are born bigger than newborn. Also for warm clothes, it's only cold here December and January so then if I have a smaller baby, I'd need warm newborn sizes but if I don't I need smaller 3 month sizes. Also if I have a small baby and buy 3 month warmer clothes, I might not ever need them.  Then everything should be pre-washed and I'd think that would be easier to do before you have a newborn you are trying to take care of but then if you pre-wash you can't return it.

Dave commented that this baby is already taking up all his free time. He was talking about all the shopping and assembling he's been doing.

Poly tried to lie on me but I wouldn't let her so here she is against my leg

I've continued to do exercises to try to get the baby to move into head down position.  They  never work. I have learned the beanbag is easier to get onto and off of than a stack of pillows.  I was doing the one where my knees are on the couch and elbows on the floor and the landlord walked in to the living room to ask a question. He didn't say a thing. Dave helped him with what he needed. I do more things than pictured above but either I didn't get any pictures of them or the ones I got aren't very good.

Size of baby: Coconut, 18.7 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 6 pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  34.8. lb gain overall. I gained 3.3 in the past week. I sure gain 3x as much each week as I'm supposed to.

Maternity Clothes:  Same as previous weeks: Mostly. Some t-shirts and hoodies aren't maternity. I also sleep in my yoga pants that aren't maternity. 

Movement: I feel like there is a lot less movement this week. I also do the exercises I should do and the baby might move a little but not move to where she should go.

Sleep:  I've been waking up in the middle of the night so hot. I take off what's left of my covers and pull up my pants legs to my knees. Or I'm sleeping fine. My back sometimes hurts when I wake up. 

What I miss: somewhat the same: Exercising and running. Being able to stand for a long period of time without having to interrupt what I'm doing to go sit. Going many many hours in a row without going to the bathroom. 

Symptoms: The same I guess. I get lightheaded a bit after doing too much but I feel like the definition of "too much" is a lot more than it used to be. My back gets sore.

Best moment this week: buying cute baby clothes and creating a baby pool

Looking forward to:  actually having this baby.

some other angles from today.

Exercise:  Shopping. Cleaning (a lot). That's probably it. Unless you count the exercises to try to get this baby to turn.

Dave wanted to watch a movie and I told him I had to finish cropping my pictures and write my post. I said it'd take 15 minutes. It's been 1.5 hours. Oi.

35 Weeks (11.23)

So this week I went to a regular doctor about my ear, my normal 34 week appointment, and my last birth class.

On Tuesday, I went for a regular doctor appointment because my ear is still bothering me from the flight.  I have fluid behind my ear drum. It will take 2-3 weeks to leave if it even leaves. If it doesn't, then I have to go to an ear, nose, throat doctor to suck it out. I was prescribed 3 medicines to help drain it. My ear stopped hurting over the weekend but I'm pretty hard of hearing now in my left ear. I have to crank up the volume on the TV and I can never hear people when they try to talk to me. I had a few phone interviews and had to ask them to repeat things not because I needed clarification but because I just couldn't hear them.

current location of baby head

On Thursday, I had my 34 week appointment. The OB always does an ultrasound at 34 weeks. She likes to know the baby's position. Well mine is breech. I was given a postural exercise to get her to turn.  I'm supposed to lie down with my pelvis raised by pillows to a level 9-12 inches above my head.  Do this twice a day on an empty stomach. 10 minutes never seems long enough so I've done it for about a half hour. She moves a bit but always moves back. I'm not worried about her flipping yet. I feel like there is plenty of time.  I've also watched a few youtube videos of some other things to try. One thing that was suggested is to put ice up by your ribs because they said the baby will try to move away from that. But this baby moved her head toward the ice.

Also on Thursday but in the evening, we had our final birth class. We talked about c-sections and then toured the hospital. The hospital has 33% c-sections. We got some stats on why but they are in the other room. I feel like there are way more elective c-sections than their should people. People want to schedule a birth or not go through labor and then they get a c-section. I think 33% is close to the national average too.  The hospital tour was interesting to see what to expect. The chair that turns into a bed for the dads isn't very good at all. The instructor mentioned that it's long enough for most people but if you are 6'4" you will have a problem. Maybe one other guy in the class is close to 6 ft tall (slightly shorter) and the rest were about my height or shorter. I'm always amazed at class how the instructor can say something then immediately after someone asks a question where the answer is what she just said and then 5 minutes later someone else asks the same question.

Our rocking chair arrived this week but I already posted about that.  I prewashed some baby clothes and sheets so I should be ready to go. Our car seat arrived too so we can set that up whenever we want. Almost everything we ordered from Amazon arrived. It was like Christmas opening the boxes. Then I was trying to organize everything but mainly boxes are still in the reading room.  Some of the boxes were in boxes just slightly larger so now I also have those boxes in the reading room.  We spent a little bit of time organizing and cleaning out the garage today. It was very poorly organized and gave the appearance of no room. Now there will be room for our strollers in there once we put them in there. 

Size of baby: Honeydew, 18.2 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 5.5 pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  31.5. lb gain overall. I gained 2.5 in the past week. In one day I gained 2 lbs then the rest of the week the other .5 got tacked on. It gets dark so early so I never go for walks with Dave in the evening. I won't go at night. The sidewalks are too uneven. 

Maternity Clothes:  Same as previous weeks: Mostly. Some t-shirts and hoodies aren't maternity. I also sleep in my yoga pants that aren't maternity. 

Movement: There has been even more movement but also since I started to do some of the postural exercise, there is even more crazy movement. She always moves back to where she was though. I've noticed hiccups this week and last week but barely at all. People often ask about them. 

Sleep:  It was alright. Sometimes I get hot and wake up. Sometimes my arm is sore from being around Poly in bed. I'm probably getting close to 8:30 of sleep a night. 

What I miss: somewhat the same: Exercising and running. Being able to stand for a long period of time without having to interrupt what I'm doing to go sit. Going many many hours in a row without going to the bathroom. 

Other angles from today

Symptoms: I had to stand a lot waiting for a seat at BJ's and thought I might pass out.  My back has been sore too. Some days worse than others. 

Best moment this week: Setting up the rocking chair/glider and using it. Man is it comfortable. I've been reading in it.

Looking forward to:  making some more onesies later today

Exercise:  Shopping? Cleaning? I forget. 

I've removed a few categories that are the same every single week. 

34 Weeks (11.16)

We had our second birth class. I feel like I didn't really learn anything because I had read about labor already. But people in class sure ask a lot of questions.  I did like hearing some stats from the hospital. I'm surprised 80% of pregnant women get an epidural. That seemed really high to me based on all the blogs I read.

Dave and I went to Babies R Us and bought the rest of our registry. Well almost all of it. A few things weren't available in store so we said to forget about it. We got 10% off everything because of the deal that Babies R Us has to finish a registry. We did remove a few things before we went to the store if we got something super similar. We thought of buying some clothes but they weren't on the registry so we figured we'd wait. We have $22 left of gift cards so we can go back.  We also went to Buy Buy Baby and added items to a registry. Then later we can "close" it out and get 10% off. There were a few things we never added and figured we should end up getting. We were also looking for a rocking chair. We finally found one there that would work but it takes 12 weeks to come in. BUT if we were shorter and skinnier they keep those stupid rockers in stock. Everyone is so short around here that people want the stupid rockers that are far too low to the ground.  Dave and I also went to Lazboy and the guy there commented how I'm tall and pointed out a few recliners that are set higher off the ground. I'm not sure if he heard me complaining about something being too low to the ground or not but he pointed it out after he asked if the recliner would be for me or Dave. (I answered both of us.)  I was looking into recliners or rockers but recliners take up far too much room so we can't actually get one in the baby room anyway.   Dave also went on amazon and added everything from our registry to a cart but I told him not to order it yet until we bought the items from Babies R Us in case they didn't have something in store so we wanted to add it to the other registry.  All the registry places have 1 time deals for discounts so you can't get a discount later for more things on a registry.

We still need to buy some newborn clothes. We also need to get some things like hangers so we can hang up these clothes.

I bought some nursing bras. I figure I need some new bras now but why buy new bras again later when I need nursing ones.  Sizing is so weird. Trying bras on at a store is required. I tried to order online based on measurements but that did not work.  I probably bought too many since sizing will change again. There was a deal buy 3 get 1 free so I got 4. I fear they won't work well because I already wore one and the stupid underwire left a mark right near my arm pit after maybe 6 hours of wearing it. I've never had a problem with an underwire before unless the bra was many years old and the fabric was worn away and the wire actually popped out.

Note last week I took my pictures a day early and then this week I took them a day late!

Size of baby: Cantaloupe, 17.7 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 5 pounds.  The app always spelled cantaloupe wrong so now I don't like it as much.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  29 lb gain overall. I gained 4.2 in the past week.  The week is actually an extra day. I'm 1 lb above the recommended weight gain range that the app on my phone tells me.  Apparently I should be between 19 and 28. 

Maternity Clothes:  Pretty much the same. If I get dressed, I'm in maternity clothes. If I'm in my PJs I'm in yoga pants and a T-shirt.  I like the t-shirt my brother gave me. If I sleep in some of my maternity shirts that I hate, they are too short and my back and belly get exposed. (These ones that I hate I bought from someone on fb for cheap but still not worth it because they are too short to actually wear for real clothes.)

Gender: Girl

Movement: There is a lot more movement and now seeing my belly move is a lot more visible. 


Sleep:  It seems like I'm sleeping just fine now that I'm not sick. I am not waking up before my alarm unless I change my alarm to an hour later. I did have a little trouble sleeping in Philadelphia at first because the bedroom was so bright and I'm not used to windows anymore.

What I miss: Same as last week: Exercising and running. Being able to stand for a long period of time without having to interrupt what I'm doing to go sit. Going many many hours in a row without going to the bathroom. The ability to have my legs crossed and slouch a lot. I know you aren't supposed to slouch in general but I always like to. I also miss being able to reach things off the floor while I'm seated. You just can't reach with a belly in the way. 

Cravings: Nothing yet.

Aversions: Nothing really.

Symptoms: My back hurts when I sleep in our bed. It doesn't hurt when I slept on the couch when I was sick. It didn't hurt when I slept on the bed at Dave's dad's house.  I've gotten lightheaded when I was shopping a lot.  I feel like I had another symptom this week and now I can't remember it. 

Best moment this week: Making onesies in Philadelphia.  I also really enjoyed the wedding in Philly but I probably should have mentioned that last week. 

Looking forward to:  Finding a rocking chair that doesn't suck.

Exercise:  I'm pretty sure the only "exercise" I had was walking around at the airport.

33 Weeks (11.9)

Sorry this is late. I took my picture a day early and then traveled.  I didn't have time to add my 33 week picture to the collage so it is separate. I have a few but we'll just put one here. At least I got some cropped before I left.   For a few weeks I was able to look down and tell I was getting bigger now but it all seems the same until I take look at pictures.

I had a doctor appointment and the fundal height measurement was right on target.  I also lost 2 lbs since my last dr visit. I was sick and actually lost 4 but I had put on some before losing weight. The doctor didn't mention a thing about the weight. Between my previous 2 appointments I had a lot of weight gain too. I'm back to being in the normal range for weight gain versus having gained too much.

We had our first birthing class. Dave said he knew labor would suck for me but now he learned it will suck for him too. He also didn't realize it was as long as they are saying.  For the last 10 min of class, we were supposed to practice breathing techniques but I couldn't or I would cough up a storm.  For birthing classes we signed up for the 3 week 3 hour class. By the end I guess we'll learn 9 hours of fun. Well our last class we get done early and that includes the tour of the hospital. 

Size of baby: Pineapple, 17.2 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 4.5 pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  24.8 lb gain overall. I lost 2 in the past week. I was quite sick. The weight measurement is also a day early but I don't have one from the correct day.

Maternity Clothes:  Same as previous weeks but I didn't really get dressed much so I was in yoga pants and a t-shirt or maternity shirt most of the time: Mostly. Some t-shirts and hoodies aren't maternity. I also sleep in my yoga pants that aren't maternity. I still wear some non maternity cami's because some maternity shirts are too see through and you can see that seams don't alone. I'm probably really stretching out those cami's

Gender: Girl!

Movement: Same write-up as the past 2 weeks  but with even more movement: The amount of movement is crazy. My entire belly will move too. But she only moves for a few seconds so by the time I tell people to watch my belly move, there is nothing for them to see.  

Sleep:  Sleeping was awful all week. My sore throat would wake me up. My back would be sore and I'd wake up and Poly would be on me. I did sleep on the couch since I was waking up so much to cough and Dave was still trying to sleep through the night. My back did hurt less with the couch than the bed. I also tried to make Poly sleep against my arm and body versus being on me. I'd nap throughout the day. I did have one night I only slept maximum 30 minutes at a time. 

What I miss: Exercising and running. Being able to stand for a long period of time without having to interrupt what I'm doing to go sit. Going many many hours in a row without going to the bathroom. The ability to have my legs crossed and slouch a lot. I know you aren't supposed to slouch in general but I always like to.

Cravings: Nothing yet.

Aversions: Nothing really.

Symptoms: My back has been sore during the day and night wasn't much of a recovery. I sit in a desk chair that doesn't recline and have a cat who tries to use my belly as a shelf and rubs her head on mine so I have to slouch but with no back support. I can't think of other symptoms. I haven't had heartburn which is what people have asked me about.

Best moment this week: I'm not sure. I was so sick. It was basically awful. 

Looking forward to:  Same as last week: Getting a rocking chair or recliner. Buying items remaining on the registry so we can finish getting ready.

Exercise:  I'm pretty sure the only "exercise" I had was walking around at the airport.

32 Weeks (11.2)

On Sunday I had my second baby shower. I think there were 15 people here total. It probably was not a good idea to cave and let Dave have it here. I spent far too long cleaning.  It was a great shower. I wish more people could stay longer though.

I can't believe how much this baby moves now. I also cannot believe how much Poly likes me now.

We had some extra onesies after the shower since everyone did not make one and then I became addicted to making some myself.  I even ordered some more colorful onesies in different sizes. Yet the ones I ordered seem to be the same even though they are sized differently. This baby is going to have a lot of onesies that are awesome early on then not so many later even though I tried.

I'll have a separate post about the shower and about onesies later so I didn't elaborate in this post.

I take a million pictures of myself with Poly since she loves me so much. I've even taken videos to show how she's always rubbing her face on mine.  I just included 2 pictures but I probably take pictures at 5 different occasions everyday. Most of the time I'm in my PJs so I didn't choose those.  She still likes to sleep on me or beside me. She wakes me up if I'm not positioned properly for her to sleep with me. She's cute. Dave misses the attention she used to give him.

Size of baby: Bok Choy, 16.7 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 4 pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  26.8 lb gain overall. I lost 0.3 in the past week. I'm probably making up for gaining excessively at my parents house.

Maternity Clothes:  Same as previous weeks: Mostly. Some t-shirts and hoodies aren't maternity. I also sleep in my yoga pants that aren't maternity. I still wear some non maternity cami's because some maternity shirts are too see through and you can see that seams don't alone. I'm probably really stretching out those cami's

Gender: Girl!

Movement: Same write-up as last week but with even more movement: The amount of movement is crazy. My entire belly will move too. But she only moves for a few seconds so by the time I tell people to watch my belly move, there is nothing for them to see.  Sometimes she is moving like crazy so I tell Dave to feel and as soon as he sticks his hand on my belly she stops.

Sleep:  I've woken up a few times because Poly is sleeping on my chest and I want to turn over so I have to boot her off. Also my shoulder will be in an awkward position because she is cuddled with me so that might wake me up. (This happened before I was pregnant but now she likes to sleep with me even more so it happens more.)   My back will be sore when I wake up but that's only on days that I wake up with a cat on my chest.

What I miss: Exercising and running. Being able to easily bend over. Eating lunch meat or feta cheese. The ability to have my legs crossed and slouch a lot. I know you aren't supposed to slouch in general but I always like to.

Cravings: Nothing yet.

Aversions: Nothing really.

some other angles besides just side profile

Symptoms: My back has been sore during the day. I sit in a desk chair that doesn't recline and have a cat who tries to use my belly as a shelf and rubs her head on mine so I have to slouch but with no back support. Plus I've been sewing and hunching over. I was making Thank You cards and had to stop after a couple hour sat my kitchen chair because my back was sore.  All of these things might have made my back sore in the past but perhaps it is worse or lasting longer or I'm just doing more things together that all cause some pain. I haven't been lightheaded. I only got a little lightheaded on Sunday but that was an hour into my shower after I realized I was cleaning all morning and did not remember to eat.

Best moment this week: The onesie portion of the baby shower!  I really need to do a separate post about the shower. I also plan to do a specific post on the onesies since there were some issues.

Looking forward to:  Getting a rocking chair or recliner. Buying items remaining on the registry so we can finish getting ready.

Exercise:  I can't think of anything I even did this week. I was extremely lazy when Dave was out of town and got caught up on a lot of TV shows.

31 Weeks (10.26)

I had quite a busy week. I flew bright and early Sunday morning. I also had 3 days of a conference. 

Since I had my shower in PA, I could go through the gifts at home. There were more than I expected based on the cards people gave. A few more gifts even showed up throughout the week. I can't believe how generous everyone is.  

When going through the gifts, there were 2 that I couldn't figure out who they were from. But then later when texting with a friend, I learned. I felt so much better once I knew who sent everything.  I 

On Tuesday, the crib was delivered.  We still need a mattress. We also still need to find a rocking chair we like.

On Thursday and Friday I got some exercise. I got a lot actually.  I want to do even more.  I wish I had a picture of me biking to show how I can still do it even though my belly is so big. As I pedal, I can tell my belly has to move a little. At least I don't have a bike where you have to lean way forward to use the handle bars. I do wish mine could be raised an inch now that I'm pretty pregnant.

Today I spent all day cleaning and getting ready for a shower here tomorrow that I almost forgot to make this post. I actually stayed up way later than I would have because I had to crop the pictures and make the entire post. If I remembered sooner, I would have included a ton of other pictures. 

Here are a few other angles of what I look like. I can tell I'm getting bigger in my thighs and back but you can't seem to tell so much in these pictures.

Size of baby: Bunch of Asparagus, 16.2 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 3.3 pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  27.1 lb gain overall. I gained 1.6 in the past week. Those numbers shouldn't really be believed. I had to use a different scale. I'm back to my normal scale so the 27.1 is accurate but the gain since last week is using 2 different scales.

Maternity Clothes:  Same as last week: Mostly. Some t-shirts and hoodies aren't maternity. I also sleep in my yoga pants that aren't maternity. I still wear some non maternity cami's because some maternity shirts are too see through and you can see that seams don't alone. I'm probably really stretching out those cami's

Gender: Girl!

Movement: The amount of movement is crazy. My entire belly will move too. But she only  moves for a few seconds so by the time I tell people to watch my belly move, there is nothing for them to see.  Sometimes she is moving like crazy so I tell Dave to feel and as soon as he sticks his hand on my belly she stops.

Sleep: I woke up once with a baby calf cramp. I've woken up a few times because Poly is sleeping on my chest and I want to turn over so I have to boot her off. Also my shoulder will be in an awkward position because she is cuddled with me so that might wake me up. (This happened before I was pregnant but now she likes to sleep with me even more so it happens more.)  I included a picture from this week but please ignore how messed up my tank top is. (OK I included 2 pictures. One from 10/21 and one from 10/24)

What I miss: Exercising and running. Being able to easily bend over. Eating lunch meat or feta cheese. I didn't realize how much lunch meat was served at conferences or gatherings until I can't eat it.

Cravings: Nothing yet.

Aversions: Nothing really.

Symptoms: My ankles got swollen the one day at the conference along with my fingers. I actually couldn't even get my rings off. Later at night I could, so I took them off. But then I kept forgetting to put them back on so I went an entire day without wearing them!

Best moment this week: Opening the presents that have been hidden in the baby's room. It was a fun time to see so many things. Some surprised me. Some things weren't on the registry.

Looking forward to:  Baby Shower tomorrow. (But I'm also scared about it too)

Exercise:  I walked about a mile on Wednesday going to and from my car. On Thursday I biked  to the train station, walked over a mile to the conference, then did both in reverse.  Friday I did what I did on Thursday + walked .8 mile to DBC and then that .8 mile back to the conference. So essentially I had 6 workouts on Friday.  On Saturday (today), I spent 6+ hours cleaning.  According to my BodyMedia fit I had over 12,000 steps on Friday. I haven't even broken 10,000 steps since September 13. Go me.