My Thirty-Fifth Week

Hey all!  Well, I've made it to 36 weeks!  

It's been a decent week in pregnancy world, with the usual ups and downs.

I was supposed to have a pre-natal massage this week and scheduled it about a month ago.  Well, it appears the place has gone out of business, because the day of my appointment, I left work early, went there, and found the doors locked and no one home.  Fail!  Good thing the chiropractor has helped with my back issues, or I would probably be more upset.  It doesn't look like I'll experience a pre-natal massage before the end of the pregnancy, but oh well.

I forgot to mention that I spent a while last week researching my options for learning breathing/labor techniques.  I have basically given up on getting into the childbirth preparation class at our hospital- they are booked through April and the last person I talked to when I called said it was pretty unlikely that I'd get in (there's only one class left before my due date now), but not to worry- the nurses are great and will get me through.  I did email some Lamaze coaches, and one got back to me and is a doula and basically offered her services as a doula.  I'm not sure if I want to/need to go that route though because I plan on having Greg and my mom there to help me during labor and doulas are kind of expensive.  All I really want is just some short instruction on how to breath and deal with labor til I get the epidural and I can't find much like that.  My mom found a video called Lamaze Laugh and Learn online and it's pretty comprehensive.  There's really only one segment I care about (the Lamaze breathing) watching but you have to buy the whole thing and I feel like a lot of it would be redundant and stuff I already know.  Also, I have searched YouTube and online videos, and I'm not sure if YouTube is just really hard to navigate now or what, but I didn't find much, just a bunch of short videos that teach Yoga breathing and stuff like that.  A couple of my friends have just winged it with their births and done fine, so that helps give me some confidence that I'll be ok without tons of instruction.  If you guys have any suggestions, let me know. 

I bought a "baby's first year" book for the baby at the beginning of the week.  Greg and I got take out burgers and were waiting on our order, so I wandered into the Hallmark store next to the restaurant and found this cute baby book for 50% off.  Parts of the cover/back are are even peach colored!  I love it :)

I also did a Target trip and got a couple things I thought we might need that we don't have yet like a cute little hoodie/jacket for the baby, disposable nursing pads (I have re-usable ones already), nipple soothers, a cotton bathrobe and nightshirt (I usually wear pajama pants, but a lot of people recommend a night gown for the hospital), and a new pair of cozy socks.  I am slowly working on packing a go bag, so a lot of this stuff will go in the bag.  I also tried to get together some baby clothing/blankets to take to the hospital for the going home outfit.  Since I'm not sure how big she'll be it's hard to decide what to bring.  Also, the temps in Charlotte vary between like 70's and 30's this time of year, so who knows how warm the outfit should be, I have everything from fleece to light cotton.  Right now I have about 4 onesie options laid out and a swaddle blanket, hat, and will probably bring some mittens.

Physically, I'm okay.  I'm feeling lots more discomfort under the belly.  I got in 3-4 walks this week, so that was pretty good.  I did have some bad middle-of-the-night acid reflux one night when I forgot to take Zantac before bed, and that sucked.  I'm finding myself just increasingly bigger, and getting more and more comments about it.  This week I got "are you having twins?" and "your face looks fatter" among others.  Thanks people!  I have trouble tying my shoes and getting socks on at this point.  Swelling is still better for the most part, but I had a couple days or nights when my feet were a little more swollen.  I think it has to do with how much I'm on my feet, how much water I drink, whether I wear heels, etc...  The baby is still moving a good amount, but I feel like she's running out of room in there so it feels kind of different now.  I also haven't mentioned it, but I think my eye sight is worse.  For a month or two I have noticed I can't see as clearly.  I hope this goes back to normal after the pregnancy! 

I also had lunch with Erin and baby Michael yesterday, which was so fun.  He is a really good baby!  I hope my baby is like him!

Some things on my to do list are:
-Install the car seat (base).
-Finish packing for the hospital.
-Print out a birth plan (I'm probably going to use a template with things checked on it).
-Make a list of people to contact when the baby comes.
-Change my out of office email/voice mail at work.
-Iron out my Time and Attendance and how it will be handled when I'm out of the office.
-See a movie with Greg and maybe go out for a nice dinner one night.
-Buy Pack-N-Play and swing.  We actually did this last night.
-Possibly clean my closet, if I have time.
-Finish thank you notes and put away presents.

How far along? 36 Weeks
Maternity clothes?  Pretty much all maternity and some of that is feeling "small".  Yikes!  Still stealing Greg's clothes for bedtime and walks.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: heartburn, movement, swelling in the feet/ankles, feeling huge, frequent urination, Braxton Hicks (hard belly).
Best moment this week: I had some fun dinners/lunches with friends this week.
Miss Anything?  Sleeping well, not having heartburn, running, having distinct ankles, having abs.
Movement: Yup, she is rolling around in there!
Food cravings: fresh bread and butter, Cinnamon Life cereal, chocolate, fruit, animal crackers.
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope
Have you started to show yet: Yes, duh.  I feel extremely huge.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks, but it doesn't feel like labor or anything.
Belly Button in or out? It's out!
Mood:  Good!
Looking forward to:  My work baby shower is next week.  Spending time with Greg this week (he's got 5 days in a row off, which is rare).
What I am NOT looking forward to: Feeling heavier, more tired, and more uncomfortable in the coming weeks.
Weekly Wisdom: Um, hang in there?
Milestones: One month left!

My Thirty-Fourth Week

Alright, I know I say this every week, but I really can't believe I'm 35 weeks pregnant.  It seriously feels like our baby could be born really soon now!  I have a lot of friends who have gone into labor a few weeks before their due dates, and that's getting VERY CLOSE now!

It's been a pretty good week.  Dare I say that I feel like my swelling isn't quite as bad?  I have been taking B6, as suggested by Tanya, and also sitting with my feet elevated a lot.  I also really tried to keep drinking a lot of water and also some Gatorade from time to time, because I had heard that sometimes helps.  Also, the weather finally got a little nicer (we had about 4 days straight of rain) and I did some more walking than I was able to before, so maybe that helped too.  Whatever the reason, I'm hoping to keep the swelling at bay.

I figured out that I actually have been having Braxton Hicks contractions, they are just not what I thought they would feel like.  My belly gets kind of hard, but it doesn't hurt at all.  I feel it at nighttime a lot when I wake up to roll over.  Weird.

I had to pee a lot this week.  I had one day where I swear I went every hour, which is unusual for me.

I was also pretty exhausted a lot this week.  I had a couple days where I was struggling to stay awake around mid afternoon and went up to bed early.  I'm glad we have a lot of our prep out of the way, because I definitely don't have energy to get a ton of stuff done in the evenings, on days I work, anymore.

I'm going through the crazy huge pile of gifts from the baby shower and have been slowly putting things away.  One thing I may do a dedicated post on is how I still feel a little superstitious about it all, despite being huge, feeling the baby move, and having every indication that everything is fine.  I have drawers of clothes, sheets, blankets, and other baby stuff, that I've basically been afraid to wash and prep for the baby, "just in case".  I know it may seem crazy, but when you've had the kind of of tragedy like we've had, sometimes it's still hard to believe this is real and we're really going to have a live baby.  I'm still scared and think...what if?  Anyway, this week I finally made myself do a load of baby laundry since I can barely hold everything in the dresser with all the packaging.  I took the tags off things, threw away packaging, and topped off the washer with Dreft.  I consider that an accomplishment.

 In other news, I went to a fun event with some of my baby-mama friends at The Baby Grocery Store on Saturday night.  This event was for new mom's or expectant mom's, so I was excited I could participate.  There was food, dessert, massages, facials, and swag bags.  My mama friends have a Facebook group that they added me to a couple months ago and I'm really looking forward to joining the play dates they organize once the baby is here.  The Baby Grocery Store is neat- they have a lot of baby products, but also a room you can use for play dates and they host a lot of events like the one I went to.  I won a some products and bought some nipple cream my friend Lindsay recommended.

I had a doctor's appointment at 34 weeks 5 days.  I was thinking this would be the first in which they'd check "under the hood", but I found out it that it was just an easy check up, measuring the belly and checking the heartbeat with the Doppler again.  At my next appointment they do the Group B Strep test and check my progress down under and that's in two weeks.  Seems kind of late to me, but what do I know?

Following the doctor's appointment, I had a chiropractor appointment.  My chiropractor told me at my last appointment that if I still didn't know from my OBGYN, he could check my tummy and confirm whether the baby was head down or not, so at this appointment he checked and she is indeed head down.  I have suspected for a while that she was because I typically feel more leg-like movement in the top half of my belly, but it was still nice to have further confirmation.

Finishing off the week, Greg and I attended Infant CPR and Safety at our hospital last night.  It was held in the maternity ward conference room, so it was kind of surreal to walk through the halls of the maternity ward and realize then probably in a month or so we'll be in there again to have our baby.

How far along? 35 Weeks
Maternity clothes?  Pretty much all maternity and some of that is feeling "small".  Yikes!
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: heartburn, movement, swelling in the feet/ankles, feeling huge, frequent urination.
Best moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat is always the best!
Miss Anything?  Sleeping well, not having heartburn, running, having distinct ankles, being able to work out hard.
Movement: Yup, she is rolling around in there!
Food cravings: fresh bread and butter, peanut butter panda puffs, chocolate, fruit, animal crackers.
Anything making you queasy or sick: heartburn has made me have pukey burps (sorry, gross I know!) a couple times but I didn't throw up this week.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, duh.  I feel extremely huge.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks, but it doesn't feel like labor or anything.
Belly Button in or out? It's out!
Mood:  Good!
Looking forward to:  Maternity leave and meeting our baby.
What I am NOT looking forward to: Feeling heavier, more tired, and more uncomfortable in the coming weeks.
Weekly Wisdom: Um, hang in there?
Milestones: Five weeks to go?!?!

Non-Pregnant Weekend Activities

I admit, my blogging has turned into quite the pregnancy journal as of late.  My phases as a runner training for a marathon and food blogger are kind of distant memories right now.  It's funny, because I used to look at friends that blogged and became pregnant and wonder how their blogs went from more variety of content to strictly once a week pregnancy posts, but now that I'm here, I kind of get it.  I actually spend a few days a week working on pregnancy posts so that I can remember all the things happening that week.  It usually doesn't leave me a whole lot of time leftover to blog about anything else.  Also, many of my weekly activities involve pregnancy news- like classes, nursery projects, shopping trips to Buy Buy Baby, etc... so as you can see, pregnancy has kind of taken over my life now!

That said, I do have a life outside pregnancy.  I think I'm just too busy enjoying the moments to whip out a camera, or even remember to bring my DSLR most of the time though.  Over the weekend I did do a few fun activities and even captured them on my IPhone.  Clyde and I met Kelly and Rascal for a walk.

It was a gorgeous day and we walked in the scenic, mansion heavy South Park area.  We also had a nice lunch outside at EarthFare after where I hoovered a big salad from their salad bar and a peanut butter brownie, that yes, went un-photographed (bad blogger).

Greg and I regularly send pictures back and forth of Clyde when one of us is with him and the other is at work, so I sent him this cute shot of Clyde on Saturday afternoon...

Sunday, I took advantage of another social opportunity and got together with a fun group of girls at Diana's house for a pot luck dinner.  If you read her blog, you know that she's coordinating an eat-in month challenge, so this was a way for her to be social but not go out.  This group has been dubbed the "Epic Eaters", and they often go out or get together for fun food consuming activities.

I made Jenna's pumpkin mac and cheese, which you can see in the photo below on the right, next to Jen's awesome scones.

There was also potato salad, kale and apple salad (so good!), goat cheese and crackers, dumplings, pork and rice...

And a big dish of apple cranberry crisp that Diana made, which was good, because I NEED my dessert lately!

Also, for the ladies who could drink, our friend Dion brought the most interesting jello shot ever created!

A fish bowl!  Cute right?  Here are the girls digging in.

We had a great time eating and hanging out.  I actually ate way too much.  I'm finding that it's harder to tell when I'm full while pregnant and really have to watch how much I eat or I regret it later.  Good thing I can take Tums, because I needed them Sunday night!

Anyway, that's just a little snippet of my non-pregnant activities lately.  I'm really trying to savor these last moments before the baby comes because I know it's not going to be so easy to just up and do these kinds of things once she's here and I have other responsibilities.  

My Baby Shower

I have to say, my baby shower was a real milestone for me.  There was definitely a time when I thought that I might never get to this point- to have a party celebrating a baby growing in my belly.  The day definitely felt far in the future for a long time, like a dream or goal that I didn't know if I would ever achieve.  I've been to tons and tons and baby showers over the last couple years, and I often wondered if I would ever have one.  It's crazy to me that I did!  Having the baby shower was just another thing that made all of this feel more real.

Awesome diaper cake Kelly made me!

Kelly has been offering to throw me a baby shower since my first pregnancy.  I've often laughed at how excited she's been about it and remember many times when we'd be out to dinner or something and she would whip out her phone and show me pictures she'd pinned on Pinterest with ideas for my baby shower.  She was just slightly enthusiastic ;)  She's exactly the kind of person you want planning your baby shower though- thoughtful, organized, and creative.  She definitely nailed the theme of lambs/peach (like our nursery) and made everything delicious and gorgeous, with the help of my mom and a family friend who are also excellent cooks.

Great minds think alike- she brought a bunch of lanterns to hang that looked similar to the ones we have hanging in the nursery.

The shower was a brunch theme, which was great, because I LOVE breakfast food!  We had ham, biscuits, pimento cheese, egg bake, french toast, munchkin donuts, baked fruit, mimosas, and the cutest cupcakes ever, made my Kelly's aunt.

My plate of food looked similar to Jen's (many of these pictures are borrowed from Jen and Brittany).

We were going to play games but that fell by the wayside when present opening and nursery tours ensued.  Our baby girl is spoiled, she got some great stuff!

A lot of the gifts are now piled in my dining room as I sort through, put them away, and write thank you notes!  So many cute baby things :)

It was really fun to see all my friends.  We got a shot of a bunch of us at the end.

Also, baby girl was moving a bit and at one point I had about 5-6 hands on my belly so my friends could feel her :)

The shower was so much fun, and kind of a blur.  I wish I'd taken more pictures myself, but I was too busy socializing, eating, and enjoying the experience to go too crazy documenting it myself.  We did get a couple pictures after of me with Kelly.

Oh wait, we probably should get the belly in the shot, huh?

And my mom...

Seriously, I thought it was the most beautiful baby shower I've ever been to, and I really can't thank Kelly, my Mom, and everyone who came and celebrated the baby with me enough.  Having this shower meant the world to me and I'm so thankful to all of you that were a part of it :)

If you want to see/hear more about the baby shower, check out:

Jen's post

Kelly's post

Brittany's post

They all got some great shots and descriptions of the day!

My Thirty-Third Week

Wow, thirty-four weeks pregnant.  It's getting really crazy to think how close we are to having our baby girl now. I don't know that I've fully wrapped my head around it yet!  Ack!

So the biggest pregnancy related news this week was my baby shower.  Everything was so awesome, I'm so lucky to have such great friends and family that made it so special for me.  I promise to do a dedicated post about it soon but I didn't take a lot of pictures myself so I'm trying to compile some from friends who did.  Anyway, the shower was so, so great, and I really want to thank Kelly and my mom for putting it on.  It was truly amazing.  Here's a teaser shot for you- as you can see, Kelly went with the lamb/peach theme and it was a brunch shower.  Everything was so so cute!

As you have probably gathered if you have read my last few posts, I'm getting increasing less comfortable.  I feel like my unpleasant pregnancy symptoms are getting increasingly more unpleasant.  One night this week my heartburn was so bad in the middle of the night that I actually threw up :(  I think I am going to have to  consistently take Zantac before bed, because even on nights when I don't feel it when I'm going to bed, I get up so often to pee that it usually hits me later in the night if I haven't taken it.  The other big problem I'm having is that the swelling in my feet/ankles is still pretty bad too, despite drinking a lot of water and trying a few other tactics.  If anyone knows of any ways to reduce foot swelling, I'm all ears.  In the meantime, I went out and bought three pairs of flats for my Hobbit-like feet.  Fun!  Still, I don't want anyone to think I'm the least bit ungrateful about being pregnant, and all this is totally worth it and even though it's uncomfortable, I'm so happy to be pregnant and having a baby.  I'm just trying to keep it real about what my experience has been like physically.

I might as well stop saying I feel huge.  I think I've said that enough.  On a walk (or should I say waddle?) around the neighborhood the other day, I wore one of Greg's t-shirts (because most of mine don't fit) and truly felt a little bit ridiculous.  A neighbor said I looked like I was ready to pop, and I admit I'm a little embarrassed to admit I still have 6 weeks left til my due date!  I'm seriously starting to have a very limited wardrobe of clothes that fit though, so I can only imagine how it's going to be a month from now!

I'm starting to think more about the logistics of when I actually go into labor.  My mom is going to be able to go to the big child birth preparation class at the hospital with me, which is a relief since I have given up trying to schedule it with Greg. I plan on having her in the delivery room anyway, so I think having her with me at class makes sense.  The only problem is that I'm wait-listed for the class so I don't know if I'm going to get in.   I still need to figure out more about what I'm doing if Greg is travelling when I go into labor though.  We're going to wait til he gets his schedule for February (it comes out in a few days) and come up with a plan.

The other thing I need to start thinking about is packing a bag for the hospital.  This week I was at Target and ended up getting a couple of those sleep nursing bras and a nursing tank top that I will probably bring.  I'll have to start checking blogs for more ideas on what to bring.  If you have have suggestions, let me know :)

Coming up next week, I have a check-up and I believe it's my first "below-the-waist" check on how things are going down there, so that should be interesting.

How far along? 34 Weeks
Maternity clothes?  Pretty much all maternity, except for articles of Greg's clothing I have stolen.  I also bought a couple more bras this week.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: heartburn, movement, back pain, swelling in the feet/ankles, feeling huge.
Best moment this week: The baby shower!
Miss Anything?  Sleeping well, not having heartburn, running, having distinct ankles.
Movement: Yup, she is rolling around in there!
Food cravings: cupcakes, munchkin donuts (these were all left behind after my shower!), fruit, broccoli.
Anything making you queasy or sick: heartburn made me sick one night :(
Have you started to show yet: Yes, duh.  I feel extremely huge.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No not yet.
Belly Button in or out? It's out!
Mood:  Good!
Looking forward to:  Maternity leave and meeting our baby.
What I am NOT looking forward to: Feeling heavier, more tired, and more uncomfortable in the coming weeks.
Weekly Wisdom: Um, hang in there?
Milestones: I count the baby shower as a milestone!

Our Nursery

Ok, now that the baby shower has happened (more to come on that) a lot of people got the chance to see the nursery in person, I'm ready to show you guys!

Our nursery has been a real labor of love.  Both Greg and I got really into making it a special place for our little girl and I'm so thrilled with how it's turned out.  The major starting points were that we liked dark wood furniture, peach walls (I was open to lilac/purple too, but Greg voted for peach), and the Pottery Barn Sweet Lambie bedding.  From there, we kind of just went with whatever we felt like went with those things.  Our color palette was kind of peach/white/taupe/dark brown (we also have some light green accents here and there).  We wanted it to be baby/kid friendly, but not too cutsie/cartoonish.  Modern, but classic.  Feminine, but not too girly (I didn't want everything to be pink!).  I think we achieved our goal!

My camera skills aren't the best, but hopefully you can kind of see everything from my pictures.  Enjoy!

Crib- Graco Stanton in Espresso (we got ours at Wal-Mart)
Bedding and lambie mobile- Pottery Barn Kids
Curtains- Carousel Designs (these might be my favorite thing in the whole room).  We upgraded to the black out option after hearing black out curtains are really helpful for baby's sleep.
Curtain rods- Target
Glider- Dutailier Beige Microfiber Sleigh Glider Ottoman Combo Buy Buy Baby
Mirror- Ikea Ekne
Dresser- Ikea Hemnes in black/brown
Night Stand- Ikea Hemnes in black/brown
Book Shelf- Ikea Hemnes in black/brown (just so you know, it's bolted to the wall so it can't fall over).
Diaper Caddy- JJ Cole in green.  I actually got ours on Zulily when it came up on sale, but you can get it on Amazon or other places.
Lambie prints for wall- Etsy, Sweet Pea Art Studio.
Frames for Lambie prints- Kohls
Paper lanterns- Paper Lantern Store  Yarn/ribbon used to hang lanterns- Wal-Mart.
Lamps- inherited from my parents (free!)
Lamp shades- Target
Brown round toy bin in corner and bin on the bottom of the book shelf- Target
Two wall shelves- Target
Wall paint- Lowe's Valspar Jekyll Clubhouse Peach

If there's anything I've forgotten that you want to know the origin of, let me know.

My Thirty-Second Week

I've arrived at thirty-three weeks pregnant!

One of the big themes of this week was breastfeeding.  Greg and I attended a class on breastfeeding put on by our hospital and some affiliated lactation consultants.  I did learn a few things, but honestly, I feel like I knew more than I thought I did about breastfeeding from my own research, blogs, friends, etc...  so a lot of the information wasn't new to me.  Greg REALLY didn't want to go to the class, but it said in the description to bring your spouse or support person, so I insisted that he go with me and bribed him with Jimmy Johns beforehand.  Luckily pretty much everyone there brought their husbands, so he wasn't the only one.  I don't know that he got much out of it other than to maybe understand that breastfeeding can be challenging and it's not always an automatic thing so hopefully he'll understand that it could be difficult and can be supportive if it is.

Learning about the latches and positions were probably the most useful parts of the class for me.  Even though that wasn't necessarily new info to me, it still helped to see and hear about it again.  Also, we learned that you can gently put your finger in the baby's mouth and remove her from the nipple to try again if the latch isn't right and what a good latch should look like.  I didn't know the nipple went in so deeply!  I also learned that if you are pumping, morning time is best- you can do it after a morning feeding.

My biggest disappointment was when I asked about when was the best time to introduce a bottle and the lactation consultant basically told me never.  Um... Ok.  While I definitely am planning to breastfeed, I want to be able to bottle feed my baby (hopefully with breast milk) on occasion as well.  It doesn't have to be right away, but eventually I need to be able to have a little freedom to be away from the baby and have someone else feed her, or be able to let Greg feed her if he wants to.  I feel like the answers to this question are all over the place.  I have friends that introduced bottles right away (the first week), some that waited two weeks, I've heard four weeks....  I'm kind of confused.  If you guys have suggestions on this let me know.  I'm kind of learning towards around 3 weeks maybe?  I really want to have success with both breast and bottle feeding.

Along with the class, I also called and ordered my breast pump this week.  My insurance covers one, along with a supply of storage bags, which is really cool, since breast pumps are expensive!  This is new in 2013, so I kind of lucked out that I'm due this year and that they fully cover it.  I believe the one I'm getting is the Ameda Purely Yours electric pump.  They also include like 150 storage bags and I can call for more three times after the initial batch.  Good deal!

Ok, enough about breastfeeding!  So physically, it's kind of been more of the same- feeling ginormous, swelling in my ankles at the end of the day (I might have to buy new shoes, because I'm so swollen it's hard to fit into my shoes!), more heartburn.  All the fun stuff.  I actually got some comments from a couple co-workers about how big I've gotten in the last month this week.  I ran into some people I haven't seen in a few weeks and they were like, "Whoa".  So I don't think it's just my imagination!  Also, I was talking to a girl in the breastfeeding class that looked to be about the same size as me and she is a MONTH ahead of me.  So yeah.  I'm big.

At the end of the week I had a check up with my doctor.  I got to see my favorite doctor at my practice- the one that did both my surgeries.  I asked a lot of questions.  He said they have my weight gain at 23 lbs, which is less than what I have from my home scale.  Nice!  He said for swelling I should keep drinking a lot of water- preferably over any other type of drink, and that sometimes a warm bath helps draw out some of the extra fluid, but I should just use like Ivory or some kind of mild soap in the bath instead of lots of fru-fru bubble bath.  My belly measured on track, and he said everything looks really good.  Also, the baby's heartbeat was about 145 BPM.

I also had another chiropractor appointment and I feel like that's helping with my back, which is great.

What else...  Oh, as usual I did do some walking this week.  Treadmill, a long walk with Kelly and our dogs over the weekend, and a walk around the neighborhood.  It wasn't my most consistent week, but at least I got a bunch in.

How far along? 33 Weeks
Maternity clothes?  Pretty much all maternity.  Even some of my cardigans look ridiculously small on me now, except the big ones.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: heartburn, movement, back pain, swelling in the feet/ankles, feeling huge.
Best moment this week: Hearing her heartbeat.
Miss Anything?  Sleeping well, not having heartburn, running, having distinct ankles.
Movement: Yup, she is rolling around in there!
Food cravings: chocolate, ice cream (I'm really into the Ben and Jerry's raspberry chocolate Greek frozen yogurt), pita chips, Snackimals.
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope
Have you started to show yet: Yes, duh.  I feel extremely huge.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? It's kind of out.
Mood:  Good!
Looking forward to:  My baby shower, which is coming up this weekend.
What I am NOT looking forward to: Feeling heavier, more tired, and more uncomfortable in the coming weeks.
Weekly Wisdom: Um, hang in there?
Milestones: Counting weeks instead of months.  Surreal.

My Thirty-First Week

I'm now thirty-two weeks pregnant!  Crazy to think there might be less than 8 weeks to go now, or maybe not!

So, this week I got some of my physical issues addressed.  I called a chiropractor that specifically mentions dealing with pregnant patients on their website, and that I had heard about from a local friend that used them when she was pregnant, and made an appointment.  They got me in last week and addressed my areas of concern- mainly my right mid-back, but also had some suggestions for adjustments that could be done in the round ligament area and lower back to ease my pregnancy strains.  I actually have been lucky in this area and don't think I've experienced much (any?) round ligament pain that a lot of pregnant people talk about, but I'm happy to preemptively address it anyway, just in case.  The doc I saw said that with proper chiropractic care while pregnant, you can cut labor times way down and prepare the baby for proper positioning, which sounds good to me.  They are also in network in my healthcare plan, so I just pay a co-pay each visit, which is nice.

Another issue that I've been having on and off, that I forgot to mention in last week's post, is swelling.  I'm starting to worry about my rings, and know that one day I may have extreme swelling out of no where and have to get them cut off if I keep wearing them, like Victoria did!  I even went to Kohls and bought a cheapo "wedding band" that's about a size up that I can wear instead, so I've been only wearing my wedding rings sporadically (some days I don't seem to have swelling and decide to brave it).  The other thing I noticed was that I've been getting swollen ankles at night on and off.  Ok, let's just call them what they are- cankles!  Eeek!  Surprisingly, the chiropractor actually had a suggestion to address this issue (who knew that was something he could address).  He suggested taking an enzyme in between meals that helps break down the proteins that cause swelling.  So I'm going to give them a whirl.  He said his wife swears by them and has used them through all her pregnancies with success.

My husband's blurry pics...sorry!

I'm glad I got some of my physical issues addressed, and liked the chiropractor I saw.  He wasn't pushy at all, just had suggestions and also didn't make me feel like I had to be in there all the time, just when I felt like I needed treatment.

Honestly, at this point I feel huge.  I'm up about 27 lbs by my scale now, which is more than I thought I would be based on my slow to start weight gain.  I hope to stay in the recommended range of 25-35lbs gained, but I have no idea how the next 8 weeks will go.  I really just care that the baby and myself are healthy, so if I go a little over, I guess that's not a huge deal.  I'm just going to keep trying to eat healthy and move and see how it goes.

Heartburn was pretty raging this week and I think I'm on daily Zantac at this point.  It's rare that I go a day without the acid reflux, and it's especially bad at night.  Oh well, at least the Zantac works!

In other news, our glider finally arrived!  We went to pick it up and Greg assembled it the same night.  I'm going to try to start spending some time sitting in the glider reading every day now that we have seating in the nursery.  We also hung up a few final things, including some shelves on one wall, so the nursery is basically complete now.  I will probably wait til after my shower to show you guys, since the shower is at my house and everyone attending will be able to see it in person, but once the tour is done, I'll post pictures for you guys.  I can't wait for you to see it :)

I'm starting to think more about life with baby now, and started reading The Happiest Baby on the Block the other day.  I know I have to think beyond pregnancy and want to prepare myself for life with a baby.  If you guys have any recommendations for must reads for me in the next couple months, let me know.  I know some of you have already given me some good suggestions- thanks!


How far along? 32 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity, except for cardigans and really big stuff.  I also stole some of Greg's pajama pants this week because most of mine are starting to feel tight in the waist band!
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: heartburn, movement, back pain, feeling huge
Best moment this week: Completing the nursery!
Miss Anything?  Sleeping well, not having heartburn, running.
Movement: Yup, she is rolling around in there!
Food cravings: cookies, fruit, chocolate.  Mostly my normal diet these days.
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope
Have you started to show yet: Yes, duh.  I feel extremely huge.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? Eh, it's sort of between flat and out.
Mood:  Good!  Thinking about life after pregnancy a lot.  
Looking forward to:  My baby shower, which is only about a week and a half out!
What I am NOT looking forward to: Feeling heavier, more tired, and more uncomfortable in the coming weeks.
Weekly Wisdom: Um, hang in there?
Milestones: We have entered the year in which my baby will be born!