There Went Our Due Date...

Today was our due date. Liam is not here. I'm not quite sure why, he's dancing around so much in there you would think he'd like some more space to do it in. At the doctor's today I had another pelvic exam. He said my cervix is 75% thinned out and nice and soft, which is good, and I'm about 1 to 2 centimeters dilated, which is really no progress from last week. He did say that the baby is super low (at about 0 station), which just means he has moved into my pelvis. This was of course no suprise to me since my belly button has moved down my stomach about 2 inches and I have to pee every 5 minutes. His heart sounded good on the fetal doppler, and his growth is measuring good as well, but I had to stay for a non-stress test to make sure that the baby isn't under any distress in there and that it's safe to let him stay in my uterus.

Once you hit the 40 week mark you're only considered full term, you're not considered past term (or overdue) until 42 weeks, so they usually won't induce you until at least 41 weeks, unless it's not safe for the baby to be remain in utero any longer. So for this non-stress test I had to sit in a chair for about a half an hour while they monitored the baby's heartbeat and movements, and any contractions I might have. He passed the test, he's doing just fine in there, and I apparently even had a contraction while I was sitting there, which he handled well also. They then did a quick ultrasound to check the fluid level and make sure everything looked good, and it did. The nurse actually said I had an "excellent amount of fluid" in there for him, so it's perfectly safe for him to stay put for another week or so. So they've placed me on the hospitals induction list for next Thursday, June 23rd. I of course really hope he decides to come before that, but at least I can now see a light at the end of this tunnel if he doesn't...

Waiting....................................

This "last" week has been super lame. My biggest issues are painful swollen feet and hands (they don't look as swollen as they feel, but they feel humongous), and excessive drooling during my sleeping hours (I've never heard of this as being a pregnancy symptom, but I've never had this problem before so I figure that's just gotta be what it is. And when I say excessive drooling, I mean that there is literally a huge puddle on my pillow every time I wake up for a bathroom break. It's pretty gross). I've also had some pretty sharp stabbing pains in my cervix here and there, because this baby has moved so far down into my pelvis that every time he moves he literally punches my cervix, either with his little baby (but powerful) fists, or his huge head. But that's about all the action that is going on physically. No contractions that I can feel, no water breaking. And although I'm calling it my "last" week, I now fear that that is not the truth. I have my "last" doctor's appointment on Thursday, my due date, so I guess we'll discuss induction and other options then. Apparently only 1 in every 8 babies is born before their due date, and Liam will obviously not be one of them.

I'm starting to get a bit discouraged with all this waiting around. I went from anxiously waiting for my water to break, to honestly pushing my due date to the back of mind, it's obviously going to pass me by. There is really nothing going on down there. I've been feeling like he was going to show up any minute now for the last 2 weeks, so I suppose I can't count on those feelings to mean anything. So I'm still just waiting. I have nothing to do really, I haven't planned anything for the days ahead because I thought I'd be in the hospital, but then I'm just left at home restless and bored. If I have to wait another week I really think I might go crazy.

And here's my latest belly pic, I think my face says it all:

Stats
39 weeks 2 days
Starting Weight: 132
Current Weight: 164
Waist @ Belly Button: 44.5 inches
Growth: 13.75 inches

All About The Baby This Week

Last Doctor's Appointment?? Please?

Today I had my last Doctor's appointment (right Liam?). He said it looks like Liam will be about the same size that Kash was at birth, 7 pounds 12 ounces, and that everything was looking good. He said my cervix is almost completely thinned out, which is good because once that happens it starts to dilate, so at least we're on the right track; But he said as of right now I'm still only 1 or 2 cm dilated, which isn't much. So I guess I was wrong about this little guy showing up early, the doctor said I should deliver by next week, and that he hopes not to see me next Thursday at my next scheduled appointment; Let me tell you, I hope to not see him at another appointment! I can no longer sleep, get up, wipe myself, or really maneuver my self at all, so let's get this show on the road! The doctor did say that Liam's head is down and in the right position though, so all I need now is some dilation!

What The Hell Was That!?

I don't know what on earth happened to me last night, but it was confusing and weird. I woke up at around midnight with some lower back pain, only on my right side though. It felt like I had strained a muscle or something, but nothing I did would make it go away. I got up to go the bathroom and started shivering like I was freezing cold, and I felt a little nauseous. But surprisingly, I was able to fall back asleep. I woke up about an hour later to the same symptoms, but wasn't able to sleep any longer, so I got on the Internet and tried to figure out what was wrong with me. Most things I read mentioned early labor and back labor, and advised me to time the pain to see if they were contractions, but my pain was constant and untimeable. But during my research it finally went away, so I got back in bed only to realize that I was hungry. And so at 3:30 in the morning I ate two bowls of cereal before going to lie back down. I only got about a half hour of rest (not sleep) before it was time for me to make TJ's lunch for work, and thankfully after that my symptoms seemed to be gone for good and I was finally able to get a few hours of sleep. But now this morning my side is sore like I pulled a muscle, and to top it all off I noticed my first stretch mark above my belly button (I didn't get any while I was pregnant with Kash so this was completely unexpected). Also, it is almost impossible for me to wipe myself after using the bathroom all of sudden, so I really think it's time for Liam to get out of there!

And Now We Wait...

Not much is going on this week, except for a whole lot of waiting. Now that the weekend is over and I have pretty much everything done and taken of for the baby to arrive, I'm just waiting for him to evacuate. He really should be coming any day now, he's much too big to stay in there any longer.

Everything I do is so exhausting. I dread taking a shower because it takes so much energy; By the time I'm clean and dressed, I'm too tired to even go wherever it was that I was getting clean for in the first place. I'm surprised I was even able to push through all the cooking I did this weekend. I made 6 meals that I could freeze to have ready to eat after the baby comes, and even though I saved a lot of time and energy by doing them at the same time, It was ridiculously draining. I plan on going for some long walks this week in hopes of putting myself into labor, but I'm not sure where I'll get the energy.

My heartburn has turned from annoying to massively painful. It shows up more at night time, and then stays all night long, I have to sleep with the bottle of Tums next to the bed.

All About The Baby This Week

This Week's Doctor Appointment

Everything looked today at the appointment. Blood pressure good, urine test good, heartbeat good. The doctor said I'm about 1 to 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced, but I still have a little while to go. Well, we'll see about that; After this weekend I'm going to go on a fast paced 2 mile walk each day until I go into labor. That's the plan, and it will work...

Moving Right Along

I'm thinking that this baby has begun to drop this week. His kicks and punches feel much lower than usual, and not up in my ribs at all. And when I sit it feels like my belly is completely resting on my legs. But I can't tell a difference by looking at my belly, so we'll see what the doctor says at my appointment at the end of the week.

And I've got this wierd anxious feeling that this baby will be showing up a bit sooner than expected. Kash was born 5 days early, I'm thinking Liam willl be here at least a full week early. It just feels like things are moving along in my body, getting ready for the big day. My water broke during one of my midnight trips to the bathroom with Kash, so for the last few nights every time I get out of bed for a potty break I get nervous that it's going to happen again.

And last night I lost my mucous plug, which doesn't really mean anything except that the baby should be showing up anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks from now, which I obviously already knew. But it is aother sign that things are moving in the right direction. I would like this baby to show up completely on his own, without having to be induced at all, so hopefully these are all good signs of that. I've also been having a lot of sharp shooting pains at the bottom of my cervix, (not quite sure what that means though), and I think I've been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions too. Hopefully my doctor will check to see if I'm dialated at all tomorrow at my appointment, I'm anxious to see if I am...

All About The Baby This Week

Busy No More

Stats
37 weeks 3 days
Starting Weight: 132
Current Weight: 161
Waist @ Belly Button: 42.5 inches
Growth: 11.75 inches

This was not the best week of the pregnancy. I've noticed I'm moving much slower than usual, at times I even catch myself waddling a bit. I can't really ever go without wearing something on my feet now, it makes the bottoms of them feel really bruised; So first thing in the morning I have to put my Crocs on. My ankles have been bothering me; I've always had issues with my ankles, so I'm assuming this extra 30 pounds I'm carrying around is aggravating them. And I've figured out that I'm now suffering from Restless Leg Syndrome, which is apparently common at this stage of pregnancy, but ridiculously annoying. Almost every night while sitting and watching TV I get the most annoying feeling in my legs, like I just have to move them. Sometimes they even twitch involuntarily. And that feeling makes it even harder for me to fall asleep at night than it already is.

The last few days I've been absolutely exhausted. I've had my periods of exhaustion throughout this pregnancy, but they usually subside after I take a rest, or I can just push through them. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Yesterday I had five places to run errands at, I only made it to two, and later that same day my arm got tired flipping through the pages of a magazine, seriously. I was hoping this kind of exhaustion was just a one day thing, but today isn't looking much better. I'm afraid my productivity is going to be dropping dramatically from here on out, so I guess it's a good thing I've almost got everything prepped for Liam to arrive.

This week I washed all of Kash's stored away clothes, from size newborn through 3 months. I had to soak most of them in Oxiclean for a day because they were covered in spit up stains, but now they look good as new! I also washed all his old baby blankets, burp clothes, bibs, receiving blankets, and any and all fabrics I could remove from the baby gear (like the swing and car seat). So everything is all nice and clean for him :) I also finished and hung the mobile in the nursery, started packing the diaper bag, and my bag for the hospital. Yes, I've been busy!











All About The Baby This Week

It's Gonna Be A Long Month

Looks like no more sleep for me!! I have gone from waking up once every other night to use the bathroom, to getting up two or three times every night. And if I don't have a hard time falling asleep when I first go to bed, then I can't go back to sleep after one of my potty trips. This morning I woke up at 5:30 for no good reason at all and just could not fall back asleep, so I'm eating cereal and writing this post instead. The main thing that's keeping me up is just being uncomfortable I guess. My body just can't lay in bed for too long apparently, even if I am ridiculously tired.

I'm also having a hard time being comfortable during the day though too. If I stand for too long my feet hurt, but when I sit my back hurts, and you'd think that if I sat in one of our recliners I'd be comfy, with my feet up and all, but that position makes it hard to breath. So it looks like I've got a long month ahead of me.

And I've almost completely lost my appetite. I don't get that hungry feeling very often, and if I do, there is absolutely nothing that I feel like eating. I haven't been able to think of anything to make for dinner all week, and it doesn't look like it's getting any better.

But on a pleasant note, I had my baby shower last weekend, and it was really nice to see everyone who made it. I got lots of stuff we needed, and now I can go out and get what's left on my list to be all ready for Liam to arrive!

All About The Baby This Week

Painful Walks and Swelling

During one of my walks this week I had a Braxton Hicks contraction that just did not want to go away, and it was actually pretty painful. I started to get a little worried for a second, I thought maybe it was the real thing; but thankfully, by the time I got back to the house it had finally subsided. It made for a pretty uncomfortable walk! And since I was kind of waddling/limping the whole way, it probably can't even be considered exercise, what a waste!

And I noticed this week that not only does my face look much rounder, I'm pretty sure my nose has widened too. I know this is common during pregnancy, but I didn't notice it happening when I was pregnant with Kash, and I do NOT like it. I did get a haircut this week, so I'm not sure if that just made my face appear to look different or what, but I'm definitely glad I got our family pictures taken before I noticed this horrendous pregnancy symptom. (And speaking of family photos, for those of you who do not have facebook and have not already seen them, I have included a slide show of them as the post following this one.) So it looks like I have finally hit the swollen stage of pregnancy. Because not only is my face swollen, my feet swelled up for the first time the other night, and then again a few days later. Some days my nose looks bigger than other days, so that must be in relation to the swelling also. My weight is also steadily swelling, but I guess that's not really quite the same thing...

All About The Baby This Week

projects, projects, projects!

I'm so proud of myself! Look at what I did to Liam's room!









Isn't it freakin' adorable!?

This pregnancy has turned me into some kind of creative genius! OK, maybe that's a bit of an over statement, but compared to before, the amount of projects I've taken on and completed successfully is amazing. I mean, there's tons to do with the new house, so of course I've done what I can to fix it up and take some of the tasks of TJ's hands. But besides all of that, I've made us a new headboard for the master bedroom from scratch, and painted the tree and branches on the walls in Liam's room. This week I picked up all the materials to make a mobile to hang in the nursery, and after that I plan to make Kash some type of growth chart to hang in his room. It's like I can't stop. Once I finish one project, I have to have another to begin.

And that's pretty much all I've been doing t his week. Trying to get the house together before the baby shower next weekend. I'm so excited to see all my friends and family there, I feel like I haven't had much human contact (other than Kash and TJ of course) lately with all these home projects, so it will be nice to just take a break from it and celebrate this new baby!

All About The Baby This Week

Middle Names Are Hard

Here we go with "you're due any day now aren't you!?" comments. No folks, I still have 8 weeks left. Withing the last two weeks I've probably received these comments from about 10 different strangers. When I tell them how long I still have to go you should see the looks on their faces, it's like they get scared for me or something.

I had my first "uncomfortable" day this week also. I mean, I've had aches pains throughout the pregnancy so far, but on this particular day I woke up and my entire body was just not in the mood for anything. Despite my usual stretches, which usually make me feel better, I was uncomfortable for the rest of the day. I was afraid that was going to be how I felt everyday from then on out, but luckily it hasn't been.

And I guess I might as well post on here the name we have chosen for this little boy. We weren't going to tell anyone because we didn't want to hear what anyone had to say about the name, good or bad. Everyone always an opinion about the name you choose, and we didn't want to know about the jerk in high school you knew with that name, or looser that grew up on your block named that. But on accident, the photographer who took our family/maternity pictures (which I'll post on here as soon as I receive the CD in the mail) let it slip on her blog (we didn't tell her not to tell), so the people who read it knew, and I guess it's not fair to keep it from the rest of you. So anyway, we are naming him Liam. We haven't decided on a middle name yet, and like we did with Kash, we probably won't figure it out until right before he's born. Middle names are hard.

Liam has been moving a lot lately. It may be that he's running out of room in there, so I'm feeling it a lot more, but then I started to wonder if maybe all that moving was him dropping into a lower position. Some lady commented that I looked really low to still have 8 weeks left, but I don't think so...




Stats
32 weeks 6 days
Starting Weight: 132
Current Weight: 150
Waist @ Belly Button: 40 inches
Growth: 9.25 inches

All About The Baby This Week

Benedryl and Girdles

Let the sleepless nights begin! Two nights in a row this week I could not sleep. The first night was really bad, I think I got about 2 hours of sleep total, and I even went to bed early that night because I was so exhausted. I just couldn't turn my mind off, which is actually the norm for me, but for some reason I just couldn't get past it that night. So when the next night came around I thought it'd be a piece of cake to get some rest, especially since Kash wouldn't let me take a nap that day, but I was wrong. I did get like 4 or 5 hours of shut eye that second night, but I was hoping for much more. When I mentioned to my doctor that I was having a hard time sleeping, I thought she'd prescribe me some safe muscle relaxers like my last OBGYN did when I was pregnant with Kash. Nope, she told me to take benedryl. Lame, I'm pretty sure that's not going to help...

I also asked my doctor at my appointment this week about the painful bruising feeling I've been having at the top of my stomach. She said I need to get a maternity girdle to help support the baby, apparently the maternity support belt I have isn't enough. Too bad those girdles are eighty bucks a pop. I don't think I'll be spending the money on it, I can tough it out for the next 8 weeks...right?

On another note, I am feeling super ready for this baby to be here! Even though the nursery is not complete yet, and there are still a ton of things I need to get and have to do before he gets here, for some reason I just want him to arrive. I only started feeling like this this week, and I think it's highly out of character for me since I usually need everything to be completed and ready before an event happens. I wonder if that means he will be coming a little early?

All About The Baby This Week

Nesting and Crocs

I think today marked a new stage of the pregnancy. I woke up with tons to do (as I do every Monday), but every little thing I did made me incredibly winded. After getting our breakfast together I was breathing hard, after getting dressed I was exhausted. I wasn't sure how I was going to get anything done at that rate, but luckily, my nesting instinct took over and suddenly I was doing things that weren't even on my to-do list. I meant to just tidy up the house, vacuum, and do laundry; but in addition to that I reorganized all of Kash's toys (which is no small task, let me assure you), put them all away categorically, put a bucket of them in a closet to get rid of some clutter, and moved some furniture around (non of which was heavy, no worries). And only because this took me all day did I stop there. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow and organize all of the bedrooms!

I ordered a new pair of Crocs this week, barf. They are the only shoes that keep my feet from hurting, and since they've come out with some much cuter styles since I bought a pair while pregnant with Kash, I thought it was time to upgrade. This pair actually looks kind of normal, they're just black flip flops. Hopefully they pamper feet as well as the ugly ones did.

And I believe I mentioned a painful bruising feeling at the top of my uterus in last week's post, right? Oh, it's getting worse! No matter what I do during the day, as the day progresses the feeling just gets more awful. By the time night falls it is almost excruciating, and I'm not exaggerating. I have a doctor's appointment next week, and I'm praying that she will be able to offer a solution. 10 more weeks of this is unacceptable.

All About The Baby This Week

Bruising and Egg Burritos

New issues this week include no longer being able to get up from a sitting position with ease. And the top of my uterus is absolutely killing me. If I do anything that requires the use of my ab muscles, it seems to squeeze my uterus upwards, and then for the rest of the day the top of my uterus feels severely bruised. It's quite painful. I'm wondering if this is a normal pregnancy issue, or if it has something to do with my diastasis recti.

I've got the baby's room painted a pretty cloud blue (thanks to TJ's Mom), so I can finally start putting it together. Although I'll never get around to it if I don't take a break from stuffing my face. Lately I've been craving egg burritos and whoppers (the candy, not the burger), but strangely enough I never want the egg burrito for breakfast, always for lunch.

All About The Baby This Week

Good News and Chocolate

I had a doctor's appointment today, and everything went great! The doctor said that the baby was measuring in at exactly the right size (based on the height of my abdomen) and that his heartbeat was 140 beats per minute, which is just right. She also said that after looking at the ultrasound pictures I had done a few weeks ago, the cysts in his rain have resolved themselves, and my placenta has moved up, which is all excellent news! The results of my blood tests all came back wonderful too. So everything is really looking great!

On a negative note though, I am having a seriously hard time staying away from chocolate. Whoppers and Cadbury Creme Eggs are basically always in my mouth. My goal this pregnancy was to only gain 25 pounds, as opposed to the almost 40 I gained with Kash, but at this rate that is no longer a possiblilty.


Stats
28 weeks 5 days
Starting Weight: 132
Current Weight: 149
Waist @ Belly Button: 38 inches
Growth: 7.25 inches

All About The Baby This Week

3rd Trimester!!

I can't believe I'm in my third trimester already. This pregnancy is going buy super fast, Little Brother will be here before we know it!

My pelvic bone is absolutely killing me this week. I can literally feel it widening, and one side often pops each time I take a step forward. It kind of feels like my body is coming apart in the middle, like my legs are preparing to separate from my upper half. Weird huh? It's pretty painful. But prenatal yoga is my absolute best friend these days. It makes me feel soooo much better. I wish I could just do it all day long.

And I picked up this little one's crib bedding this week so that we could pick out the paint color for his room and get it put together. I'm excited to start on a baby project, instead of the numerous home improvement projects we've been working on this month.

All About The Baby This Week