Only 5 weeks to go! Wow, time is flying right on by! It's November already! Jeff has been wondering when to pack "The Bag", and what in the world goes into it! The only thing I could think of was a toothbrush, so I solicited advice from new Mommies, Aunt Jennie and Natalie. They were a HUGE help! Much better info than the books provide...I'll start packing that soon, just in case!
I am officially 35 weeks, 1 day. The crib is set up, more furniture is turning up (thanks to Mom & Dad for the repairs & painting!), and I've broken out a few things to set around the nursery so it looks more like it's ready to go: a lamp and the baby monitors. Batteries are in and channels are set. But being more prepared as a parent? Hmmm...not so much!
I had a regular 2-week appointment on Wednesday with a new Doctor I've not seen yet, since they want me to "get to know" everyone who might be on call when I deliver. I'm not really following that logic, because if they see me one time for less than 10 minutes, they're not going to remember me the next day, much less in 5 or 6 weeks from now. I'd rather just stick with my same Dr. for all of my visits so she knows my background and me personally, and if someone else delivers the baby, who cares?! The nurses (bless them!) do the majority of the work anyway!! :)
Baby is still moving around quite a bit, and gets the hiccups at least once a day now. Hopefully that does not have any significance for the future -- poor baby!! We began our Childbirth Classes on Tuesday and the nurse running them said Baby's movement will start to slow down soon; I think I'll miss it a lot :(
Our classes go from 6:30 to 9pm every Tuesday for 4 weeks, at St. Joe. There are 10 couples in our class, and we are the only couple who does not know the gender of the baby. We are also the only couple who are not going to immediately get an epidural. We're pretty old-fashioned, I guess! The first class was pretty basic, changes the body is going through and intro to Labor (true vs. false, etc). We did a bit of breathing on the floor but not too much. We also watched a clip from Bill Cosby's video about his experience with "natural childbirth" -- hilarious :) Can't wait for next week!
p.s. Jeff has been taking my Compression Socks off for weeks now, but the other day he had the joy of trying to put them ON me...now he can see what all the fuss was about! He was grunting and huffing and puffing by the time it was over...I told him to imagine trying to do that with a big basketball in his belly!! It was hilarious...I wish I'd had it on video!
2009-10-22 (33 weeks)
Busy Bees! This week is jam-packed full of Baby-goodness!!
It all began Sunday when we finally cleared out the spare room (aka: Guest Room turned Nursery!). Not partially, but completely cleared out: mattresses and all! The majority of things went into the basement, which is now a complete mess, but at least we now have a nice empty room for Baby!
Tuesday morning started out with our Parent Meeting with the pediatrician in town, Dr. Daill. She's super nice and very down-to-earth, mid-30's and a Mom of three. We're pretty confident that she will do a very good job with Baby, plus you can't get any more convenient than down the street! Of course we were not prepared with hardly any questions, being new to this parenting business, so everything she told us sounded pretty good :)
The painter came by Tuesday (aka: MOM) to turn our eggshell-white room into a lovely "Aloe Essence" Nursery. It looks so good! Thanks, Mom ~ love your willingness to help and all of your many talents!! We can't wait to get things arranged in there...Jeff will be setting up the crib on Saturday, while I'm at work. I'm told that is one of the jobs I do NOT want to be around for...Sue at work said I should take a "shopping day" whenever Jeff decided to put together the crib. He'll have at least 4 hours while I'm at work, I hope that's enough time.... :P
Wednesday we had a very quick routine 2-week appointment with a doctor I don't normally see; apparently I'm going to see all of the physicians by the time I'm due, so that I can be introduced to all of them in case they are on call when I deliver. Everything was normal and looking good: my weight, bp, belly measurement (31 inches), baby's position (head down on the right, rear up, feet to the left side). Lots of activity going on, too, which is always a good sign :)
Thursday (tonight) we had our tour of the Hospital (St. Joseph Mercy in Ypsilanti). Seems that Jeff has more to remember than I do -- I basically just go into labor and stay put or get wheeled around while he has to remember where the Nourishment room is, where to park, which bag to bring in, when to move the car, get the luggage, keep me comfortable, coach me through labor, etc. Poor guy! However, I'm sure it's nothing compared to the fact that I will be GIVING BIRTH to a child!
Newest Baby info: Lots of kicking and nudging and rolling around down there! At night when I read I can't rest my book on my tummy or else it will be booted off! Seriously! Strong Baby in there. I can see the movements while I am standing at the counter at work, rolling from side to side. It's just so amazing! Baby also gets the hiccups pretty frequently now. I first felt them about 3 weeks ago, and now they are pretty prevalent, almost daily.
At my appointment I tried to verify *just* how far along I am...the nurse said that I was 32 wks 6 days (yesterday) when I thought I was 31 wks 6 days. My doctor works out of 2 offices, Milan & Ypsi, and I primarily see her at Milan where they have me at 31w6d. Well, she checked her little wheel-job and said that I was indeed going to be 33 weeks! Wow, so that brings me down to just 7 weeks to go.....1 week closer to the due date! Jeff of course verified the info online. Somehow my calendar has been off this whole time as well?? Yikes! Less than 2 months to go! We'd better get crackin on that nursery...
2009-10-02 (30 weeks)
10 weeks and counting... Wow, 30 weeks already!! It's hard to believe how fast the time has flown by! There have been quite a lot of events in Baby's life recently....
I had my glucose test done, and passed with flying colors! I opted for the orange flavor (lemon-lime just can't be good!) and downed it in record time, apparently! The lab tech was impressed. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated, but I'm glad I only had to do it once!
Baby flew for the first time (in my tummy!) to visit the beautiful sights out West. We saw Hoover Dam, Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon. Lots of hiking was involved in this trip -- slowly but surely, I hiked all over Zion, 585 feet down into Bryce Canyon and a mile & a half down into Grand Canyon...and back UP!! Not to mention all the regular walking, trails, and other scenic off-shoots we wandered about on. Jeff says he will have to go back and do some "real" hiking :) Hey, I think I did PRETTY good for being 26 weeks pregnant, in 100-degree weather! We always made sure to have plenty of water with us, as well as lots of snacks (of course!). We did have a bit of a scare while in Vegas though...while walking the strip I had my first episode of Braxton-Hicks contractions, which was our first day of vacation. Resting and drinking water every 5-10 minutes helped them to subside, but it was a pretty scary experience :( I called my big sister to calm my fears. For the rest of the vacation, I made sure to let Jeff know when I needed a break, and he was very adamant about my water consumption. His care and concern were so sweet!!
Since getting back (Sept. 13) it seems we have been going non-stop! Busy bees with work and other plans, and the time seems to be ticking steadily away! No rest for the weary! My ankles began swelling again, so I have made a point of wearing my compression hose to work every day. It has helped with the swelling, but every now and again my right heel will be numb -- weird. I've also had two episodes of "floaters" in my eyes...the last one was 2 days ago at work. It's pretty scary (not to mention obnoxious!) to have your vision go away while trying to read prescriptions! My OB told me to check it out with my eye doctor since my blood pressure is great and I don't have any other underlying symptoms or conditions. More appointments, I'm sure......
I am definitely starting to have the Nesting instinct kick in...I'm glad it is since we are so unprepared for a Baby in this house!! The nursery is an absolute wreck, Jeff is drywalling the closet tomorrow (yikes!) and we have paint samples -- but no paint -- and no furniture! I'm sure it will get done eventually...but when??
2009-08-31 (25 weeks)
In the Womb Baby sure has been moving around a lot lately! Jeff & I were able to watch my belly actually move last week for the first time...pretty crazy! Almost alien-like...but so amazing The kicks and punches and elbows have been getting stronger, which is fascinating. Baby is very active at night-time...I wonder if that is a sign of things to come??
We had another 4-week appt. last Tuesday and the doctor said everything looks perfect: my weight is right on, the baby has a strong heartbeat, and I'm measuring good for my height. She said that they would probably be measuring the baby small the entire rest of the pregnancy, since I have so much room between my shoulders and hips. So, I'll pretty much be expecting an 8-lb. baby and will be surprised with a 9-lb. baby?!? Yikes.
She also said that I haven't been complaining enough at my appointments, and at my next visit, I'd better come up with something to complain about! Well, I pretty much found something right away: 2 days later, I began to get heartburn every day and this weekend my feet swelled to the size of footballs. Maybe the Nerf size footballs, but I definitely had some cankles going on. My skin was stretched to capacity and the bottoms of my feet were going numb! Is this a problem? All I could picture were poor Natalie's feet last summer and thinking that mine were soon going to end up like that! I really am not a complainer though...I am so happy to be blessed enough to get to experience this that I will take anything that comes along with it!
Jeff & I watched the National Geographic video "In the Womb", and it was so much more interesting than any of the books I've read thus far. It is so amazing how they develop so rapidly and can do so many things early on! I highly recommend it to others...except maybe skipping the last 5 or 10 minutes. Yes, that is the part when labor & delivery begin and Jeff decided that he just might pass out if he is in the delivery room with me! Oh boy....and it wasn't even that graphic! We'll have to work on toughening him up!
