39 Weeks - Still Waiting, Still Swelling

39 weeks.  A mere 7 days from my due date.  It's a serious 'how did we get there from here' moment!

Baby girl is so low right now I feel like she could just fall on out without a problem.  My EVERYTHING is swelling now.  Hands, wrists, knees, legs, ankles, feet - and hopefully my face though who knows if that's fat or fluid.  lol.

At last Thursday's appointment I had gained 7lbs since the previous week!!  Considering the amount of swelling I have, it's probably mostly fluid weight but good lord was that an eye-popping experience!!  No protein in my urine and my blood pressure was still good though.  When my midwife had me lay back to listen to the heartbeat and measure me I put my legs up and she noticed my ankles right away and wound up taking my blood pressure a second time for her own sake before letting me leave wanting to make sure that it was really okay considering the weight gain and how swollen I was.  But so far so good - apart from the annoyance it causes me that is.  Next appointment is tomorrow and hopefully I haven't gained much more - fluid or no!

I have been having some off-and-on contractions but nothing overly notable.  It's so hard to tell - I get contractions all the time of the Braxton-Hicks variety, and sometimes even those come regularly.  Everyone says you'll be able to tell the difference though, so I'm banking on them knowing what they're talking about.  I've had some today that I'd call 'more noticeable' than some of the others that were just a tightening feeling.. but nothing consistent and as someone told me -  our babies have a sense of humor even from the womb - so I'm sure it's a big ol' game of 'let's get mommy excited and have it amount to nothing'!  lol.

Oh and I did meet with the anesthesiologist before my last midwife appointment.  It was just a quick talking meeting where I told him what I'd been given before and what my reactions were and what my concerns were in the 'in case shit' scenario of birth though I truly hoped to never see him again.  He was totally cool with that and basically told me not to worry if for no other reason than they don't use those sorts of sedating/memory-taking medications (i.e. sodium pen and versed) typically in birth settings because you WANT to remember.  The only time they use sodium pen is if a c-section is a true emergency and they're putting you under general anesthesia.  Basically you only deal with them for an epidural in labor - which I'm planning not to have - or in the case of a c-section.  And in a normal c-section he said that they use a spinal anesthesia that is just numbing and that's about it.  He kept saying that they might give you something for after if you're having a hard time relaxing and I kept waiting for him to get to what they give you, ya know, WHILE they're cutting you open, but no - the spinal is the end of that basically.  So essentially he was like 'don't worry we don't use those things cuz you'll be awake!' and I'm like "stellar!!"  lol.  He did go on to say that they stay with you throughout everything and are able to take you to the next level of whatever it is you need to make you comfortable while protecting your airway and keeping you and the baby safe which was good to hear.  And he said that in my previous situations it wasn't so much that I couldn't be given any more meds, it was that I couldn't be given any additional meds safely in the setting I was in without an anesthesiologist there to monitor and protect the airway and take things to the next level.

But regardless of all that, I hope hope hope I never have to see them again because if I do it means that everything we've planned and hoped for has gone to hell and that's not something I'm looking forward to or want to focus on.  So tomorrow I'll have my 39 week appointment and see where we go from there.  So far my midwife has been very awesome of not pushing internal exams (I don't want one unless I go passed my due date and we have to start the countdown of how late they'll let me go) and thusfar there's been no talk of having to set an induction date (I know some people get pushed into scheduling an induction at their 39 or 40 week appts 'just in case' which would irk me), so hopefully that will continue tomorrow.  Or hey - maybe I'll have a baby by the time of my appt tomorrow - who knows!  hahaha... 

Oh and if you're keeping track - belly button is still sort-of in, but I don't know that I can completely call it in at this point.  We're at least at the half and half point on this one.  eep!

38 Weeks: No More Rings :-(

I've never been a patient person, I'm not gonna lie.  It's definitely showing these days as well.  At 38 weeks we pretty much have everything ready, we're just waiting on her and waiting sucks!  haha.  That's not true - we're still waiting for our nursery letters which JUST finally got shipped on Monday so we should have those this week - remind me never to order from THAT GUY again - it took him like 6 weeks to get these done and in the mail!!!  They're not even custom painted!  Just white!!!  ugh.  Anyway, maybe that's what she's waiting for - she feels like her nursery is 'incomplete' without her little name letters over the crib!  lol..

But the latest and greatest as far as things go is that I had to take my rings off yesterday.  I'd been wearing them on my pinky finger since the end of March/beginning of April (and sadly they actually FIT my pinky right away so clearly I should have been doing that long before I actually did it!), but yesterday I woke up and realized that they were tight and THEN realized I couldn't get them off and had to run my hand under cold water to loosen them and slide them off.  I almost made it!  Close but no cigar.  :-(  But my hands have definitely joined the 'swelling party' in the last week.  Not cool if you ask me.  Especially because now they hurt - like grasping things and bending my fingers and wrists.  Basically movement of the skin the way my feet hurt from the swelling.  Next appointment is tomorrow so hopefully my stats will still be good.

I got the results of the GBS screen that was done at my last appointment - and it's negative!!  I'm sooo glad.  I know that being positive for the bacteria is, in actuality, no big deal really, but in today's world of modern medicine it guarantees a heplock and antibiotics in labor on the very very slight chance that the baby might have a problem because of it (1-2% is what we're talking about here).  And so my jubilation is less for the lack of the bacteria and more for the lack of IV that it means for my labor.

I also have an anesthesiologist consult scheduled just before my appt tomorrow.  They thought it would be a good idea considering my lack of response to conscious sedation meds in the past, just to be prepared for worst case scenario.  She also told me that it's one of those things where if I go it practically guarantees that I won't need to use it because that's generally how it works and I agree.  Life is crazy like that - if I don't go, I'll wind up needing the anesthesiologist, but if I go through the trouble of meeting with and talking over my options and making a plan, I won't need it.  And that's a plan I'm a fan of.  :-)  I expect to walk in there and be like "Hi - I hope to never see you again but..."  lol.

Beyond all that, I've been trying to do some walking - which typically I do in stores since we live on a giant hill and especially at this point I'd die trying to get back up it.  I've actually gone to target, not gotten a cart or basket with no intention of buying anything, and spent like 45 mins just browsing.  This is something I can do easily and Jeff's LEAST FAVORITE skill of mine.  hahaha..  He thinks it sounds torturous - I don't even notice.  Walking is definitely not comfortable for any real stretch of time (think like 3+ mins here!) but I know it's good for me and the potential of labor.  I've also started drinking Third Trimester Tea by Earth Mama Angel Baby - which is the closest thing I can find to red raspberry leaf tea locally.  It's listed as the first ingredient which works for me.  I do tire of mint teas quickly though and this one is no exception.  Spearmint is the second ingredient.  But I know that red raspberry leaf is supposed to help ripen the cervix and provide tone to the uterine muscles so drink it I shall.

Come on baby girl - we can't wait to meet you!!

37 Weeks: Full Term!!

Meet the "full term bellah"!  :-)  Our little girl is finished developing, just gaining wait at this point, and can come whenever she wishes now.  Hooray!  She's somehow gotten even lower recently - which didn't seem possible, but there you have it.  I had a midwife appointment on Tuesday the 4th and all was well, but she had to go waaaaaay down low to get the heartbeat!  Consequently, I still only measure 36 but she said that once they drop you often won't make it to 40 so they're not concerned about that at all which is good.  I also only gained 3lbs from my previous appt that was 2 weeks before.  At this point it's expected to gain a pound a week so after the 7lb jump the last time, I was definitely thrilled to be right where I should be.  And most importantly, my blood pressure and urine samples were all normal so there's no concern about my swelling at this point which is great.  I'd rather NOT be swelling like this but it's definitely good to know it's just inconveniencing me and not causing a true problem.

They also did my Group B Strep culture at the 37 week appointment - still waiting to see how that will come back, but they did tell me they send the culture with request for sensitivities since I'm allergic to penicillin and that usually what they wind up using is Clindamycin which is actually something I've used topically before as an acne medication.  Added bonus is that it's given every 8 hours instead of every 4 like the penicillins are.  And even if it is positive, I don't need to show up at the birth center until my water breaks - so fingers crossed I labor like my mother (in more ways than one) and my water doesn't break until pushing!  Though basically they told me that the pediatricians like to see a dose of antibiotic at least 4 hours before birth, so I'm feeling better about being able to still labor at home regardless of which way the culture comes back.  I'm not thrilled about the thought of possibly having to have a heplock IV line, but will deal with that if it turns out to be a reality.

We also had our "pre-birth meeting" with our doula last night where we were able to go over any updates in the pregnancy and our plan and desires for the birth.  It really made it hit home that it could happen any time now!  But it was good to see she was on the same page with us and to know that we'll have someone there for us that actually knows what's going on and will have at least a certain level of detachment that is not something that Jeff or I could ever get in the situation, and sometimes you need that. 

I actually had a weekend of tummy upset last weekend that got us both a little excited thinking that things might be gearing up, but so far not the case.  And as piece of TMI, I think I've started to slowly lose my mucous plug between weeks 36 and 37.  No idea if it's actually 'gone' yet or even if that was just it getting ready or something, but I've heard not everyone loses it all at once and that sometimes they lose it over time more liquifying than just popping out.  Shrug.  I also know that you can lose it multiple times and it can regenerate so it's not really the best 'labor sign' out there.

But we're ready, that's for sure.  I know I keep saying it's getting harder and harder to move around, but now it DEFINITELY is hard to move around and do things.  Just going out to the store can be tough - my back starts to really hurt, and my feet start to hurt because they don't fit well in my shoes anymore (even my flip flops!).  My heartburn/reflux is INSANE at this point, which would actually be interesting if it didn't suck so bad because she's so much lower than she was so my digestive bits have more room than they did - so why is it worse?!  It's a problem at night - I usually wind up taking some tums one of the times I get up to pee in the night and still have problems, so needless to say this is one of those things I'm hoping goes away fairly immediately.  I mean, goes away to the extent it was gone before I was pregnant - i.e. managed with meds.

Despite all my discomforts though, I know I'm going to miss feeling her wiggling around inside me, knowing that she's with me.  We both definitely can't wait to meet her though, to see what she'll look like and to learn about her little personality.  So we sit and play the waiting game.  :-)

36 Weeks - Less than a Month to Go!

"Big and tired" has become my everyday way of life.  lol.  I feel like I'm getting bigger - and I know that she's supposedly gaining a half pound a week now, but since she moved down into my pelvis, I feel like my pictures aren't showing size increase and sometimes I feel like I might even look smaller than I did!  I'm also still calling the belly button INSIDE - though it looks more and more threatening with each passing day that I'm really wondering if I'll make it at this point!

I've also been tied to our washing machine doing baby prep.  I washed the newborn sized clothes, then the 0-3 month sized clothes.  Then there were the pack n play sheets and the cosleeper sheets.  The receiving blankets (which filled the washer all on their own - I couldn't believe it!!).  Some crib sheets, changing pad covers, baby blankets, the baby socks (more on this later!) and lastly all the newborn diapers.  Including the prefolds, I counted 38 diapers that *should* work for us from the get-go provided she's an average sized baby.  This should allow us hopefully 2 days between washing in the beginning (fingers crossed) to make things easier while we're getting used to caring for a newborn!

The final count of our newborn diaper stash is:

12 Kissaluvs Size 0 fitteds
3 Muttaqin Baby newborn fitteds
3 Bububebe newborn fitteds
2 Little Boppers newborn fitteds
4 BumGenius 3.0 All-In-One x-small
3 Thirsties Duo Diapers size 1
11 Green Mountain Diapers Cloth-eez Orange Edge Prefolds 
and then 3 Snappi Diaper Fasteners for the Prefolds

I also have 6 covers:
5 Thirsties Covers x-small
1 Thirsties Duo Wrap size 1

As well as 3 pairs of newborn sized longies that can be used as covers - 2 knit by me and 1 pair of fleece longies.  I'd say we are definitely good to go.  I'll try to add a pic of the whole newborn stash organized in our diaper drawer later.  And not a single one of those was purchased new either.  There may be one or two that were sold to me second-hand but unused, but all were purchased from other mamas, which saved a good deal of money and allowed me to get some of the nicer/cuter and thusly more expensive types of diapers for much less than I would have paid for new (so if you actually follow those links to look at the diapers know that I did not pay that price for any of them!).  I love my little diapers.  :-)

What I did NOT love was the arduous process of taking apart allll the little baby socks from the packaging they came in.  Seriously - it was like someone went crazy trigger-happy with those little plastic tags that stick things together?  every sock was shot through twice and needed to be cut free - it took FOREVER.  and THEN they all had to be washed - well infant socks are freakin tiny!  I've since been advised to get a lingerie bag to wash them in, or a pillow case, to keep them from getting lost in everything else, but man was that a good time.  And then matching them up!  I definitely am considering for the future just keeping them loose and grabbing whatever two socks I grabbed and saying I let her pick them out.  lol.  In any case, baby socks are my new nemesis.  :-)

So all the laundry is essentially done - I might get another one or two pack n play/cosleeper sheets and if so would need to wash them, but at this point if we have it already it's washed.  Our ceiling repairs from the water damage we incurred during the big roof leaking extravaganza was also finished this week, so our next order of business is to move our bed (to where the ceiling leaked!) and rearrange the bedroom so that we can get the cosleeper out of the nursery and into our room.  We've already done some massive overhauling of my clothes in order to make room for Jeff to start utilizing some of the space in our bedroom and give up more of the nursery closet.  I'm not sure that we'll ever wind up with ALL his stuff out of there, but I'm also not sure that it will be necessary to do so either.

My diaper bag was officially shipped yesterday, so I'm super excited to see it.  She sent it priority mail from Alabama, so I'm hoping that I get it tomorrow!  Still no name block letters - I may contact that seller soon to find out if they've shipped yet or what.  I believe the listing said he gives himself 4 weeks to custom make the letters (seems like a long dang time to me but whatever) and it's been 4 weeks at this point - but the shipping estimate (i.e. arrival time window) doesn't seem to start until May 11th which seems like a bit more than the normal shipping time if he shipped at 4 weeks and I haven't heard anything from him since the purchase, so we'll see.  Other than that, we're pretty set!

There are, of course, a few more things for the walls that I'd love to get - particularly two sets of these wall butterflies that coordinate with the Butterfly Ceiling Sculpture that we got to hang over the changing station.  I think they'd look great with one set on each side of the wooden name letters over the crib but at $24.99 each, they're a bit out of our reasonable budget range at this point as far as 'decorative things' goes.  Alas.  :-)  And we also decided to forgo a mobile for the crib - we're not planning to have her sleeping in the crib for several months at least, plus weren't 100% sure that with the thickness of the top of our crib that any of the standard mobiles would actually work/fit onto the wood.  PLUS they're all like $40+ and it just seemed like an unnecessary expense.  She'll get to look at the awesome butterflies above her changing pad and those are pretty cool.  In fact, the whole room is pretty awesome.  We <3 it.  :-)  I'll have to do a post of just the finished nursery pictures at some point - I don't think I ever posted them here.

35/35 - 35 Weeks Pregnant and 35 Days to Go!

35 days left!  Still growing by leaps and bounds.  How do I do this?  I'll tell you how - by gaining 7.5lbs in 2.5 weeks that's how!  I had a midwife appointment where, incidentally, I met the last midwife in the practice I had yet to meet and didn't like her, which is most unfortunate as I now know I'm only going to be content with having 3 out of 5 of them at my birth.  However, the fact remains, I gained 7 pounds in 2.5 weeks.  I was NOT expecting that.  She gave me some flack (which is the first time the whole pregnancy that any of them have said anything about my weight gain being anything other than fine btw even when I've been concerned) and she said if I was still gaining like that at my next appointment we'd talk nutrition.  Really?  Cuz you had me book my next appointment at 37 weeks so...  seems kinda silly to talk nutrition then!  Not to mention I'm not an idiot and am fully aware of what is healthy and what is less so, but I'm also not eating particularly differently either.  They also took my weight before having me pee.  Who does that?!

Apart from the "weight before peeing" bit, I have also been experiencing a definite distinct increase in swelling since my previous appointment.  Exhibit A: my feet.  Now if you've never seen my feet/ankles, you probably don't know that they aren't usually little toe sausages stuck onto puffy troll-like feet supported by tree-trunk-like ankles squeezed to death by socks.  But let me assure you, this is in no way normal for my feet.  I start the day only slightly swollen, but by afternoon they're usually all sorts of ginormous.  Good times.  I mentioned the swelling at the appointment but she didn't seem to care, said to drink more water.  Thanks!  I mean my blood pressure is still good so I guess there's not much to care about, but she could have at least wanted to look at it ya know?  Anyway, I suspect that I am carrying a fair amount of fluid weight at this point.  I'm trying to actively lay off the salt (alas my beloved salt!!) and drink constantly and keep my feet up whenever I can - so if I have a day where I do a lot and my feet are crazy puffed I'll try to lay low the next day and rest and keep my feet up.  Doesn't always work or make a difference, but I make the effort all the same.

Other random things, we've installed the car seat bases into both of our cars - still need to get them inspected, but they're installed nevertheless.  We got our baby monitor, sheets for the co-sleeper and pack n play, I got my awesome Ergo, we got some more decorative/storage things for the nursery and pretty much are about ready to go.  Still need to pack the birth bag, that's a big one.  I washed all the itty bitty clothes, still need to wash the dipes along with sheets/blankets/etc.  so there are still some things to do.  I'm having a diaper bag made by someone on Etsy, so I still need to get that and we have some wooden letters to spell her name out above the crib that were being made by someone on Ebay that still have to arrive.  But we're definitely getting there!  Slowly but surely.  :-)

34 Weeks: And It's All Starting to Come Together

34 weeks down, 6 left to go.

I didn't even try to pretend I could tell what happened during what week during my fake updates the last few weeks, so this will have to serve as one big catch-up update from where I was.

First and foremost - I'm pretty huge now and still getting bigger!  As I was posting these pictures even in just the last 3 weeks I can't believe it!  ANNND, by some sort of miracle, my belly button is still inside - though it's crazy stretched and hurts and does NOT look like it wants to play this game for another 6 weeks!  I'm not 100% convinced I'll make it to the end without it popping, but only time will tell.

I've been into appointments every 2 weeks for a bit now and was able to meet one of the midwives I hadn't met yet at my last appointment.  My next one is Monday April 19th and I'll finally be meeting the last one of the group that I hadn't met yet, which is good.  At the last appointment the midwife confirmed that she's in a head-down position which I'm psyched about.  I could tell mostly what position she was in, but couldn't tell her head from her bum and so it was a relief to know that it's her bum that's been in my ribs all this time, particularly since she's been favoring this position for ages now.

I've also been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions now.  They don't hurt really, they're just not my favorite thing.  I'd describe them like having someone take a super wide rubberband and tightening it across your belly or something.  Or maybe your belly IS the rubberband that someone is pulling on both sides of.  Either way - not pleasant but not the end of the world either.  I also have a lot of pressure way down low on my bladder now when I'm on my feet.  Sometimes with every step I take it's like someone's pushing on my bladder and it's full - even RIGHT AFTER I've peed.  That drives me crazy!  And my pelvis is way loosened up so that when I sit for a little while and then try to stand, it takes a minute for me to get all the parts going where they need to and have it and my legs actually support me properly. 

I'm also only sleeping for about 1.5-2 hour stretches at night because at this point I have to lay on my side, but the pressure of all of me on one hip starts to become uncomfortable after that amount of time.  So even though I'm "only" getting up to pee once or twice a night, I still wake up and have to flip over constantly.  And let me tell you, flipping over in bed is soooo not what it used to be.  I'm like a beached whale now, so it's a huge to-do when I need to move at all to flip or get out of bed.  Poor Jeff.  Lol.  Then there's the issue of heartburn/reflux.  Most nights I spend some time with that keeping me awake.  I'm still on the Protonix for GERD but will have to stop taking it for breastfeeding.  They want me to switch to Zantac, which is what I took BEFORE they started  prescribing proton pump inhibitor class meds to me and it wasn't working enough.  They've increased the OTC dosage available though so I'll give it a go.  But none of the PPI class meds were cleared for breastfeeding so I'm not sure what I'll do if the Zantac doesn't cut it.  Burn out my esophagus I guess.  Lol.  So yeah - DESPITE being on prescription heartburn/reflux meds, I'm still getting crazy heartburn/reflux at night and even during the day.  Wonderful!  I've gone through more tums than I've taken in the last 4 years combined!!

We also just had our last Bradley birth class this past Monday.  I can't believe that it's been 12 weeks already!  It seemed sooo long when we started, like it would last forever, and still I mean, that's 3 months, ya know?  That's a good chunk of time!  But it really kinda flew past.  It was bittersweet to have it end, but I'm pretty sure my pelvis wouldn't have taken another week of 2 hours on the floor.  It'd been getting progressively harder to sit like that the last couple classes but this last one was the worst and when I got up at the end I felt like I had to pop all my lower bits back into place.  Yeah, no fun.

Sunday the 11th was our last baby shower for Jeff's side of the family (and other Eastern MA-ers), so now we're all done with the showers as well.  It was at The Village Green in Danvers and they did a nice job.  We had a huge room which seemed strange at first but Nell's daughter, Lily, was there along with a little girl, Paige, from Jeff's people and they were able to take the other half of the room as their 'play room' and run around which was great for them.  It was a very nice shower and we got some nice things, but I have to say I'm glad the showers are done with because they are EXHAUSTING!  I don't have any pictures yet, but am hoping that someone can provide some for us.

My mom also came up for the weekend so she could attend the shower as well and so she finally got to see the nursery and all our baby stuff put together (and the massive avalanche of clothes that we've been given!).  We did some shopping too and she got me a few 'warmer weather' maternity clothes which I'd been hesitant to spend money on not knowing how long postpartum I'll be wearing my mat stuff, but it'll definitely be good to have an option or two for a while, just in case.  :-)  And she took us out to dinner which is always fantastic.  Moms are awesome.  :-)

Last week we received the disk with all the pictures from our maternity photo shoot.  I'll put up my favorite here.  We got some really good ones and some not so good ones, but she gave us every picture she took so that's definitely to be expected I would think!!  Overall I'm very very glad that I got them done.  It's such a special thing to experience as your body goes through these insanely huge changes, and while I can't imagine forgetting I know that having these pictures will certainly help in that area.  Plus it'll be fun to have our baby girl on the outside and say "this is what you looked like while you were inside of mommy and this is what MOMMY looked like when you were inside her!"  haha..

So that's all for now - maybe I'll add a few more maternity shots in the next post - which I'm vowing to get on schedule with for these last few weeks!!

33 Weeks: More Catch-Up

33 week belly picture.  I love this outfit btw, and none of it is maternity if you can believe it!  I've found that hippie skirts are very forgiving with their elastic waists.  We had a crazy heat wave on this day where the temp got up to 90 and I thought I was going to die it was so hot.  Reinforced my gratefulness that we were able to get pregnant in our (my) "timeframe" of acceptable due date times and that I do NOT have to go through the summer like this because man, that was some sort of awful!!  And it was only a day!! 

Also I think you can see that she started to drop between the previous week and this week.  I was definitely able to see/feel a difference.