Week 34

I'm finding that each day at this late in the game of pregnancy is a little unique unto itself. Some days Baby J is very, very high, other days he's shifting back and forth on my hips with each step, and other days, I feel like I'm going to burst. Oh, and sometimes it feels like he is hugging my spine. I'll be honest--that's not my favorite.

I saw my doctor's associate this week for my check-up just in case she ends up delivering our boy. She was very personable and answered a couple of questions I had. She's an Aggie, so she must be good people. She said that I'm right on track, and my next visit at 36 weeks will begin the final countdown if you know what I mean.

I had my first major Braxton-Hicks contraction last Tuesday. I was walking to the ladies room when it hit, and I nearly sat down in the floor where I was because it was just that shocking. I had experienced a few twinges before it, but this one went all the way across my belly. I described it to the doctor just to verify that it was what I thought it was. She confirmed, and I said, "Ok, then I think I'm ready for my epidural." She thought it was funny!

Other than that short check-up, the week held a few other things. My wonderful church friends threw us a beautiful baby shower. It is deserving of a post all of its own--totally blew me away. We are so blessed! Other than that, we worked on finishing Jack's room, which we didn't complete. It's coming together just as I had hoped though, and I will post pics soon. I think the house might be cleaner than it was the day we moved in, so now the task is to keep it that way for a while.

We'll see what week 35 brings!

Week 33

Well, Baby Jack and I have made it through week 33 and an interesting week it was. I'm finding each day a little different than the day before, and I now understand why pregnant ladies waddle (and that's all I'll say about that.) I'm slowing down quite a bit, to the point where I'm considering grabbing my laptop and relocating to an empty cube closer to the ladies' room to save myself some effort. You can call me a wimp. I call me resourceful.

Tuesday night B and I attended an infant care class at the hospital where I'm delivering. We had more fun laughing while we bathed and diapered that giant baby doll. I sent him to pick out our "baby" (there were 3 sizes), and he came back with the biggest. Considering that I'm a bit concerned about how big Jack is going to be at delivery, my eyes got a little wide thinking this might be a standard newborn. Fortunately, the nurse instructor cleared it up: we were practicing on a 3 month old. Thank goodness!



Other than that, we had a good time laughing at the questions people asked (mostly dads.) One in particular that we're still talking about is, "what direction should you wipe the baby's arms during a bath? Shoulder to hand or hand to shoulder?"

And I thought I was detail-oriented.

It was also interesting because the nurse gave us some specifics on how things are done at "our" hospital like what happens to the baby right after delivery (he'll stay close by me) and that his dad will give him his first bath (with a nurse right next to him of course.) In two weeks we go back for a birthing class and tour L&D. Now that should be interesting.

I picked up Jack's baby book this week and began filling it out last night. In a hormonal state, I used an irritating number of exclamation marks in answering most of the questions--to the point that I feel the need to make a note that I am aware of the overuse somewhere in there for my son. I promise, Jack, I am not a valley girl. (But really! We prayed for you! For a long time! God is good!!! His plan is perfect! And you're coming! And! It's all! so! exciting!!!)

This weekend I plan on making big time progress on THE LIST. Carpet cleaning, vacuuming and wiping out my kitchen cabinets (who does that?), organizing the linen closet, and finding a storage solution for Jack's closet are all my targets.

Or who knows, I might put on some yoga pants and lay on the couch all weekend. Either scenario is possible at this point.

There's a bun in that oven.

Week 32

As you can tell, I took a major holiday from the blog over the past few weeks. But now I'm back and actually have quite a bit to share (or not much at all, depending on your taste.)

Thursday was my 32 week check up, and I am measuring exactly 32 weeks. My doc says Jack just needs to hang out for at least a month longer, and then we would begin talking about delivery. What?!? I will now begin working The List with a bit more urgency.

While I'm mentioning my doctor's appointment, I will take the opportunity to give myself a pat on the back. I only gained 3 pounds over the month of December--the Christmas season and New Year's combined. That took a LARGE AMOUNT of self-control. As a whole, so far my weight gain has been textbook for a healthy pregnancy. I know this because my doctor is a stickler for it. I'm sure that the second week of March I will probably appreciate her for that, but for now I will continue to whine about wanting to eat everything in sight, but not do it.

{I celebrated this feat with a #9 combo at Whataburger - sausage taquito and hashbrowns. Just so you know.}

Baby Jack is doing really well--praise the Lord! His heartbeat is great, his kicks are SUPER strong, and he's already head down and feet up. A couple of weeks before Christmas his estimated weight (based on sono) was 3.5 lbs. If he gains half a pound each week from the time of that estimate, it puts him in the high 8's, which is right around what I expected based on our family history. Heaven, help me. I don't know how long he is, but I am convinced that a few days ago he kicked me in the throat.

I have a few pregnancy complaints, but they're minor in comparison to the excitement I'm feeling as we get closer to the finish line of seeing our tiny boy's face. Coming up, we've got baby showers, finishing up his room, birthing and infant care classes, and 3 months of maternity leave. Oh, the blessings--they are many!

Mom friends, I want to hear from you. Do I need anything else for the hospital other than the requisite waterproof mascara (not kidding), hot rollers (also not kidding), hairspray, nightgowns, and slippers?

Please, enlighten me!

Christmas 2010

ETA: If you're reading this through an RSS reader, I just found this post in draft status and wanted to publish it for posterity's sake. The Christmas mentioned was two months before our sweet Jack was born.

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families. I think part of the fun this year was thinking about what's to come next year since we'll have the first grandkiddo on both Brad's and my side.

Since we've gotten married, we celebrate Christmas with a dinner date and gifts just the two of us a few days before we leave to go to whichever hometown we're scheduled to be in. Even though our little family gift exchanging time will probably shift to Christmas eve or morning once our boy is here (as will our travel schedule), we've decided to keep Christmas date night a tradition for the two of us at least for now. That means this was the last Christmas dinner date without arranging for a babysitter beforehand! So fun. We'll see if this all plays out next year.

The weekend before Christmas we travelled to my hometown and had celebrated with my family.

Great packaging for some great giftcards!
My favorite baby brother.
I got my mom some Tom's for Christmas.
She calls them her magic shoes.
My dad is holding a motorized bird in that box.
Apparently it makes a great hunting decoy,
but I must admit this is beyond my area of expertise.
A little lip color and a nap would go a long way on this 7 months pregnant girl.

Week 28

I woke up last Friday and rolled over to look at my What to Expect... app (which I do every Friday morning), and it said something like, "Your baby will be here in 11 weeks and 5 days."

11 WEEKS AND 5 DAYS!

And that was three days ago!

So as you can imagine, I have new sense of urgency about having everything in my house done and in order by the time this tiny gentleman makes his appearance. Heaven forbid that on the day he comes home, he notices the dusty baseboards!

Just kidding, I would never have dusty baseboards ;)

So after that little wakeup call, we began a day of errands which all pretty much pertained to our little bundle. We conquered several tasks that were on THE LIST. Brad chauffeured me to Dallas to pick out fabric for his bed. We stopped by Home Depot on the way home and picked out paint for his room which will be painted over our Christmas holiday.

My doctor's visit went great last week. I passed my glucose screening but I'm a little low on iron, so I started a supplement. I read online (so clearly, it must be the gospel truth) that low iron can cause restless leg syndrome which I continue to have, so I'm praying the iron will give me some relief from that. In the meantime, I'm also eating more hamburgers. The doc thinks I am having Braxton-Hicks when I'm on the treadmill--however, she gave me no license to stop getting on said treadmill.

Jack has made his way north into my ribs, and at times I feel like I'm about to burst. I guess that is a normal sensation and unlikely to happen since I have never seen any news reports of bursting pregnant ladies. I'm still completely amazed that there is a person--my Jack--rooting around in there. We're headed in next Friday for another 4D sono. The last one he kept his arm directly over his face, even though we got some sweet pics anyway. He gets that from his dad!

Weeks 26 & 27

The weeks are passing so quickly, and all of a sudden according to What to Expect..., we have about 13 weeks until we meet Jack. In the meantime, we have a million things to do before he gets here.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the farm with my family. I made Pioneer Woman homemade rolls which have twice now been a hit with them. The very last thing any of us wanted to do was get out and shop on Black Friday, so I spent my day shopping online for both Christmas gifts and decor for Jack's room. It's so fun to come home each evening and have Fed Ex and UPS boxes to open!

We got home from Thanksgiving on Saturday night and began trimming our house for Christmas. Brad has lights up on the house (every year he says he's going to put up colored lights, but so far he's stayed the course with the clear--my preference). It took me a little longer to get everything up inside because at this point I am really beginning to slow down.

In other news, work is incredibly busy, I take my glucose test on Wednesday, and we bought our first package of newborn diapers. All of a sudden when I saw 13 weeks on the calendar, I was stricken with the idea that we were completely unprepared to bring the little guy home, so I bought some. I'm sure that's the least of my unpreparedness.

Other than some shortness of breath and/or feeling like I'm going to burst at any moment, I feel great. The signs of the 3rd trimester are upon me, with restless leg stuff and having a hard time getting comfortable at night, but those seem to be minor in the grand scheme of things. God has blessed me so much with something I've wanted for so, so long. He will give me the strength to deal.

We're looking forward to a special Christmas season!