39 weeks and a Weekend Recap

 

Today I am 39 weeks and 1 day along. Glad to be here but ready to meet her. I think if she were head down, she would be here already. Maybe. Who knows?

This past weekend we spent time together, enjoying our last free full days together alone. Friday night we headed up to babysit my niece. We stopped by my grandparents for a visit and ate pizza for dinner. We watched Tangled. Baby girl was all up in my ribs that evening. I had my hopes that she would flip but she did not.

Saturday, I had a hair appointment. We had BLT's for lunch, yum! I hit up Target. I unpacked our lot of cloth diapers that arrived in the mail. We played ping pong. We did laundry and watched a lot of United States of Tara on Netflix. We went to the Blue Orchid for a dinner date. It was delicious. I can't wait to eat sushi rolls in full force again soon. Then at home we watched some NBC thursday tv on HuluPlus and then Anchorman. See, lots of relaxing.

Sunday, we made waffles for breakfast, yum! We cleaned up the house and did more laundry. There were a bunch of things I wanted to organize before the weekend was up, so I did that. We washed the cloth diapers and put them all together so they're ready to go. We hit up the grocery store, which I normally love but I'm loving less when I have to walk for extended periods of time. We had more BLT's We watched more television and movies. I really wanted to paint more flowers upstairs on the wall but didn't get to it. There's plenty of time for that this week.

Back to baby, she's growing like a weed i'm sure. Taking up lots of space in there, kicking me in the ribs and having a good ol' time wiggling around. I am having some small cramps now and i'm assuming they're braxton hicks. They're not painful per say but they are uncomfortable. I just hope I can make it to Wednesday when we have a Dr's appointment with the csection doctor. And then hopefully make it to Friday so that we can attempt the ECV!

Still feels crazy to have a date set on the calendar that could be her birthday, but I know it happens more frequently these days but I never thought I would know it ahead. I made the terrible mistake of watching a csection video on YouTube yesterday. I told Alex that he isn't to look at my lower regions after they pull the baby out. It doesn't look pleasant, not that it should.

We're very excited to meet this little girl. We can't wait to share her name with everyone as well, it's just around the corner!

MIA

I have been totally MIA recently, with the blog and with real life people. I would apologize but I'm not that sorry. I know you all don't mind. Things have been busy and we're getting ready for our life change.

This past week has probably been the busiest week at work that I've experienced in a while.

There's a lot of prep that goes into preparing to leave for 6-8 weeks and I want to get as much done as I can. This has had me staying late a couple nights this week which I don't like doing but were necessary to keep up with the pace of the work. It's finally Friday. I've finally had some time to complete things on my to do list which feels great! I plan to get a bunch of things checked off this afternoon as well.

It's crazy that another week has flown by so quickly. Sometimes it's easy to forget that I'm a week away from my due date. That next week at this time we'll know whether we'll have to go for the csection or not. I had a phone call at lunch that went over the process of the csection, in terms of anesthesia, which was interesting and made it a little more real, even though we won't know until next Friday if it's a definite.

Our weeknights have been very relaxed which I am thankful for after a long days work. Alex has been amazing, cooking dinner every night and then cleaning it up as well. He's the best! Not to mention he makes really delicious meals. I feel like there are things that I should be doing in the evening (baby related things) but there isn't very much. This weekend I will probably finish painting in the nursery and then I can finally show you what it looks like. And I will pick up a couple of last minute things that we need, like a going home outfit.

We're ready for her to make her debut! We can't wait to meet her and bring her home! I'm still in a bit of denial that she's real, even though she's constantly reminding me with kicks and head bobs. I know she'll be the most beautiful thing we've ever seen.

Life, you are about to change.

38 weeks / 2 weeks left

Well we've reached the 38th week. I'm so happy to be here. I kind of had a feeling we'd make it this far. In fact, I have a feeling we'll make it to 40 (if we find out she's head down). She just seems like a chill little baby girl, much like her parents!

Things are getting more uncomfortable but not unbearable. Sleeping is not a problem but waking and feeling stiff three times a night to pee is a bit of an annoyance. Putting on shoes is no small feat. Getting into the car requires a big ol' leg swing most of the time. Otherwise, I feel great. Still have a good energy level. Can't say I've done much nesting in general unless you count putting away all the baby shower gifts a couple weeks ago, but that was kind of necessary, right? I've definitely dropped a few inches and I spend time on my exercise ball every day just to stay loose. I haven't felt any contractions that I'm aware of, so that's a positive sign. When I'm sitting I feel like I have a basketball in my lap which is interesting.

Baby girl moves around in there a lot of the time during the day. I don't notice her moving much at night which is nice. Sometimes she just goes buck wild with kicks and wiggles, it's very fun to experience. We can't believe that in 2 weeks or less we'll be holding her and will actually be able to see which limbs are moving and kicking, as opposed to guessing, which we do a lot of. I sometimes wish my tummy was transparent so we could see her inside there. I then think about how gross that could possibly look. She probably weighs almost 7 pounds now at least and i'm sure her length is around 19-20 inches. She's basically ready for life outside the womb but I bet it's cozy in there. If she's anything like me she won't like the cold weather so much!

Last night, I painted a lot of the white flowers on the tree on the wall in the nursery. It's really coming along now. My stencils didn't quite work out, so I ended up tracing a bunch and then painting, but I also did some free-hand so I don't think I will be wasting time tracing stencils anymore. There's a little more to do but we still have time. Everything else is basically set, ready and waiting.

Wednesday we have an ultrasound early in the morning to determine her current position. I plan to request one for next week too if needed. No appointment should be without an ultrasound in the last couple weeks if a baby is even thought to be breech. It's a waste of time guessing with your hands when you can't actually tell for sure (note to the future doctors/midwives). I also plan to have them tell me everything they would've been telling me the last couple weeks if baby girl had been head down during that time. I'd like to be in the know.

Regardless, we're fine with whatever way this little one decides to make her way into the air breathing world. She's going to be so precious, we just can't wait to meet her! (Except she can wait another 2 weeks, i'm fine with that).

{sorry for the lack of pictures in the past couple of posts.. i just don't have the desire to take them and post them. my bad}

Resolutions

Just wanted to jot down a couple of resolutions I have for 2012 now that it's arrived.

I generally am not the best at keeping resolutions but that may be because of my lack for making resolutions I actually care to keep. Regardless, here goes nothin'!

1 :: Listen more, interrupt less

I don't know if anyone who speaks with me on a regular basis realizes I do this but I tend to try to finish people sentences when they pause. I annoy myself with this and I have been actively trying to listen and hear people out instead of jumping into their sentence to guess the ending.

2 :: Be a great mom

Now that i'm basically a parent (officially in a couple of weeks), I resolve to be as good of a mother as I can be. I have a really excellent role model in my own mother and I'm sure all the things I have learned from her thus far in life will influence the type of mother I will be as well.

3 :: Learn a new hobby

I'd really like to get better at sewing. In order to accomplish this, I will need to get my own sewing machine and probably take an instructional course. I tried to sew last week and it was way more difficult than I remember it being in home ec in middle school. I think it would be fun to know how to sew different things and it seems like it would be a lot easier than learning how to knit, which was something I said I wanted to do a couple months ago.

4 :: Watch less television

This should be pretty easy considering we no longer have cable/satellite. We've already cut our TV watching by 2/3rds. Netflix and Hulu are our only sources of television entertainment and I really have to be in the mood to turn something on and sit through it. I'm also assuming it will be less desirable once the wee one is here.

5 :: Eat Healthier

Throughout this pregnancy, I've kind of just let things go. Not all the time, but prior to getting pregnant I was living a pretty restricted food life. Trying to keep carbs low and only indulging every once in a while or so (from what I can remember anyway, this was a long time ago it feels like). Now that I feel like a whale (I know i'm not a whale) I have a new-found desire to eat healthier once I can get my appetite under control. Pregnancy makes me want to keep my stomach full of something, whether it's healthy or not.

6 :: Exercise

I'd like to be able to run a 5k. I had the C25K app on my phone that I was using when I found out I was pregnant. I used it for a couple more weeks and then my back started hurting and I couldn't walk anymore let alone run. I look forward to using the app though and completing it somehow. This could get complicated since I'll have a baby to look after, but Planet Fitness isn't far from my house, it's generally $10 a month and C25K only takes a half hour of your time. It's a step in the right direction.

7 :: Give more

Surprisingly enough, I can be kind of selfish. So i plan to work on that more this year and try to give. I have a feeling I'm going to be a tad selfish with my new baby at first. Hopefully Alex can bring me back down to earth before I embarrass myself!

8 :: Make more wine

Alex and I (mostly Alex) made a couple of wines in the Spring last year and though I have yet to really dig into them (for obvious reasons) I'd really like us to continue to make wine. It's so nice to have and not have to go out to the liquor store and purchase it. We'll be so well rounded, Alex brews and enjoys some nice whiskeys/scotches/bourbons/gins and we'll have homemade wine. All to drink in moderation, of course!

9 :: Stay Organized & Clean

I know things can get pretty messy when you have a baby around. Priorities of cleaning and staying organized get pushed to the far back because the baby is numero uno, as she should be. I would like us to try to stay on top of this though and hopefully it won't be too hard to maintain. My biggest issue is not putting away my clothing after I wear it. If it isn't going into the laundry, it ends up on my dresser or on the floor. I need to put it in the laundry or put it away and keep my dresser clear!

10 :: Be Happy

This is attainable because I am happy. I'm already happy. I'm about to have a baby. My husband is amazing. Our families are awesome. Our friends are the best. We're healthy. We have good jobs. We're really lucky in life and comment on it often. We're really excited for 2012, a year of many firsts!

January Photo Challenge :: Day 3

Saw this on Instagram (follow me @Mbru15) and thought it looked like fun.

I missed the first two days but i'm going to start with Day 3!

Screenshot of the Challenge

Day Three :: Something you Adore.. that's right, orange tic tacs!

3 weeks or less!

Baby girl is said to weigh on average about 6 pounds this week. She also probably measures about 19" long. She has a full head of hair as mentioned by the ultrasound tech last week and every day she practices her breathing with hiccups and her movements with punching and kicking! She currently enjoys sleeping through most of the night (assuming, because i don't feel any kicking/movement) and wiggling around during car rides.

I am feeling great! Still have plenty of energy though some days are better than others. I contribute my energy level to the amount of sleep I get. Luckily my sleep has not been too interrupted other than for bathroom trips. Of course putting on pants and socks and shoes is as difficult as ever, but not impossible. I also feel quite lucky that she tolerates many types of foods (for now). On New Years Eve we ate lots of spicy stuff, which was super tasty, and baby girl did not miss a beat. My throat burn has subsided for the most part but still creeps up every once in a while. I have been drinking a serious amount of fluids so that may be keeping it at bay?

This week I go back to work after having a holiday break last week. It will be nice to be back considering I don't have much time left before my maternity leave and I have plenty to do. That should help these next couple of weeks fly by! It will be weird to leave work for such a long period of time. I am looking forward too it because I will have a baby but I am hoping that I won't be too out of the loop when I return. A lot can happen in 2 months time!

We feel completely prepared now that the nursery is organized, the clothes are washed, the pack n play is ready and the car seat and stroller are ready. We need to install the car seat base and I need to pack my hospital bag but I plan to get that accomplished today along with stenciling some flowers onto the mural and other misc chores. We're also going to order our cloth diapers this week. We have a box of newborns we'll probably use for a little bit until the diapers come in (if they aren't here in time).

We have unofficially chosen a day care that baby girl will be going to once or twice a week (schedule willing) and it's very close to my work so I can go visit during my lunch hour. This one is WAY better than the one we saw previously. We like the set up of the room and the feel of the place. The proximity is also a convenience.

It feels good to be officially full turn at 37 weeks. We're hoping to make it the whole way to our due date on the 23rd! 2012 is going to be a great year!

36 Week Update

Just wanted to give an update since I haven't been in here all week to do so.

Lots has been going on recently because baby girl is breech. My stress level is much lower than a couple weeks ago but this hasn't changed her position, yet. I'm staying optimistic. Here are the updates..

Tuesday we had an ultrasound to confirm her position. The ultrasound tech was.. short. She didn't give us an estimate of how much the baby weighed and she didn't talk much other then answering the questions we had like, "what are we looking at?" etc. Big difference from our 19 week anatomy scan.

It must've been a busy day because we went back out to the lobby for at least 20 minutes, then went back to an exam room for the normal OB appointment and waited almost another 20 minutes. A (midwife/nurse practitioner, I do not know which) came in and said she just reviewed our scans. It had to be a midwife, why would a NP be reviewing our scans?? Regardless, she did not review them WITH us. She barely even mentioned them other than saying yes, the baby is breech.. we knew this because we were there at the ultrasound, obviously. Needless to say, this midwife was not helpful in the least. She asked us if we knew about ECV (External Cephalic Version where they can try to manually turn the baby) and tried to get us to schedule one for the following week and then talked c-section a little bit and said we should schedule that too. We were pretty taken aback. First of all, I thought midwives were supposed to have options of things to do to keep labor/delivery as natural as possible. Second of all, she couldn't answer ANY of the questions we had regarding the ECV or having a breech baby. Needless to say, we were pretty irritated after leaving there but we did schedule a consult with an actual OB for Friday.

Thursday, I went to see Laurel's mom who is a Chiropractor so we could start doing the Webster Technique to get me aligned so that the baby has a better chance of flipping. This went well and I felt more relaxed afterward which was a positive sign.

Friday morning bright and early we headed to the consult with the OB. We (again) waited a long time, which seems so abnormal compared to my previous visits, but the OB was very friendly and seemed like he would've spent more than an hour with us if we wanted which was comforting. He told us that they would not do a scheduled c-section prior to 39 weeks and we would try (if we decide to) the ECV right before the c-section to see if we could get any movement. He was very helpful and informative. One thing however is that he said he will not force the baby during the ECV, if she does not want to turn around, he is not going to 'force' her more than she is willing. We have a 2nd opinion consult with another OB in the practice this coming friday to talk about the same thing (which was suggested by this OB). It was comforting to hear that we don't need to schedule the c-section until after 39 weeks (if it comes to that) and that the baby still has plenty of time to turn naturally, something the midwife did not say ONE TIME! We left the appointment feeling better. We're almost 100% sure that we will be trying the ECV prior to going on with a c-section.

This morning, Saturday, I had another appointment at Dr. Kegel's for another adjustment to stay aligned. Baby girl moves around a lot and has been teetering to the transverse position so I think she's just prepping herself to make the big turn. Staying optimistic. I have also been relaxing a lot more on my sides and drinking more water at the doctor's suggestion.

Everything else, not breech related, is going well. The OB said the baby is the average size currently so not too big or too small or anything. I got all of the baby stuff organized this past week and with the help of Nick and Laurel we have the pack n play set up and the carseat/stroller ready to go. I need to focus on packing a bag though and getting the small stuff taken care of. This coming week at work is going to be quite busy as I tie up loose ends prior to leaving for maternity leave.

I think i'm still in a bit of denial that we're 3 weeks or less away from having a baby girl. We're very excited and cannot wait to meet her but it's definitely one of those things where you don't believe it until it's happening. I have not had any false contractions (probably because she isn't sitting in my pelvis head first) which is a positive because then I probably won't go into labor but I have no idea what i'm in for.

The next couple weeks are probably going to be pretty crazy but we're going to try to keep it as relaxed as possible and spend a lot of time together since pretty soon we won't be alone anymore.

Please keep your fingers crossed for us that she does make the turn to head down. We'll keep everyone in the loop if she does flip! That will be an exciting moment which will be followed by me doing about a million jumping jacks so that she gets wedged in there and can't flip back!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!