Monday, January 21

Week 38 {and preview of week 39}

Week 38...Almost Baby Time!


My belly can't get a.n.y. bigger!


What's going on with baby and me:
The baby is just chillin'. He/she is clearly not in any hurry to come into this world and is putting on weight as we wait. Today my doctor said, "I think you're going to have a big baby." Just what I wanted to hear! :) I've been fighting a little bit of a cold for the last week. I haven't felt terrible, I'm just congested. It's made it even more difficult to sleep. Thankfully my doctor told me last week that taking Tylenol PM is okay. I've taken it a couple times in the past week and it's really been helpful. I'm still feeling quite a bit of pressure and having contractions on and off. I haven't really been paying as much attention to my contractions because I know that they are not the real deal at this point. The baby hasn't been moving around as much because there truly is no room left! All movements are clearly visible from the outside. So if you look at me and my belly is completely lopsided, it's not an optical allusion...it's really lopsided! 

What happened this week: 
-Monday I had another doctor appointment. She checked me and I was 1 cm, but my cervix wasn't very "favorable." She made me a deal that if I had dilated to 3 cm by my next appointment {today}, she'd go ahead and admit me. Clearly my body didn't get that memo! :) After my appointment, Kurt and I went to the grocery store to stock up on some food since we knew we wouldn't be checking into the hospital any time soon. 
-After school Tuesday I had a meeting. I left school around 5 and headed up to 5 seasons to work out with my mom. It felt good to actually get a good work out in. When I got home, we cooked dinner and then I showered before the IU game at 9. They played horribly, so I ended up falling asleep in the middle of the second half. 
-The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Wednesday I didn't do anything but work, eat, and go to bed early. Thursday I took a nap at my parents' house after school before working out with my mom. We grabbed dinner after our workout and then I came home to go to bed. Friday after school I came home and watched a movie before Kurt and I went out for dinner together. I ended up falling asleep pretty early once we got home. 
-Saturday morning we slept in. We ran up to my parents' house to drop off all the diapers and wipes that my students and their families bought us. We had no room to store them here! Kurt was craving Chipolte so we stopped by there for lunch before heading home to watch the first Blackhawk game {finally!}. Later that night, we walked down to Josh and Mer's to eat some dinner and watch some more hockey. 
-Sunday we slept in again...we're taking advantage of this as much as we possibly can! We picked up some wings and headed over to Kate and Mike's house to meet their new little man, Henry, and watch the IU game. It was great to get to hang out with them for a bit and talk to Kate about labor, delivery, and babies. I can't wait to have play dates with them while we're both off work! We left their house towards the end of the game so Kurt could get his hockey stuff together and head up to his game. I took a quick 30 minute nap before Mer picked me up to go watch the hockey game. My parents and Julia ended up coming to watch the game, too. After the game, we went to Ram to watch some of the football game and eat dinner. Josh and Mer came down to our house to watch the second half of the game and then the beginning part of the Blackhawk game. We had so many different games to watch yesterday! 
-Today I slept in {because I didn't go to bed until late} and then I met Susanah at First Watch for lunch. After lunch we went to go get our nails done. I had been waiting for WAY too long to get them done, but I wanted to get them done right before the baby comes. Even Kurt asked if I was planning to get a pedicure because my toes looked so horrible! :) I met Kurt at home after my nail appointment and then we headed back up north for my doctor appointment. This was my very last appointment before the baby is here!! The next time I'll be in that office will be for my postpartum appointment in 7 weeks...crazy! She checked me today and my cervix had soften a little bit and I'm now 2 cm...better than nothing! On the way home, we stopped at CVS for Kurt to finally get his flu and whopping cough shots {nothing like waiting till the last minute!} and then came home to cook a delicious dinner. He's now at hockey and I'm just hanging with the pups. 

This week will probably be pretty uneventful. I'm planning to work out with my mom on Tuesday and Thursday and I have pilates on Thursday. Tomorrow I'm going into school for a half day for a professional development meeting and to say bye to the kids. Wednesday I plan on staying at home to get the house cleaned and the laundry done. Thursday Kurt and I are planning to get some errands run. The rest of the time I plan on relaxing and sleeping some. 

Someone from St. Vincent Carmel called me last week to set up my induction appointment. We have to be at the hospital at 6 on Sunday. This time next week, Kurt and I should have a baby in our arms. We can't wait!! 

Sunday, January 13

Week 37

I don't have a belly picture to share this week, mainly because the last four days I've felt so miserable, putting on makeup and something other than pj's sounds terrible! 

What's going on with baby: Our baby is now considered full term. He/she weighs somewhere around 6 and 1/2 pounds and is probably 19 inches long. Baby W is spending time adding fat to his/her body while the brain and lungs continue to develop. 

What's going on with me: The week started off fine and has ended not so great! I'm finally now feeling "pregnant" and completely physically and mentally drained. I know I'm lucky that I've made it this far without feeling badly. I hate to complain, but I'm not sure how much longer I can wait for this baby to be here!  I absolutely cannot imagine how women carry multiples if this is how I feel carrying one baby!! 

What happened this week:
-Monday I had a doctor appointment. I didn't have her check me because I had just been in the Wednesday before. I talked to my doctor about the possibility of scheduling an induction. Because I don't have a medical reason to induce early, the earliest she could induce me is my due date {January 27}. She checked her schedule and is actually on call that day. I told her I needed to talk to Kurt about it before she scheduled me. What she would have me do is come to the hospital in the evening on the 27th. They get things ready and then start the medicine the next morning. If I make it to my due date, it looks like Baby W should arrive on Monday, January 28th!! 
-Tuesday was the kids first day back to school. It was so great seeing them and hearing all about their breaks. I felt pretty tired after school and didn't go work out with my mom. 
-Wednesday was definitely a bit more difficult at work. I was much more tired than I was on Tuesday. The kids had a surprise baby shower for me! It was so cute. The parents sent in diapers, wipes, and books for the baby. It is unbelievable how many diapers and wipes we have! My whole trunk is full with different size diapers that we're going to have to store at my parents because we have no room here! After school, I went to pilates and then came home to eat and get in bed early. 
-Thursday is when things started to change a bit. I had a really difficult time getting up in the morning. I noticed my body beginning to ache more and I was having more difficulty moving around. I started having more and more contractions as the day went on. My pelvis and lower back began aching and I was having some mild cramping. Instead of going to work out, I came home and started timing my contractions. I took a hot shower and relaxed as much as I could. My contractions were happening consistently every 7 minutes for at least two hours. I planned on calling the doctor that night but wanted to make sure I ate dinner if they said it was time to come in. We made a quick dinner {mac n' cheese}. I decided not to call the doctor because I wasn't in a ton of pain. It just seemed like it wasn't what I should do. Kurt suggested I call my sister-in-law who suggested that I drink even more water than I already had and relax. I decided to lay down. The contractions started to slow down and I ended up falling asleep pretty early. That night, I slept horribly. My back was aching so much and I continued to have random contractions throughout the night. 
-Friday morning I almost called in to say I would either be late or not come in at all. I was almost in tears a couple times that morning because of the pain and the fact that I'm feeling so over being pregnant! I'm glad I decided to go into work because I felt like it would help keep things moving along and I really thought the baby would come sometime over the weekend. I kept myself busy during the day, but tried to sit as much as possible. I started to notice how swollen my feet and hands had all the sudden become and made sure to drink a ton of water all day. I kept my phone with me all day and tried as best as possible to keep track of my contractions throughout the day. My mom called after school wanting to know if we wanted to go to dinner with them. I heard that the Mexican pizza at Bazbeaux was a great way to help induce labor, so I told her we would go to dinner as long as we could go get pizza! Around 6, I started keeping track of my contractions consistently. I did this until about 9. They were pretty consistently coming every 4-5 minutes and started getting a bit stronger at dinner. I was pretty uncomfortable sitting at dinner but was trying not to make it obvious. I kept thinking to myself that I would call the doctor when Kurt and I got in the car after dinner, that we'd run home and get our stuff, then we'd be heading to the hospital. When we got in the car, Kurt suggested that I call the doctor. I thought about it, but then I decided that I should wait to see what happened when we get home and I lay down for a bit. Of course, when I did lie down, the contractions began to slow down even if the cramping and back pain didn't go away. Kurt thought it'd be good to shower and shave just in case we were going to head into the hospital. I ended up cutting his hair, too. I decided to take a shower to see if that would help. After showering I came downstairs and sat/bounced on our workout ball to see if that would help things move along any. Nothing worked and the contractions didn't get any stronger. We were both exhausted and decided to try to get some sleep. I did sleep a little better Friday night, probably because I was so exhausted from not sleeping on Thursday night. 
-Yesterday we didn't do much. The weather was really nice, but my body ached and I didn't really feel like being out and about. Kurt had some studying to do so I took down the outside Christmas lights and then watched the IU game. After the game, I cleaned up the house a bit and did some laundry. We watched some of the football game and decided to hit up Chipolte for dinner {in the pouring down rain!}. I wasn't having many contractions during the day, but my body didn't really feel any better. Mexican food didn't help get anything moving, but it sure was delicious! When we got home, I changed into my pj's and hung out on the couch while watching football. Of course, I fell asleep on the couch and then headed upstairs for the night. 
-Today was another incredibly lazy day. I hate being so lazy, especially since I know being up helps get things moving even more. My body aches so much, that being lazy is about the only thing that makes me feel a bit better. Sleeping isn't really comfortable anymore and it's impossible to walk without waddling now...how attractive! My feet and hands are still pretty swollen. I've been having a few more contractions today than I did yesterday, but nothing like I was having on Thursday and Friday. I'm thinking that being up on my feet all day at work is causing me to have a ton of Braxton Hicks. If I'm going to feel this miserable and have so many contractions being up and around, I'm not sure I'm going to make it 6 more days at work! We'll see what happens!

I have a doctor appointment tomorrow after school. On Friday, I totally thought the baby would have already been here and I wouldn't even need to have an appointment tomorrow! I'm definitely going to have her check me tomorrow to see if anything is going on. We talked about taking our hospital bag with us tomorrow just in case, but now I'm feeling like that is really wishful thinking! 

I'm even more ready for this baby now than I was last week. I hate to sit around and complain, but I'm not sure I can take this achy body much longer! Plus, I'm so ready to meet our baby! Keep your fingers crossed that Baby W makes his/her appearance sooner rather than later!

Sunday, January 6

Ready or Not?!?


I'm 37 weeks pregnant today and SO ready to have a baby. I'm so excited to see what Baby W looks like and if it's a boy or girl! I'm ready to get our new life started with another member of our family. I'm ready to use all of the new baby gear we've added to our house. I'm ready to actually get comfortable in bed {even if I don't get a lot of sleep} and not have my right arm fall asleep every 5 seconds. I'm ready to be able to bend over again and not ask for help putting on my shoes...or see my feet again!

I am so ready.

Come on, baby! I'm really not sure I can wait any longer!

Saturday, January 5

Belly Photo {Week 36?}




I'm a huge slacker and I'm not even going to try to play catch up on the 5 weeks I've now missed! Here is the most recent picture Kurt has taken of me. I'm pretty sure my skin can't stretch anymore! 

The four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed to drag on FOREVER. I was looking forward to Winter Break so much, and now as I sit here typing this, break is almost over... Our weekends between the two holidays were full of Christmas parties, shopping, IU games, and family celebrations. 

What's going on with baby: Since the last update, the baby has most likely doubled his/her weight and is probably somewhere between 18 and 19 inches long. I can definitely tell that the space is getting tight for Baby W. Most movements I feel can also be clearly seen. The baby is spending time right now practicing his/her breathing skills. It is said that if the baby were to be born right now, he/she could survive just fine {especially since I'll be 37 weeks -- full term tomorrow}...I'm soooo ready, baby! We'd be MORE than happy for you to make an early appearance. :)

What's going on with me: Other than being 100% impatient, nothing. We had a 36 week doctor appointment last week, and now my appointments are weekly. She checked me. While I haven't dilated, my doctor said my cervix seemed very soft and not as high up as a typical first time mom. Better than nothing! Winter break has been amazing for me. I've been sleeping in every day, getting SO much done around the house {which makes spending time at home way more enjoyable!}, reading lots of books, and eating some good food {I have worked out a couple times...not nearly enough!}. While I do think going back to work will be good for me {to keep my mind off the baby as much as possible, to help the kids transition, to pass time quickly, etc.}, I'm really wishing that I didn't have to go back for two weeks before my maternity leave begins. I need to enjoy the last couple days of my break and jump back into reality on Monday. Only 11 more days to get up early...no problem! 

Last day - Tuesday, January 22nd. {Maybe, just maybe earlier if the baby comes early!!}

As for now, I'll enjoy the time with the pups and Kurt. We have most everything ready for the baby. Our hospital bag is semi-packed. Now we wait for Baby W, which is probably one of the most difficult things for me. Waiting for something I'm SO, SO, SO excited about but have absolutely NO idea when I'm going to get to meet him/her. Any ideas of how to induce labor are warmly welcomed! 

PS - My husband has been sick and in bed/on the couch all day today. It's been a wonderful excuse for me to do absolutely nothing today, too! :)

Tuesday, January 1

New Year Project

I'm not one to make New Years Resolutions. For one, I find it difficult to keep them. However, this year Kurt and I decided to begin a project of sorts. We had a mason jar laying around the house. We decided to make it our jar of memories for the year. We set it on our desk next to a pad of paper. As things happen throughout the year we'd like to remember, we'll write them down and stick them in the jar. On December 31st {while in Cabo!!}, we'll pull out all the 2013 memories we've written down and read through them together. I can't wait to see what all happens this year!