Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Pregnancy Update - Weeks 35 & 36

I wrote this at the end of 36 weeks, just never posted it.  (I'm currently 37 weeks 3 days)...eeeekkk!!!

How far along/size of baby: I turned 36 weeks on July 9th and according to Baby Center (which at this point is definitely not accurate since all babies are growing at different rates at this stage, baby weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18.5 inches long, about the length of a head of romaine lettuce (where do they get this stuff??).  However, I'm convinced my baby is a giant so I'm sure he's 12 pounds by now!

(I'll post my week 36 photos first. My week 35 photos are from the maternity photos I took and will be a bit below!)
36 Weeks

Work Selfie - 36 weeks 4 days
Sleep: I do have some good nights where I wake a few times but I sleep pretty good. Still having some bad nights where I'm up constantly. It's pretty 50/50. But I'm definitely more uncomfortable sleeping now. Turning over is hard, getting up is hard. I breathe like I just worked out when I'm trying to get comfortable in bed. lol. But all in all, I'd say it's a bit better than it was a month ago.

Best moment of the past 2 weeks:  My friend Jill (she's so awesome) took my maternity photos for us so that's exciting. Getting them back was even more exciting! We don't have many pregnancy photos of me and my husband so it's definitely nice to have. I mostly just have my weekly updates. So thank you Jill!!
Maternity - Bump Shot

With the man behind the bump!
(Literally, he's behind my bump... get it...never mind)
Miss anything:  Everything right now. But it doesn't bother me. It will be over soon. And I think I'm going to miss having this baby in my belly sometimes.

Movement: Yes very often! I wasn't sure a few weeks ago but since then, the baby definitely moves much more. I don't necessarily see the outward huge movements but it's more inside. Baby is just running out of room.

Symptoms: Feet/ankle swelling. It actually was a little better in week 35 but week 36 is back to some of it's old tricks.

I also wasn't sure if I was feeling Braxton Hicks contractions or the baby moving. I'm still not sure. I thought BH but now...I don't know. Clueless first-timer here.

Looking forward to: My next Doctor appointment on Thursday. I had one this week (36 week) and the doctor said I was dilated to 2 cm (!!) and head was low. That made me convinced I was going to have this baby any minute and freaked me out royally earlier this week. Granted I could stay this way for a few weeks but I'm anxious to get back to the doctor after 10 days and see where I'm at.

Food Cravings or Aversions:  None.

Belly button in or out: In. And should stay that way. Sorry hubby.

Wedding rings on or off: Off now. Both my engagement ring and wedding band. I don't like it but it is what it is.

Running/Working Out:  No more running. I stopped after my last 5k on June 21st. I did try to come back out of retirement around the beginning of July but decided it's better not to push anything.

I've been walking 2-3 times per week mostly. Although this week since I was so freaked out about going into labor early, I skipped a few days and "rested". Although resting turned into nesting and did some cleaning that needed to get done.  I really haven't done any other exercising because I'm lacking motivation. I guess it's ok now that I'm nearing the end anyway. Getting some rest in.
 

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Pregnancy Update - Weeks 32-34

Oh well, hey there! It's been a while since I posted an update. In fact, I have 2 other blog posts that I started and never finished too! Let's just say June got away from me a bit! But I'm still pregnant and hanging in there!

I'm currently 35 weeks 3 days pregnant today. BUT... this post will be from the last 3 weeks before, so weeks 32-34. There is probably enough info to post about just in that 3 week time frame!

How far along/size of baby: As of June 25 through July 1st, I was 34 weeks pregnant! I just can't even begin to comprehend that I will have a little one very shortly!

Measurements for babies in the womb vary so much that it's really difficult to just look up the websites and apps for this information. However, according to babycenter.com, the baby is around 4.75 pounds and the size of a cantaloupe. Give or take some ounces/pounds.

32 Weeks
33 Weeks
34 Weeks

Sleep: Sleep is sometimes "not bad" and sometimes terrible. My "not bad" nights are generally referred to as good nights. They are usually comprised of some solid sleep segments and maybe 2-3 times to get up for a potty break. That's a good night. The terrible nights are generally waking up every hour to 1.5 hours and just really getting not much solid sleep. I would say I get about half and half on "good" vs "terrible."

Best moment of the past 3 weeks: There are generally lots of good moments. We had our baby shower with my family and some friends the other week. Baby stuff is just so darn cute. It's even cuter when it's for your own baby!
Derek and I with our present helper
Miss anything:  Moving around comfortably. Bending over, rolling over in bed or getting up, sitting comfortably sometimes can all be difficult now.

Movement: Yes but I have to say I was freaking out a little bit during the 34th week. I just wasn't sure that he was moving as much as he should. I can go hours without feeling anything (or at least I think I don't) and then wasn't getting the same BIG rolls I was getting in the previous couple weeks. I had my doctor appointment and she said I'm probably not noticing it at work when I'm busy, which is probably true. And sometimes my husband says he feels it and I didn't realize it (one night when I was sleeping). The baby NEVER wakes me up or keeps me up at night with moving but he still might be moving around. She told me to try to pay more attention to it and call if I'm concerned. (Editors note, I've been feeling lots of movements all weekend so I think I'm good).

I have to say, it's stressful being the sole person to make a decision on whether things seem right with the baby or not when you really have no idea what the heck is going on and this is your first baby. You don't want to be that over reacting person that calls the doctor and gets checked out in the ER every week, but you definitely don't want to be the person that doesn't follow your gut and say something and then there is a problem. Being a mom is stressful! lol

Symptoms: My nausea has gotten better mostly so that's good. My calf cramps are few and far between at night so that seems a bit better.

I'm having terrible sciatic pain at times. I definitely don't do a good job with stretching it out or rolling it on something though. And at the chiropractor, my IT band was in rare form so I better get on that too!

And skin tags are just out of control and gross. Hate these things.

By the 34th week, my swelling in my feet and fingers are getting a bit out of control too! Especially my feet and ankles.

Looking forward to: ....  Having a baby?  lol. I'm not sure. My doctor appointments are weekly (or in my case 1.5 weeks because that's all I could schedule it). As much as I don't want frequent doctor appointments, they will be more "involved" and I will be strapped to monitors so I'm interested in having more information on what's going on there.

Oh...and my friend Jill took my maternity photos (because she's pretty awesome) so I can't wait to see what they look like!

Food Cravings or Aversions:  Nope. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Belly button in or out: In. But...it seems like it wishes it could be an outie, if that makes any sense. But nope, it's hanging in there! Thanks belly button! I'm not a fan of outies. Also note, my skin tags like to hang out here, which I think it TMI and pretty gross but there you have it!

Wedding rings on or off: So much sadness with this one. I stopped wearing my engagement ring in week 32, I think. My wedding band seemed slightly bigger so I kept that on. I should have never resized my engagement ring right before my wedding. It might still fit. Oh well. (new update on this as of week 35...more sadness...)

Running/Working Out:  As far as running is concerned. I had a 5k on June 21st, which was in week 33. I decided that I would make that my last official run. My recovery is much harder the next day and I'm much more sore. I did a 2:2 interval and quite enjoyed myself and thought maybe I would keep running. However, the next day was ROUGH! My belly is fine, but my joints in the lower section were just sore! So sore! It probably would have helped if I stretched after the 5k but I didn't. So after that, my running days are behind me until after baby. Running until 34 weeks though is pretty good in my books.
 
I'm still walking, I did go to the barre class but really haven't gone much. Walking and bike trainer are my main source of workouts. I will do an occasional prenatal video on youtube for stretching or strength. My workouts are now 3-4 times a week (down a bit from 4-5 times/week) but I also need to get this house in more shape before baby gets here and I can't really do both after working all day.