Thirty-seven Weeks

It's official - the baby is now full term! She can make her debut any day now and the doctor would be happy to deliver her. We would be happy to see her too, but I'm hoping she bakes for a little while longer.

We had our weekly checkup today and the doctor said there hasn't been any change from last week, other than I am measuring slightly smaller and lost a pound. The smaller measurement is due to the baby dropping and the weight loss is probably due to the fact that I have cut back on the number of cupcakes/cookies/ice cream I have everyday (unlike last week, oops). I could tell the baby dropped over the weekend as I can feel her movements much lower in my pelvis. She has been as active as ever - no rest for this little one! Because of her lower position her movements are downright painful sometimes. It doesn't really look like it from the outside but I swear she is lower!

Today is the day that I pack my hospital bag (I swear!) and tomorrow we are getting the car seat installed. And by that I mean I am going to attempt to buckle it in myself and then in going to have the fire department double check it for me. Never can be too sure :)

The last of the baby stuff arrived this week so now we are all ready for her arrival! It's comforting to know that she will definitely be here within the next month - whether she likes it or not! I wonder what day she will come...any guesses??

Make sure you sign up to receive the blog via email for updates when she is born (you can do this on the right hand toolbar) and you can also follow me on twitter!

Thirty-six Weeks

Thirty-six weeks and three days. That's what they told me at the doctors office today. I did a quick calculation in my head (I'm a math whizz in case you didn't know) and that leaves us with 25 days until our baby girls due date. I'm not sure which is less scary to say - three and a half weeks or 25 days.

I've started seeing my doctor once a week now and today's check-up went very well. The baby is in the right position - which explains the recent kicks to the ribs I've been getting - and pretty much ready to go. Over the last week my hips have been starting to hurt a lot as well as my back (the joys of pregnancy). I have been stretching, doing light yoga and even walking to try and relieve the pain but nothing has seemed to help. When I asked my doctor about the pain she said that it's probably due to the fact that my pelvis has started expanding to get ready for the baby.

WHAT?! Already?? Oh right, twenty-five days...

This week my main priority is to get the babies room as finished as possible. We have all of the furniture built and today I washed approximately 8374935792819848 onesies/blankets/sheets. I'm just waiting for a few more items to arrive and then we should be ready to go!

We started taking our Lamaze Class (turns out there's more to it than he-he-ho) over the weekend. While the classes are a bit long, there has been a lot of really good information and even a few of those lovely birthing videos. We have one more class this Saturday and then we are ready to go! Or...something like that. We also had a hospital tour which was amazing. We are having our baby at the Texas Children's Hospital Pavilion for Women. The Pavilion is brand new - only been delivering babies for about a month now. The entire facility is brand new and absolutely gorgeous. I never thought I would say that about a hospital but it's true! All of the rooms are private and there is a one-to-one nurse to patient ratio during labor and delivery. Since its attached to the Children's Hospital if there are any emergencies or problems during delivery (or after) there is a full neonatal and pediatric team ready to go. We couldn't ask for a better place to have our first baby (and we are SO glad it's in network for our insurance) ;)

Thirty-five Weeks

We decided to take a semi-last minute mini vacation over the long Easter weekend. A "baby-moon" if you will - our last vacation before this family of two becomes a family of three.

Man was that a good idea.

On Saturday I turned Thirty-five Weeks and I felt every single day of it. I am getting to the point now where I am starting to feel pretty uncomfortable most of the time. It is hard to sit/stand/walk/sleep for long (heck, even short) periods of time. That being said, I am still incredibly grateful to have only gained a minimal amount of weight and to not have to carry this baby through the heat of a Houston summer.

We headed west to Lake Austin Spa for our weekend trip - only a few hours away by car so I felt comfortable leaving the area. The spa was amazing (more on that this week over on The Traveling Cupcake) and while we were there I indulged in their Mama-to-be massage. It did wonders for my lower back and shoulder pain - I think I need one of these every day! As the only (heavily) pregnant woman at the resort we were quite a popular couple. Everyone was super nice and we received many well wishes. I can't get over how nice people are when you are pregnant! If people were this nice to each other ALL the time this world would be a different place, I'm telling you. Although I can't help wonder how nice the same people would be in a few months when I'm carrying around a screaming baby...hmmm....

Along with feeling like a balloon ready to pop I have been having quite a few Braxton Hicks contractions. I usually have a few a day and didn't even realize what they were until a week or so ago. They aren't really that painful yet, mostly just uncomfortable. I had my 35 week check up today and baby girl is doing great! The Dr. said that I am measuring perfectly and have so far put on around 22 lbs. With only about four and a half weeks to go that puts me right on target for a very healthy and normal total weight gain (does that mean I can start indulging in a pint of ice cream every night??) I had been measuring the circumference of my belly once a week but during the chaos of the move I have lost my measuring tape. I'm interested to see how many inches I have put on since the last time I measured it over a month ago!

Starting next week I am going to see the Dr weekly - which is a sure sign that this thing is coming to an end soon! We start our Birthing classes this weekend and have a tour of the hospital as well. I'm excited for both - the hospital is brand new (my Dr delivered the first newborn to be born there a couple weeks ago) and I can't wait to see the facilities. On the agenda this week - Project Babies Room! We really need to get moving on setting up her room (just in case she decides to get here early) and now that we have most of the furniture here in the house we are ready to start assembling! Hopefully in the next week or two I will have some photos of her room to show you :)

That pregnancy "glow"

People always remark how pregnant woman have that certain "glow" about them. They look more radiant, refreshed, happier - they really do seem to have an aura around them that makes them...glow.  Recently I've started to get this compliment and I try to accept it as graciously as possible, but I often end up thinking, "Me?? Are you sure??"  Between my ever-expanding waistline, interrupted sleep during the night and various skin problems I am sure they must be talking to someone else.

Skin problems? Oh yes, and lots of them. While I managed not to get sick once during my first trimester, my body decided to take its raging hormones out on my skin. Two words, that no woman wants to hear -

Adult Acne

Oh the horror!!!

Acne was supposed to be something that we dealt with as snotty teenagers. Everyone from the ages of 11-16 seems to get at least one bout of really bad skin. Pair that with (possibly) braces and/or glasses and rapidly changing bodies and you will probably remember why you're glad not to be a teenager any more. But the thing was that everyone was going through this at around the same time. It was hard to pick on kids with acne because chances were you had it too.

But - as an adult woman? Lets just say it stands out a little bit more than our teenage counterparts.

Thanks to those crazy hormones again my skin first started acting up around 4-5 weeks of being pregnant. Of course, at the time I didn't know I was pregnant (I didn't find out until I was about 6.5 weeks) so I just thought my body was freakin' out for some reason. I thought it was probably getting used to being off birth control, so I scrubbed away hoping that it would subside. No such luck. If anything it only got worse the more pregnant I became. My face was starting to look like an oil slick, not really that healthy" glow" that most pregnant women have. And to make it even worse, there were a lot of cleansing products that were now on the "do not use" list because I was pregnant. It seemed the only thing I could do was wash my face twice a day with a mild cleanser and moisturize (which seems counter-intuitive when you're face is super greasy).

image

Luckily my dermatologist in the US gave me a prescription medicine that was safe to use after 12 weeks as long as my OB agreed. He predicted that my skin would calm down soon after 12 weeks anyways (as my hormones started to level off) and suggested that I might not even need to use it. And you know what? He was sort of right. My skin has drastically improved since those early pregnancy days, though it is by no means perfect. I have used the prescription medicine a few times when things seem to get bad again, but for the most part it is back to normal. I don't really trust my skin at this point though, I have a feeling that this isn't the last of the acne that I have seen. I still have seventeen weeks to go after all!

So what is that "glow" really all about? Mostly it's a combination of increased blood flow and a little bit of that oil slick. Did you know that while you are pregnant the volume of blood that you have in your body nearly doubles?? All that extra blood tends to rush to the surface of your skin, giving your cheeks a rosy color (put away that blush ladies). Combine that with a slight sheen of naturally increased oil on your face and you get that perfect pregnancy glow. Or you end up looking like you have been standing in a hot kitchen for 8 hours over the frier. Whatevs.

But for all my complaining about a few pimples here and there, I know the reward at the end of it all is going to be worth every single one of them. I'll just be really glad once my skin returns back to normal and I have a beautiful baby girl to show off!

Pregnancy Pains

As you know (if you have been pregnant before) or have probably heard (if you have ever known anyone who is/was pregnant) - pregnancy comes with a lot of weird aches and pains and changes in your body. The ones you hear about the most are probably aching backs, sore/swollen feet and stretch marks.

However - (If you have been pregnant before you will know what I mean) - there is a lot more to it than that! Random things start hurting or changing that you never read in any of your pregnancy books. Things like your tailbone start hurting and shooting pains will go through your pelvis and hips at the most random of times.

And if you're like me your belly button will hurt.

Yes, your belly button.

And no, it's NOT connected to the baby.

image curtesy of BabyExpert.com 

The first time I ever experienced this I was confused, and surprised! At first it felt sore around my belly button, and I thought it was just my stomach being tender.  When I mentioned something to Brian about it he promptly poked me right in the belly button (thanks hun!) and I screamed in pain! It really hurt! I thought it was a one off thing, one of those weird random growth pains. 

But no.

I think this might become a regular occurrence now as it has happened a few times. Sometimes it hurts so bad I have to get up and walk around for a minute just to change positions. I checked with my doctor just to make sure nothing was seriously wrong and she assured me it was perfectly normal.

Normal?? Ok doc, if you say so!

Apparently there is a ligament that runs from your belly button behind your uterus that gets stretched out as your belly grows, which is what causes the tenderness and soreness in your belly button. Ouch!

So for now I am just trying to pay attention to when my belly button feels sore so that it doesn't catch me off guard again. It was fine to scream in my husbands face the first time but random strangers might not like that... :)

Have you had any weird pregnancy pains that they don't tell you about? Leave me a comment I would love to hear about them!