36 Weeks!

My mom says I'm really 38 weeks. She thinks I'm due the 14th instead of the 27th. I hope she's right.

I'm exhausted. All the time. Ugh.

I'm really really ready to see my little Miss Lillian. Her daddy and I have been working on getting her room together and ourselves in order. We've paid all our bills for July so we don't have to think about that. I'm super pumped to just focus on her.

We have an appointment to see the doctor on Thursday. One thing I will be mentioning is that I think I have lost or have started to loose my mucus plug last Friday. In birthing class, the lady said that it really isn't that big of a deal. That it doesn't mean you will go into labor right away. I'm OK with that. But my mom said that back in the day if you knew you lost it, the doctors wanted you to go within a couple weeks so that infection doesn't start. This makes sense. I mean, that's the purpose of it, right? Anyway, I want the doctor to know, obviously, and then do a cervical check and be like, "Wha? You are 7 cm dilated!!"


Optimistic. That's me.


But I am really enjoying this part of pregnancy. Well -- aside from the lack of sleep and exhaustion, anyway. I love the way my body looks --- with clothes on. I love the attention that Brandon is able to give Lillian and that she is responding to him a lot more now. I love knowing that it could be any day that we get to hold our baby!!

35 1/2 weeks

This week has been nice. So relaxing. The shower is over, so our house work is to the point of just when we have time/feel like it, we do it.... as opposed to AAAAHHHH!! THE SHOWER IS ONLY # DAYS AWAY!!!

So, we've been taking it easy. Enjoying spending time together and getting done what we want, not what we need. We've been able to spend more time with the dogs and have even had nice weather to take them out on walks together, so that has been nice for them and us.

The shower. Amazing. I should have done a separate post for that. It was incredible. My mom and sister put it on for me. It was all pink and white and glamorous. Brandon was able to be there for some at the beginning and end, so it was nice for him to see his family. We, of course, got sooo many things that we needed. I'm really glad Brandon made me wait to buy some things, in the hopes we would receive them at the shower.

I have been having some contractions this past week that actually hurt. One in particular went clear around my torso. Ugh. Pain meds? Hm.... She is remaining active, which I love. When I am home alone and sitting in the recliner (her fav position to move around), I think, "Man. I'm going to miss this." I love when Brandon is here to see/feel her move. He gets a grin on his face that I will remember forever. We can't wait to see her, but I think it will be weird not feeling her inside.

One thing I did not expect from pregnancy was the numbness/tingling in my fingers. Specifically in my right hand. I've done research, and apparently this numbness is typical. It has to do with the amount of fluids in your body and how it pinches the nerves in your carpal tunnel. The tips of my fingers on my right hand are nearly always tingly. Kind of uncomfortable, especially when writing.

Her room is done-ish. All we are waiting on is picking out/ordering a dresser. We weren't going to get one, but instead get a changing table. Then, after the shower and seeing what all we had for her to store, we decided that a short, long dresser that could double as a changing station would work really well in her room. Other than that, the crib/bedding and closet are done. Which were the two main things. I made her carseat safety check appointment... for Aug. 5th. That was the soonest we could get in. The lady said it was actually better because she would be here so they could fit it to her body. Ok... I'll drive safely until then. This past week I also packed her bag for the hospital and got everything we need for our bags. I just have to put our bags together.

Ah. Things are finally coming together. I love that it is so close, but am anxious, too!!!

33 weeks, Hosptial visit, 34 weeks

So... considering I am doing this blog less for followers and more for Lillian to read later (and for me to remember things later), I'm really behind. My goal was once a week... FAIL!

33 weeks: Nothing super exciting....... except for a hospital visit. It all started when I was having a super lazy day. We were having carpet installed, so I basically sat on the recliner all day. I thought it was odd that I wasn't feeling her move as much. So, when Mom stopped by to see the carpet, I told her. Between her and then texting/calling Brandon, it was decided that I should call the doctor to be on the safe side. The nurse had me do a kick count -- 10 times in one hour. She only moved 6 times and even those weren't as strong as I felt they should have been. So, in to labor and delivery we went. Dad met us at the hospital. We (finally) got checked in [side note: I was supposed to be pre-registered, but they didn't have me processed yet so that took forever. And they couldn't hook me up to the monitor until I was in the system. It took 45 min. for them to just get it so I could be hooked up!] and I got to hear my sweet little girl's heartbeat. But then, we noticed on the other line, little spikes now and again.... contractions. Again. Nice.

I was on the monitor for a good couple hours before they did a cervix check. I was soft and had a dimple (the start of dilation, but not really considered dilated). After that, the nurse came in and said that the doctor wanted to me to have a shot to stop the contractions. I took the shot and we were on our way home 4 1/2 hours after we first arrived. I hated laying there but was glad to know nothing was super wrong.

I did not have any more contractions that night and haven't had any since. I'm drinking a TON of water, taking it super easy, and hoping that when I actually go into labor, I'll know.

Today was a 34 week sonogram. My mom was allowed :) to come with us. She was really excited, which made it more exciting for me, too. The main purpose was to see if Lillian was laying sideways. She wasn't! The sonographer (?) even took some pretty good 3D pictures for us, which were awesome! Every thing looks good. Today Lillian weighs 5 lbs. 12 oz. The doctor said she wouldn't be surprised if she comes early. This makes me nervous and excited and lots of other adjectives, but mostly just anxious. I can't wait to see her!

32 Week Appointment

I was going to put a picture to relate to my topic of conversation for this blog post... but every time I Googled "labor", "labor and delivery," (and grossest of all:) "birth," I just found gross pictures.

Sorry. No side entertainment for you.

So, our appointment went well. Lil's heartbeat was 137. My uterus measured 34 cm. That was all we did as far as Lil was concerned.

We asked the doctor to go through the birth - what Brandon's role would be, how she felt about pain medication, etc. Then to go through the immediate recovery and where the baby would be. We feel so much more comfortable about all of this.

First let me say that she has never had a baby. Ok, now, I asked her what her opinion was about medication. She said, "Ultimately, you are in charge. If you want to try to do it without medication, fine. But, if I see that your body is stressed from the pain too much, I will suggest something to take the edge off at least." Ok. I'm OK with that, I think. I mean, I want to be open minded -- not stubborn. Then she said, "If I were having a baby, I would probably opt for the medication. No one is going to judge you if you say you want the medicine. Just keep that in mind, too." Right, lady. Well, watch out -- cause I'm probably going to be cranky and medication-free.

32 Weeks and Birthing Class

So, just like every Tuesday morning, I flipped our daily calendar that has some blurb about our growing baby to the next week. 32!! Aaaah! I can't believe we have only 8 weeks until our due date. :/ Nervous? Yes. Excited? Yes. Hot? ... Yes.

Luckily, this week was the last week of school. So, I've been able to enjoy sleeping in and catching up on some zzz's while sitting either in the air conditioned bedroom or under the fan in the living room. It's been really nice to just do what needs to be done and then enjoy relaxing and feeling my baby move around inside.

It's amazing how much I have depended on these movements to not only keep my paranoia down, but also to just fall completely in love with this baby. I firmly believe that she can feel my emotions. When I am happy, she kicks around. I have visions of her giggling and flailing her little arms and legs in excitement. When I am sad, she kicks, but not as hard. I can see me being in a sour mood and her coming up. hugging my leg, and saying, "I love you, Mommy." It's like that soft little kick is her way of saying that it'll be OK. Don't worry - I still love you. I also have noticed that when the dogs get excited and loud -- so does she. And when she hears Brandon's voice -- especially in the morning while I'm still in bed and he kisses me goodbye and in the evening when he gets home from work and she first hears him -- she moves like a wild woman. It makes me so happy to know that she already knows her Daddy's voice and that she loves him, too.

This week's birthing class was on pain medication during labor and interventions (vacuum, forceps, manually breaking the water, etc.). I certainly did (and still do) have an open mind to pain medication. And although Brandon was leaning towards none-- he wasn't the one pushing her out! I was nervous to make any big statements one way or the other... you just don't know how things are going to turn out. But after hearing the information that the class offered, paired with my own research, I am pretty determined to do this without medication. I think it is important to experience this event at least once. Maybe my mind will change with baby #2. And I didn't like all the maybe's the information presented. I didn't like the idea of making the choice of an epidural and then not having any other options (like different positions, walking, etc.). So, then I was leaning towards analgesics, which are basically just to take the edge off. But then you run the big risk of being mentally drowsy and out of it. That is something I certainly don't want to be while bringing my baby in the world. I'm certainly OK with a local anesthetic in the case of tearing or an episiotomy. I mean, it is not something that will effect the baby and it will occur only if the need arises.

Like I said, I'm still keeping an open mind. But once I set my mind to something, I pretty much stay that way. I am looking into other relaxation methods and will hopefully find something that will work. Even though I had a pretty bad attitude about this class, it's been really good for us. It has gotten us to start talking about things we probably would have made spur of the moment decisions on.

I am trying to gain the courage to talk to my doctor about our birthing plan. I mean, I know people do this all the time, but I feel silly telling the doctor what I want. Although, it is something that needs to be done, because, ultimately, I DO want it MY way. So, that is our #1 topic for today's appointment --- which I will update you on after!