36 weeks

36 weeks

How many weeks?: 36 Weeks

How big is baby?: Honeydew Melon - 18.75 inches & 5.75 pounds

Gender: Girl

Weight Gain: I have gained 30 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: The last thing I bought were my 2 thermal shirts. I did not and will not buy maternity pants. I've been living in my leggings and yoga pants. They are actually getting super tight around my hips/tummy so I have resorted to sweat pants and hubby's pj bottoms (when home of course!). I do put on my yoga pants if we are going some place nice though. I just deal with it to look somewhat nice.

Nursery: I can't believe I am still here saying it's not complete! I just finished washing the last batch of laundry I am hoping. I had to wash all of her clothes, a billion blankets, bedding, car seat cover, boppy... my goodness, just so much to wash when you wash it all. I have everything 6+ months in 3 different boxes and will not be washing those items until she reaches those sizes. I figured I would end up re-washing them anyways if they sat in a box that long.

Symptoms: Oh there are so many symptoms. Ugh! I can't sleep at night. I wake up often and pee every 2 hours. It really sucks. I debate going back to bed once Jesse leaves as I can't tell if it will be worth it. I can't roll over in bed, I have to push up with my feet to lift myself into the air to turn. It is too uncomfortable and hard to just "roll". I have felt period like cramping the last week and TMI (the area down there feels sore for no reason). My body feels tired and uncomfortable. I often have trouble in the mornings and feel super fatigued and lightheaded. I went to church 2 weeks ago even though I felt really faint. I had a hard time the whole service. I ended up feeling the same last Sunday and decided to skip it. I really hate doing that, but knowing what happened last time... it didn't just go away. My hair is absolutely gorgeous and I love it!! Oh and I am always hot when I sleep. We have been using one comforter the last few nights (I washed the heated blanket we use but don't turn on) and I set the temp for 64 degrees and I still need my legs out of the blanket half the night. 

Cravings: I have been craving hamburgers and fries, fruit juice, and scrambled eggs. I know my body needs more protein, so I am really trying to give it what it needs.

Sleep: Sleep?! Where can I find this?

What I Miss: Sleep.

Best Moment This Week: We met with a pediatrician on Tuesday and will go with her. 

What am I looking forward to?: Having our little girl and bringing her home.

Next Appointment: January 13th. This is the first of my weekly appointments.

Additional Notes: 

• According to the last appointment she is head down and ready to go. I have kicks on the right and her bottom is on the left. She is facing away from me since the placenta is anterior, but she is in the best position for anterior. Hopefully she moves around during labor so I don't have bad back labor. Either way, she is head down and that is what she needs to be to give birth.
• We have finished getting most of her things as of now. We only need to get a diaper/trash bin, clothes hamper, and a rug for her room.
• We are having to switch insurances as of the 1st of the year. We are getting all the information over to them today I am hoping. This also means we should be eligible for a breast pump. Our old insurance was grandfathered, so no breast pump at all. We had to switch insurances with Jesse's promotion... unfortunately the old insurance was better and free since he was union with only a $300 deductible. This one has a monthly deduct from payroll and has like a $2500 deductible. Too bad the birth wasn't before the insurance change.
• We ordered some props for Emily's newborn photos! :) I am so excited to get these photos done when she is 4-7 days old. Jesse/daddy is our own professional photographer. We even have the whole studio setup for it!
• One of my favorite parts about being pregnant is not having to worry about my weight gain or body issues. I told myself as long as I didn't go past 35 pounds (max of normal weight gain) I would be perfectly happy. If you are pregnant you will gain weight, and I gladly accepted it and have no regrets. I have eaten what I want and love it. It was oddly invigorating and strange to come to January 1st and not make a diet attempt. Everyone is talking about getting back on track and I say pass the brownies please and thank you! ;) I may go over 35 pounds by a pound or two as I have gained more weight the last trimester than the rest of the pregnancy. Emily has another 2-3 pounds left to gain so there is a possibility of going over. I will be okay with that. I am close enough. 
• As part of our birth plan, we are not allowing visitors during our stay at the birthing center. This has been a bit of a shock, especially for my family, but it's what we want. I want peace and quiet and just the company of my incredible partner. I imagine it would be a different story if I went to the hospital, got an epidural and just had an easy enough birth without much pain. But I am planning to go natural and need the room to be dim lit, without much noise, and my husband next to me. In our birthing class I learned that I need to fake sleep by relaxing (laying down with eyes closed) between contractions in order to keep my energy up. My birthing center also discharges 3-6 hours after the birth. Just enough time to get mommy and baby looked at, do the first latch and then get up to pee. Once I am able to get up and pee, we can get packed up and head out. With an epidural of course you stay longer at a hospital because you can't even stand up right away. 
• I have been stressing out the last few months about having visitors after the baby comes. I really want to enjoy the first few weeks with my husband and our new baby. I am really hoping to not have people over all of the time. I will be sore, tired, and not wanting to share MY baby with everyone else all the time. I hope people make their visits short and sweet, and anything longer then they should be helping around the house and not being a baby hog.
• I totally forgot there are at least 2 more loads of laundry to do - I need to wash my new woven wrap and wash all my cloth diapers. I ordered 4 prefolds and 2 fitted diapers off a diaper swap on FB. They are the green mountain diaper brand and I wanted to try them out. If I like them, I'll get more. I have quite a few others a friend gave us - lots of fuzzibunz size small, 2 thirsties, 2 blueberries, and 1 bumgenius. I also have one fitted I bought from a small company here in Tacoma. I was told not to get all of the same ones until I see what works. So that's what I have.
• I have also started taking gentle birth per my midwife's advice. You start at 35 weeks and take it daily to help your uterus do little contractions to help strengthen it. It supposedly helps when you go into labor. Your uterus should be stronger and I should have a faster labor. I hope it works. I don't want a super long labor. I have heard of people being in labor for 48 hours. I'd prefer less haha.
• I made a list for our labor/post birth bag. I'll be doing 2 bags. One for just the labor portion and then one for the post birth. Jesse can run out to the car once Emily comes for the second bag. I just don't want to haul in too much right away. The labor bag will have a lot less things in it - snacks, some clothing pieces (planning to labor in the tub), and a few other things. I am really excited about the huge water jug with a straw I found on amazon. It looks like a hospital one. I got it because the birthing center doesn't provide everything like the hospital and I know I will need a lot of water. I already am thirsty ALL of the time.

  

  Hoping this isn't too big for a going home outfit. It's 0-3 months.

  

  Large Water Container - Yeah!

Well, that sure was a lot for one week, but I haven't been posting many weekly pregnancy blogs. We have been busy around here, and every time I think about posting something I think - should I take the time to do that or work on the dishes/laundry that needs to be done. You can see what has been winning out. 

32 weeks

How many weeks?: 32 Weeks

How big is baby?: Squash - 16.7 inches & 3.75 pounds

Gender: Girl

Weight Gain: I have gained 25 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: Nothing new in this department.

Nursery: Still not completed, but so very close! We have a few things laying around on the floor that need to be organized, but with the holidays a few days away, I may have to put that off until after Christmas.

Symptoms: Rib pain. Pelvic pain. It takes roughly 30 seconds to roll over in bed. I wake up hungry and can't go back to sleep until I eat. Energy level is up this past week!! 

Cravings: I just want to snack even if I am full. 

Sleep: I have been using 5 pillows. Not able to sleep very well, but I still function. 

What I Miss: Deli meats.

Best Moment This Week: Jesse and I went away this past weekend to my aunt's cabin. We spent it with my cousin and his girlfriend. It was very nice to just get away, but it just wasn't long enough. Either way, it was a good time.

What am I looking forward to?: Christmas!!

Next Appointment: December 29th. - This will be my 34 week appointment. We also have an appointment with a pediatrician office on January 5th.

Babywearing

Today I took the plunge! I put the wrap that I have been eyeing for a while now on layaway. I had found it a month or two ago and looked for the size I wanted, but they were all sold out. Now that the size is back on stock I have it reserved and won't miss it when I want to actually pay for the whole thing. I love the layaway programs that the baby-wearing stores do because they don't charge a fee. 

This is one of the stock photos of this wrap. I think it's super pretty. It's called an Indio Aurora by Didymos. I got it in a size 6 which I believe is my base size. I won't be sad if it's a little too long either. I'm hoping to get this thing paid off beginning of January (after Christmas since that's eating up my money) and then shipped here before Emily comes. I want to break it in a little and I can't wait to wear my little one in this beautiful wrap! :)

I was excited and had to talk about that. That's all...

EDIT: I don't have to wait until early January to get this wrap paid!!! My wonderful husband offered to pay the balance off as my second Christmas present!!! YAY!! :) It is getting shipped out today and I will be able to practice belly wrapping :)

31 Weeks

How many weeks?: 31 Weeks

How big is baby?: Pineapple - 16.25 inches & 3.3 pounds

Gender: Girl

Weight Gain: I have gained 20 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: I pretty much just wear the same 2 leggings and 3 maternity shirts. I won't go buy any more clothes. I have 2 more months, not a big deal. Everyone just has to see me wearing the same thing all the time.

Nursery: It will be elephant themed (my favorite animal) with grey and white colors, with pops of color. It hasn't been put together yet. We are putting the dresser in there this weekend. We have her crib and 9 cube thing all done. We will be doing a lot in the nursery this weekend, so maybe it will be done in a few days?

Symptoms: Hip pain is not there anymore. I have had bad rib pain lately and my bra strap makes it even worse. I am having trouble sleeping - waking up often and always remembering my dreams. Which tells me I never get my deep sleep!! :( My back and pelvic bone area always crack at night when I move from side to side - I hate the feeling of it, but I always know that it's going to happen now. My stomach on the left side seems uncomfortable, so it's bothering some to sleep on my left side, but that's the side I am supposed to sleep on. I just feel like each week I get a new symptom now and have started counting down the weeks haha.

Cravings: Not much - jello fruit cups & Juice.

Sleep: I have been using 4 pillows. Not getting enough!! :(

What I Miss: My energy level still. I always feel out of breath. 

Best Moment This Week: We finished our Bradley Method birthing class. We are officially ready. It feels so real now that we are done. It's just a waiting game now, but we are prepared for when it comes. It just makes it feel so close to the end.

What am I looking forward to?: Finishing up the nursery

Next Appointment: December 9th.

Christmas Gifts and Baby Things

I have been trying to get my homemade gifts made for our friends and family. I have made 1 of 3 batches of soap so far. I need to make the next 2 batches in the next day or two. I just placed a cyber monday order on BrambleBerry so I can do the rest of our gift basket gifts - bath bombs, scrubs, and body butter. I will make those closer to Christmas, but the soap needs to cure for several weeks.

Jesse and I may also be going in together on "our" Christmas present instead of buying each other gifts. We want to buy an above ground swimming pool for the backyard. I wanted to swim/sit in water so bad this last summer - it was the hottest summer ever and I was pregnant :(. Now we are adding kids to the mix, and it just sounds like a fun idea. I want our kids to love the water and when they are old enough, they will do swimming lessons at the YMCA. 

Black Friday came last week and I was able to score a high chair at Babies R Us. We made a budget for the rest of the items we need and with the Amazon completion discount (and Amazon Mom), I just bought a whole bunch of things tonight. I had to do one purchase with the discount, so I got what we needed/wanted. I am so excited to get the mail here in the next week!!! I can't wait to get the crib mattress to finish the crib. We should be all ready for her to come. The only other things I think we wanted was a wall mural of some sort, some bins for the changing table supplies, and a lamp. We will need to get more cloth diapers after she comes, but I am pretty sure we can manage with the stash we have for a while. We also were looking high and low for a white dresser for her, but we decided to polish up one of our white dressers and mommy and daddy are getting a nice new his/her dresser! So excited - we are picking it up on Saturday!! 

Here are some of the items we got today that I am excited about:

• Bamboobies - they had a 30% off cyber monday deal!
• Sophie the teething giraffe
• Swimming cloth diaper (We are joining the Y when she is 6 weeks old - she will be dipping in with me)
• Cloth diaper supplies for containing/cleaning diapers
• Forehead Thermometer - how cool is this?! 
• A book on raising a christian child! :)

I look forward to doing the following things with our children:

1. Babywear - I am planning to have a TULA and a didymos wrap by the time our daughter arrives. Oh, and we will be going to babywearing group events. I have already gone to one.
2. Breastfeeding - My goal is to make it to 1 year. I want our kids to decide when to wean. So my plan is to stop between 1-2 years. I am planning to go to La Leche League meetings.
3. Cloth diaper - I will be at home thus I can make time to cloth diaper. With being home, I need to help our family save money and really, people who do it say it's really not that big of a deal. There are actually people who love it.
4. We will travel with our kids even when they are young. Our first trip (unofficially) will be going to Barcelona with Emily when she is 11 months old. Some people call that crazy, but I won't leave my kids behind. I want to bring them with and they can go with us on outings in a wrap or TULA. :)
5. Teaching our children about the importance of giving back. We will do community service acts as much as possible.

I mean, I am looking forward to so much more than just those few things, but those have been things I have been thinking about lately. 

November 19th, 2014

It's been about a month since my last post!! I just wrote my pregnancy post, but now I need to update on everything else. 

We are officially all moved into our new house. Almost unpacked inside - still have some work to do though. I am hoping that most of it is done by next Wednesday as we are having all of our friends over for Jesse's birthday for a nice dinner. 

I have started going to the chiropractor because of pain from pregnancy. 

We are almost done with our birthing class. Only 2 more weeks to go! We are using the Bradley method which is a 12 week series.

I have also started going to Doreen's ladies small group on Wednesday nights. Which reminds me, I need to read the chapter! :O

Jesse and I went to church 1.5 weeks ago, and will be going back. We would have made it last Sunday, but Jesse had too much to do and right before I was ready to leave I didn't feel well, so I had to lay down and missed it. I was really bummed about that, but I can't tell my body how to act especially in third trimester. I am just exhausted all the time. Even running to the store for groceries seems so draining. I can get out of breath my just driving, it's ridiculous. 

Jesse went to Ohio earlier this month for training AND his best friend Daniel will start working with him at his job the Monday after Thanksgiving. They are both very excited.

Well, I have some energy at the moment, so I am going to go work on more laundry, dishes, unpacking, etc... :)

28 Weeks

28 weeks & 5 days

How many weeks?: 28 Weeks

How big is baby?: Eggplant - 14.8 inches & 2.25 pounds

Gender: Girl

Weight Gain: I have gained 19 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: I am wearing my maternity tops, but still getting away with my pre-pregnancy leggings. I bought 2 thermal shirts a few weeks ago that I am totally in love with. It's been in the 30-40's here the last few weeks so I've been cold.

Nursery: It will be elephant themed (my favorite animal) with grey and white colors, with pops of color. It has been put together yet. We still need a dresser, a mattress and some other little things. We need to setup the 9 cube box thing so we can put all of her books and other things away. Once we get the dresser and some hangers I can put her clothes away. 

Symptoms: Lately I have had more hip pain. I'm starting to feel a lot more drained and exhausted by doing absolutely nothing. I am trying really hard to take my vitamins because I think if I miss them, it's just adding to my exhaustion. Oh and super emotional. I could cry at so many things.

Cravings: Hot cocoa.

Sleep: I have been using 4 pillows.

What I Miss: My energy level. I miss the days where I was all motivated and able to clean the house from top to bottom. It's a good day if I did the laundry, dishes, dinner AND actually did some unpacking.

Best Moment This Week: I got to spend some good time with my husband. The last few months have been so busy between fixing the house up, moving, working, etc... that we barely got much quality time together. We have had several quality moments together this past week and I've really enjoyed them.

What am I looking forward to?: Next week is Jesse's birthday and Thanksgiving. Lots of love - family time and of course food!

Next Appointment: December 9th. It's my 32 week appointment. After that I switch to bi-weekly. I just had an appt. last week - glucose test was good, but I have mild anemia so I am on liquid iron. So gross, but I need it.

Moving

We are getting all ready to move into our house this weekend. I have been packing the house now that we are back from Canada and I am done working. Jesse has been working hard on installing the hardwood flooring and chipping out concrete for the plumping and now he is pouring concrete back on it. The whole house had to get re-piped, but now that is done and we can use the bathroom! Yay! We just need Jesse to finish the concrete (2,000 pounds) so we can put the water heater back into place and take a shower. Although, I was told it is broken! :( Of course... this happens when you buy a house, everything breaks on you immediately!

I have to be done packing by the end of tomorrow - eek! Friday I will spend all day cleaning up the place because installing flooring makes a lot of mess! We had the saw inside the house since it was so loud and now there is sawdust over everything. It really looks like a construction zone!! :( So lots to clean in 1 day. Saturday we pick up a u-haul and move everything on down there. Rain or shine (or being ready)... looks like rain, but let's cross our fingers!

Alright, this lady has to get moving on the packing...

23 Weeks

23 Weeks at my BIL's wedding

How many weeks?: 23 Weeks

How big is baby?: Large Mango - 11.5 inches &1.1 pounds

Gender: Girl

Weight Gain: I have gained 12 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: I am wearing my maternity tops and dresses. I can still wear my leggings, but will need maternity pants soon enough. Until then I just wear my leggings.

Nursery: It will be elephant themed (my favorite animal) with grey and white colors, with pops of color. The nursery has been painted and the floors have been installed! We move in to the house in 2 weeks, so we can start the nursery after that.

Symptoms: I have been feeling like myself lately, besides have a bump! Oh and I am feeling her move!! It started at 22.5 weeks.

Cravings: Nothing really that I can think of.

Sleep: I've been using 4 pillows.

What I Miss: Being able to move easily and pick things up without worrying about the weight. I need to help pack the house, but I know I can't pick too much up, so it will be interesting to see how that all works out.

Best Moment This Week: We went to Los Angeles this weekend for a wedding. It was beautiful and fun. We also went to the beach on the way to the airport and I had so much fun putting my feet in REAL sand and in the water!!

What am I looking forward to?: Finishing my last day at my job... which is tomorrow! I have been working A TON of overtime (salaried - so of course unpaid) to get it all done. The company was acquired, and I have been helping transition everything over and reconcile the AP. So I am almost done!!

Next Appointment: October 20th I have my 24 week appointment with my midwife. My sisters are planning to come instead of Jesse. I'll be going in the morning since I won't be working. :)

Updates Galore!

Sorry I have been MIA! We closed on our house on 09/24/2014. We worked 2 whole weekends on the house - cleaning, removing baseboard heaters, adding wall heater units, painting, ripping up carpet & nails, and now installing our wood flooring - which we are only about halfway done with. 

We also went to LA for 3 days/4 nights this past weekend.

I finish my last day at work on October 15th - and have put in many many hours there. Some days 12 hours. So exhausting, but almost done!

We leave on Thursday the 16th for 4 days in Canada with friends.

I will be packing after we come back and that weekend after Canada we move into our house.

Someone asked me what I'll do once I am done working. The answer is breath. I will take a deep breath and finally stop running at 100mph. I will have time for grocery shopping (which has rarely happened in the last month). I will have time for dishes, laundry, packing, unpacking, family, doctor appointments, making Jesse lunches, and us dinners. I pretty much haven't had dinner with Jesse on the weekdays in weeks. 

Doreen and I are getting things started for the baby shower next month. I gave her my invite list and she just got the invitations mailed. Michele is also helping with the shower... as well as my sisters, but that's closer to the date. I'm just glad to get the invites out. We don't have to do much else until later. The shower will be an afternoon tea!! I am so excited, I love tea parties. 

Anyways, that's all that is going on with us ha. I'll try to be better at updating this blog once I am done working.