Shower Baby A With Love And Presents!

 We Had A Baby Shower!

I did it. Passed the major milestone of Baby Shower. We waited until week 38.. which was a bit un nerving.. but totally worth it. The shower invite is how majority of the extended family found out, and so we pushed it back until we were pretty much waiting anyday for baby A to appear. It went so well! My wonderful Mother-in-law and SIL planned it and threw it and it was a success. 10am brunch theme… full of delicious things like quiche, hash brown casserole, and deviled eggs among other breakfast foods. I gave myself the day off with checking and ate. Everything. Yum. Games were really fun and non lame. Two sea themed ones that went with my shower.. Count the sea creatures fastest and correctly, and then name 30 sea animals in teams of two. Those were fun and light ice breaking games, then my favorite: teams of four… each lady had to have her purse. We sat in a huge circle with a chair in the middle and my MIL read off an item and the team had to find it in one of their purses and get it to the chair first. There was much throwing and jumping, some falling, lots of laughs and screams. Some were really obscure items too. A Walmart receipt, prescription meds, a paperclip, three lip glosses, etc. I sat out and watched my highly competitive friends and family duel over purse contents. Winners were declared and then presents. They went much better than I thought they would.. seeing as being the center of attention is not my favorite. I got a lot of loot from everyone for baby A and I cant wait to use some of it when he gets here any day. Hear that baby. A.n.y.d.a.y. Come on. After the shower we helped straighten up and then drove back down to our house to unload and set up more of his nursery. It’s a pigsty currently with boxes and laundry everywhere… but we have a cleaning lady coming on Thursday and I want something to do while she is working so I will be in A’s room getting it all put together. Then he and I are going to have a serious talk about his impending eviction.

Week 37... FULL TERM!

Week 37
·  Size of baby:  He weighs 6.14 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard) and is officially considered full term!!

Weight gain: 132 on the scale yesterday. I am not really moving up or down anymore with this pregnancy. I doubt I will make it to 135.  
·  Symptoms experienced: My silly little man keeps showing heart decelerations during contractions on the NSTs and that’s no bueno. And contractions. Non regular. Laying on my side is becoming considerably less comfortable and a little painful when I roll and stretch the muscles that have been pulled by his weight. And using the bathroom every 3 hours. Especially fun at night.

·  How I feel: Tired Tired Tired. All these dr appointments are draining. 4 this week! Two are (to me) early…. I have to be there at 845 and then I sit for the NST and then they send me to L&D until 1ish. This has happened after both my NSTs so far... let’s see if the trend continues with the next one on Friday. I am beyond excited he is now full term and can come whenever he wants (please wait until after my baby showerA).
·  What I've been craving: Water. My fluids measure at 19.8.. so I am not dehydrated. Just thirsty. Hubby had soda the other day and I was really jealous. I want Barqs. And cereal, yum.

·  What I miss: Not setting a timer when I start eating.
·  Best moment: Our growth scan on Monday showed a beautiful little man measuring on track and not big because of GD!! We got to see him swallow, suck on his lip, stick his tongue out, and move his fists into his face. AND the tech said it looks like she can see a little hair! HE WONT BE BALD!!!! I have gotten to see his on ultrasound 3 times already this week and its only Wednesday. He’s beautiful!   
·  Items purchased: Nothing this week. We assembled the kitchen cart we ordered and set up Hubs new Keurig :)

Week 36 And My Trip To L&D

Week 36

·  Size of baby:  He now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long.

Weight gain: 135 yesterday! Slowly gaining!   
·  Symptoms experienced: Contractions… Weird caveman noises when I try to get myself into a sitting positon… and fun of all funs: a yeast infection! Yaaaaaay.

·  How I feel: SO DONE! We thought there might be a chance baby A joined us yesterday and that was exciting. Finding out not so much… not as fun. Though I am relieved he has longer to bake.
·  What I've been craving: Water.. Pretty much just water.   

·  What I miss: Being comfortable. And sleeping in. now I have appointments three times a week and two are early. Which makes me tired all the time.
·  Best moment: Listening to A’s heartbeat for over an hour at the dr. and finally picking out his going home outfit and setting it aside.   
·  Items purchased: We ordered nothing this week. My baby shower is next weekend and after that we have to crack down and buy some necessities. Like diapers. And wipes.

I had my first ever NST yesterday.. “oh hubby I want you to come because it’s the first one, no.. it should only take about 30 minutes. You can go into work a little late.” Four hours at the dr later he gets to go in for a half day. Whoops. We started the day going to an early pre appt breakfast at a bread company near the hospital and then heading to the dr office. They called us back after 15 minutes of waiting and used the ultrasound to check his position (head down) and fluid levels (17.2) which were perfect. We were then moved to the other room where they put something that looked like bump-earphones on my stomach to measure his heartrate and my contractions. I had a clicker I would press every time he moved so they could see how it affected his heart. He moved so much he kept sliding out from under where the disk was measuring and it would cause the heartbeat to stop being picked up by the machine. At one point he had moved and it picked up my heartbeat. This made the nice even chart of his heartrate look like a heart attack patient. And there were black lines everywhere from him moving. Nurses kept coming in and adjusting the monitor and asking how I was doing… and one seemed really concerned that it picked up my heartbeat because it could have been his and it might mean he is in distress. I pretty much knew this wasn’t the case, but whatev. This meant longer monitoring. Then another nurse comes in and asks if I have been feeling contractions. Answer: yes. And the machine is picking up regular contractions closer than 5 minutes apart. On the pain scale I gave them a 4 or so, so not bad… but added with his acrobatic heartrate it meant we were being sent over to L&D for closer monitoring over a longer time. We walked over to L&D and I changed into one of those really attractive hospital gowns and then was hooked up to the same monitor after my vitals were taken, along with my blood sugar. This was also the one day my phone wasn’t charged and I had forgotten my kit. I stayed hooked up for more than an hour.. more like 2 because they were looking at contractions. I had a clicker to press for each one, and they were interested to see how A would react to a ‘mock labor’ environment. He passed with flying colors, which is a huge relief. My cervix was checked at the beginning and end of my stint on the inside and fortunately showed that I was not dilating at the rate I was contracting. So we were sprung. And told to keep an eye on contractions etc. I am so thankful hubs was with me and I didn’t have to go through all that alone. Though the hour or so where there was a chance A could come that day were heady… I really want to see his little face. Its better he marinates for a little bit more. At least until after my shower :)

Week 35 and Christmas

Week 35

·  Size of baby:  He's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). More precise measurements on Jan 7^th!

Weight gain: According to the MILs scale I am between 132-135 depending on how much I ate and clothing. If we are starting from my very beginning weight… 10 pound gain this pregnancy.  
·  Symptoms experienced: Heartburn, sleep deprivation and midget bladder.

·  How I feel: Surreal. We are almost done.
·  What I've been craving: All the Christmas goodies.   

·  What I miss: Eating and then lying down.  Without a hour wait of so for my stomach to settle so I am not in pain.
·  Best moment: Christmas with hubs family.. Snow!  
·  Items purchased: Still nada. Gma L got him a little green jacket to match daddy’s.

Now an update on Xmas. We spent Christmas with Hubs family up north, and left at the crack of 630am Saturday morning the 22^nd to make it up by noon for full family lunch. Hubs cousins and aunts and uncles were all already up there and we wanted to be able to spend some time with them before they left to spend actual Christmas at their own houses. On the drive up (4 hours) we listened to a book on tape and discovered that is the way to travel. Time goes so much faster when you are listening to a book! We made it up there in just under 4 hours… even with stopping midway so I could stretch, walk, and use el bano. We hit NO traffic. It was unheard of. We made it up and this was the first time we were seeing extended family since I became pregnant, and they had all gotten the announcement/invitations the week before so they all finally knew. Everyone was excited for us but surprisingly we were left pretty much alone about questions and ‘how do you feels.’ I'm beginning to question if they were warned to leave off. There were so many people to talk to, babies to hold, and food to eat it was crazy. After stuffing ourselves on delicious food we all settled into smaller groups to play a family staple: Board Games. And card games. Hours and hours. Its like this family was made for me! Games and hanging out continued until Sunday night, and then the extended family went home and we got to be together with just hubby’s immediate family. I pretty much commandeered the tiniest baby the whole time we were up there, and I was ok with that. Sadly one baby and his parents (hubs brother and his wife) had to leave early to spend the holidays with her family so then there were 9. Large Family. Christmas Day was really relaxing. We opened presents and stockings around 830 and ate breakfast together. Homemade cinnamon rolls is a tradition in hubs family. The most fun was watching my nieces (1.5 and 3) open presents and go crazy over all their new things. I made them tutus which they put on and didn’t take off the whole time we were there. We, the adult kids, went to see Les Mis xmas day while gma and gpa watched the little ones and that was really a fun treat. I didn’t know theaters were packed on xmas. Apparently it’s a thing. This was a small town theater so of course the guy in front of us played on his phone half the time and the lady behind us ANSWERED HER PHONE during the movie. I thought that only happened IN the movies. The last day of our relaxing holiday it snowed! I got to eat my year’s quota of snow! Don’t worry. I know all about avoiding the yellow kind.  The home again home again. I got ridiculously sick, now I am mending. And we are planning the month out before baby A comes! I can officially say he’s due THIS MONTH! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Week 34

Week 34
·  Size of baby:  This week he weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. That’s according to the online things. I'm guessing my fatty is closer to, if not over 5lbs.

Weight gain: Still rocking the scale at 130. How is he getting bigger without me getting bigger? That’s like… 3 weeks of 130. Guh.  
·  Symptoms experienced: I have finally dipped my toe into the waters of heartburn. I get it really rarely… but now I get it. My doctor said yesterday that she always comes in expecting me to complain about some kind of symptom but I have had a very easy and happy baby (minus GD). She says I deserve it and I count my blessings that I don’t have anything to complain about other than having to put out a MISSING poster for my feet.

·  How I feel: Starting to get a little freaked out over The List of things to do before A is here. Our house isn’t clean which drives me crazy, and we can’t finish things until we do other things first. It’s a chained loop that is frustrating. We can’t finish A’s room until we can put the shelf unit in (which has been in our kitchen), we can’t do the shelf unit until we put up alternative shelves in the kitchen. We can’t put up those shelves until we go get screws. UGH. Then we cant hang up the curtains I made for his room (woohoo blackout curtains!) until we get a curtain rod (probably the same time we get the screws). So you see. Sejgf:jhg@:EBW;@!!!!!!!!!!!!
·  What I've been craving: All the Christmas treats I have been making… candied almonds, and sugar cookies. Tomorrow making Muddy Buddies and more cookies to take to Hubbys house.  

·  What I miss: Sleeping through the night. Rolling over without mental preparation. Slouching.
·  Best moment: Him being a wiggle monster and getting to see him swallowing and opening his mouth on the ultrasound. And adoring his little hands and feet :)
·  Items purchased: Fabric for his curtains. Which look awesome by the way. And future purchase…. Screws.